The week-long lockdown imposed on NSW regions last weekend will be reviewed by crisis cabinet as the COVID-19 outbreak gripping the state entrenches itself in rural communities.
But, for those living in the Hunter, don’t hold your breath on an early exit.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said it was “premature to have that conversation” on the day NSW notched up a record 633 new infections and he predicted a spike in indigenous communities in the west.
Seventeen of the 23 cases recorded in western NSW were in Dubbo, with the remainder in Mudgee, Narromine and Gilgandra.
After the first case was recorded in outback Broken Hill on Monday, there are now four others in the state’s far west, with three in Wilcannia and one in Bourke.
The government imposed a snap seven-day lockdown for rural NSW last weekend, plunging the entire state into stay-at-home mode in order to quell the spread of the virus.
Mr Barilaro conceded the numbers had been going the wrong way ever since.
“So, it’s a 50-50 call, one that the crisis committee will make (and) one that we’ll absolutely be upfront with the community sooner rather than later,” he said.
It comes as Australian Defence Force (ADF) troops arrived in Dubbo, as well as Newcastle, on Wednesday 18 August as the crisis escalated and authorities pleaded for people to get vaccinated, stay home and comply with strict state-wide lockdown measures.
The Hunter registered a further 15 new cases of COVID-19 overnight, with 10 of the infections in the Newcastle LGA, three in Lake Macquarie LGA and two in Maitland LGA.
“It is clear that this issue in central and western NSW is where our focus and our priority is and the message for everybody is to follow the stay at home orders, cut down mobility,” Mr Barilaro said.
The ADF will work with local health authorities to help vaccinate and test people, conduct welfare doorknocks and compliance checks.
Seventy-three fines were issued in the Hunter today.
“I expect it [cases] to spike and I expect it to continue to be a problem,” Mr Barilaro said.
“And, that is why we locked down all of regional and rural NSW because it was the only way we could contain this.”
Fragments of the virus have been found in sewage treatment plants at Yamba on the north coast as well as Bathurst, west of the Blue Mountains, and Orange in the Central Tablelands.
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