Stay At Home order for city

Published on 14 August 2021

The majority of Council facilities will go into immediate shutdown after a lockdown of regional NSW was announced today.

The seven-day Stay At Home Order was implemented by the NSW Government due to COVID-19 cases in Dubbo and Walgett, and the presence of COVID-19 in Broken Hill's sewage system.

The library, art gallery, Geocentre, Living Desert and campground, Visitor Information Centre, and Administrative Centre will all remain closed until at least August 23, however the city's waste facility and public parks will remain open.

Under the rules of the lockdown, residents must not leave their house except to obtain food or other essential services, education, exercise or for medical reasons.

Residents may leave home to travel to work only if they cannot reasonably work from home.

Mayor Darriea Turley AM urged all locals to stay at home where possible, and said anyone showing any flu-like symptoms should get tested at a large-scale drive-through testing centre that has been established at Memorial Oval and will operate 8am-5pm.

"COVID-19 has been detected in our sewage so we should take every precaution as if we have a local case," said Mayor Turley.

"If anyone is experiencing even the mildest flu-like symptoms they should get tested immediately, isolate until they receive their results, and continue to follow all NSW Health guidelines.

"I know lockdowns and isolation can be challenging, but we've done amazing job in Broken Hill so far in relation to COVID safety, and I have every confidence our population will continue to take no chances."

Council's General Manager, Jay Nankivell, said parts of Council's workforce would be redeployed to provide improved levels of cleaning and sanitation throughout the city, including playgrounds, toilets, and public furniture.

"Our workforce is pretty agile and willing to diversify when COVID restrictions come into effect," said Mr Nankivell.

"I was really proud of the way staff banded together to ensure essential services continued last time we were affected by COVID, and I have no doubt we'll see a similar response this time around."

For the latest information on COVID and associated restrictions please visit the NSW Health COVID website.

A list of the latest hotspots and areas of concern can be found here.