Another regional NSW town back in lockdown

Cowra will head into a snap lockdown on Monday afternoon, chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said, after a nine-year-old contracted COVID-19.

"Anyone who was in Cowra from September 13, regardless of where they are, must adhere to the stay-at-home requirements," Dr Chant said.

"There was a nine-year-old boy who attended school in Cowra and there were a number of associated community exposures. The source at the moment is under investigation."

Local authorities today said there are no links to where the nine-year-old boy may have caught the virus.

"We don't have links yet to where they picked it up so we're really cautious that this may not be the case that was triggering the sewage testing. This family does not live in Cowra, they live outside of Cowra, so I really urge caution to anyone around Cowra. If you've got any symptoms please, most urgently come and get tested."

Stay-at-home orders remain in place for a number of regional areas. You can find them here.

Today, fortunes varied across the NSW central west with no new cases recorded in Bathurst or the Orange, Blayney or Cabonne areas, but a second COVID-related death at the Holy Spirit aged care facility in Dubbo was recorded.

Hunter New England Health recorded 24 new cases, including 11 in Newcastle local government area, seven in Lake Macquarie, three in Maitland, two in Port Stephens and one in Tamworth.

A Wollongong woman in her 80s has become the first Illawarra resident to die with COVID-19 at Wollongong Hospital during this current outbreak.

Forty-five people within the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District tested positive for the virus in the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday. These include 28 in the Wollongong local government area, 12 in Shellharbour, one in Kiama and four in Shoalhaven.

Several new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands.

IN VICTORIA:

Victoria has recorded its highest number of COVID-19 cases in the current outbreak and one death.

The health department on Monday confirmed 567 new local cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 5675. The death brings the toll from the current outbreak to 12.

Five of those new cases came from Ballarat, locked down last week after an outbreak. Of the five, four are from one household linked to a construction worker and the fifth is a close contact of a case in Melbourne.

COVID Commander Jeroen Weimar said the fact all five cases were linked was a promising sign for Ballarat.

One new coronavirus case, understood to be related to a work site in the western suburbs of Melbourne, has been listed in the Mount Alexander Shire while a new case in the Macedon Ranges is under investigation.

IN THE ACT:

The ACT has recorded seven cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday, as Chief Minister Andrew Barr warns health systems will come under "extreme pressure".

Two of these cases were in quarantine for their entire infectious period, at least four were in the community while infectious and one is under early investigation.

All of the new cases have been linked to previous cases.

There are five patients with COVID-19 in hospital and two people are in intensive care. Of the patients in hospital, four were unvaccinated and one had one dose of a vaccine.

IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA:

There will be no "freedom day" in South Australia when vaccine targets are reached, with efforts continuing to try to keep COVID-19 out of the state, Premier Steven Marshall says.

The premier says while SA has signed up to the national roadmap, to allow border measures and lockdown rules to ease, some level of local restrictions will remain in force to keep people safe.

"We will have to keep some public health social measures in place," he said.

IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA:

WA reported one new coronavirus case on Monday, in a returned overseas traveller who is in hotel quarantine.

IN QUEENSLAND:

A traveller has tested positive for COVID-19 after potentially being infectious at Brisbane Airport for four hours. Queenland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said the man transited through Brisbane while travelling from Newcastle to the Northern Territory on Friday night

NORTHERN TERRITORY:

The Northern Territory has recorded a new COVID-19 case after a man travelled from NSW to Darwin and tested positive. Dozens of close contacts have been identified in the community, with Health Minister Natasha Fyles fronting the media to put to bed rumours about a lockdown.

The fully vaccinated 53-year-old man flew to Darwin International Airport from Newcastle via Brisbane on Friday on Jetstar flight JQ674.