633 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases in NSW as Gladys Berejiklian says outbreak yet to reach peak

Gladys Berejiklian has declared NSW is still yet to reach the peak of its deadly Delta outbreak as the state records its worst day ever with 633 cases.

New South Wales has recorded 633 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, premier Gladys Berejiklian has revealed.

Concerningly, at least 62 of those were active in the community while infectious while southwest Sydney continues to be the biggest contributor to rising daily cases, she added.

Ms Berejiklian also said “we haven’t seen the worst of this”.

“At the moment, according to the data we have, every person who has the virus is spreading it to at least more than one person,” she said.

“Now, for us to know that we have reached our peak, that can’t continue. So what the data is telling us in the last few days is that we haven’t seen the worst of it.”

Of these locally acquired cases, 158 were linked to a known case or cluster – 145 were household contacts and 13 were close contacts – and the source of infection for 475 cases is still under investigation.

NSW Health has been notified of the deaths of three people who had COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

Of the 633 cases, 224 were from southwest Sydney and 216 were from western Sydney.

There were 54 from Nepean Blue/Mountains, 52 were from Sydney, 24 were from southeast Sydney, 23 were from western NSW, 15 were from Hunter/New England, six were from northern Sydney, four were from Illawarra Shoalhaven, four were from the state’s far west and 11 cases were yet to be assigned to a region.

Health workers conduct COVID-19 testing at the Mosman Douglas-Hanly Moir Pathology Drive-Through clinic in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant begged with the state’s residents, particularly Sydney, to minimise their movements.

“I can't express enough my level of concern at these rising numbers of cases; we are continuing to see case numbers increase,” she said.

“Whilst that vaccination will be essential for us getting to a point where we can live safely with COVID, our vaccination coverage at the moment is far too low.

“We need to push that up as much as we can but in the meantime, we also need to do everything we can to not come in contact with anyone, to minimise our movements and to continue to get tested and isolate if you have the most minimal of symptoms.”

Disappointingly, there were 736 penalty infringement notices were handed out across the state for breaches of public health orders.

There were more than 102,000 tests recorded until 8pm on Tuesday night.

Sydney's Opera House and surrounds pictured empty amid the latest Covid-19 outbreak and lockdowns in NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar