NSW has recorded four new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the state's Southern Highlands, with a school and childcare centre closed for cleaning.
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With nine NSW infections in total in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, the four community cases included one with its source under investigation and three that were known contacts of that case.
Five cases were uncovered in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
The locally-acquired cases were uncovered in Moss Vale, with Moss Vale Public School and Southern Highlands Early Childhood Centre shut on Friday for cleaning and contact tracing. One case attended the school and another the childcare centre.
NSW Health's Dr Jeremy McAnulty said Moss Vale residents needed to be on high alert for COVID-19 symptoms and seek testing even with mild symptoms.
The NSW Department of Education said in a statement contact tracing had been completed at the public school but a date had not yet been set for a return to campus.
Close contacts of the case would be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
Meanwhile, NSW residents can now freely travel to the Apple Isle after Tasmania opened its border to Australia's most populous state for the first time in more than seven months.
The change removes the need for people travelling south from NSW to quarantine.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian this week ramped up the pressure on her counterparts in WA and Queensland to follow suit in order to avoid the "devastating impact" of job losses.
This followed her announcement NSW will from November 23 open to people from Victoria.
"It's about people who can't see families, businesses who are shutting down, and it's really serious ... I just want it fixed," Ms Berejiklian told 2GB radio on Friday.
Budget airline Jetstar in a statement on Friday said it had sold about 25,000 plane tickets between NSW and Victoria in the first 48 hours after Ms Berejiklian's announcement - one third for flights in the first seven days after November 23.
Victoria has recorded seven consecutive days of no COVID-19 cases.
NSW Health this week said while NSW had low numbers of locally-transmitted cases, the upcoming holiday period would present the challenge of increased gatherings.
The department on Thursday also called on people from southwest Sydney to get tested if they developed COVID-like symptoms after traces of the virus were found in sewage in the area.
One COVID-19 patient in NSW is in intensive care and being ventilated.
Australian Associated Press
