The positive case was reportedly an essential worker who had travelled from southern Sydney to work on a construction site at the Goulburn Hospital, sparking debate over who should get exemptions to travel.

NSW Health has reported the man was infectious at the site on July 9 and has been in isolation since July 10. The site has reportedly been shut down.

ACT Health have so far not made any changes to health or travel advice in response to the positive case.

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A spokesperson said on Tuesday morning it was in the process of establishing whether any of the workers were from the ACT and were now in Canberra.

"ACT Health will be working with NSW Health and the Southern Local Health District this morning to identify any impact this may have on the ACT," a spokeswoman said.

"We will provide the community with updated information and advice if required. In the meantime, we remind any Canberran who has recently travelled in NSW to check the ACT COVID-19 website for exposure sites and get tested if you have even the mildest of symptoms of COVID-19."

Goulburn mayor Bob Kirk said the person who tested positive was a painter working on the construction of the new Goulburn Hospital.

"The COVID disease doesn't ask people if they have a travel exemption or not, it just attaches to whoever it can," he said on Tuesday.

"But I understand he is a painter ... I don't know how that qualifies as essential right now."

"I know there are more than a few painters around this place that could step up if needed."

NSW recorded another 89 cases of coronavirus overnight, 21 of which were infectious in the community prior to testing positive. A man in his 70s also died of COVID-19 on Monday. He was a resident of the eastern suburbs.

NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant told media on Tuesday that essential workers, from her perspective, were those who made up the health network.

"We have to balance having no work force," Dr Chant said. "This is about balancing competing risk and benefits."

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was first to confirm the NSW case in Goulburn, about an hour north from the ACT, during her address on Tuesday morning.

She stopped short of closing the border between Queensland and NSW, saying health experts would be monitoring the situation closely.

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