Riverina COVID cases spike as Murrumbidgee Local Health District records 301 new detections in wake of low weekend numbers

More than 300 new COVID cases were detected in the MLHD in the 24 hours to 4pm on Monday, NSW Health announced on Tuesday morning.

The 301 fresh positives were mostly detected through rapid antigen testing, with PCRs accounting for just 22 of the diagnoses, and come a day after the local daily tally fell below 200 for just the second time this year.

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Nine people were confirmed as being admitted to hospitals across the MLHD, the organisation said on Monday, and one patient was in the intensive care unit.

The rise in cases comes after restrictions eased further in NSW, with density limits scrapped, mask mandates lifted for most public spaces on Friday and secondary students returning to mask-free classrooms this week.

They are still required on public transport, in public hospitals and private health facilities, airports, residential care homes and on domestic flights over NSW.

The mask mandate will also lift for primary schools on March 7.

Nine deaths were announced across NSW on Tuesday morning, with the latest people lost to COVID ranging in age from their 60s to their 90s, and another 8000 fresh cases confirmed for the state.

Four people from regional NSW - in Kiama, Orange, Goulburn and Nowra - were among those who died from COVID, with the remaining five from south western Sydney, the northern beaches, northern Sydney and inner Sydney.

The state's population aged 16 years and over is 94.3 per cent double vaccinated, while 95.8 per cent have had their first COVID-19 vaccine shot.

54.1 per cent have had their third dose of vaccine.

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