Australia

No decision yet if Central West lockdown to be extended


It’s been five days since communities in the Central West of New South Wales were plunged into a snap, seven-day COVID-19 lockdown — and, with no new cases yet emerging, locals are hopeful the lockdown will not be extended.

The Western Local Health District today said the worker from the factory in Blayney was still the only active case of COVID-19 in the region.

A total of 1,400 tests were conducted across Parkes, Blayney, Molong, Orange and Bathurst yesterday.

More than 35,000 swabs have been taken in the local health district during the past four weeks.

A decision on whether the lockdown will be extended has not yet been made but, with no new cases, confidence is building in the community.

‘Been very lucky’

The Catholic Parish Priest of Orange, Father Greg Bellamy, has reverted to livestreaming services from a cold, empty church.

“Christian worship is very much a community activity but we do what we can,” Fr Bellamy said.

“We’ve been very lucky up until now and I think some of us thought lockdowns were a metropolitan issue,” he said.

Fr Bellamy said it was a big challenge for elderly parishioners who struggled with technology. 

“One message that we are always putting out there is to reach out to people,” he said.

He said many of his parishioners were anxious about the outbreak of the Delta strain taking a foothold in the region.

Sport cancelled 

Sporting competitions in the lockdown areas of the Central West are on hold. (

Supplied: Jamil Khalfan

)

Sporting competitions across the Central West have been disrupted, with teams usually travelling to and from the lockdown zone to compete with other cities and towns.

Central West Rugby made the decision to cancel its entire round of matches scheduled for this weekend, with two teams from Orange unable to play.

The Captain of the Emus Rugby Club, Jamil Khalfan, said it was disappointing to have to cancel the games, but the club was happy to do its part to stop any potential transmission.

“Emus Rugby and Central West Rugby isn’t bigger than this pandemic.”

Spike in calls to Lifeline

Lifeline Central West CEO Stephany Robinson said there “certainly” had been an increase in calls to the service nationally.

“Every time a lockdown is called, we see a spike in those calls,” she said.

While Ms Robinson did not have specific data for the Central West, she said that, anecdotally, the local call centres were experiencing increased demand.

Ms Robinson said Lifeline Central West had already exceeded its average yearly number of calls in the first six months of 2021.

Elections postponed

New South Wales’ local government elections, that were due to take pace in September, have now been postponed until December 4.

The elections were meant to take place in 2020, but were postponed multiple times because of pandemic-related concerns.

Generic postal voting ballot paper with a green pen beside it on a flat, white surface
New South Wales’ local government elections have been postponed, again, due to the pandemic.(

Supplied: Unsplash

)

Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock said it was a “disappointing but important” decision.

“That’s really disappointing for a lot of candidates I know who are up and running ready to go,” Ms Hancock said. “We just have to keep people safe.”

Nominations for council positions were due to open on Monday but will now open on October 25.



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