Although several Western Plains townships remain on alert for potential spread of COVID-19, recent testing is yet to identify any further cases in most areas.

The only town in the Western Plains to record further cases up to 8pm last night (Sunday 28 November) was Coonabarabran, which had one new case. This takes the total number of cases in the current cluster to 42.

The township has been highly active in community testing since the first case emerged after Friday 19 November. Since Thursday 25 November, 579 tests have been conducted in the Warrumbungle shire.

A daily Coonabarabran drive-through testing clinic remains active at Pruggers Bus Shed, Gardener Street between 8:15am and 1pm to identify further cases.

Molong was the only other town in the Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) with confirmed cases of COVID-19 after recording two cases yesterday.

There have been no further signs of infection in the towns of Coonamble or Lightning Ridge, both of which recorded a single case on Friday 26 November. Since Thursday 25 November, there have been 207 tests conducted in Lightning Ridge while just 27 tests have been conducted in Coonamble since Friday.

Further west, Cobar has also seen a spike in testing after recording its first case in a long time on Sunday 28 November. Since Friday, the town has seen 114 people come forward to get tested.

When asked about the newfound spread of the virus in multiple communities across the Western Plains, a WNSWLHD spokesperson said it was important to understand how easy it is for the virus to spread especially now that travel restrictions around the state have been lifted.

"As movements in and between communities increase, so too will the risk of COVID-19 transmission - the best protection against transmission, and against serious illness in the event of transmission, is vaccination," the spokesperson said.

No active COVID cases have been admitted to hospital since early November while discharged patients from the WNSWLHD's COVID Care in the Community program continue to remain steady. In the past 24 hours, a further two people were discharged while 112 remain in care.

More information about COVID-19 in NSW, including several handy links, can be found through our in-app COVID-19 button.