NSW Covid: The local government areas getting tested for Covid the most

A Covid test has been the thing on nearly everybody’s to do list in recent weeks — but which part of NSW has been getting tested the most? Find out where your area ranks.

A Covid test has been the thing on nearly everybody’s to do list in recent weeks as the Omicron outbreak spreads through NSW.

But new data from the state’s health department has revealed which areas of Sydney and beyond have been getting tested the most as cases continue to rise.

Figures on the number of Covid tests per local government area in the past month have revealed Canterbury-Bankstown in Sydney’s southwest has taken the highest number of PCR tests in NSW.

A drive-through Covid testing clinic at Chester Hill in Canterbury-Bankstown, which is the LGA with the highest Covid testing total over the holidays. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Robinson

Between December 1 and January 9, residents of the LGA were swabbed 220,631 times at NSW testing sites, according to the NSW Health data.

The Blacktown LGA in Western Sydney had the second highest test total with 21,4340 swabs, followed by the Sydney City LGA and Cumberland LGAs, where residents took 155,795 and 149,406 tests in the same time period.

The fifth highest total of tests in the past month went to the Northern Beaches, where 131,422 swabs were taken.

Members of the public and health workers at a pop up Covid testing clinic at Bondi Beach. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

It comes as 370,9906 tests were taken during the December 1 to January 9 period in NSW despite reduced hours at testing sites and long queues during the holiday season.

GREATER SYDNEY LGAS WITH THE MOST TESTS

1. Canterbury-Bankstown

2. Blacktown

3. Sydney

4. Cumberland

5. Northern Beaches

REGIONAL NSW LGAS WITH THE MOST TESTS

1. Central Coast

2. Lake Macquarie

3. Maitland

4. Shellharbour

5. Shoalhaven

The Covid-19 drive-through testing clinic at Willoughby Leisure Centre in North Sydney, which had one of the lowest testing rates in Greater Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Robinson

The Greater Sydney LGAs with the lowest testing rates was Hunters Hill, ranked 54th with only 14,337 tests, followed by Burwood with 17,026 and North Sydney with 28,686.

In regional NSW, the three LGAs with the lowest testing rates in the state were Brewarrina, Carrathool and Hay, which recorded just 232,318 and 338 swabs each.

But when it comes to postcode testing rates, residents of 2,170 in the south Liverpool LGA got tested the most in NSW.

People line up at a testing clinic in Randwick. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

From December 1 to January 9, people in the suburbs of Casula, Liverpool, Moorebank, Warwick Farm, Chipping Norton, Hammondville, Prestons and Lurnea were tested 58,294 times.

Residents of the 2145 postcode including Westmead, Greystanes and Wentworthville were tested 48,393 times, followed by the 2155 postcode of Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Bella Vista with 41,605 tests.

The 2560 postcode of Campbelltown and surrounds and 2148 code for the Blacktown area were the fourth and fifth areas with the highest number of residents getting tested, with totals of 39,706 and 37,053 respectively.

The postcode with the least tests was 2602, which incorporates parts of the ACT. There, there were only three tests taken.