An Illawarra man in his early twenties is one of three new cases of COVID-19 confirmed across the state.
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The young man is currently being treated in Wollongong Hospital and the source of his infection is under investigation according to NSW Health, which confirmed that he had not attended any mass gatherings.
"The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District public health unit has identified and contacted close contacts of the new case, who are in self isolation and being tested for COVID-19, as appropriate," an ISLHD spokesperson said.
According to the NSW Government's heat map of COVID-19 cases, a new case was confirmed on June 14 in the 2528 postcode which covers suburbs including Warilla and Barrack Heights.
The other two cases diagnosed in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm on June 14 are returned travellers in hotel quarantine, which brings the total number of cases in NSW to 3131.
Read more: Illawarra hospitals' visiting hours extended
In the ISLHD the number of confirmed cases now stands at 117 - after the figures were revised down due to a previous patient who'd been diagnosed with COVID-19 was found not to have the virus after further analysis of their test results.
Prior to this week, the ISLHD had gone more than five weeks without a single case of community transmission - and there'd been no active cases within the region.
The last case involving community transmission had been on May 6, when a 52-year-old female nurse who worked at a GP surgery tested positive for the virus.
The only new confirmed case since then had been on May 28, and involved a resident who'd returned from overseas who had been in hotel quarantine in Sydney.
ISLHD figures show 114 residents have now recovered from COVID. Sadly two residents have died from complications - a 75-year-old man who died in Wollongong Hospital's intensive care unit on April 3 and a woman who died in a Sydney hospital in March.
So far there's been 27,474 tests carried out within the district - and residents with symptoms are being urged to seek testing via their GP or by visiting one of the dedicated COVID-19 clinics at Wollongong, Shellharbour and Shoalhaven hospitals.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant thanked those with symptoms for coming forward, getting tested and ensuring cases in the community were identified as quickly as possible.
"The virus may still be circulating in the community. People with mild symptoms or those who show no obvious symptoms can unknowingly pass it to others," she said.
"NSW Health is urging anyone feeling unwell - even with the mildest of symptoms such as a runny nose or scratchy throat - to isolate from others and get tested.
"This is important for everyone in the community, and we particularly urge anyone who has symptoms in the Sutherland Local Government Area to come forward for testing."
With the easing of restrictions, Dr Chant said it was essential that everyone maintained social distancing of 1.5m and practised regular hand washing to minimise the risk of virus transmission.
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