Armidale's latest recorded COVID-19 case has proven to be a false alarm.
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The Armidale resident, who was in Mudgee when they tested positive to coronavirus on Friday, has since returned two negative tests, according to Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall.
NSW Health raised the false alarm on Friday after the resident returned what later proved to be a false positive test.
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The case was unlinked to any known positive cases, and was infectious in the community, generating some 27 close contacts.
Health officials had been waiting on a secondary test, before confirming the case, after Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced on Friday that there had been a case in Armidale.
The man who works in the aviation industry initially tested positive following a routine test on Monday at the Laverty drive-through site at Armidale Airport.
On Wednesday he left Armidale for work in Mudgee in Central West NSW.
The first result came back positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, but Western NSW Local Health District in Mudgee conducted a second test on the man.
On Saturday, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said that second test, and a third, returned negative results for COVID-19.
"It's been confirmed by NSW Health that the Armidale resident (currently in Mudgee) who was initially thought to be COVID positive, has returned two negative test results," Mr Marshall said.
He said the initial sample was retested, along with the secondary sample.
Close contacts of the man had also been tested and told to isolate, but with the second test coming back negative, Mr Marshall said those 27 contacts have had their classification revoked as well.
The man would have been Armidale's fifth COVID-19 case in a month.
On Saturday, Glen Innes recorded a positive sewerage result after a COVID-19 test, and Tamworth recorded its fourth in a row, despite a lack of known coronavirus cases in either community.
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