Orange COVID case did not breach health orders

On Tuesday it was reported that there had been one new case up to 8pm on Monday, a case that was infectious in the Orange community.

It was also confirmed that the person was a close contact of a Wellington case and that they had travelled outside of their home LGA.

But on Wednesday, Central West Police District Chief Inspector Peter Atkins confirmed that they had determined there was no breach from the man and that no fine had or would be handed out.

He added that Orange had zero COVID cases now residing within the LGA.

"Orange as of today has no COVID cases and hasn't had anything for two days, Chief Inspector Atkins said.

"There have been no change to our stay at home restrictions."

He said that the recent COVID patient was now recovering "elsewhere" outside the LGA, although the specifics were not revealed.

MP Phil Donato said that he was informed that the man who tested positive resided "around Spring Hill", although Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan would not confirm where in the Orange LGA the man was from.

Mr McLachlan did provide an update on how quickly rapid antigen testing would be available in Western NSW.

"The rapid antigen testing capabilities are being improved. There's new information that's been available around the future of rapid antigen testing," he said.

"That will see in-home testing become available in weeks and months that will provide another arm to our surveillance to help us understand where COVID might be circulating."

"Please don't hesitate, even if you don't have symptoms to come forward and get tested and think about doing that on a regular basis. Whether it's a Thursday afternoon, Saturday morning, whatever works for you, it's a step that we'll need to take across the region to help us get in front of the spread of COVID."

The Western NSW Local Health District recorded 24 new cases of COVID up to 8pm Tuesday night.

None of the new cases were in Orange, Cabonne or Blayney, after all three LGAs recorded new cases earlier this week.

The 24 new cases for Western NSW were identified in Wellington (16), Cowra (5), Oberon (2) and Walgett (1).

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