Shock Covid case in a mine worker 500km from Sydney as a school in another country town is shut down amid worrying signs Covid outbreak is spreading beyond Sydney
- Mineworker in his 40s from Newcastle tests positive at Boggabri coal mine
- Mine has been shut down while 600 miners are tested and close contacts traced
- Armidale Secondary College six hours north of Sydney has also been shut down
- A student there is the third case in the town which was put into a snap lockdown
Hundreds of coal miners in regional NSW and 1,000 students at a country town school have been quarantined after separate Covid outbreaks.
Boggabri Coal Mine, 120km north-west of Tamworth and 500km from Sydney, has been shut down after a miner tested Covid positive on Saturday night.
The man in his 40s from Newcastle has been put into isolation and is working with NSW Health to track down recent close contacts.
Boggabri Coal Mine (pictured), 120km north-west of Tamworth and 500km from Sydney, has been shut down temporarily after a miner tested Covid positive on Saturday night
Officials were running a second test on the man on Sunday to confirm the infection.
The mine is expected to be closed for at least three days while testing, tracing and cleaning work is completed, and 600 miners are in isolation.
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Armidale Secondary College is closed for a week from Monday after a pupil returned a positive test on Saturday, putting all staff and students into isolation.
It's the third case this week for the town, 300km from the Queensland border, with the latest student a household contact of the previous two cases.
The two cases plunged the country town - home to 29,704 residents and almost six hours drive away from Sydney CBD - into a snap week-long lockdown on Saturday.
Armidale Secondary College (oictured) is being closed for a week from Monday after a pupil returned a positive test on Saturday, putting all staff and students into isolation
'The NSW Department of Education has been advised by NSW Health that a student at our school has tested positive for Covid-19,' principal Bree Harvey-Bice wrote on the college website.
'Our school site will be non-operational Monday 9 August, 2021 for the on-site attendance of staff and students to allow time for contact tracing and cleaning.
'All staff and students are asked to self-isolate until you receive further advice.'
NSW health authorities are desperate to prevent Sydney's Covid outbreak from spreading to regional areas, which have far greater freedoms.
