NSW regional towns Orange, Blayney and Cabonne Shire go into snap lockdown

A crisis cabinet meeting decided Orange, Blayney and the Cabonne Shire will be locked down for seven days.

The snap decision makes Orange the first regional centre in NSW to be placed into its own lockdown.

While medical appointments can still be kept, the NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Paul Toole, has asked people to avoid going to Orange Health Service.

Mr Toole confirmed the retail sector will remain open, although people were asked to make limited trips to the shops, with masks mandatory.

He said schools will remain operating as they have been, with high students wearing masks.

The construction industry will also continue to operate as normal, with masks mandatory.

People can also attend work if necessary.

READ MORE:

Nineteen new COVID-19 exposure sites have been added to the growing list of venues involved the state's latest outbreak, and that includes multiple sites in regional New South Wales.

Five exposure sites across Orange have been identified as the region prepares to battle the fallout from a positive COVID-19 case in the city.

A worker from the Nestle Factory in Blayney tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, and it's been revealed that worked stopped at a number of sites on Friday, July 16, and Saturday, July 17, in Orange.

Infected customers also visited an Officeworks, Woolworths, Pizza Hut and shopping centre in Orange - west of the city as well as a Coles Express in Goulburn, southwest of Sydney.

The Shell Coles Express in Goulburn - which is right next to the Big Merino - has been listed as a COVID-19 exposure site.

NSW Health has listed the service station at 1/3 Sowerby Street as a "venue of concern."

Anyone who attended the venue from 11.50am to 12pm on Friday, July 16 is considered a close contact of a positive case.

NSW has recorded 78 new Covid-19 cases overnight, but 27 were out in the community while infectious.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Anyone who has visited the following locations during the listed times is considered a close contact and must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days regardless of the result:

We have removed our paywall from our stories which contain need-to-know information about coronavirus. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.