One in 15 people in remote New South Wales town of Wilcannia infected with COVID virus

One in 15 people in the remote, predominantly indigenous town of Wilcannia, western New South Wales, has COVID-19, a rate five times higher than Sydney’s worst hotspot.

Of the 882 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases reported on Friday, 49 are in the west and far west of the state.

There have been nine new cases in Wilcannia, where the outbreak has sparked a food shortage and a rush to immunize the vulnerable population.

The outbreak in the city – which numbered 745 as of the 2016 census and two hours from the nearest town of Broken Hill – now has 58 cases.

The infection rate is much higher than the worst local government areas in the Sydney hotspot.

Data from NSW Health shows that about one in 80 people in Cumberland’s LGA have contracted the virus.

In Dubbo’s LGA, that number is around one in 160 people.

Residents have expressed concerns about Wilcannia’s food supply and that its local health providers are ill-equipped to deal with the outbreak.

The meat is sold out, and the city’s only supermarket – closed for a thorough cleaning earlier this week – is in danger of becoming an exhibition venue again.

The city has a ventilator, a local health spokesperson told AAP.

But Barkindji’s wife, Monica Kerwin, in a live Facebook video this week, said the only gear she was worried about getting enough of were body bags.

Only 6.3 percent of the indigenous population of West New South Wales are fully vaccinated, compared to 26 percent of the region’s non-indigenous population.

With underlying health issues more common among Indigenous Australians and their lower life expectancy than the rest of the population, the group was identified as a vaccination priority at the start of the year.

A call to raise funds for food supplies, including fresh meat, to be delivered to the remote town raised more than $ 140,000 in donations.

Foodbank, a food aid charity, is also helping out by distributing more than 2,030 kg of food baskets in the region last week.

The epidemic in the regional center of Dubbo also continues to grow.

25 other new cases were diagnosed Thursday, as well as five in Bourke and four each in Narromine and Orange.

The epidemic in the local western health district now has 445 cases – 346 in Dubbo – while the cluster in the far west has 64.

Bathurst and Orange could soon see an explosion in hundreds of cases such as near Dubbo, Western NSW Local Health District general manager Scott McLachlan said Thursday, raising concerns about compliance and low testing rates.