Yamba has become the most recent regional town found to have Covid-19 fragments in its sewage.

It now joins the Northern NSW towns and cities of Lismore, Byron, Lennox Head and Ballina as one of the regional areas now marked for government sewage surveillance.

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In the Premier’s press conference this morning, Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the government was now focussing more on sewage testing in rural areas, not just major cities. 

“We are re-prioritising rural sewage testing and we are working with regional councils on this,” she said. “We are happy so many councils want to come on board with sewage surveillance and we will allocate our finite resources accordingly.”

Yamba testing

While there are no new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in residents of Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) and no known cases in the Yamba area, authorities encourage anyone with even mild symptoms to get tested.

NNWLHD Acting Chief Executive Lynne Weir said the detection of fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the Yamba sewage treatment plant, could indicate undetected infections.

“Sewage testing is an additional surveillance tool which can help provide early warning of undetected infections,” she said.

The Yamba sewage treatment plant serves approximately 6,500 people. Additional samples are being taken this week. 

An additional sample taken from the Ballina sewage treatment plant on August 15 returned a negative result.  

“Anyone who is even slightly unwell is urged to come forward for testing immediately, then isolate until they receive a negative result,” Ms Weir said.

“We are also strongly encouraging people who may live on properties which are not connected to the town sewage supply systems, to please be alert for any symptoms of COVID-19 and get tested immediately.  

“Getting tested not only helps our public health teams respond quickly, it also means that if you do become more severely ill, we can provide necessary medical care and treatment.”

A new testing clinic will be operational from tomorrow in Yamba at the QML Pathology Drive Through Clinic, Raymond Laurie Sports Centre, 78 Angourie Rd, Yamba. Open 9am- 3pm. No appointments are required.

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