Queensland authorities have issued an urgent public health alert amid fears of links to a “growing” COVID-19 cluster that emerged at a pub in Sydney’s southwest.

Nine cases have now been linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, with all pub patrons who attended between July 3 and 10 inclusive, being ordered to self-isolate for 14-days regardless of their test result.

More details about the cluster in the video above

Queenslanders, who may have visited the pub which is a “busy stopover”, are now being urged to get tested and isolate immediately.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Steven Miles said the outbreak was concerning and urged residents to “get COVID-19 tested as soon as possible”.

“The hotel is a busy stopover for many travellers, so it is very likely that there are a number of Queenslanders who have been there during this period,” he said in a statement.

Hundreds have already been tested at the pop-up testing clinic at the pub since Friday as the venue was closed for deep-cleaning.

Major hospitals in the area in Liverpool, Campbelltown, and Fairfield have also extended the opening hours of their testing clinics.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said authorities were taking every precaution over the “growing cluster” after seeing cases “increase exponentially in the greater-Melbourne area”.

“Critically, we have also seen community transmission rapidly grow within just a few weeks,” she said.

“It is important to remember that we are all in this together.

“The onus remains on our community to remember that the pandemic is far from over. We need to rapidly respond to outbreaks like this by testing and self-isolating.”

‘Growing cluster’

While health authorities had previously focused on the 600-odd people who attended the hotel on July 3, they broadened their search after linking four new cases to the venue on Sunday afternoon.

The first case linked to the cluster was a Blue Mountains man, who had attended the hotel on July 3, and later tested positive for COVID-19.

He has since passed on the virus to three people in his household, all of whom are now self-isolating.

The man’s visit to the pub is the only known link between him and a southwestern Sydney woman who also returned a positive result earlier this week.

The newest cases included an 18-year-old staff member at the hotel and a woman in her 50s who is a close contact of the worker, a woman in her 40s from south-western Sydney who had dinner at the hotel on July 3 and a Victorian man in his 20s who also had dinner at the hotel on the same date.