No new COVID case in Orange or Central West, Molong on alert

Western NSW Local Health District CEO Scott McLachlan expressed his dismay at the report that the owners of the former Orange Bunnings site are considering legal action over the temporary testing hub that was set up in the car park during the seven-day lockdown.

"I am absolutely gobsmacked that somebody in the middle of a pandemic and a crisis like we faced in the Central West in the last couple of weeks would consider that having a drive-through testing clinic in a car park outside a facility was at any risk to the facility, which was totally vacant," he said.

He said it was his understanding Department of Health procured the site with help from Orange City Council, and the owners were open and willing for it to happen.

Mr McLachlan there were no new cases of COVID-19 in the Central West and that a positive case who comes from Bathurst has not entered the region.

"We're happy to confirm in the last 24-hours we haven't seen any new COVID cases identified in Western NSW but we do still have one active case that's being managed in the region," he said.

That active case is a Molong man who contracted the virus at Blayney after coming into contact with an infected truck driver.

However, Mr McLachlan confirmed the Bathurst case that has been logged.

"That's not a person that is currently residing in our region or has been in our region while they were infectious, it's a resident of a location in our region but certainly hasn't been here through that infectious period," he said.

The case was listed in the Central West figures because the person has a residence within the region and that is the protocol used by NSW Health for recording positive cases.

However, Mr McLachlan said people still need to be aware that COVID-19 could still be in the community.

"We received in the last 24-hours the sewerage test taken on Friday, [it] came back showing fragments of COVID-19 in Molong again," he said.

"We've got drive-through testing clinics available at Molong at the old Railway Station [Tuesday] and [Wednesday] 10am to 2pm.

"It is a time for us to be incredibly cautious and aware that COVID is in our region and we have a real risk that people could be circulating it both within Molong or who has travelled through Molong.

"We've taken another sample yesterday and in the next 24 hours we expect to see it come back with a result."

According to figures from NSW Health, 16.7 per cent people in the Central West are fully vaccinated, one-in-six, and 40.4 per cent have had their first shot.

Mr McLachlan said about 1000 people a week are being vaccinated at vaccination hubs in Western NSW but he would like to see vaccination rates double what they are at the moment.

"We know that it will take some time to get to that stage, we know that through September and October there will be a much bigger supply of both Pfizer and Astra Zeneca and some of the other vaccines that are coming into the country," he said.

"We've stepped in quickly to make sure we've got a guaranteed supply of around 1000 doses of Pfizer over the next month that we will continue to deliver vaccination to both the people who have had one dose and need the second dose and any other priority groups," he said.

"We know that the general practice, Aborginal Medical Service and respiratory clinic private providers have access to a good supply of Pfizer."

He said public supplies of Astra Zeneca should be made available to people aged from 18 to 40 years of age later this week.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: