More than 70 people in Wagga tested positive for COVID-19 as detections continue to skyrocket across the region.
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NSW Health confirmed a staggering 379 cases for the Murrumbidgee Local Health District [MLHD] in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday.
The latest figure is a sharp rise from 205 and 207 revealed on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
Wagga MP Joe McGirr is among the latest positive cases after receiving his result on Tuesday.
NSW government data indicates 72 people in Wagga were newly confirmed to have the virus the same day, with 49 fresh detections in Albury, 35 in Griffith, 20 in Hilltops, 17 in Junee, 14 in the Snowy Valleys and 13 in the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council area.
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Murray River recorded seven new cases, Carrathool had six, Federation added four, three more were found in Temora, and two cases each for Berrigan, Leeton and Narrandera.
Bland, Lachlan, Lockhart and Murrumbidgee all recorded single cases on Tuesday.
The regional peak comes as daily records were smashed with NSW declaring 35,054 cases were found across the state in the same time period.
Eight more NSW residents died from COVID-19, the health department confirmed on Wednesday morning.
They were six men and two women, ranging in age from their 50s to their 90s.
The MLHD confirmed 11 people in the region have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19, including one patient who is on a ventilator in ICU.
Hours at a Wagga COVID-19 testing clinic have been slashed as the heat wreaks havoc and turnaround times blow out to up to five days.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District's COVID-19 test site at Wagga Showground, which has been inundated with people seeking a swab in the last several weeks, will now only open between 7.30am and 12.30pm.
Many of the city's residents have reported long waits on test results, with some still yet to hear an answer almost a week later.
Wagga mum and home-based business-owner Chantal Cameron was on Tuesday still waiting for results of a PCR test conducted at the MLHD clinic last Thursday.
She is just one person who had resorted to the Facebook community in a bid to secure a rapid antigen test, which are flying off the shelves as soon as they are stocked.
"I thought getting a test on Thursday, surely it'd come back by [Tuesday], but when we were getting close I thought 'no, I need to get the all-clear'," Ms Cameron said of putting out the plea as an important family commitment approached.
"Testing capacity in NSW is currently under enormous pressure and the only people getting a PCR (nose throat swab) should be those who have COVID-19 symptoms; live in a household with a confirmed COVID-19-positive case; or have otherwise been advised by NSW Health to get tested," NSW Health advised.
Cincotta proprietor Mustafa Al Shakarji worked into the early hours of Tuesday morning to pack orders of RATs for customers after a mercy dash to Sydney to secure kits for vulnerable patients.
When the store opened "50 to 70 people were just waiting at the door" and the few tests remaining sold out in five minutes.
PCR testing has been prioritised for a range of groups, including hospital patients, healthcare workers and household contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the MLHD said.
Those who have symptoms or have returned a positive rapid antigen test [RAT], anyone asked by NSW Health to seek a test will also be prioritised, as are "emerging priorities" such as aged care residents and staff.
The MLHD had conducted 15,544 PCR tests at its clinics across the region in the 10 days prior to Tuesday.
Coronavirus testing sites are also located at the MLHD clinic in Murray Street between 9am and 4pm daily, the GP-led respiratory clinic at Glenrock in Glenfield Park, or the Laverty Pathology drive-through service in the Riverina Playhouse car park off Tarcutta and Cross streets.
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