The number of new COVID-19 cases in the Illawarra has dropped after a weekend spike, with 15 reported on Tuesday.
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Nine Wollongong residents, four Shellharbour residents, and two Kiama residents tested positive for COVID in the 24 hours to 8pm Monday, as did two Shoalhaven residents.
They are among 1127 people across NSW who have newly acquired the virus within the state.
This figure marked a notable decrease from the record 1599 cases reported in the 24 hours to Friday night, but NSW Health's Dr Jeremy McAnulty was not confident the state was seeing a downward trend just yet.
"It's too early to know if we're flattening the curve, but we're seeing pleasingly so far that cases haven't been increasing as fast as they have been, but that may be an effect of the weekend," Dr McAnulty said.
"We'll look to see what's happening throughout the rest of this week to know how we're going.
"But it's really pleasing to see immunisation rates increasing so quickly."
The number of tests undertaken on Monday was down 22 per cent on Friday's testing number.
There are 1253 patients with COVID in hospital, including 23 residents of the Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD.
Hospitals are treating 231 of these patients in intensive care, and 104 of them require ventilation.
Another two deaths have been recorded, a woman in her 80s and a man in his 50s who had no underlying health conditions.
NSW Health data shows there are 247 active cases of COVID across the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama local government areas, with the highest numbers in the postcodes of 2500, 2502, 2530, and 2528.
These include such suburbs as Wollongong, Cringila, Barrack Heights and Shellharbour, among others.
NSW Health has also added a new Illawarra business to its list of exposure sites.
Anyone who visited Gerringong Hardware on Rowlins Road on Saturday, September 11, between 12.18pm and 12.23pm is considered a casual contact.
They must get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result.
If tested within four days of exposure, they must get another test on the fifth day.
Woolworths has also reported that COVID-positive customers have visited their stores in Corrimal, Bulli, Shellharbour, Shell Cove, Warilla and Wollongong in recent weeks.
However, NSW Health has not issued advice for all the times identified by Woolworths.
More information on these visits is available online.
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