Extra pressure on Bathurst police resources with numbers tipped to rise

Chifley Police District Inspector David Abercrombie said the command had been made aware of the five cases and had a role to play in monitoring them and their close contacts.

He said police checks were not just to ensure the affected cases were isolating at home, as required, but also to ensure they were keeping well during a difficult time.

"That mans knocking on doors and reaching out to see if there are other organisations or agencies we can put them in contact with," Inspector Abercrombie said.

"We're not going there just for compliance checks but also to check on their wellbeing and ensure their health is OK."

Inspector Abercrombie said while the extra checks were placing increased pressure on resources, staffing levels across the command were sufficient at this stage to cope.

"At this stage we have managed to put on a number of extra resources who specifically focus all of their tasking on COVID measures and that's above and beyond our usual capacity," he said.

"We're managing that at the moment but we're expecting an increase in COVID in the days and weeks ahead so we'll have to see how that plays out."

ALSO MAKING NEWS:

Revelations of five positive COVID cases in Bathurst comes as a number of local businesses have taken to social media to confirm they have been inadvertently linked to known cases.

Windsor's Automotive posted on Facebook on Friday afternoon that they were closing for a deep clean after a customer who was later identified as a close contact of a known case attended the premises on Thursday afternoon.

The Great Beginnings childcare centre and Busby Medical Centre were also undergoing deep cleans after COVID-positive cases had been in attendance.

Bathurst MP Paul Toole said health authorities were working through the burgeoning contact tracing list as quickly as they could.

"Please note NSW Health are working around the clock in doing numerous interviews, assessments and contact tracing and will notify the community of venues of concern once their work is complete," he said.

"In the meantime I urge you to follow the stay at home orders."

No new Bathurst venues of concerns have been added to the NSW Health COVID-19 case locations website in recent days but residents have been urged to come forward for testing with even the mildest of symptoms.

NSW recorded a new high of 825 cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday and three deaths.

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