Murrumbidgee Local Health District chief executive Jill Ludford said testing for COVID-19 was needed to reduce the risk of these outbreaks.

At 8am on Thursday, 4902 had been tested around MLHD's area.

The region's figures remain at 45 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 during the pandemic, with 39 of those now recovered.

"I would not have thought six weeks ago I would be standing in front of you all today to say we had such incredible results, which is purely down to the actions of the people in this community," Ms Ludford said.

"We hear about flattening the curve, but what that really means is people have taken the restrictions on board and stayed at home and washed their hands.

"Our clinicians, who were fearful of what was happening overseas, now have been able to prepare and respond appropriately."

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Ms Ludford said health officials wanted to ensure there was no future community transmission of the coronavirus.

"At the same time, we can't afford to be in lockdown for the rest of our lives and we need to think about how we are going to get back to normal. Getting back to normal is all about testing," she said.

"So the message now is: If anybody at all has any kind of respiratory symptoms - sore throat, runny nose, cough, unexplained fever or severe lethargy - it's super important that those people self isolate immediately.

"We are at risk of having a cluster outbreak and we all know what happens if you get an outbreak of a couple of people.

"That can catch on fire and rapidly transmit through our community and that's the risk that we all have.

"So our public health response now is the most critical and if there is an outbreak, which is likely, we need to be able to hammer it out with razor-sharp public health response and we can only do that if more and more people get tested."

Ms Ludford said mobile testing vans were going to communities across the Murrumbidgee area so people in smaller towns could be tested more easily.

She also warned that older people, whether living at home or in a facility, remained one of the community's most vulnerable groups.

"We need to think about the broader health impact of the social isolation and the restrictions we have all been living under for the past six to seven weeks," she said.