Inverell has recorded 13 new cases in the Thursday update, as testing clinics open up - staffed by hospital employees.
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Staff at Inverell Hospital will open a COVID 19 Testing Clinic at the old Community Health building on Swanbrook Road, Inverell, on Friday January 7, from 9am - 11am.
The Covid testing on Rifle Range Road was open on Thursday, with staff also from Inverell Hospital assembling a team to assist with COVID testing at that site from 12.30pm.
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Laverty Pathology were expected to return on January 3 to the Rifle Range Road site.
Inverell Shire Council has thanked the hospital staff for stepping in, saying they "are stepping into the breach to assist our community".
With Laverty's absence going as-yet unexplained, there has been an outpouring of outrage from the Inverell community.
Many have been turned away from the testing site this week, or turning up to find gates closed.
"My son waited in line for five hours yesterday, to be turned away at midday," one man said, going on to say "heaps more" were turned away behind him.
More to come.
Covid cases across the New England
It comes as the Hunter New England Health (HNEH) district added a record 3,424 new infections to 8pm on Wednesday.
Elsewhere around the region, Tamworth added 89 new cases in the Thursday update, down from 163 the day before.
Armidale clocked 17 new cases, 11 in Gunnedah, six in the Liverpool Plains, three were from Uralla and one each in Glen Innes and Tenterfield.
The more remote communities of Narrabri and Moree have also seen a decrease in new cases on Thursday after they each doubled their daily case count the day before.
Two people from Lake Macquarie died, a man and a woman aged in their 60s who had both been double vaccinated against COVID-19.
HNEH has urged the community to only seek a PCR test if they have symptoms, live with a confirmed case, or have been advised to do so by authorities, due to the high testing pressure at the moment.
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Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
