Computer glitch affects NSW virus testing

Five overseas travellers were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the 24-hour reporting period ending at 8pm on Wednesday night, NSW Health said. Those numbers were based on around 18,000 tests that were performed in that time period. But only 12,213 of them had been reported to the NSW Health team that tallies the daily numbers by the 8pm cutoff. A computer glitch caused a batch of around 6,000 tests to be reported too late to make the cut. Those cases will be included in Friday’s numbers instead, meaning that day’s testing numbers will likely appear higher than they otherwise would be.

It’s understood these kinds of issues have happened periodically throughout the pandemic, although on a smaller scale. The fact that the reporting lag amounted to a third of the day’s tests meant NSW Health officials decided to inform the public of the IT issue in their daily update. “While there were 12,213 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 19,959, NSW Health can advise the reported testing numbers today appear lower after a minor IT issue delayed inclusion of approximately 6,000 negative tests,” officials wrote. “These figures will be counted in tomorrow’s numbers. There were no delays reporting test results to individuals who had been tested.”NSW Health also urged anyone on Sydney’s northern beaches and near Berala in the city’s west to pay attention to any COVID-19-like symptoms they may experience, after virus fragments were found in sewage there.The Warriewood treatment plant handles waste from 160,000 in the northern beaches area. The western Sydney alert affects people in the suburbs of Berala, Auburn, Lidcombe, Rookwood, and Regents Park.
Those updates came on the heels of an alert for southwestern Sydney on Tuesday after virus fragments were detected at a waste treatment plant in Glenfield, which serves over 160,000 people.NSW Health officials sent out an alert warning people in a number of nearby suburbs to be watchful for symptoms and get tested if any appear. Those suburbs are Airds, Ambarvale, Appin, Bardia, Blair Athol, Blairmount, Bow Bowing, Bradbury, Campbelltown, Casula, Claymore, Currans Hill, Eagle Vale, Englorie Park, Eschol Park, Gilead, Glen Alpine, Glenfield, Gregory Hills, Holsworthy, Ingleburn, Kearns, Kentlyn, Leumeah, Long Point, Macquarie Fields, Macquarie Links, Menangle Park, Minto, Raby, Rosemeadow, Ruse, St Andrews, St Helens Park, Varroville and Woodbine.