Canberra hospital and aged care workers who have recently returned from the Greater Sydney region have been told not to come to work for two weeks, after community cases of COVID-19 were recorded in NSW.
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ACT health officials have urged those employed in high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care, correctional facilities and residential accommodation to not attend work for 14 days since they were last in the area.
The warning also extends to those providing home-based aged care or disability care.
The advice from ACT Health extends to all parts of Greater Sydney and not just hotspot locations.
Meanwhile, Canberrans heading to Sydney for the weekend for Mother's Day have been urged to be alert for new hotspot locations and to keep up to date for public health advice.
The new Covid cases have prompted restrictions to be put in place across the Greater Sydney area, which include the Central Coast, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains for the next three days ahead of Mother's Day.
The restrictions include mandatory masks on public transport and indoor areas such as shopping centres and supermarkets.
Households will be capped at having 20 guests over, while aged care facilities will be limited to having two visitors per resident.
NSW officials are scrambling to find how a man in his 50s, who tested positive on Wednesday, came into contact with the virus, as he had not recently returned from overseas or had contact with the hospital or hotel quarantine system.
A second case, the man's wife, recorded a positive test result on Thursday.
Multiple hotspot locations have been listed by NSW Health across the city's Eastern Suburbs, west and inner west, where the man was visited while infectious.
Virus fragments have also been recorded in wastewater catchment areas that take in several suburbs in the city's inner west.
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The hotspots have led to hundreds of Sydney residents to go into isolation, including NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.
An ACT Health spokesman said territory officials were closely monitoring the situation in Sydney.
"[We] will continue to update the community as the situation evolves," the spokesman said.
"The situation is a reminder that COVID-19 is still with us. Please remember that things can change quickly."
Canberrans who have attended a location in Sydney that has been identified as a hotspot have been told to quarantine for 14 days from the time they were there and get tested for COVID-19 immediately.
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Andrew Brown
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
