Tamworth residents line up for hours to get COVID-19 test at drive-through as outbreak grows

More than 1700 coronavirus tests were taken in the Tamworth region during the week ending Sunday, with more expected in the coming days as the virus crisis unfolds.

The swab statistics have doubled compared to this time last month, data from Hunter New England Health (HNEH) revealed.

Police were deployed to keep an eye on things at the city's only drive-through testing clinic on Monday, as cars poured into the Plain Street carpark.

Three queues had to be formed to try and keep traffic from backing up onto the road, though at times the line stretched along Ebsworth Street.

Locals told the Leader they had waited in the testing queue for more than three hours on Monday morning.

Swab rates have significantly increased overall this month, with the current COVID outbreak in Sydney as well as the Moree scare earlier in June. The first week of June saw about 1100 people tested; followed by 1300; then 1000; and more than 1700 last week.

NSW recorded 18 new COVID-19 cases of community transmission in the latest numbers on Monday, including 15 linked to the Bondi cluster.

One of the cases included in Monday's update was a man who is self isolating in the Glen Innes Severn shire after contracting the virus at a mine in the Northern Territory. He was announced as a case over the weekend.

A spokeswoman from HNEH confirmed the man was not a health risk to the community and had been in isolation since his infection.

She confirmed the man flew from the mine to a Queensland airport before getting in a private car alone and driving directly to his home in the Glen Innes area without having contact with any NSW resident.

Find information on restrictions and your closest testing clinic on the NSW Health website.

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