The Murrumbidgee Local Health District has urged the community to continue getting tested for coronavirus whenever they show any symptoms, despite a recent drop in cases.
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The MLHD recorded just 13 new COVID cases on Monday, and over the weekend the daily figures dropped into the single digits for the first time in over a month.
MLHD chief executive Jill Ludford (pictured) described the drop in cases as "really good news" and evidence of the vaccinations' ability to help quell outbreaks.
"There are some really fantastic and really brilliant vaccination rates for our region ... and the layer of protection the vaccination is offering our region is really impacting the case numbers," she said. Ms Ludford revealed 93 per cent of Murrumbidgee residents over the age of 16 were now fully-vaccinated against COVID-19, while 97.8 have received their first dose.
More than 14,500 residents have come forward for COVID-19 tests over the past seven days and Ms Ludford said it was important that number remained steady. "We really do need to encourage people to continue coming forward for testing because if we have high testing rates then we'll continue to pick up cases early, put them into isolation and keep the community transmission minimal," she said.
When asked if the low numbers of reported cases were potentially due to low testing numbers she said that was "the million dollar question" but that the LHD would be analysing the rate of positive tests to get a better picture of the situation across the region.
She added that with the adoption of the "living with COVID" approach, the MLHD would likely be moving away from sewage surveillance testing as a means of detecting cases.