Sydney airport international aircrew driver tests positive to virus, breaking state's COVID-free streak

This is the state's first locally acquired coronavirus infection since a hotel quarantine worker tested positive at 1.30am on Thursday, December 3.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the man "drives vans carrying international and other aircrew back and forth to the airport" and the company is based in Alexandria, in Sydney's inner city.

He had an onset of symptoms on Saturday, worked several shifts and then took a COVID-19 test which came back positive at 7:00am this morning.

The man's household contacts are being tested and NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said genomic sequencing — which could trace the origin of the man's infection to overseas strains of the virus — were pending.

She said the gene sequence was being expedited so authorities could get to the bottom of the source of the infection.

"That will confirm with us an understanding how recent the infection is," she said.

"We do keep an open mind, while we have a plausible hypothesis that this transmission may have originated from contact with international flight crew."

Dr Chant said transporting aircrew was the man's "sole responsibility" and that the driver was wearing a mask and taking other infection control measures.

"I am stressing that because I do not want the general community to think that they have been exposed," she said.

Dr Chant said the man's movements were still being mapped and NSW Health had identified one community sporting site he did go to and will release that information publicly after confirming further details.

NSW's last recorded COVID-19 case was on December 3, where a member of the housekeeping staff at the Novotel and Ibis hotels in Darling Harbour reportedly caught the virus from an American airline crew.

Prior to this case, NSW had 26 consecutive days without any confirmed infections.

The latest case has again highlighted the number of international arrivals NSW receives every week in comparison to other states and territories.

"We need the airlines to come to Australia — they're bringing back our Aussies, they're also bringing in our freight," Mr Hazzard said.

"What we need to do, though, is recognise that there's a high variability in the approaches the airlines take themselves in testing and looking after their crews."

Dr Chant said authorities have been auditing hotel facilities where flight crews were staying since the Darling Harbour two weeks earlier.

"We have also … had a meeting with the airlines to stress the importance of some of those measures," she said.

"We will be engaging very shortly with how we can strengthen [them]."