People are urged to get tested. Photo / News Corp Australia
NSW has recorded 356 new cases of Covid-19 and four deaths, marking the worst day the state has experienced since the pandemic began.
At least a third of the new cases were infectious in the community, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said before outlining her concerns about why lockdown wasn't working.
"There are still pockets of people who think this isn't a serious illness," she said on Tuesday.
"(Those people) don't believe they need to follow health orders and that impacts everybody.
"But more than anything else, it is the way this virus spreads and the way the virus moves.
"Short of not having authorised workers do what is necessary, it is really difficult to lower case numbers without a targeted vaccine strategy."
"Protect yourself, your family and loved ones and community by getting vaccinated," the premier said.
Of the new cases, 147 were linked to a known case or cluster – 119 household contacts and 28 close contacts. But 209 cases remain a mystery.
The four deaths include a man in his 80s from southwest Sydney who died at Liverpool Hospital and had acquired his infection there.
His death takes the Liverpool hospital outbreak to six.
A woman in her 80s from southwest Sydney also died at Liverpool Hospital but was not linked to that outbreak.
A man in his 70s from western Sydney died at Nepean Hospital while a man in his 80s from northern NSW died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He acquired his infection overseas and was not linked to the current outbreak.
Berejiklian was probed about what the government planned to do to help reduce the number of cases.
"I was asked about specific actions and why they weren't taken. I said very clearly that if we need to do more, of course we would based on the health advice," she said.
"But we're not in the business of putting in provisions or asking people to do things if they're not going to have an effect in reducing the case numbers."
The reporter questioned her again, asking why taking those specific actions would not reduce case numbers.
"If we thought they would have a significant or even marginal impact of course we'd do those things," Berejiklian fired back.
"But there is no evidence to suggest that is the case."
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said there was still a lot of "unnecessary movement".
"We're also seeing compliance gaps. A partner had visited a close contact," she said.
"These are not the actions that we want to see when we're dealing with a virus as transmissible as Covid."
The new figures come after Byron Bay mayor Michael Lyon revealed his frustration at the Sydney man who travelled to the coastal region with his two children before testing positive.
"We're going through trying to list all the exposure sites and work out where he's been. He hasn't been signing in and using QR codes, any of that … doesn't believe in it, it's a nightmare," Mr Lyon told the ABC on Monday night.
"It's been very difficult for police and health authorities to track down where he's been, it's ridiculous.
"You have to wonder what people are thinking when it comes to a situation like this."
Mr Lyon said on Tuesday morning he understood the man's two teenage children had since tested positive.
More than 95,000 people were tested in the 24 hours up to 8pm on Monday night.
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