38 locally acquired cases of Covid-19: Gladys Berejiklian

The NSW Premier has delivered a stern warning to people who continue to move through the community while infected with Covid-19.

The NSW Premier has issued a stern warning to locked-down Sydneysiders after NSW recorded 38 new local coronavirus cases on Thursday.

Out of the new positive cases, 18 had been in isolation the entire time they were infectious, Gladys Berejiklian said.

But another 11 had been in the community while infectious with the highly contagious Delta strain.

“Those numbers are too high,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We need to get those numbers down.”

Ms Berejiklian urged people to “please stop” visiting other people outside their household.

“Your immediate family means those you live with, it doesn't mean extended family or friends,” she said.

People who experience Covid-like symptoms should not leave the house at all, unless it’s for getting a Covid-19 test.

Gladys Berejiklian has ordered people with symptoms to stop leaving their homes. Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

“Please, please make sure if you have the mildest of symptoms, you are not going out of your house to a workplace or to visit a loved one who needs care out or for any other reason,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The state has struggled to bring the outbreak to a halt after an airport driver living in the eastern suburbs tested positive to the delta variant on June 16.

The Berejiklian government made the decision to lock down Sydney 10 days later – but the city’s outbreak has since ballooned to 395 cases.

The Bondi cluster has a total of 279 cases linked to it, and a further 29 cases have not been linked to a cluster. There are a further 87 cases linked to those 29 mystery infections.

Thursday’s number was the most community cases recorded in a single day in the state since the outbreak began.

Ms Berejiklian said much of the spread had occurred between family members.

“The saddest message out of all of that is that people with the virus are passing it on to those they love the most,” she said.

“We are seeing the greatest number of people get the virus in the last few days being household contacts.”