NSW has reported 345 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and at least 91 of those people were circulating in the community for all or part of their infectious period.
Two Sydney men in their 90s have also died, including one resident of Wyoming Aged Care in Summer Hill. One of the men had received two vaccination doses and the other one dose.
Greater Sydney and surrounding regions are in lockdown until at least August as health authorities battle to contain an outbreak of the virulent Delta strain.
Northwest NSW, Dubbo, Armidale, Tamworth, Byron Bay and the Hunter region are also currently under snap lockdowns.
Of the 345 new local cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, 34 were in the community for part of their infectious period and 57 were in the community for all of their infectious period.
Some 138 new cases remain under investigation.
There are 62 COVID-19 patients in NSW in intensive care, with 29 ventilated.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Thursday said the local government areas of Bayside, Strathfield and Burwood would from Thursday face harsher restrictions akin to those in west and southwest Sydney.
There are now 12 council areas under the harsher restrictions.
Ms Berejiklian has also flagged tougher compliance measures in NSW as the virus seeps into the regions.
She said NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller was working with health officials on a range of measures to let the government know “what he needs to clamp down on compliance”.
A NSW crisis cabinet meeting on Wednesday night reportedly adopted tough new measures to close loopholes that saw people travelling out of Sydney, allowing the virus to enter the regions.
On Wednesday a 52-year-old Sydney man was charged at Lismore Hospital with breaching public health orders after travelling to Byron Bay on the north coast while COVID positive, plunging the region into lockdown on Monday.
Meanwhile Wheeler Heights Public School on Sydney’s northern beaches is closed on Thursday for cleaning and contact tracing after a student tested positive to COVID-19.
Luddenham Public School in Sydney’s west is also closed, as is Orana Heights Public School in Dubbo.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday told reporters the NSW-Queensland border could be tightened further and no one should be crossing the border for the time being.
AAP
