New South Wales recorded 50 new coronavirus cases on Saturday after three-consecutive days of record numbers as the premier warned 'things are going to get worse before they get better'.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the new cases in a press conference in Sydney after introducing further restrictions on the current stay-at-home-orders on Friday.
She says 'most concerningly' there were 26 active cases in the community, saying too many residents were 'cutting corners' and 'flouting the rules'.
'That is the number we need to get down to as close to zero as possible,' Ms Berejiklian said.
'When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better.'
She also hinted that the Greater Sydney lockdown, which is entering its third week, is likely to be extended as case numbers skyrocket.
'I think it is pretty clear that unless we reduce that level of people in the community that are infectious, we won't be able to turn things around as quickly as we can or as quickly as we should,' the premier said.
Police issued more than 160 fines for breaching protocol in the last 24 hours, including five people being busted for throwing a house party.
New South Wales recorded 50 new coronavirus cases on Saturday after three-consecutive days of record numbers
Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the new cases in a press conference in Sydney after introducing further restrictions on the current stay-at-home-orders on Friday
There were 38 new cases announced Thursday and 44 Friday, both the highest days recorded since the start of the pandemic.
Saturday's figure deepens the growing crisis with the highly-infectious Delta strain.
There are currently 47 people who have been hospitalised as a result of the virus, with Dr Kerry Chant urging people to take it seriously.
The announcement comes as five million Sydneysiders could be stuck in lockdown until at least August, a leading infectious disease expert has claimed.
Professor Mary-Louise McLaws said it would take 'at least a month' to get Covid numbers down and even longer to eliminate community transmission completely.
'You expect cases, sadly, in family clusters, but the ones outside isolation are the ones that are telling you there's a lot of circulating virus,' she told Weekend Today.
'My projections are that it's going to take at least a month to get those down.'
Professor McLaws said it was concerning to see over half of the new Covid cases detected not having isolated.
'At the moment that (proportion has) been very high, anywhere between a half of all people diagnosed to 60 per cent – and that has to get down to zero.'
Sydney could be in lockdown until at least August, as tensions mount over extra police attention in the city's Covid-hit west and south-west
Mary-Louise McLaws, professor of epidemiology at UNSW, claimed it could be five weeks before community transmission of the Indian Delta variant of Covid 19 slows in Sydney
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned there will likely be an increase in cases on Saturday, after 44 new infections were recorded on Friday
Dramatic video emerged on Friday of Rami Ykmour - the founder of popular Rashays eatery - was arrested after refusing to provide his details to officers while two of his staff were fined for not wearing face masks
Her grim warning comes as tensions mount in south-west Sydney, where 100 extra police officers have been sent to ensure compliance in worrying Covid hotspots.
Furious residents in the targeted local government areas - Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool - have questioned why Sydney's eastern suburbs are not
