Tamworth coronavirus: eight months since local case confirmed in Tamworth

The last confirmed case was back in April, and since then, the town has stayed COVID-free.

While it's good news, Hunter New England Health (HNEH) physician Dr David Durrheim said locals shouldn't become complacent over the Christmas and New Year period.

It comes after testing numbers had reduced in Tamworth and Gunnedah over the past month.

Dr Durrheim said there had been 1183 tests done in Tamworth, compared to 1841 tests the previous month.

In Gunnedah, there was 186 tests completed, compared to 233 the month before.

"Those figures do reflect what's happening in the state," he told ACM.

"What we're seeing in Sydney shows that we can't just ignore a cough, sore throat, or shortness of breath.

"These recent cases are going to wake all of us up."

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He said all testing clinics would remain open over the festive season, so anyone with cold-like symptoms should get a test to avoid a "corona Christmas".

"I think people are tired and Christmas is a wonderful time for celebrations and it's wonderful we haven't had local cases and can enjoy seeing family and friends," Dr Durrheim said on Thursday.

"We do need to be careful of those Christmas C's: keep the 1.5m metres, beware of crowded situations where you can't distance, and the other C is closed areas ... places we should be particularly careful of."

HNEH is also still keeping an eye on wastewater in Tamworth, Armidale and Moree to ensure no COVID-19 particles are detected.

"Those have been very important sites and with quite a few country music lovers coming to Tamworth in January from all over Australia, it's great we've got that back up surveillance in place," the doctor said.

No other towns in the North West have been added to this list, but areas on the coast are being focused on with more people taking the sea change during the holiday period.

Anyone with respiratory symptoms should organise to be tested immediately.

"We prefer them to use the COVID clinics but if they can't get in at their GP, then their local emergency department is the last port of call," Dr Durrheim said.

Testing options in Tamworth include:

A drive-through screening clinic being run by Laverty Pathology, which operates six days per week at the Plain Street fields and no doctor referral is required.

The Tamworth Respiratory Clinic can keep its doors open for coronavirus testing after its funding was extended to at least March next year.

Or, contact your regular GP.

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