Covid 19 coronavirus: Infected backpackers drive up cases

NSW authorities have confirmed there's been a coronavirus outbreak among backpackers in Bondi, in Sydney's east, after hundreds were captured ignoring social distancing measures.

Dr Kerry Chant confirmed there had been an outbreak of Covid-19 among backpackers in Bondi, in Sydney's east.

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"We know there is a potential risk that other members of the community may have come in contact with infected backpackers," she said.

"We have had a small number of cases in that community where there aren't obvious links, but a plausible explanation is they have come into contact with an infected backpacker before that backpacker was aware they had Covid-19."

It comes as Australia records 4363 cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths.

As of Tuesday morning there were 2032 in NSW, 821 in Victoria, 689 in Queensland, 305 in South Australia, 355 in Western Australia, 69 in Tasmania, 78 in the Australian Capital Territory and 15 in the Northern Territory.

Globally, there have been nearly 740,000 cases of the disease recorded with more than 35,000 deaths. The US and Europe are now the epicentre of the outbreak, which began in mainland China in late December 2019.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website