Three paramedics connected to the Liverpool ambulance station have also tested positive.

An email sent to ambulance workers in Sydney’s south-west on Thursday confirmed “two more ambulance workers tested positive today”. One paramedic tested positive on Wednesday.

A healthcare worker at Liverpool and Campbelltown hospitals also tested positive on Thursday. The doctor was a close contact of a patient admitted for a C-section delivery on Wednesday despite having a pending COVID-19 test.

Non-urgent surgery at both hospitals has been postponed,and 60 people have been identified as close contacts while about 120 staff were told they needed to be tested.

The number of additional close contacts associated with the healthcare worker is still being finalised. A spokesperson for South Western Local Health District said it was reducing non-urgent elective surgery across its hospitals to ensure they have “the capacity and resources to manage any surges in COVID-19 cases”.

Three of Sydney’s largest hospitals have been affected by virus exposures in recent days. In addition to the incidents at Liverpool and Campbelltown,a vaccinated nurse who worked in Westmead’s COVID-19 ward has also tested positive.

Earlier on Thursday,NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said most infections in healthcare workers throughout the outbreak had been acquired in the community,not in healthcare settings.

Among the new cases reported in NSW on Thursday,46 were within South Western Sydney Local Health District.

In Melbourne,two further cases linked to Saturday’s Carlton-Geelong match at the MCG,which was attended by a resident of the Ariele apartment complex,were recorded on Thursday.

The complex was placed in lockdown earlier this week after it emerged two removalists from NSW who later tested positive to COVID-19 had worked there while infectious.

Queensland also recordedthree new local cases on Thursday,including a 12-year-old boy who recently completed hotel quarantine in Sydney and his father.

Ms Berejiklian said there was evidence restrictions had been effective at managing the highly transmissible Delta variant.

“Whilst the case numbers are bouncing around,we are seeing a stabilisation;they’re not growing exponentially,” she said.

“That tells us that the settings that we have in place are having an impact.”

There were 97 cases recorded on Wednesday and 89 on Tuesday,after 112 were recorded on Monday.

After concentrating in the Fairfield area last week,the virus has now moved into multiple pockets of western and southern Sydney.

Emu Plains residents were asked to be alert to symptoms after two unlinked cases who both shopped at Lennox Village Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon were detected.

Four cases have also been linked to Hanson Concrete Greenacre. Anyone on site there since July 1 has been deemed a close contact.

On Thursday night,NSW Health added more venues to its list of exposure sites,including Alpha Medical Centre in Seven Hills,Penna’s Green Valley Pharmacy in Green Valley,and VIP Auto Repair in Smithfield.

The number of COVID-impacted locations in Sydney’s north also continues to grow,with venues such as Ritual Coffee Traders in Northbridge and Woolworths in Belroseon NSW Health’s latest list.

Dr Chant said areas of concern for health authorities were:Fairfield Heights,Smithfield,St Johns Park,Canley Heights and Fairfield West (in the Fairfield area),Bankstown,Belmore,Condell Park,Roselands and Canterbury (in the Canterbury-Bankstown area),Rosebery,the Sutherland Shire,Hurstville and the Georges River area,as well as Liverpool local government area.

After multiple recent COVID-19 exposures were recorded in GP clinics and pharmacies in south-west Sydney,the federal government on Wednesday afternoon announced it would be extending Medicare rebates for longer phone consults.

The move was welcomed by the Royal Australian College of GPs and Australian Medical Association.

“If you have symptoms,the only place that you should go is to get tested and isolate,” Ms Berejiklian said. “If you are worried call a health clinic or GP or somebody on the phone.”

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