ASX drops 0.8% on new Sydney virus cases; Banks sag; $A tops US76c

Anyone travelling from Greater Sydney, which has been deemed an orange zone, is encouraged to get tested on arrival and self quarantine until they receive a negative result.

Those travelling from regional NSW, dubbed a green zone, will be asked to monitor themselves for mild symptoms

Meanwhile, Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says a woman who travelled from NSW before testing positive to COVID-19 visited a pub in Brisbane’s south and drove to the Sunshine Coast before heading back to her home state.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was closely monitoring the “rapidly growing” situation but announced no further restrictions on travel.

Contact tracing is being carried out to alert anyone on Virgin flight VA925 from Sydney to Brisbane on Wednesday, December 16, and those who visited the Glen Hotel in Eight Mile Plains, in Brisbane’s south, after 11.30am on the same day.

Dr Young said the woman in her 50s then drove in a hire car to the Sunshine Coast but only had contact with a hotel receptionist, before getting tested at the Prince Charles Hospital on the way back through Brisbane to Sydney.

“This is a rapidly evolving situation in the northern beaches and could well expand through other parts of Sydney,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Queensland recorded two other cases in hotel quarantine on Friday.