News in 5: NSW doctor diagnosed with COVID-19, police dig at cult headquarters, Super Tuesday votes underway.

1. Sydney doctor diagnosed with COVID-19 as six more cases confirmed in NSW.

A 53-year-old doctor from Sydney’s Ryde Hospital is one of the first person-to-person transmissions of coronavirus we’ve seen in Australia.

NSW Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant said he had been working with the “usual sort of patients we have, which is a diverse range of patients on our system”.

He is now being treated at Westmead Hospital.

Coronavirus Update: The doctor who was diagnosed yesterday with the coronavirus works at the Ryde Hospital. @NSWHealth are investigating his movements says Health Minister Brad Hazzard. The Chief Health Officer says they’re contacting his patients. #7NEWS https://t.co/oUwe2pYYYq

— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 3, 2020

13 doctors, 23 nurses and four other health workers have been identified as close contacts of the doctor and are in home isolation.

Eight patients of the doctor are showing no symptoms, and a further 29 patients are being followed up.

There are 15 cases now in New South Wales, with the newly infected travelling here from Singapore, Iran, Japan and South Korea.

Meanwhile, fear is growing the Tokyo Olympics will have to be cancelled.

Japan’s Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto says a contract allows for the Games to be postponed within 2020 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The IOC has started a two-day executive board meeting where the issue will be discussed. It is not yet known if any decision will be made, but recently the IOC has said the Games at present will be going ahead.

They have a three month window to decide the fate of the event, which will see athletes and spectators from every country descend on Japan which has nearly 990 cases of the infection.

Worldwide, there are currently 92,828 coronavirus cases and 3,164 dead.

More than 48,000 people have recovered from the virus.

In Australia, panic buying is snowballing, with supermarket shelves being stripped of toilet paper.

As coronavirus fears hit Sydney, a total of 84 toilet paper products were out-of-stock across the nine Woolworths stores on Tuesday afternoon, as well as 104 types of packaged snacks, 63 types of canned goods, 50 pasta products and 41 types of wipes https://t.co/nyR2FSoMKh pic.twitter.com/fvB775ipmy

— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) March 3, 2020

2. Dig underway at Blue Mountains cult headquarters for stillborn bodies.

Police are digging for bodies at the headquarters of a Blue Mountains cult, where it’s believed stillborn babies are buried.

A Current Affair reported raids on two Twelve Tribes cult properties earlier this week, with footage captured from above showing digging underway.

One of the sect’s former leaders, Chen Czarnecki (formerly Scott Czarnecki) called the group “highly controlling” in an interview with ACA, confirming that members were discouraged from seeking outside medical help, even when seriously ill.

“I know of a girl who almost died. And by the time they got her there (to hospital) and they got her blood transfusion, she was nearly gone,” he said.

This video exposes the abusive practices in the cult “Twelve tribes”. https://t.co/5j2ywCyw5Z

— Dravidia (@Dravidica) March 2, 2020

“There were babies that were stillborn. There were babies that struggled to live, definitely, the whole gamut. And some of those things probably would have been preventable.

“That reluctance is dangerous. It takes you too close to the line. But that’s how we did it, we were all in,” he told the show.

3. Super Tuesday to decide who will challenge Donald Trump’s presidency in 2020 election.

Millions of Americans from 16 states are voting in primaries to decide who will be President Donald Trump’s main challenger.

Five Democratic candidates are in the race, including Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard.

While ‘Super Tuesday’ might not determine who wins the nomination, it’s historically been hard for a candidate to recover if they perform badly today.

Voting closes 11am AEST which is 7pm in America.

At least 1.4 million have already voted in California, and in Virginia 28,000 have already cast their vote – which is twice as many as in 2016 according to AP.

President Trump has lobbed fresh criticism at the Democratic presidential field to rev up his supporters ahead of the vote.

He tweeted on Monday about former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s “hapless campaign” and “low-rated debates” by the “Radical Left.”

Mini Mike Bloomberg can never recover from his incompetent debate performances. Also, as mayor he was very bad under pressure – a choker!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2020

-With AAP

Feature image: Getty.

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