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A COVID-19 patient has been transferred to Wagga Base Hospital as health authorities investigate three more cases in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District [MLHD].
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The patient, a man aged in his 60s, presented to Young District Hospital and is now being treated in Wagga, the MLHD has confirmed.
"The source of infection is currently under investigation as contact tracers identify anyone this person may have come in contact with during their infectious period," a statement released on Friday morning said.
The state's deputy chief health officer, Marianne Gale, has also indicated the man's household contacts have tested positive for the virus.
"That person's household contacts have also tested positive, so there are a number of exposure sites in Young and, as we speak, NSW Health is providing advice to the government around recommendations for the people of Young," Dr Gale said.
The man is the third MLHD case in the Delta outbreak, after two people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Albury during the week.
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"Our contact tracers are really working hard to identify anywhere that person has been to so [we can get that] list in venues," MLHD's director of operations Jill Ludford said.
"It has been quite a time of upheaval and we have seen [a number of exposures] and that's been going on for the last month.
"We can get on top of this if we can identify new cases early and get them into isolation and that really slows down the transmission of the disease."
Wagga and Young are on alert with seven casual contact exposure sites between them after an essential worker spent several days in both towns in late August and early September before testing positive to COVID-19.
Late on Thursday evening, the Mantra Pavilion and Young's Cherry Blossom Motor Inn were added to NSW Health's venues of concern.
Anyone with the mildest of symptoms is also urged to come forward for testing. Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose and loss of taste or smell. Other symptoms include fatigue, acute blocked nose (congestion), muscle pain, joint pain, headache, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, loss of appetite, unexplained chest pain and conjunctivitis.
COVID-19 testing is available in Wagga at 84-86 Murray Street from 9am to 4pm, and the drive-through centre at Equex on Copland Street between 10am and 6pm, seven days a week.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District is operating a walk-in clinic at the Young Town Hall from 10am to 4pm on Friday, and a drive-through GP-led clinic operates at the Young Showground on Murringo Raod between 9am and 3pm.
The Young case confirmation comes as NSW records another 1284 cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday.
Twelve more people have died with the virus, including a woman in her 20s at Gosford and three people who were residents of aged care facilities in Dubbo.
Albury was sent into a one-week lockdown on Thursday following two cases of COVID-19 being reported.
Albury was plunged back into lockdown on Thursday after two cases emerged there on Wednesday, a move that has been backed by Murrumbidgee Local Health District [MLHD].
"The seven days (in lockdown) is because it is only two cases, one not as severe as the other in relation to exposure, so we should have the ability to have flexibility to give that community some hope that it might be a very short, sharp lockdown," premier John Barilaro said on Thursday.
Stay-at-home orders apply to any NSW resident who has visited Albury since September 10, but it doesn't impact any Victorians who have crossed the border.
More to come
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