Indigenous man first Covid-related death in far west NSW

The 59-year-old was unvaccinated and had serious underlying health problems.

Broken Hill mayor Darriea Turley says the death is a ‘great concern’ for the community, and urged residents to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

An Indigenous man has become the first Covid-19 related death in Far West NSW, as case numbers continue to climb in regional parts of the state.

The 59-year-old was unvaccinated and had serious underlying health conditions.

He died at the Broken Hill Health Service hospital.

Broken Hill mayor Darriea Turley said the death was a “great concern” for the community, and she has urged residents to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to prevent further fatalities.

“We have many vulnerable communities we want to support, and there is still some vaccine hesitancy around that we need to get rid of,” she said.

“Get vaccinated, get tested and please, if you’re unwell, seek medical advice immediately.”

Eleven new cases were detected in Far West NSW on Friday, including nine in Broken Hill and two in Wilcannia, marking the highest daily total for the region in more than a week.

Just over 54.6 per cent of eligible residents in the area are fully vaccinated, lagging behind the state average of 57.8 per cent.

A spike in infections also was detected in the Western NSW Local Health District after 32 were recorded, up from 11 the day before.

Ten of the infections were in Bourke, nine in Cowra, 10 in Dubbo (eight of which were technically in Wellington), two in Mudgee and one case in Narromine, bringing the region’s total to 226 infections.

The new cases represented a significant number of Indigenous Australians, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation medical advisor Jason Agostino said.

He put the reason for the spike in cases down to household transmission.

“Most of the cases are spreading through households, when you’ve got homes with large numbers of people in them who don’t have other places to isolate if they get the virus,” he said.

“When you’ve got close contacts to a case, most people in the house will catch Covid if it’s the Delta strain – we’re seeing that in the city as well.”

But while regional health authorities cited grave concerns for the Indigneous community, southwest Sydney celebrated the highest level of first-dose vaccination in Aboriginal people of any region in NSW.

“Southwest Sydney is particularly proud at the targeted engagement we have had with our Aboriginal communities across southwest Sydney,” South West Sydney Local Health District allied health director Loretta Andersen said.

“We have worked closely with Aboriginal health and community leaders and services, and have the highest in-state rate for first doses for our Aboriginal people at over 75 per cent.”