There are fears dozens of elderly people may have been exposed to coronavirus after a Sydney aged care worker has been confirmed as the latest case.

The 50-year-old woman tested positive for COVID-19 last night, despite not having travelled anywhere overseas recently.

The woman has been working at a Macquarie Park nursing home in Sydney’s north.

BREAKING: 50 year old woman who contracted Coronavirus was a staff member at a Macquarie Park nursing home. @9NewsAUS

— Chris O’Keefe (@cokeefe9) March 3, 2020

Nine News reporter Chris O’Keefe broke the news with Ray Hadley, saying the elderly patients are particularly vulnerable.

“She caught it in Australia, so she wasn’t coming back from China or Korea or Japan or Iran.

“She is a staff member at a Macquarie Park nursing home and has been essentially working in this nursing home for the last two weeks.”

The mortality rate for coronavirus is less than three per cent across the general population but jumps to 15 per cent for anyone over the age of 80 who has the disease.

It comes at the same time as a doctor at nearby Ryde Hospital was confirmed to have coronavirus.

NSW Health is tracking anyone who came into contact with the 53-year-old man and has placed 40 staff members into home isolation.

Chris O’Keefe tells Ray it’s unclear if the two cases are linked.

“We don’t know but it’s interesting the proximity. It’s only a couple of kilometres away.

“It seems to be a bit of a cluster around there at the moment. You hope we’re not seeing a spread of it in this part of the world.”

New South Wales now makes up almost half of the 40 confirmed cases in Australia, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison is urging the public not to panic.

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Image: Getty/Anadolu Agency