NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has apologised to residents in Sydney's southwest, as thousands of essential workers in the area have been forced to queue for hours for coronavirus testing.
The rush comes after the state government on Tuesday announced new restrictions for essential workers in the Fairfield local government area, who must now get tested every three days if they work outside the area.
The change was initially due to be introduced on Wednesday but has has since been pushed back to Saturday.
“Can I just say, on behalf of the government, I apologise to everyone in Fairfield for this significant inconvenience," Mr Perrottet told 2GB on Wednesday.
“But can I also thank them, because it's the sacrifice that they’re making today and last night that keeps people safe.”
He also said people could get tested outside Fairfield, at testing sites across metropolitan Sydney.
Long queues are forming around the pop up Covid clinic at the Fairfield Showgrounds. Source: AAP
Fairfield has quickly become the new epicentre of Sydney's outbreak, fuelled by the highly-infectious Delta variant.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also acknowledged the long wait times, and said the government was working to rectify that.
"We accept that people had to wait a long time, we experienced this as well on the Northern Beaches," Ms Berejiklian told reporters.
"I apologise if anyone was inconvenienced.
"Please know we are working hard to make sure we have plans in the community, we are keeping in contact with a local health district as well as community leaders to make sure resources are where they are needed."
Ms Berejiklian encouraged essential workers to get tested as close as possible to their place of work to help ease the pressure on testing centres in Fairfield.
"If you don't have symptoms and need to conduct work outside your home, you can get tested at the closest place to your workplace as opposed to in the Fairfield area, to take pressure off Fairfield," she said.
"The health orders do say that it is not until the weekend that comes into place, but we appreciate a lot of people came forward to get tested and we are deeply grateful for that. "
Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone says the new rules have created bedlam at testing sites in the area due to the sudden influx.
Members of the public and health workers at a pop up Covid testing clinic at the Fairfield Showgrounds in Sydney. Source: AAP
"This is leading to mass confusion," he told SBS News on Wednesday.
"It's just not acceptable that these poor people who work so hard to put food on the table for their families have had to come home from work, and they've had to actually wait six to eight hours in a queue, and then return back to work."
The local community had already responded to the government's calls to get tested.
But now people who wanted to get tested but who could not afford to wait six hours in a queue and had gone home, Mr Carbone added.
"It's unfortunate that the government has done this. I don't think they understood the magnitude of it and I don't think they understood the amount of essential workers we have in Fairfield," he said.
Anyone from Greater Sydney travelling to the regions for work must be tested weekly, but these workers have until the end of Sunday until the order is policed.
With reporting by SBS News.
