Active COVID-19 case listed in Orange LGA hasn't been in our community, says health district

The health website's map of Local Government Areas displays active case numbers and the total number of tests conducted in the last month.

However when users hover over the Orange LGA category, the display indicates there's one active case from a total of 15,010 tests.

Health authorities have confirmed the active case doesn't belong to Orange as the website is currently accumulating data based on people's home addresses, not where they currently reside.

Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan said on Tuesday the website is experiencing some difficulties in pin-pointing the exact locations of some cases, with Orange's mystery case likely attributed to one of the state's larger clusters, in Dubbo or in Sydney.

There have been similar cases of mystery numbers in Bathurst in the past, while currently there are case numbers in Brewarrina and Warren, and those cases, too, aren't in those specific LGAs.

Mr McLachlan said the health district was, as of August 17, not aware of any active cases in Orange, Brewarrina or Warren.

"There's a couple of things happening with the website, NSW Health, that does identify cases where their home location is in a community," Mr McLachlan said.

"That's the case for Brewarrina and Warren. Please, don't be concerned that there's a case in your community."

Still, Mr McLachlan said now was not the time to be complacent, with Dubbo's rising numbers - there's now 107 active cases in the Dubbo LGA, contributing the bulk of Western's 116 total cases - still a real concern for health officials.

"It's concerning, we are seeing new cases pop up in smaller towns around Dubbo. There's definitely spread there," Mr McLachlan said.

"We need to assume we have COVID in every community. Now's the time to keep everyone safe."

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