Indigenous areas on high alert as case numbers rise

Covid-19 case numbers continue to climb in NSW’s west including in largely Indigenous Wilcannia, which now has almost 50 cases.

Wilcannia police officers and an ADF member check Covid compliance. Picture: Chris Pavlich

Covid-19 case numbers continue to climb in NSW’s west, including in the remote, largely Indigenous community of Wilcannia which now has almost 50 cases, as the Berejiklian government extended the lockdown across regional NSW by a further two weeks amid fears the regions are “a tinderbox ready to explode”.

A total of 35 new infections were recorded in the Western NSW Local Health District on Thursday, including 25 in Dubbo, three in Orange, two in Bathurst, two in Bourke and one case each in Forbes, Mudgee and Parkes, bringing the number of active cases in the region to 320.

There were also six new cases in the Far West Local Health District, including one in Broken Hill and five in Wilcannia, a mostly Aboriginal community with a population of about 745 residents, where the total case numbers now stands at 49.

Australian Defence Force personnel, who were deployed to western NSW this week to help health officials stop the rapid spread of Covid-19 through vulnerable Indigenous communities, joined local authorities on the ground to drive up vaccination rates in Wilcannia.

“Our teams are in Wilcannia today, going door to door asking anybody who wants a vaccination to come forward and get it,” NSW Police western region commander Geoff McKechnie said.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro defended the extension of the lockdown across regional NSW until September 10, adding that sewage surveillance was now under way in Cooma, Merimbula and Tamworth which had previously been clear for two weeks.