New South Wales today recorded no new coronavirus cases on the third day of a local outbreak.
Sydney has been on edge since a man living in the Eastern Suburbs region tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, with his wife also being confirmed infected the next day.
The man has no links to overseas travel, border work or health work and health officials are stumped as to how he got infected.
Today's good news of no new cases comes as 13,339 people got tested for Covid-19 in the 24 hours leading up to 8pm Thursday – a big relief for the state considering the wide range of the man's movements across Sydney while unknowingly infected with a highly transmissible strain of the virus.
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While a genome analysis has indicated the virus he was infected with originally came from a returned traveller from the US, it's unclear how the spread actually occurred.
Health officials continue to look for a missing link in the chain of infection and residents in the Greater Sydney area are still required to adhere to public health guidelines, including limits on people inside a home, masks at indoor venues and a two-person cap on visitors allowed in aged care facilities.
With no new cases today, there is a good chance that the restrictions will ease as intended on Monday at 12am (local time).
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in an interview this morning that she was "very pleased with how things are going".
However, Australia's Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly warned during a press conference this afternoon that Sydney "may see some more cases".
Kelly, when questioned by a reporter, said he hadn't "heard about a potential case in Manly", but said more cases may be detected.
"The more we see, the chances are we may see some more cases and we certainly need to work out that chain [of transmission]," he said. The Eastern Suburbs man and his wife "have become positive without an obvious link there".
A pause on flights from NSW to New Zealand was put in place at 11.59pm for 48 hours.
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Advertise with NZME.Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said yesterday there are still several outstanding unknowns in the situation in Sydney and pausing quarantine-free travel was the safest option.
The pause in flights will be under constant review, Hipkins said.
