An essential worker infected with coronavirus who travelled almost 200km from Sydney to a building site in Goulburn in regional New South Wales could trigger tighter restrictions in the town and surrounding area.
The development saw NSW Health authorities today make the shock announcement that any workers who travel outside Greater Sydney to the regions must be tested for the virus weekly.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the surprise testing regime would help stop "a super-spreading event", such as the Bondi limo driver who was patient zero in the Delta outbreak which has now shut down an entire city of five million people.
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The Goulburn case in regional NSW has rattled authorities and could see the town put on a "hotspot" list of other states.
It is understood the worker was a painter who worked on a construction site in Goulburn, close to the town's hospital.
"From the beginning, we were concerned about the risk of seeding from this outbreak in Sydney and we have put in protective measures in the regions," NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said.
Dr Chant said officials had already ordered mask-wearing and social distancing requirements in regional NSW after the Delta cluster in Sydney began to spread from the city's east to the south-west.
"It is actually to ensure that if we get a seeding event, the risk of it being established in the regions is reduced," Dr Chant said.
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Dr Chant said her team was looking at the data "day-by-day" and would "assess" the need for tighter restrictions in Goulburn, a town with a population of 23,000 and a popular stop on the way from Sydney to Canberra.
The worker was infectious at the Goulburn construction site on July 9, and went into isolation one day later, NSW Health said.
Dr Chant said "widespread testing" of the man's close contacts was underway.
"We will certainly rapidly assess the risk around this gentleman, in terms of his work colleagues, and that will inform any additional restrictions and advice we need to have in place to actually control any spread," she said.
Despite persistent questioning from reporters, neither Ms Berejiklian or Health Minister Brad Hazzard would define what exactly an essential worker was.
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They also would not comment on whether a painter from Sydney was an essential worker on a Goulburn building site.
NSW today reported 89 new cases and the state's second death, a man aged in his 70s from Sydney's eastern suburbs.
There are 65 people hospitalised with the virus, including 21 in intensive care.
