In the 24 hours to 8pm Monday, Bathurst recorded zero new cases of COVID-19, the first time in nearly a week the community has avoided new overnight cases.

READ ALSO: No new cases across the Bathurst LGA, COVID cases rise to 282 in NSW

However, Orange recorded seven new cases across the same time period, all of whom were either children under 12 or unvaccinated persons.

At the same time, four more Bathurst region businesses have this evening been added to NSW Health's venues of concern, bringing the total for the past 24 hours to 12 (see below).

Mr McLachlan said the risk of COVID-19 still remains across western NSW despite vaccination rates exceeding expectations.

"We expect localised clusters to continue across the health district, like we've seen in the last week across Orange and Bathurst," he said.

"I'm sure we'll see more communities over the next 24 to 48 hours have little outbreaks, but that just means we need to be on our toes, and people acting carefully within the public health orders will be critical to slowing the spread."

READ ALSO: ADF COVID-19 vaccination clinic to return to Oberon this week

With NSW sitting at 85 per cent fully vaccinated as of October 25, Mr McLachlan said he's confident the 90 per cent figure will be hit within the next couple of weeks, and has encouraged families with children under 12 in particular to get vaccinated.

"Schools and child-care centres have been a big source of recent COVID cases across the region, so it's important family members with children younger than 12 who are yet to be vaccinated do so as soon as possible," he said.

"Our experts are currently investigating the efficacy of vaccines in children under 12, as we need absolute certainly of it being the right step before moving ahead; we're not there yet."

"It's also crucially important for people across the region to continue showing up for testing, as it is our best strategy in being able to detect and contain strains of COVID-19 to lessen the risk of further spread."

READ ALSO: Bathurst hospitality venues struggling to fill roles post-lockdown

Around 3100 tests were conducted across the WNSWLHD in the 24 hours to 8pm Monday.

Mr McLachlan declared on Tuesday that the WNSWLHD has the highest vaccination rate for people aged 12 to 15 [68 per cent], well above the state-wide average of 50 per cent.

The following Bathurst region businesses have been listed as venues of concern over the past 24 hours:

Western NSW advises that anyone who was a casual contact venue at any of these venues at the time and dates listed should immediately get tested and isolate until they get a negative result, even if they have had a test in recent days.

If your date of exposure at this venue occurred in the past four days, you must get another test on day six from the date of exposure.

Wear a mask around others and limit your movements until you get another negative result, and continue to monitor for symptoms, getting tested again if any symptoms occur.

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