Covid: First regional death from Covid-19

THERE were 1290 new cases of covid-19 identified in New South Wales in the past 24 hours.

Four people have died, including a man in his 50s from Dubbo who had underlying health conditions; the first person in regional NSW to die from the virus. The remaining three people were a woman in her 60s and two men in their 70s.

The numbers of most concern are the numbers of hospitalisations which is surging and placing pressure on the health system.

Currently there are 840 being treated in hospital with Covid-19 and 137 in intensive care. Of the people in intensive care 48 people are being ventilated.

New cases in regional NSW:

• 33 Dubbo
• 7 Wilcannia
• 6 Central Coast
• 5 Bathurst
• 4 Burke
• 3 Wollongong
• 2 Shellharbour
• 2 Forbes
• 2 Broken Hill
• 2 Orange
• 2 Parkes
• 2 Lake Macquarie
• 1 Cessnock
• 1 Blaney
• 1 Naromine
• 1 Brewarrina

Deputy Premier, John Barilaro said more walk in vaccination hubs were planned throughout regional New South Wales to ensure people can access vaccines readily.

He congratulated the residents of Bega who have achieved 70% first vaccinations and 42.2% fully vaccinated and also Wagge which has 60% of their residents receiving their first dose and 37.2% are fully vaccinated.