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Coronavirus: How long can the coronavirus survive on different surfaces?

NSW has recorded its first two cases of coronavirus in children aged under 10 including a two-month-old boy.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant today announced the state’s number of cases had climbed to 1029. That’s a rise of 211 from yesterday.

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“We have got two children that are under the age of 10 years have been confirmed on 24 March (Tuesday),” Dr Chant said.

“A two-month-old boy who was tested following close contact with a confirmed adult case and has had minimal symptoms and he's isolated at home.

“In a separate unrelated case, we have a seven-year-old girl who was tested following close contact with a confirmed adult case and, again, has minimal symptoms and isolated at home.”

NSW Health said the baby boy was in home isolation before his diagnosis.

Dr Chant said the youngest case recorded in the state prior to these two children was a 12-year-old.

About half of the state’s 1029 cases were “overseas acquired”, she said.

“We have a large number of cases under investigation – 279 – but we work incredibly hard in the morning to get that resolved by the afternoon so we have a true picture of the disease transmission in the community which is really the key element that we're trying to understand.”

Australia’s total number of cases passed 1000 on Saturday. Now that figure has been recorded in NSW alone.

"Even though we have had over 1000 cases now, the number of people hospitalised out of those 1000 cases is still relatively small and that's how we want to keep it," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said this morning.



Queensland Health last Thursday confirmed a one-year-old child had tested positive for coronavirus.

In an interview with ABC News Breakfast this morning, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt was asked why schools in most states remain open given the virus is now being identified in children, such as the seven-year-old girl.

NSW Health said the girl did not attend school while symptomatic.

“The medical advice is very, very clear that nobody, nobody, nobody, is immune, but that children are far less likely to catch and far less likely to have significant impacts,” he said.

“And against that background, the view of the medical advice is that in many ways, schools are a safer place than mixing kids in shopping centres.”

