Teacher tests positive to COVID: School shut, community tested

A school in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire has shut down and will go online for a fortnight after a teacher tested positive to COVID-19, NSW Health officials confirmed today. It was one of nine cases diagnosed in NSW in the 24 hours unitl 8pm on Friday.

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A teacher at a school in the Sutherland Shire has tested positive to COVID-19, with health officials urging every student into self-isolation and community members with any symptoms — even minor ones — to get tested.

All 449 students at Laguna Street Public School have come in close contact with the teacher while they have been infectious and should commence self-isolating immediately, according to health officials.

The primary school will go online and reopen in 12 days on Thursday, June 25, after it is disinfected.

The teacher was among nine new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in NSW in the 24 hours until 8pm on Friday, June 12.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said it is believed that none of the diagnosed patients had attended protest rallies in Sydney recently.

Rose Bay Public School was closed after a worker tested positive to COVID-19 last week. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“NSW Health will contact all families of the children enrolled at the school over the next one to three days to confirm this information, provide them with details about their period of isolation, and answer any questions,” an education spokesman said.

NSW Health has requested anyone who has been unwell or has flu-like symptoms to be tested at a COVID-19 clinics that can treat children.

The Sutherland COVID-19 Drive-Through Testing Centre is located at Sutherland Multi-Purpose Community Centre 123 Flora St, Sutherland.

Sutherland Hospital also has a COVID clinic.