Hunter New England Health has confirmed the individual was not infectious in the community, having been in isolation during that period.

The cause of the infection is also known, with officials revealing it is linked to the positive case from Narrabri that was announced on Thursday, September 9.

For these reasons, Deputy Premier John Barilaro stated in the media conference on Thursday that the local government area would be "unlikely" to be placed under lockdown.

"If that is the scenario that is in front of us, then I would say we are not going into lockdown for Gunnedah," he said.

"That's all explainable in the close contact to the Narrabri case, no major exposure and not in the community for a period, so if that all checks out, we won't be naming Gunnedah tomorrow [at the COVID press conference] that's for sure."

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Despite this, Gunnedah Shire Council mayor Jamie Chaffey is urging vigilance from his community.

He said people need to remain safe, and the scare acts as a perfect example of why people in regional communities should still get vaccinated.

"It reinforces just how important vaccinations are and just how timely the last three days have been of the Pfizer clinic here in Gunnedah, with more than 2400 people receiving the vaccination," he said.

"And we're calling out for all of the people within the Gunnedah community and the wider region to please, if you've not been vaccinated, give serious consideration to a vaccination."

He said he was hopeful the information about the positive COVID-19 case not being active in the community was correct, and the region would not be plunged back into lockdown having only come out of it last Saturday.

Health officials are not able to say whether the person was definitely the cause of COVID fragments being detected in Gunnedah sewage.

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