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The Central New South Wales town of Dubbo will go into lockdown for one week from 1pm today after two cases of COVID-19 were detected in the region overnight.
The town is the latest regional NSW hub to see the virus enter the community from Sydney, and joins the local government areas (LGAs) of Byron Bay, Lismore, Ballina, Richmond Valley, Tamworth, Armidale, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Cessnock in lockdown.
“As has been foreshadowed, in Dubbo there were two cases overnight, and that follows…our health experts have told us a few days ago there was some sewage detection in Dubbo,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
“Sewage detection has been a good way of identifying or pre-empting where there may be cases.”
As such, everyone in Dubbo must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave.
They also cannot have visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends.
People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers' responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together.
Today the Premier also announced there were no new cases in Armadale, Tamworth or the Northern Rivers which represent “positive signs”.
However, with the Hunter New England region reporting 14 new cases today the Premier believes it is unlikely that area will come out of lockdown as planned later this week.
In total NSW reported 344 cases of community transmission today, of which 143 were in isolation throughout their entire infectious period, 36 were isolating for part of their infectious period, and 65 were infectious in the community. The isolation status of 100 cases remains under investigation.
Two more COVID-related deaths were reported overnight - one was a man in his 90s from Southwestern Sydney, and the other a man in his 30s from Northern Sydney.
This brings the number of COVID-related deaths during the current outbreak to 34.
Updated at 11.55am AEST on 11 August 2021.
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