NSW Agriculture Minister tests positive for COVID-19, Health Minister Brad Hazzard in isolation

NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall has tested positive for COVID-19 after he and three other MPs dined at a Paddington pizza restaurant that was later identified as an exposure site.

Mr Marshall revealed he had received a positive test on Thursday morning shortly after NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard announced he was isolating after being notified he could be a close contact of a possible COVID-19 case.

He told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he was asymptomatic and had been in full isolation since Tuesday night, the same day the NSW budget was handed down. 

Mr Marshall and three other MPs attended Christo’s Pizza in Paddington on Monday night, where a positive case linked to the Bondi cluster also dined. 

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard is in isolation after coming into contact with a possible positive COVID-19 case.

AAP

“To everyone who has contacted me this morning, thank you for your thoughts and well wishes – I’m doing fine and will continue to strictly follow the advice of health authorities,” Mr Marshall said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, Mr Hazzard played down fears of an imminent lockdown after he was notified overnight he could be a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Hazzard told the ABC he had received a text from NSW Health overnight notifying him he may have been in contact with a likely positive case at NSW Parliament House. He is not experiencing any symptoms.

“I’m talking about somebody who works for NSW Parliament who may be a positive case,” he said.

Mr Hazzard appeared at a media conference with Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant on Wednesday morning.

“We [in Sydney] have obviously a clear danger … and now I’m on the receiving end,” he said.

An additional 16 cases were identified in the state on Wednesday, as the Bondi cluster grew to 31.

But Mr Hazzard attempted to quell fears that a lockdown was set to be imposed, stating: “I don’t believe that we will go into lockdown”.

“I think we actually need to take health advice and the health advice is that the new orders that came into play yesterday afternoon are proportionate to our risk.”

A range of new public health measures came into force on Wednesday afternoon, including a restriction on people who have been in seven local government areas – City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, or Woollahra – from travelling outside metropolitan Sydney. 

Residents of Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour are also subject to a five-person at home visitor limit and compulsory face mask rules in all non-residential indoor settings.