TikTok comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz has accurately predicted NSW Covid case numbers for five days. Photo / Supplied
TikTok comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz has accurately predicted NSW Covid case numbers for five days. Photo / Supplied
TikTok comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz has fallen from grace after his five-day streak of correctly reporting NSW's new Covid cases has come to an end.
Kairouz, who claimed "simple maths" was behind his accurate predictions, said there would be 109 new local Covid-19 cases, but only 98 were announced on Monday.
Reports swirled before Monday's press conference that a "trap" had been set inside NSW Health amid speculation someone was leaking the figures to Kairouz.
A government source told NCA NewsWire that the health department had "looked into" whether the numbers were being supplied by an insider.
Kairouz claimed he used simple maths to form his prediction. Photo / TikTok: jonbernardk
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he was disappointed by the leaks but denied a "sting" had smoked out the culprit.
Hazzard revealed the source came to light after an internal review of how case data was being stored in NSW Health's systems.
"Can I say it was a disappointment that something as serious as our messaging to the community in a pandemic, clearly someone somebody in the system was feeling the need to disclose those figures to somebody who was not an appropriate person to be making commentary about it," he said.
"And so, Health looked at the issues around that, I saw someone saying on social media that it was a sting, no it wasn't.
"It was looking at what the issues were and making sure that the system was such that the information could be kept to the appropriate time with messaging to the community ... in terms of us giving the important message which goes out at 11 o'clock each day, in a way that the community understands the significance of what we are asking people to do, to keep people safe."
The comedian's viral videos were being uploaded after the 8pm cut-off time for when the state's daily case numbers were finalised.
On Sunday night entertainment reporter Peter Ford reported "traps" set by NSW Health were successful.
Ford told 3AW on Monday an "unusual and brutal" level of investigation was employed to find the leak and it may have solved the case.
Ford reported "every phone and computer" was being monitored to try and nab the leak, with the claims later repeated by Ray Hadley on 2GB.
Ford told The Morning Show that the Premier's office "believe (the leaks are) actually a threat to public health and safety because he doesn't provide any kind of narrative around the figures that he is putting out each night".
"So there has been a witchhunt on, my information is in the last hour that they set traps for him, and they may have borne fruit. They may have now found the person that it is."
Kairouz calls himself an "actor" and "comedian" and has successfully predicted the daily case figure for the past five days.
He has defied a NSW Health warning the past three days by posting the numbers before they were officially released.
Speaking on Channel 10's The Sunday Project, Kairouz hailed himself as the "People's Premier".
