A student living at Warrumbul Lodge tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, but had been isolating in a self-contained unit for the duration of the ACT lockdown.

ACT Health initially advised that the hall's other residents did not have to quarantine, but reversed its position on Sunday.

An ANU spokesperson said ACT Health had declared all residents of Warrumbul Lodge to be casual contacts "in an abundance of caution".

Residents will be required to get tested and to quarantine for five days since their last exposure and until they receive a negative test result.

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"ANU is encouraging all residents in the lodge to get tested as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

"The university is making arrangements for residents without their own transport to get tested and will inform them of these arrangements as soon as possible."

The ANU will use buses to transport residents to testing sites, with a maximum of 25 students per trip and one student per double seat. All students will wear masks and use hand sanitiser.

ACT Health has listed Warrumbul Lodge as an exposure site starting at 12am Monday, August 16 and ending at 11.59pm Friday, August 20.

The territory's Chief Health Officer, Kerryn Coleman, on Monday morning said specific areas of ANU will be listed as exposure sites later in the day, and urged people who had been on campus in the last fortnight to check the list.

However ANU later confirmed that Warrumbul Lodge is the only exposure site at the university campus at this stage.

A close contact of the ANU Covid case is in isolation and awaiting a test result.

More than 300 students live in Warrumbul Lodge, where ANU met with residents on Saturday to brief them about the case and to offer support.

"We are providing ongoing support to all our residents, including increased wellbeing support as well as the delivery of food [and] other essential items," the ANU spokesperson said on Monday.

"Affected residents can also apply for special consideration if the current situation has impacted on their studies."

Most of the students live in self-contained studios or are sharing kitchens and bathrooms with two to six other students. The residents have not had access to the laundry since the start of the lockdown.

Warrumbul Lodge resident Thomas O'Donnell said students were frustrated by the sudden change of policy which means they have to quarantine until Wednesday.

"What's made everyone panic a lot is that no one knows who the student is," Mr O'Donnell said.

He said communication from Unilodge management was confusing at the beginning of the lockdown but had improved over the past four days.

The latest Covid case is the second on campus since the start of the pandemic.

In addition, nine other ANU staff and students have had Covid infections but did not come back to the ANU campus until they had recovered.

This included returning travellers who had come back to Australia or the ACT from overseas or interstate, and quarantined away from the campus.

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