NSW Pharmacy Guild president David Heffernan returns negative result

NSW Pharmacy Guild president David Heffernan returned a negative result on Friday after being instructed to isolate for 14 days on Thursday.

Mr Heffernan attended a function in Sydney on Tuesday night that was also attended by NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall, who has since tested positive for COVID-19.

Mr Heffernan then drove to Canberra on Wednesday, where he attended a different function alongside several political figures.

He then went to the Kingston Hotel with a group of parliamentary staffers and politicians on Wednesday night.

Mr Heffernan said he had been preparing to leave his hotel for Parliament House on Thursday morning when he saw it reported that Mr Marshall had tested positive.

He immediately contacted health authorities and was instructed to return to his home on the NSW South Coast, get tested and isolate for 14 days.

An ACT government spokeswoman said ACT Health was in regular contact with NSW Health and would update the community if there was any potential risk of COVID-19 infection, including new exposure sites or positive cases.

"There are no positive cases in the ACT or new exposure locations at this time," she said.

"Any person who is contacted by a health official should follow the health advice and guidance provided to them."

"With significant movement between the ACT and NSW, there is always a risk of people having been in contact with a positive COVID-19 case. People should follow Covid-safe behaviours and use [the Check In CBR app] when they visit venues.

Mr Heffernan said he had been getting in touch with everybody he could think of that he had contact with since the Tuesday-night event.

"Many of them are in the queue to get tested," he said.

Mr Heffernan said he didn't have any symptoms of COVID-19.

Earlier on Thursday, Leader of the House Peter Dutton advised MPs that the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, was not attending question time while he sought medical advice.

But just minutes later, Mr Joyce entered the House of Representatives chamber to take up his position in the Prime Minister's usual seat.

The Nationals leader did not address the issue when he answered a question from a government member.

Speaker Tony Smith invited him to clarify the situation.

"Shortly before question time I was alerted that I may have been in contact with a person who was a close contact with a case," Mr Joyce said.

"I immediately sought further information and advice from [the] deputy chief medical officer, Professor Michael Kidd."

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