Dubbo residents will remain in lockdown until at least August 28.
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The NSW government made the announcement on Thursday to bring regional NSW in line with Greater Sydney. Of the state's 681 confirmed cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Wednesday, 25 were from the Western region.
Twenty-one additional cases were confirmed in Dubbo, and four in Mudgee. To be included in Thursday's numbers were a case in Gilgandra and one in Bourke. The total across the Western NSW LHD is 167.
Eight people are in hospital in Dubbo, four are children staying with a parent, and one is in intensive care. The vast majority of cases are young - aged from 10 to 35.
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There are now 89 venues of concern, 70 are in Dubbo.
Testing numbers across the region have dropped, causing concern for health authorities who are desperate to get on top of the pandemic.
The scene at testing clinics at Dubbo Showground, Pioneer Park and Myall Street on Thursday were in stark contrast to the rest of this week, when residents were waiting two hours or more to get swabbed.
"We've seen a 2000 drop [in testing numbers] from the previous three and four days so I really would encourage everyone to come out and get tested if you've got any symptoms," Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan said.
Dubbo saw about 3900 tests done and 8000 across the region. However, Mr McLachlan said more staff had returned to work at the Pathology unit, after earlier this week saw two identified as close or casual contacts, forcing many into isolation.
"We have seen quite a few of the staff return to the pathology lab so it is back up and running, we do expect some faster turnaround times," he said.
"Yesterday we saw a lot of the tests taken to both Orange and down to Westmead with record turnaround times."
Meanwhile, the extent of the impact on local schools is becoming clearer, with Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders revealing the number of staff and students forced into isolation.
The most impacted schools remain closed:
- Dubbo College South Campus - 716 student close contacts, 113 staff
- Orana Heights Public School - 672 student close contacts, 88 staff
- Dubbo West Public School - 452 student close contacts, 74 staff.
Other schools are open for children of essential workers, but 98 per cent of Dubbo students are learning from home.
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