Two new overnight cases - one in Narromine and one in Gilgandra - will be included in tomorrow's numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in the Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD), prompting further concern of the virus being present in more regional communities.

In a press conference earlier today, WNSWLHD Chief Executive Scott McLachlan announced there were 18 new cases identified in the region up to 8pm on Monday 16 August. 16 are in Dubbo and two are in Bourke.

One of the Bourke cases had been announced yesterday after being identified between Sunday and Monday, with an additional case found during the day.

The new cases bring the total in the LHD to 116, 107 in Dubbo, four in Walgett, three in Mudgee and two in Bourke, 67 per cent of which identify as Aboriginal and 40 per cent are aged between 10 and 19.

Mr McLachlan also announced individual overnight cases in Gilgandra and Narromine, though he said neither were in the community while infectious.

However, he said he was increasingly concerned about more cases being identified outside the major hotspot of Dubbo.

"There's definitely spread around Dubbo, we've seen cases in Bourke, Walgett, Narromine, Gilgandra and other smaller communities in western NSW," he said.

"We need to assume that we have COVID in every community - now's the absolute time to keep each other safe, do all of the things like mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, checking into facilities with QR codes and just staying at home."

Two people have been admitted to hospital in the past 24 hours. Both are in Dubbo, one having transferred from Bourke today.

To deal with increasing pressure on regional hospital staff and ensure there are available hospital beds, should the need arise, non-urgent elective surgery has been postponed at several hospitals across the Western Plains, including Dubbo Base Hospital and the public hospitals in Bourke and Coonabarabran.

Mr McLachlan also confirmed today that the existing Public Health Orders - encouraging people to stay at home unless absolutely necessary - were being mostly adhered to across the region would remain in place until at least 12.01am on Sunday 22 August.

Several new venues of concern have also been announced, taking the total number to 65 across the WNSWLHD and includes locations in Dubbo, Mudgee, Orange, Bathurst and Walgett. The full list of venues of concern is available on the NSW Health website.

Testing has also been in high numbers, with a total of 62,450 - increasing by more than 4,000 over a 24 hour period - tests conducted over the past four weeks.

The WNSELHD have extended all their pop-up testing facilities to operate for the remainder of the week while increasing testing capacity in smaller, surrounding areas like Brewarrina, Coonamble, Collarenebri, Trangie, Lightning Ridge and Gilgandra.

People are advised to call their local hospital or MPS ahead of time.

Click here for a full list of currently available testing locations across the Western Plains.

Mr McLachlan said he was pleased to say vaccination numbers have been rising and the WNSWLHD would soon be receiving support from the Australian Defence Force to assist at pop-up vaccination clinics in Dubbo and several areas in north west NSW in the near future.

"We've got the ADF arriving in Dubbo today with five teams coming to help us vaccinate western NSW," he said.

"A couple of those teams will be focusing on a lot of our north-west remote smaller communities in coming weeks and three of those teams dedicated to Dubbo to help us stand up a walk-in vaccination hub at west Dubbo in Pioneer Park and a drive-through and walk-in clinic at the showground."

The Commonwealth Government has also announced the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) gave provisional approval to the Moderna vaccine, with supply scheduled to arrive in Australia from September.

According to Mr McLachlan, more information on the distribution of the Moderna vaccine in the WNSWLHD will be available in the coming days.

For more information about COVID-19 across NSW, check out our in-app COVID-19 button which includes several handy links to the latest health rules and how they impact the western region.