Woman in 70s contracted COVID from ‘fleeting exposure’ to Bondi limo driver

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has urged residents to be extra vigilant in indoor and outdoor settings after authorities confirmed a close contact contracted COVID-19 through “fleeting exposure” to the limousine driver. A 70-year-old was among three new cases reported on Thursday after the woman visited the Belle Café in Vaucluse at the same time the initial case – a Bondi aircrew driver – and his wife visited the eastern suburbs eatery. Dr Chant says this latest case of transmission indicates the high-infectiousness of the Delta strain, noting that the woman was seated outdoors at the Vaucluse venue. “The whole genome sequencing has confirmed that the case reported yesterday, the patron of the Belle Café at Vaucluse is an exact match to the initial case,” she said. “This indicates that the initial case was highly infectious, as transmission must have occurred through fleeting exposure, noting that the woman who caught the infection at the café was actually seated outside and there was no known contact with the initial case. “This just highlights that we need that extra vigilance in the community.”