Another 12 people have died from COVID-19 in NSW as the state recorded 1351 new cases in the past 24 hours.
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Ten of today's 12 fatalities, six men and six women, were not vaccinated.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard also advised that due to changing conditions, two local government areas - Lismore and Albury - would return to lockdown at 6pm for seven days.
"Suffice to say there have been positive cases in both areas," Mr Hazzard said. "I'm just warning the community it may be longer... if local residents don't come out in great numbers to get tested."
There was a confirmed case in Lismore in northern NSW reported overnight and a further 44 cases in the Illawarra taking the total caseload to 502.
He said in Western NSW, there are now 1004 cases in total, 27 of them reported overnight. They came from Dubbo (12), Bathurst (6), Walgett (6), Bourke (2) and Wellington (1).
There were two more at Broken Hill, 16 new cases across the Hunter-New England and 23 cases on the Central Coast.
He also added there were three cases in Southern NSW, one in Yass, one in Bomberra and one in Queanbeyan as well as two in the Southern Highlands.
There have been 210 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since mid-June 16 and 266 in total since the start of the pandemic.
There are 1,231 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 231 people in intensive care, 108 of whom are on ventilators.
The breakdown of the 1,351 locally acquired cases reported last night is:
- 453 are from South Western Sydney
- 337 are from Western Sydney
- 163 are from Sydney
- 154 are from South Eastern Sydney
- 59 are from Nepean Blue Mountains
- 44 are from Illawarra Shoalhaven
- 37 are from Northern Sydney
- 27 are from Western NSW
- 23 are from Central Coast
- 16 are from Hunter New England
- three are from Southern NSW
- two from Far West
- one is from Northern NSW
- 18 are in correctional settings
- and 14 cases are yet to be assigned.
Sewage detections have been made at the Gunnedah, Inverell and Hunter Karuah sewage treatment plants, Coffs Harbour, Cowra, Young and Narooma.
Mid North Coast Local Health District is urging anyone with even the mildest of symptoms to get tested for COVID-19 following the detection of fragments of the virus in sewage samples taken from Coffs Harbour treatment plant on 13 September.
There are no new COVID-19 cases anywhere in the Mid North Coast Local Health District.
The Coffs Harbour sewage treatment plant serves about 57,400 residents from the urban areas of Coffs Harbour.
Testing sewage can help provide early warning of undetected infections in an area. This is of particular concern in Coffs Harbour where there are no known cases of COVID-19.
Detection of virus fragments in sewage can also be due to shedding of the virus by someone who may have previously had the illness and may no longer be infectious.
It can also be the result of a person with COVID-19 who may have visited the community and has since left the area.
We strongly encourage people in the Coffs Harbour area to remain vigilant and get tested if symptoms appear.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include a runny nose, scratchy or sore throat, cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, nausea, diarrhoea or muscle aches.
A full list of COVID-19 testing clinic locations and opening hours are listed on the NSW Government website at: www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/health-and-wellbeing/clinics
"I would encourage the community to continue to get tested with any symptoms whatsoever. Health needs that information in order to be able to make the decisions that are undertaken to keep us safe," Mr Hazzard said.
Eight and a half million people have had at least one vaccine. About 129,266 tests were conducted within the community yesterday.