Just one day after protests were held on campus, a student at Sydney’s Macquarie University has tested positive for COVID-19.
Macquarie University’s Vice-Chancellor on Thursday confirmed the infection, with Professor S Bruce Dowton writing to students in a letter:
“I am writing to advise that NSW Health has confirmed that a student who recently attended campus has tested positive for COVID-19.”
The statement continued, “Following guidance from authorities, measures are now underway to conduct contact tracing to inform people who may have come into contact with the student to get tested and self-isolate.”
While a protest had been held at Macquarie on Wednesday at the campus’ library, a spokesperson for Macquarie University told 7NEWS it had “not received advice” to indicate the infectious student was involved in any protest.
“As we receive more information about the movements of the student on campus, we will take the necessary remedial closure and cleaning activities as required to ensure the continued wellbeing of all members of our community,” the spokesperson said, adding that the Macquarie Sports and Aquatic Centre and 10 Hadenfeld Avenue, one of the campus’ buildings, had been temporarily closed for deep cleaning.
It comes as health authorities in NSW confirmed five new locally acquired coronavirus cases in NSW, with the five new cases being on top of three that had been previously announced, which means there has been a total of eight locally acquired infections since yesterday.
Five of the newly reported infections can be traced to the Liverpool Hospital cluster, while a second cluster is being investigated.
It marks a possible resurgence in the virus for NSW, which had previously gone 12 days without recording a positive test result outside hotel quarantine.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was expecting to see more cases of COVID in the state within the coming days.
