Six Sydney suburbs put on high alert as coronavirus continues to spread

Residents in six Sydney suburbs and a number of regional communities have been told to be on their watch as the coronavirus continues to spread.

The suburbs in western and southwestern Sydney that were singled out on Tuesday were Guildford, Merrylands, Auburn, Greenacre, Bankstown and Blacktown.

People in those areas and the surrounding suburbs were told to be extra vigilant in watching for symptoms and to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“I can't stress enough how important it is for us to also see the immunisation coverage levels in these (local government areas), and particularly the suburbs that I’ve talked about,” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said on Tuesday.

“It’s pleasing to see the rise in the vaccination coverage, but I would ask members of those communities to embrace every opportunity they’re afforded to have the vaccine.”

Out of Monday’s 1164 new cases:

• 417 were from Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD),
• 379 were from South Western Sydney LHD,
• 116 were from Sydney LHD,
• 73 were from South Eastern Sydney LHD,
• 54 were from Western NSW LHD,
• 45 were from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD,
• 15 were from Northern Sydney LHD,
• Five were from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD,
• Four were from Far West LHD,
• Four were from Central Coast LHD,
• Two were from Hunter New England LHD,
• One was from Southern NSW LHD
• Six cases are yet to be assigned to an LHD.

Dubbo had the most cases in the state’s west, with 32 new infections, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said.

“Again, the message to everybody in regional New South Wales is to get vaccinated, we are running walk-in clinics right across the regions, so keep an eye out for that,” Mr Barilaro said.