NSW records third case of human-to-human coronavirus transmission

© Science Photo Library: PASIEKA An expert says it is concerning health authorities do not know how the disease has spread locally. Health authorities in NSW have confirmed a third person has been infected with coronavirus via human-to-human transmission, as the number of cases in the state surges.

Since Sunday, there have been 11 new COVID-19 infections in NSW.

The most recent person diagnosed, a woman in her 50s, had not travelled outside Australia and contracted the virus locally.

She is the third person in Australia to be infected with COVID-19 through human-to-human transmission.

A 53-year-old doctor working at Sydney's Ryde Hospital tested positive after treating patients with coronavirus, while another woman contracted COVID-19 from a relative who had travelled to Iran.

Thirteen doctors, 23 nurses and four other health workers are in home isolation after interacting with the doctor.

Health authorities are scrambling to contact people who travelled on flights with people who had the virus.

Overnight a man in his 30s tested positive for coronavirus after he travelled to Australia from Iran via Malaysia and Singapore at the weekend.

He was on Jetstar Asia flight 3K 5168 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on February 29, and then Qantas flight QF82 to Sydney, arriving on March 1.

NSW Health warned he may have been infectious while on the plane and said it would contact passengers seated around him.

He remains in isolation in Westmead Hospital in Western Sydney.

Pictures: Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak

But there are several other flights to Sydney that had infection passengers on them, including:

Qantas flight QF02 from Singapore on February 28 Korean Air flight KE121 from Seoul on February 27 Malindo Air flight OD171 from Kuala Lumpur, arriving on March 1 Health authorities have asked people travelling from Iran, South Korea and Japan to be particularly vigilant for COVID-19 symptoms including a sore throat, fatigue and coughing.

"There has been a rapid increase in COVID-19 activity there in recent days," a NSW Health spokesperson said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian advised people to "stay calm", despite the spike in numbers.

"Yes it is a concern and all of us should be cautious, all of us should take the advice of health experts, no doubt about it — but we should also go about our business and not panic," she said.

But an expert in infectious diseases said it was concerning health authorities did not know how the disease had spread locally.

Professor of Biosecurity at the University of NSW, Raina MacIntyre, said it might indicate people were presenting to hospital with a fever but while being unknowingly infected with coronavirus.

Italian authorities reported a spike in coronavirus deaths overnight, with 27 fatalities increasing the total death toll in the country to 79.

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