A public school in Sydney will be shut on Friday after it emerged that a 16-year-old student had tested positive for coronavirus.

The patient is in Year 11 at Epping Boys High School in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs.

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In a statement released by NSW Health on Thursday evening, it was confirmed that the school will be closed for one day to enable the school community and health officials to work through a containment strategy.

Students and staff at the school are advised to stay at home and self-isolate over the weekend.

The school would provide a further update over the weekend, NSW Health said.

First school closure

At this stage is not known how the student contracted the virus or if any other students or staff are infected.

It is the first school in NSW to close because of coronavirus.

The case brings the number of confirmed cases in NSW to 25.

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“We are immediately establishing contact with all new cases and their families, as well as their close contacts and advising them to self-isolate for 14 days, monitor their health and be tested for COVID-19 should they become unwell,” NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

The other two newly confirmed cases include a 94-year-old patient at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge and a NSW resident from Goulburn who returned from Singapore on February 28 before travelling to Darwin.