Coronavirus Sydney: COVID-19 testing rates by suburb

As the government urges more people to get tested for COVID-19, new data has revealed the Sydney suburbs where the most people are getting swabbed for the deadly virus. SEE THE TESTING RATES IN YOUR SUBURB.

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As the NSW Government encourages more people to get tested for COVID-19 in a bid to stop the spread, new data has revealed just how many people are heeding the call.

One Sydney suburb has had thousands of people tested for the highly infectious virus and hundreds test positive but a string of suburbs in regional NSW have more people flocking to testing clinics than the city.

The data from NSW Health reveals that the state government’s testing campaign has been a roaring success with the top three areas with the highest testing rates also on the list of suburbs where more people are being urged to come forward.

The highest rates of COVID-19 testing in NSW are in Sydney’s south east after authorities launched pop-up testing in Bondi to combat an outbreak in the area. Picture: Saeed Khan

In total, more than 140,000 people across NSW have been tested for the virus.

Sydney’s south eastern suburbs stretching from Paddington to Bondi, Randwick through to Kogarah, Hurstville and Sutherland have the highest number of people testing with more than 2300 people getting tested per 100,000. In total, more than a sixth of the state’s tests – or 22,260 people – have rushed to clinics for a swab in the area.

The region also has the highest positive testing rate in the state with almost 3 per cent of COVID-19 swabs – or 658 people – coming up positive.

Northern Sydney – spanning Greenwich, Manly, Ryde, Macquarie, Hornsby and further north – follows closely with the second-highest testing rates in the state with 21,627 people testing for the virus.

South Western Sydney – from Fairfield down to Liverpool, Bankstown, Campbelltown and Bowral – has the third highest COVID-19 testing rates in the state with more than 1,500 tests per 100,000 residents and a total of 15,920 people testing.

Sydney COVID-19 testing rates

1. South Eastern Sydney – 22,260 – 2.96% positive

2. Northern Sydney – 21,627 – 2.36% positive

3. Western Sydney – 17,089 – 1.56% positive

4. South Western Sydney – 15,920 – 1.39% positive

5. Sydney – 12,598 – 1.79% positive

Rate of COVID-19 laboratory tests – NSW Source: NSW Health

Both South Eastern and Northern Sydney have the two highest positive testing rates across the state but surprisingly it’s southern NSW – from Crookwell to Bega – that has the third highest rate of positive test results in NSW despite having one of the lowest number of tests across NSW with just 2,474.

COVID-19 laboratory tests Source: NSW Health

In regional NSW, the Hunter New England region from Tenterfield down to Singleton has the most tests being undertaken followed by Northern NSW Tweed to Grafton and the Mid North Coast all the way from Coffs Harbour down to Port Macquarie.

COVID-19 testing rates in regional NSW

1. Hunter New England – 15,190 – 1.82% positive

2. Northern NSW – 3,392 – 1.59% positive

3. Mid North Coast – 3,328 – 1.5% positive

4. Western NSW – 3,095 – 1.36% positive

5. Southern NSW – 2,474 – 2.14% positive

6. Murrumbidgee – 2,430 – 1.89% positive

7. Far West – 383 – 0.52% positive

The positive signs come after the NSW Government called for health authorities to relax COVID-19 testing criteria in a string of suburbs where outbreaks emerged without a known source of infection.

Health authorities are now calling on people who live in or have visited the Blacktown, Byron, Cumberland, Taree, Inner West, Lake Macquarie, Liverpool, Penrith, Randwick, Ryde, Waverley or Woollahra local government areas to get tested if they have been exposed to the virus or suspect they have the virus.

It comes as the suburbs across NSW with the most COVID-19 infections are revealed as

Bondi and surrounds continues to be the worst-affected with the highest number of infections in the state.

A total of 2886 people across the state have been diagnosed with the deadly disease and 26 people have died.

Originally published as Coronavirus Sydney: COVID-19 testing rates by suburb