NSW has ended the year with another 10 cases of locally-acquired COVID-19 recorded.
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An additional seven cases were identified in returned travellers in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours to 8pm on December 30, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 4734 since the beginning of the pandemic.
To date, no new cases have been detected in the Hunter.
Five of the new cases have been directly linked to the Avalon cluster in Sydney's Northern Beaches.
The cluster has now been associated with 144 confirmed cases.
Three of the new cases were linked to the more recent Croydon cluster.
Another is a close contact of the two patient transport drivers previously reported, and one further case, from western Sydney, is still under investigation.
There were 27,894 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day's total of 17,267.
NSW Health thanked the community for coming forward, and urged people to continue to do so in the days ahead.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said while it was pleasing to see lower case numbers, the virus was very "volatile", and the figures were likely to continue to "bounce around".
Ms Berejiklian said people should be wearing masks in shopping centres and on public transport.
No visitors from Greater Sydney are permitted to visit residents in regional residential aged care facilities until at least 11.59pm on Wednesday, January 6.
But there are no restrictions on people from regional NSW visiting residents in regional facilities.
NSW Health said its sewage surveillance program has detected viral fragments of COVID-19 at the sewage plant that services the Hornsby Heights area.
People in the area are asked to be alert for symptoms and get tested immediately if they appear.