Warnings from the Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) that COVID was far from disappearing in the state's west has been proven true with the region recording almost three times as many new cases compared to the previous day.

Despite a newly discovered case in the Narromine LGA the area will still emerge from lockdown at midnight tonight due to not being infectious in the community.

However, authorities say this and other LGAs now out of stay-at-home orders should not consider this a time to celebrate.

Up to 8pm last night, a total of 32 cases were recorded in the WNSWLHD, 10 from the Bourke LGA and one in Narromine. The remainder were from Wellington (eight), Dubbo (two), Mudgee (two) and Cowra (nine).

WNSWLHD Chief Executive Scott McLachlan said this was a clear indication that though Western NSW had seen fewer cases in recent days, it was "a sobering reminder of how quickly things can change".

"(There are) a couple of locations of real concern across the district and some of those connected to the releasing of stay-at-home orders where people have moved around really freely and started to go back to the way things were 18, 24 months ago might have been," Mr McLachlan said.

"It's a real warning that any day of the week our communities can see an outbreak that can happen very quickly and grow to a scale of what we saw in Dubbo around seven weeks ago. This kicked off an event that we're still dealing with the impacts of today."

New venues of concern continue to be updated as investigations from WNSWLHD teams continue. The full list of venues of concern across the region can be found on the NSW Health website.

Warning to LGAs out of lockdown

The new case in Narromine is currently being considered low risk meaning the region will still exit stay-at-home orders at 12.01am on Thursday 25 September.

Mr McLachlan and new Western Region Commander for NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Brett Greentree said they and their teams were particularly concerned about communities out of lockdown flaunting their newfound freedoms, particularly mask-wearing at licenced venues.

"A term that has been coined (in these communities) is to 'celebrate' getting out of lockdown - the lockdowns aren't a punishment, they’ve been an opportunity to help protect everybody," Mr McLachlan said.

"We've lost too many lives through this - if you're going out this weekend in any of the locations, to a pub to a club, to a restaurant, those indoor venues are no less risky than going to a supermarket. If you think it's a time to sit around for hours on end without a mask on and just flaunt the things that have been so effective in keeping us safe, then we've all got a real risk."

"We know the (public health orders) are tough - we all feel it, we all suffer but we have to comply with them to stop the spread of this virus," Assistant Commissioner Greentree said.

"If you have a drink in your mouth, or you're eating you won't have your mask on, I get that, but as soon as you’re finished doing that, please do not sit around without your mask on and pretend you're dining."

Assistant Commissioner Greentree also said police would be highly vigilant for breaches of the public health orders at licensed venues in communities out of lockdown this weekend and reiterated members of each community in the region were constantly reporting breaches to NSW Police through CrimeStoppers.

Testing still just as important

Testing saw a small jump back up to around 2800 tests in the past 24 hours. Mr McLachlan said the recently introduced surveillance testing across the region had seen a roughly 20-30 per cent increase in the testing rates, though it was still less than double what he wanted to see.

"We’re still around a quarter of what we were around three or four weeks ago - I certainly don't think (the new cases) are because of the increased testing rates," he said.

"What we're seeing is the seeding of covid in a community and spread in some public environments and between households where people are definitely moving, even under stay-at-home orders."

Ongoing sewerage testing across the region has again found a positive result in Lightning Ridge, prompting further calls for all residents in the area to come forward and get tested as soon as possible.

An updated list of pop-up testing locations across the WNSWLHD, all of which now offer surveillance testing, can be found here.

For all the latest information about COVID-19 across NSW, including several handy links, be sure to check out our in-app COVID-19 button.