But, after the number of cases in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District during this outbreak grew to 36 at the weekend, there are concerns about COVID spot fires.

While there were no cases in the MLHD during the reporting period announced yesterday, an additional three confirmed cases were revealed on Saturday morning.

Of those three cases, two were residents of the Edward River local government area. They were close contacts of a previously reported case and in home isolation.

Another was a previously announced case that was subsequently assigned to the Edward River LGA and was in a Melbourne hospital.

One case was an Albury LGA resident, who acquired their infection outside the MLHD and was isolating outside the district. The Albury tally for this outbreak is eight.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The statewide number of 667 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday was well down on the peak experienced in the first week of September, and NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said there had been a decline in cases in many areas of metropolitan Sydney.

While that's a pleasing sign, Dr Chant did express concerns about an increasing trend in the number of cases in regional NSW.

"We are ... concerned about Wollongong, Maitland, Wellington, Oberon, Queanbeyan and Deniliquin, and a number of other rural and regional areas where we are seeing seeding and an increase in cases," she said.

As reopening begins, the risk remains very real. We must not drop the ball now.

MORE COMMENT

Victoria's daily case number hit 1488 last week. On Sunday, it recorded 1220 new cases.

Those numbers, coupled with the NSW figures seen last month, confirm an already unarguable truth: the Delta variant is highly contagious.

What's more, the almost certain link between AFL grand final gatherings and the subsequent explosion of Victorian positives provides a "real world" preview of what could be in store in the coming months, once the lockdowns are eased or ended.

North of the border, we can only hope everyone played by the rules during Sunday night's NRL grand final.

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