As newly announced cases of COVID-19 in the Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) jump back into double digits, health authorities warn there will be even further growth from next week as the regions re-open.

Up to 8pm last night (Thursday 7 October), 16 cases were identified in the WNSWLHD, one of which was from the Bourke LGA.

Other cases across the region were from Dubbo (six), Bathurst (five), Orange (one) and Oberon (one). Two of them, including the one in Bourke, had been infectious in the community.

WNSWLHD Chief Executive Scott McLachlan said several new cases in Walgett were also identified overnight and this morning which had been infectious in the community.

"A significant number of new cases have come in in Walgett - we know there have been people infectious in the community in the past few days, so I encourage more people to come forward and get tested," Mr McLachlan said.

Further venues of concern, including ones in Bourke and Trangie, have been added to the statewide list which is regularly updated and can be found on the NSW Health website.

Detections in Lightning Ridge and Brewarrina

Mr McLachlan also reiterated it was "a matter of urgency" for members of the Lightning Ridge community to come forward for testing.

He said there had now been almost three weeks of positive sewerage tests - indicating there was someone in the community with COVID - but health services were still yet to identify any new cases.

"We also have a new positive sewerage test result in Brewarrina - these are two locations we thought we'd got on top of but have now cropped up again, so I'd like to see a lot more people in both locations come forward for testing, even if you don't have symptoms," he said.

"Disappointingly, tests across the region in the past 24 hours have dropped below 2200 - this is really concerning and a lot lower than what we want to see.

Testing is currently available across the LHD in various multi-purpose health services. A list of pop-up testing locations and times in current areas of concern can also be found here.

According to Mr McLachlan, despite the increase in case numbers, more people were continuing to recover from their COVID infections.

Another 30 patients were discharged from the government's COVID Care in the Community program, with a total of 293 currently still being supported.

Nine patients are being cared for in hospital, with two of these still in intensive care and one on ventilation. Mr McLachlan said the vast majority of these patients were unvaccinated.

Vaccination numbers were also low across the region yesterday, with about 491 attending the various pop-up clinics in the past 24 hours.

Responsibility falls to you

Mr McLachlan said vaccination and regular testing were going to be crucial across the district over the next few weeks as government restrictions begin to ease from Monday 11 October.

"(Having restrictions eased) does present a lot of opportunity for economic recovery - I think the changes are necessary for us as a society - but it does raise the risk of COVID spreading across our communities," he said.

"I do want to remind everybody we're all responsible for what we do from next week - that will determine exactly how far it spreads.

"With many changes coming over the next weeks and months, what we do as community members is going to be so crucial in stopping that.

"So please wear a mask where appropriate, take care when interacting with other people, get tested on a regular basis and consider the level of risk and changes coming for our communities."

Updated information on COVID-19 across the region, including several helpful links, can be found through our in-app COVID-19 button.