A young Victorian who tested positive to COVID-19 after being in Sydney's northern beaches area made a stop in Gundagai, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says.
Victorian health authorities confirmed the case on Tuesday morning but were slow to confirm the exact stopping place along the Hume as it was above the border.
Dr Chant said the 15-year-old girl and her family had stopped at Oliver's Real Food Outlet at Gundagai, mid-to-late afternoon on Wednesday, December 18.
"Advice will be going out to the community in Gundagai who may have also accessed that food outlet," Dr Chant said.
Takeaway outlets at Gundagai are popular stopovers for people travelling the Hume Highway between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
Victorian authorities have said the family have done the right thing, and exposure sites in Victoria are limited as the family was isolated before getting tested.
The girl visited several exposure sites in Sydney's northern beaches area before being driven back to Victoria by a parent.
The parent has so far tested negative and the family is isolating at their home in the Moonee Valley area.
The NSW Health website is yet to update with instructions for people who attended the Oliver's at Gundagai either on the 18th of in days afterward.
Dr Chant said authorities were trying to get venue exposure lists out as soon as possible and the website and advice would be updating quickly.
If the Gundagai site is added to NSW Health's list, people who have been there at the relevant times are told to self-isolate until 14 days after they were last there, get tested even if they have no symptoms. They should watch for symptoms and if they occur, should get re-tested. They must stay in self-isolation for 14 days, even if they get a negative result, as it can take up to 14 days to show symptoms or test positive.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley on Tuesday said there were no known exposure sites this side of the border and close contacts of the family were being contacted.
Victoria has shut its border to people travelling from greater Sydney and the NSW Central Coast.
"My message to anyone trying to enter Victoria from New South Wales is - don't," Mr Foley said.
"You won't get in, and if you do, you'll be spending your time at Christmas and New Year in hotel quarantine."
More to come.
