Coronavirus: Three more Hunter people in strict isolation being monitored by NSW Health after fifth COVID-19 diagnosis in region

A male in his 20s and a man in his 60s have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

Both men were related to the woman in her 60s who was identified as having the disease on Saturday. Hunter New England Health public health physician, Dr David Durrheim, said the man in his 20s had been established as the source of infection for the family cluster.

"He works in the tourism industry and has extensive interaction with both local and foreign visitors to Australia, and that is likely how he contracted the COVID-19," Dr Durrheim said.

Live and breaking news updates: The coronavirus crisis in Newcastle and the Hunter

"Those related cases are in strict isolation at home."

Health staff were doing daily wellness checks with the family.

"All of their close contacts have been identified and found, and they are also doing a wonderful service to the community and putting themselves in strict home-isolation for 14 days since their last contact with the cases," Dr Durrheim said.

As a precaution, anyone who visited Oakvale Wines between March 4 and March 13, 2020, should be alert for fever or respiratory symptoms.

"If they develop any of these symptoms, they should contact their GP or present to an emergency department," Dr Durrheim said. "There is no ongoing risk for visitors to Oakvale Wines."

At a press conference on Monday, NSW health minister Brad Hazzard insisted people did not have to avoid the Pokolbin winery.

"At Oakvale Wines there was an issue. I'm stressing that for each of these, once the risk has passed, there is no further risk," he said.

HNEH confirmed on Monday afternoon that another woman in her 60s, unrelated to the other cases, had also been diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19).

The woman had been admitted to hospital as a precaution for monitoring due to pre-existing health conditions.

"She is in a stable condition, but she has been admitted in strict isolation, and poses no risk at all at the John Hunter Hospital," Dr Durrheim said. "We are still investigating her possible source."

The number of cases in NSW now stands at 171 after 37 new cases in the 24 hours to 11am on Monday.

It was the biggest daily jump in cases since the outbreak began.

Mr Hazzard confirmed there had been a "dramatic increase" in COVID-19 cases since the weekend.

"It's starting to look as if we will see a fairly substantial, what some would understand to be an exponential increase, in numbers in the next few weeks," Mr Hazzard said.

As of Monday, there were 1282 cases under investigation in NSW.

Dr Durrheim said it was "clear" from the actions of the Australian Government and Prime Minister that Australia was doing "everything that should be done" to slow and contain the further spread of the virus.

"All of the social distancing measures that have already been implemented are appropriate, and I think we should expect if we see any further community spread over the next days and weeks that even more restrictive measures will be put in place," he said.

"This is all about saving the lives of people who are more vulnerable. We have seen overseas that particularly the elderly and those with underlying conditions are particularly vulnerable to infection with this virus, and this is almost an act of love by all of us - improving our own social distancing and taking on those respiratory hygiene measures, and being a bit inconvenienced.

"Things like shaking hands, for the moment, is a really ill-advised thing to do. It is much better to keep the 1.5 metre distance, and not shake hands.

"You're never sure where someone hands have been beforehand - they may have coughed or sneezed into their hands, and of course we are encouraging hand-washing multiple times in the day - particularly if one has been in contact with other people."

Dr Durrheim said we should expect more "stringent measures" would be put in place in coming months.

"And all of that is really focused on dampening the spread and making sure that vulnerable people don't suffer the consequences of this virus."

Dr Durrheim said they were working "very hard" across general practice, the emergency departments and the screening clinic at John Hunter to make sure that anybody who meets the "case definition" was assessed and, if necessary, tested.

It was possible there could be an "evolution of the rules" as the pandemic progressed.

"[On Sunday] there were over 100 people who were tested at the screening centre at the John Hunter," Dr Durrheim said.

"There is a huge burden of laboratory requests in at Sydney, and there is some delay in getting those results at the moment.

"But it is quite clear that GPs, EDs and members of the public are working together to make sure we diagnose cases early, and exclude cases too. There have been thousands of cases now excluded in NSW, which is what we want to see.

"I would imagine, particularly in areas where there may be local transmission, that there will be an adaptation of more broad screening of anybody with either fever or respiratory symptoms.

"At this stage, it is totally appropriate that every suspect case is tested. We want to make sure we almost over-test, we want to look for cases so we can home-isolate those cases, trace their contacts, and then home isolate them as well."

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