THREE NEW cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Tamworth in the latest update and none in Gunnedah, but there are concerns for the wider health district.
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Uralla has had five positive sewage detections in a row despite no known cases living in the town, sparking a new testing clinic to open at the town's driver reviver.
Armidale and Inverell also recorded positive sewage results recently, according to NSW Health.
Tamworth's three new cases are in East Tamworth, South Tamworth and West Tamworth.
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Chains of transmission in the Hunter may be going undetected due to a shortfall in testing, the Hunter's public health physician fears.
Active cases in the Hunter have slipped below 1000, but authorities in the region say they are concerned after Hunter New England daily cases jumped back up after several slower days.
The Hunter New England Health (HNEH) area added 74 fresh cases in Thursday's update, the second highest number of any health district in NSW.
Only south western Sydney's 80 exceeded the Hunter figure, which made up less than a quarter of the NSW total.
There were 372 local infections found statewide in the 24-hour period and one death.
NSW Health said the man who died with COVID-19 was in his 50s and hailed from southeastern Sydney.
He died at Sutherland hospital and had received one dose of vaccine.
Health authorities said that 30 of the Hunter cases were infectious in the community, with the isolation status of another 30 unknown.
"With 74 new COVID-19 cases in the Hunter New England area I think we have every reason to be concerned, particularly if we follow the pattern that we've seen in the last two weeks with a large proportion of the cases actually unlinked," HNEH's Dr David Durrheim said.
"This means that we don't know what their source was, and this really says that there are chains of transmission that are busy circulating in our community and we're not finding them because we are not looking.
"We're not testing enough, we need to test whenever there's symptoms.
"This is the way that we'll prevent spread in our communities and keep our families, keep our friends, keep vulnerable communities safe."
There are now 940 active cases spread across the health district, with 23 in hospital. Only three require intensive care.
It has not been confirmed whether Tamworth hospital is caring for any COVID-positive patients.
Opportunities for vaccination continue to arise across the Tamworth region.
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