New South Wales has recorded 136 new Covid-19 cases with the outbreak now considered to be a 'national emergency'.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian admitted on Friday the outbreak was worsening in southwest and western Sydney suburbs.
'There is no doubt that the numbers are not going in the direction we were hoping they would at this stage,' she said.
The NSW Government is reportedly in talks about tightening restrictions in Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas - where the majority of infections have been recorded.
'We need people in south-west Sydney to stop moving around,' NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said on Friday.
'We need people to understand it's a dangerous virus.'
New South Wales recorded the new cases as harsher restrictions loom for parts of the state
Sydney resident exercises at Centennial Park as the city remains plunged in lockdown
Discussions about how restrictions may be changed to further lock down the south-west and ease pressure on areas with few cases will begin next week
Sources say more police patrols or the further tightening of travel rules could be on the table.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Thursday that the number of new infections over the weekend will determine how restrictions in the city and surrounding regions will change after July 30, when they're currently set to end.
Discussions about how restrictions may be changed to further lock down the south-west and ease pressure on areas with few cases will begin next week, The Australian reported.
Areas flagged for eased restrictions in the overhaul include the Northern Beaches, Shellharbour and the Central Coast, which have both seen too few case numbers to warrant stay-home orders.
Shellharbour especially has not had a single case since June, but residents still face the same stay-home orders as those living in the heart of Sydney.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward urged Mr Hazzard on Thursday to rethink restrictions for the south coast.
'It is totally unreasonable to keep the people of the Shellharbour LGA in lockdown. If circumstances change, restrictions could be reconsidered,' Mr Ward wrote.
The NSW Government is also reportedly in talks about tightening restrictions in Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas - where the majority of infections have been recorded
Parts of Sydney could be lifted out of lockdown sooner as the majority of cases are recorded in the south-west suburbs (pictured, swimmer at Bondi)
Restrictions are likely to be eased in areas less impacted by the current Covid-19 outbreak in New South Wales
Sources say more police patrols or the further tightening of travel rules could be on the table (pictured, two women walking down Haldon Street in Lakemba, in Sydney's south-west)
But health officials are said to be deeply concerned that the daily infection rates aren't going down in the south-west of the city, and that the number of infected people out in the community is steadily on the rise.
As it stands, five million residents of Greater Sydney are not allowed to leave their homes except to shop for groceries, go to work, meet
