New South Wales has recorded 345 new local COVID-19 cases, as restrictions are tightened across three more Sydney local government areas.
Two Sydney men in their 90s with the virus have also died, including one who acquired his infection as part of the Liverpool Hospital outbreak. The other man was a resident of Wyoming Aged Care in Summer Hill.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said one man had received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the other had received both doses of Pfizer.
"Both had a level of vaccination and our deepest sympathy and condolences to their loved ones," she told reporters on Thursday.
Of the new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, at least 91 were in the community for all or part of the infectious period. The isolation status of 138 infections is under investigation. The source of infection for 217 cases is being investigated.
There are currently 374 people in hospital, including 62 people in intensive care. Of those, NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Marianne Gale said, 57 people are not vaccinated, and the remaining five have had one dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer.
Ms Berejiklian said while the majority of cases continue to be recorded in the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, "the front" of the outbreak has moved into Cumberland.
Three more LGAs neighbouring those in western and south-western Sydney - Bayside, Strathfield and Burwood - became subject to tougher COVID-19 restrictions at 5pm on Thursday.
Ms Berejikian said people in the Inner West and Camden areas should also be on "extra alert" as health authorities watch cases there "very closely".
"Some (of the LGAs) only had one case overnight, but as a precaution, we want to stop the front of the spread moving forward," she said.
NSW Police operation to be updated
The premier said NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller is working with health officials on a range of compliance measures as the virus spreads to the regions. She said she expects that will include a request for more Australian Defence Force support.
"We are ensuring that no stone is left unturned," she said.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mick Willing said details are still being finalised to update the compliance operation, including closing off loopholes for travel to regional parts of the state.
"We are still seeing people who are recklessly not abiding by the current health orders. Just this week we saw a person travel out to Parkes without a reasonable excuse," he said.
In the last 24 hours, 407 fines were issued, including 176 fines for not wearing a mask. Fifty-six people were charged with breaches of the public health orders.
After singling out the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA with a warning for better compliance over its high case numbers, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard thanked most of the community for doing the right thing.
"I want to emphasise, 99.9 per cent of the community, thank you, because you are actually complying with what we've asked of you and not necessarily on health orders but when we ask you to do it, you do it."
Meanwhile, the current lockdown for the Hunter and Upper Hunter region of NSW has been extended by at least another week.
Dr Gale said there are 24 cases across the Hunter and New England LGAs. Twelve of the cases were linked to an aged care home, including one staff member.
Three new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Dubbo, bringing the number of cases in western NSW to six.
Push to boost vaccination in Indigenous communities
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the lockdown in Dubbo announced on Wednesday evening was triggered "by a case that had come out of a prison".
Dr Gale urged members of the local Indigenous community to be extra vigilant.
"We know that many of those affected areas have a high proportion of Aboriginal people and I ask all our Aboriginal community as well to please stay at home, come forward for a test if you have symptoms and of course please get vaccinated with any available vaccine as soon as you can," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said officials would be working to boost vaccination rates and vaccine supply in Indigenous communities in the area.
Dubbo Council’s Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Kerryann Stanley, said the potential impact of the spread of the virus in the area would be devastating.
"For a pandemic such as this to affect a minority group of people, [it] could be really catastrophic if we don't get on top of it and support each other," the Wiradjuri woman told SBS News on Wednesday.
National Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisation medical advisor Jason Agostino said there is an urgent need to get more staff in Indigenous communities across NSW to boost the rollout.
"In the past five weeks, we have seen vaccination rates more than double for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people week on week, particularly in NSW. But that is still not enough to bridge the gap that we have in vaccination rates and we have seen that grow over time, even though we've doubled what we're doing," he told SBS News.
"Our health services can't do it alone - we need the state government and the federal government, we need the Royal Flying Doctors and everyone to work together to get these vaccination rates up."
Dr Agostino said in far north-western NSW only 20 per cent of First Nations people had received one dose of vaccine - and around about eight per cent are fully vaccinated.
Calls for federal government assistance
Mr Hazzard said the federal government had the main responsibility for vaccination of the Aboriginal population - and he has asked for help in setting up pop-up vaccination clinics.
"I’ve asked them to assist and asked if it is possible to have any pop-up vaccination clinics, whether it’s possible to have some ADF staff or medical staff support in that area and it’s primarily the responsibility of the federal government but we have been helping, it is a team effort.
"And they have responded very quickly...(federal Minister Greg Hunt indicated) they would see what they could do - and get onto it.
Dr Agostino said there should be consultation with communities before any Australian Defence Force personnel are brought in to assist.
"It is up to the community about how the ADF gets involved. Most of these places have an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation. What is appropriate for that community is up to them," he said.
"So if they think that the ADF is appropriate then that is good, but we don't want to see the ADF coming in where the community doesn't want them."
A spokesperson for federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told SBS News that 28 per cent of the adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population (160,900 people) had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine and 14 per cent (80,371) were fully vaccinated - as of 11 August 2021.
Increased numbers of younger people getting vaccinated
Meanwhile, Ms Berejiklian said she is pleased by the increase in younger Australians turning up to get the vaccine.
"They are coming forward in droves," she said.
NSW Health administered 1,758,764 vaccines in the last 24 hours. Ms Berejiklian said at least 10,000 HSC students have also received a vaccine dose.
"The strategy is to maximise first doses and it is important for us to in particular vaccinate young people, which is why we are targeting HSC students throughout those local government areas of concern," she said.
Dr Murray Wright, NSW Health's chief psychiatrist, said it is important for all people in lockdown to focus on a structure and daily plan to reduce stress.
"It is really important for me to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this is probably the most sustained and serious stress that many of us are going to face in our lifetimes, and ... how we manage it is going to be really important in minimising the mental health impacts of the stress," he said.
"That includes having regular daily exercise of some kind, having contact with the people who are important in your life and talking about meaningful things, including how you are coping. It is important to monitor things like your diet, like your sleep, like your alcohol intake, and also to set goals every day and review that."
A record 151,830 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, compared to the previous day's COVID-19 test numbers of 119,256.
With AAP.
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