Regional NSW has recorded its biggest spike in new COVID-19 cases while Bourke and Mudgee join Dubbo and Walgett as communities with active cases.

Up to 8pm on Sunday 15 August there were 35 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD), 32 of which are located in Dubbo and three in Mudgee.

One of the newly recorded Mudgee cases actually resides in Sydney but was included because they have an address in the area.

This brings the total number of active cases of COVID-19 in the WNSWLHD to 98. 91 are located in Dubbo, four are in Walgett and three are in Mudgee. 

A new case was also identified at Bourke overnight, who will be included in tomorrow's numbers. The WNSWLHD has confirmed the case is a man and is in hospital, though was yet to confirm whether or not he was a local resident.

Another patient in Dubbo hospital has also been admitted. Neither patient is in intensive care.

According to WNSWLHD Chief Executive, investigations and contact tracing relating to all cases are still ongoing, and more close and casual contacts may be identified.

"Very worryingly, the vast majority were infectious in the community prior to their diagnosis - a lot of extensive contacts have been identified," Mr McLachlan said.

"The large proportion of our total cases are Aboriginal, particularly in Dubbo and Walgett, and around 40 per cent of the cases are aged between 10 and 19.

"This Delta strain is spreading very quickly between people, the more people have contact, the more the thing spreads, so please minimise your contact with other people, stay at home wherever possible and for kids, please minimise contact with other kids."

Several venues of concern have also been identified, taking the total to 57 across the WNSWLHD, though further sites and more details may be added as investigations continue.  

49 of these are in Dubbo, four are in Mudgee, two are in Orange, one is in Bathurst and one is in Walgett. The full list of venues of concern is available on the NSW Health website. 

Anyone who is deemed a close contact must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they attended the venue of concern, regardless of test result. 

Anyone who is deemed a casual contact should immediately isolate, get tested and stay in isolation until a negative result is received.

The Stay At Home orders which were imposed on all of regional NSW from 5pm on Saturday 14 August, have also been extended from Thursday 19 August to 12.01am on Sunday 22 August. 

Virus fragments have been detected in sewage samples taken from Bourke and Parkes on Friday 13 August, Walgett on Thursday 12 August, Bathurst, Parkes and Dubbo on Wednesday 11 August, and Bourke on Tuesday 10 August. 

Up to 8pm last night, there had been 58,077 tests conducted in the WNSWLHD in the last four weeks, which Mr McLachlan said was a very impressive result.

However, he reiterated that a continuous high rate of testing was crucial for the district. Anyone with symptoms related to COVID-19 should arrange to be tested and self-isolate until they receive their results.  

Click here for a full list of testing locations (both walk-in and drive-through) across the WNSWLHD.

In most cases, people will receive their results within 72 hours. People waiting longer than 72 hours are encouraged to contact the WNSWLHD public health team between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday on 1300 066 055. 

The WNSWLHD has also announced a new allocation of additional 2000 Pfizer doses this week which will be distributed in areas where they are needed most, including Dubbo and Walgett, with plans to allocate them elsewhere in the region where possible.

Almost 1000 vaccines have now been administered at the Walgett vaccination pop-up clinic since Friday.

For more information about COVID-19 in NSW, including some handy links, check out our in-app COVID-19 button.