New South Wales has recorded 11 new local Covid-19 cases with a further 17 to be included in tomorrow's numbers.
Residents and visitors to the Eastern suburbs continue to get tested for COVID-19 at St Vincent's Hospital pop-up testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Friday
Sydneysiders queue outside a vaccination centre in Sydney on June 24
Sydney's latest outbreak, which has caused 42 infections and led to mandated mask-wearing, was sparked by a limo driver who was unvaccinated and not wearing an N95 mask when he collected flight crew.
The New South Wales government was reportedly warned about the dangers of taxi drivers transporting flight crew from Sydney Airport four months ago but did not tighten health regulations.
Under a state public health order, international arrivals are not allowed to take ride share vehicles, public transport or taxis - but the order does not apply to flight crew.
A New South Wales Transport Workers Union official raised the issue with NSW Health but was told 'the airlines are in charge', a source told The Australian.
The rules state that airlines must organise 'appropriate transportation' to take foreign crew to government quarantine and crew who live locally to their homes.
On Thursday, Ms Berejiklian dodged questions about why the driver was unvaccinated, saying: 'Obviously we will have more to say about that once police have completed their investigations.
Jon Bailey's hair salon in Double Bay is deep cleaned on Thursday due to the outbreak
'Everybody in New South Wales who works in our systems know their obligations, and we certainly look forward to providing certainty around what occurred in this situation.'
The driver, who is in his 60s, said he was scared of blood clots, an extremely rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is only recommended in Australia for people over the age of 60.
He told A Current Affair that he had a family history of blood clots and was not an anti-vaxxer.
It is not clear why he was not encouraged to get the Pfizer vaccine instead because of his front-line role.
Reporter Lauren Golman, who interviewed him, said: 'He has not received any kind of pressure or encouragement to have the vaccine. I'm not sure if he has had conversations with his employer.'
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said vaccines were available and said it was the state government's responsibility to require them.
'The doses were available and on this case that worker was not vaccinated and the NSW Premier has made it very clear that they're investigating into how that occurred,' he said in Parliament on Thursday.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said police believe they cannot take any action against the man because there was no requirement for him to be vaccinated.
This is the limo driver who caught the virus from international air crew and spread it around Sydney without realising
But he told 2GB radio host Ben Fordham that officers are seeking 'legal advice' to see if there is any way to punish him.
'We have sent the case for urgent outside legal advice and have done that due to the significance of this outbreak and the community concern.
'We need to tick every box in terms of making sure whether he has or hasn't definitively breached the Public Health Orders,' he said.
It comes as thousands more Sydneysiders risk being plunged into isolation after patients visited dozens of busy venues spanning 17 suburbs, from the east to the North Shore and a busy shopping centre in the city's west.
In a late night drop of new exposure sites on Thursday, NSW Health put alerts out for a host of new venues including a Kmart, Domino's Pizza and several popular coffee shops.
Another shock came as coronavirus fragments were found in a Bourke sewage treatment plant, 750km away from Sydney in the far north-west of NSW, where there has never been a single known case.
The wastewater finding indicates the virus may have already escaped the NSW capital and has somehow reached vulnerable outback areas.
Meanwhile, in scenes reminiscent of the first wave of Covid in March 2020, Coles and Woolworths' shelves across Sydney have once again been stripped bare of loo roll.
Neither of the supermarkets have re-introduced buying limits on toilet paper, but frustrated shoppers have called out others for stockpiling.
A total of 181 exposure sites have been announced in Greater Sydney since the latest outbreak began, bringing in a raft of new restrictions (pictured, commuters in masks on Thursday)
This terrifying map shows the 17 suburbs announced as having Covid exposure sites in a worrying late night drop on Thursday
Officials announced 11 new cases of the highly-infectious Indian Delta strain on Thursday, bringing the total
