NSW has recorded 35 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases as Sydney reaches the halfway point of its 14-day lockdown.
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It's the highest number of daily cases since the first wave of COVID-19 in early 2020, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was pleasing that most of the cases were isolated throughout their infectious period.
"Whilst as predicted the number of cases are going up, we're seeing a greater proportion of those cases in isolation which is exactly what we want to see," Ms Berejiklian said on Saturday.
"The green shoots are there. The green shoots of the lockdown doing what we hoped it would are there."
The new cases take the outbreak tally to 261.
Twenty-three of the new cases were in isolation through their infectious period. Three were in isolation for part of their infectious periods. Nine were infectious in the community.
An Illawarra man in his 40s was one of 31 new statewide COVID cases announced on Friday, the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District confirmed.
An ISLHD spokeswoman said the man was a close contact of an existing case and had been in isolation during his infectious period.
It takes the total number of Illawarra cases since the start of this latest state outbreak to six, all have been linked to known cases and have been in isolation.
Two patients are currently being cared for at Wollongong Hospital's dedicated COVID ward.
Since the pandemic started, there have been a total of 161 cases recorded throughout the ISLHD - 125 of which were acquired overseas.
Saturday's statewide numbers come after NSW Health identified 35 possible exposure sites on Friday evening.
Anyone who attended Exquisite Brows and Spa in the Marrickville Metro between 9am and 5pm last Saturday is a close contact and must isolate for 14 days. A Strathfield medical practice, the Manly Novotel and the Eastlakes Woolworths are also close contact venues.
Further alerts have been issued for venues in Burwood, Auburn, Homebush, Strathfield, Eastern Creek, Roselands, Villawood and Lakemba in Sydney's inner west and west; Bondi Beach and Bondi Junction in the east; Eastlakes, Matraville, Oatley, Caringbah, Kirrawee, Rockdale and South Hurstville in the south and southeast; and Avalon in the northern beaches.
Two legs of the 400 bus route last Thursday have also been identified as COVID risks. The full details are on the NSW Health website.
Ms Berejiklian warned on Friday that the next few days were "critical" and that authorities wanted to see a rise in the proportion of new cases already in isolation.
"Come early next week we do want to see that tide turned," she said.
Meanwhile, NSW has lifted stay-at-home orders for travellers from Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland as those states and territories have eased their own lockdowns.
However, visitors from Brisbane and Moreton Bay must remain at home, as must anyone in the Greater Sydney area.
The lockdown for Greater Sydney and surrounds, including Wollongong and Shellharbour, is due to end on July 9.
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