A Wagga resident is among 45 new COVID-19 cases for the Riverina as the region's outbreak continues to grow.
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The majority of cases announced on Tuesday are residents of the Albury local government area [LGA], with the southern city recording 40 more to bring its case count to 301.
Three new detections of the virus were made in the Greater Hume LGA, and one each in Wagga and Berrigan, in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, the Murrumbidgee Local Health District [MLHD] has confirmed.
Two people have died and almost 400 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the MLHD since the beginning of the outbreak.
In other news
More than 170 new cases have been confirmed in the MLHD since Saturday, across eight LGAs.
Confirmed cases of the virus have since been announced for Wagga, Greater Hume, Berrigan, Murrumbidgee, Federation and Murray River LGAs in the four days since. Two cases announced for Coolamon are residing out of the district and have not been infectious in the local community.
Despite this, there have been no venues of concern publicly listed by health authorities since Friday, when more than 30 exposure sites were identified in the Albury area.
Members of the Wagga community have reported alerts appearing in their Service NSW check-in history, however details surrounding their potential exposure remain limited and no central list of local venues of concern have been made public.
The Wagga case announced on Tuesday is the second to emerge in three days and the MLHD holds grave concerns the virus could be circulating silently in the community.
The interstate, trans-Tasman situation
MHLD chief executive Jill Ludford said the origins of the case found in Wagga at the weekend are still being traced, but at this stage, it is believed to be linked to the outbreak in Albury and Wodonga.
She said this case, combined with recent sewage detections and exposure sites, mean there could be community transmission.
"An undetected community transmission is the very thing that we are concerned about," she said.
NSW Health senior environmental health officer Tony Burns said almost every major town in the MLHD is conducting a minimum of one weekly sewage surveillance test.
The MLHD has specifically referenced the Kooringal plant as having SARS-CoV-2 detected at the network site, while NSW Health also has it showing up at the Narrung Street plant.
Mr Burns said both plants are now being tested twice weekly due to the earlier detections, but he said the fragments could be from earlier detected patients, who have since recovered but are still shedding the virus.
"If you are unwell, always come forward for testing," he said.
More on the pandemic
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