Tasmania has recorded its first COVID case in over a year.
Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein confirmed the development in a press conference on Thursday where he clarified the case was not one of community transmission.
He said a 31-year-old man who flew into Launceston on August 2 tested positive to COVID while in hotel quarantine.
“He arrived without having an endorsed pass,” Gutwein told reporters, having arrived from NSW via Victoria.
The man was immediately directed to hotel quarantine where he was tested for the virus.
The test, taken on August 3, yielded a positive result.
Between being tested and receiving his result, the man left Tasmania to return to NSW on August 4.
Gutwein said that under the current directions, people are able to leave quarantine for the purposes only of leaving the state.
Contact tracing is underway, with passengers on Virgin Flight 1364 from Melbourne to Launceston on August 2 told to immediately isolate and wait for public health to contact them.
There’s a high expectation the man was infected with Delta.
The AFL football match scheduled between Collingwood and Hawthorn on Sunday has been cancelled.
This is a developing story. More to come