An unvaccinated Dubbo man in his 50s has become the first Indigenous person to die of COVID-19 in Australia.

Dubbo Mayor Stephen Lawrence told Jim Wilson the feeling in the community is “pretty grim”, with 65 percent of regional cases in the Indigenous population.

“We are seeing this virus really spread like wildfire in the Aboriginal community in the west.”

33 new cases have been recorded in Dubbo in the last 24 hours, where a quarter of the general population are fully vaccinated, with the Aboriginal population “really far behind”.

“There’s parts of this community that you just have to deal with, they’re hard to reach for lots of reasons.

“The mobile outreach, I think, is going to become an increasingly important part of the response.”

Press PLAY below to hear the latest from Dubbo

Image: Getty