After more than a year of freedom from coronavirus, Canberra finds itself with a growing cluster of cases.

A man in his 20s has tested positive for COVID-19, sparking a snap seven-day lockdown in the ACT that began at 5pm today.

Soon after the lockdown began, the territory’s chief heath officer Kerryn Coleman announced three more of the man’s close contacts had also contracted the virus.

Dr Coleman said there were nine people who had close and repeated contact with the man. Three have now tested positive, the other six are negative.

The man was believed to have been infectious since Sunday and had been out and about in the community all week, leading to a string of exposure sites and health alerts.