Sydney news: Authorities seeking passengers on coronavirus-affected Sydney flight

Updated March 02, 2020 10:33:07

Here's what you need to know this morning.

Authorities seek flight passengers

Authorities are contacting passengers on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Sydney last week who were sitting near a woman later confirmed as the sixth case of coronavirus in NSW.

NSW Health said the woman in her 50s flew from Iran to Sydney via Qatar on February 23.

Her symptoms began within 24 hours of landing, but the woman did not visit hospital until six days later.

Anyone who was on Qatar Airways Flight QR908 has been urged to isolate themselves and seek an immediate health assessment if they develop symptoms.

$300m of ice found

Officers from Australian Border Force (ABF) have revealed they discovered 400kg of methamphetamine in an air cargo consignment in Sydney last month.

Acting on information from NSW Police, the ABF intercepted the consignment after it arrived from South-East Asia in January.

A strike force seized the drugs, which have a street value of $300 million, and it has commenced an investigation.

Sydney water restrictions wound back

Sydney's level-two water restrictions are being relaxed thanks to significant rainfall taking the city's dams to more than 80 per cent capacity in February.

A downpour last month swept bushfire ash into Warragamba Dam, contaminating Sydney's main water supply.

However, water quality has since improved.

Under level-one restrictions, hoses cannot be left running unattended and people are unable to wash their cars with a hose unless they are using a trigger nozzle.

The use of standard sprinklers and watering systems is also prohibited.

Politicians urged to be as brave as firefighters

A former NSW fire chief has called on the Federal Government to support a new bill which would provide a national framework for addressing climate change.

Warringah MP Zali Steggall will introduce the Climate Change Bill 2020 to Federal Parliament later this month.

Former Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Greg Mullins said he hoped enough MPs would cross the floor.

"We need our politicians to show the same sort of bravery that the firefighters showed … to get out there and show who they are, cross the floor to support Zali Steggall's bill in Parliament," he said.

Australia's shrinking winter

Australian summers have become twice as long as the most recent winters, according to a new analysis from The Australia Institute.

Researchers crunched weather data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) from 1999 to 2018 and compared it to Australian weather records from 1950 to 1969.

The analysis found all Australian capital cities experienced 31 more days of summer compared to the 50s and 60s, with winter about three weeks shorter.

Monday's weather

Hot and mostly sunny. Gusty afternoon cool change.
Min.Max.
CBD2136
Parramatta1838

Topics: health, diseases-and-disorders, environment, climate-change, weather, crime, disasters-and-accidents, fires, bushfire, law-crime-and-justice, nsw, sydney-2000

First posted March 02, 2020 06:55:08