TAMWORTH will lock down for a week after "somebody left Newcastle" to visit the New England town.
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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that there were no confirmed cases in Tamworth yet but several exposure sites with links to the Hunter's outbreak.
"Unfortunately somebody from Newcastle went to Tamworth and there are a number of exposure sites there," she said.
Dr Kerry Chant said a young lady was exposed to the virus in the Hunter, travelling to Tamworth on August 4 and visiting a number of venues before returning to Newcastle on Thursday August 5.
The city's lockdown began 5pm on August 5.
Dr Chant said the woman did not know she was infectious when she travelled out of the city.
"Obviously we're concerned about those exposure sites ... but I would urge everyone to reconsider their movements today," she said.
"In terms of where we are going, I think the numbers speak for themselves. We are still seeing a lot of people infectious in the community."
Ms Berejiklian said that increased vaccination rates in areas fighting cases of COVID could help guide the level of restrictions going forward.
Six new cases are in the Hunter New England Health district, NSW Health said, taking the region's cluster to 26.
They include a young woman in Maitland linked to last week's Maitland Christian School closure, as well as a Newcastle woman in her 20s and a Toronto man both linked to the University of Newcastle cases.
Investigations continue into the source of infection for a Maitland man in his 20s, a Medowie man in his 40s and a man in his 40s from Newcastle.
Close contact venues associated with the Newcastle woman's trip to Tamworth include Inland Cafe on August 5 from 9.15am to 10am, the Tudor Hotel between 11am and 11.40am the same day.
Dr Chant also listed Mr Rice on Darby Street and Habesha Ethiopian restaurant at The Junction as exposure sites connected to that case.
Casual contact venues in the New England also included Supervape in Tamworth on the 5th from 10.55am to 11.05am and Ampol roadhouse from 12.25pm to 12.30pm.
Anyone at a close contact venue is required to get tested and isolate for 14 days, whereas casual contacts must get tested and isolate until they get a negative result.
"She then returned to Newcastle on the 5th of August, hence why there are no additional exposure venues from that time," Dr Chant said.
Tamworth's lockdown will run from 5pm today until 12.01am Tuesday 16 August.
IN THE NEWS:
NSW set a new record with tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, notching 133,000.
Unfortunately it also detected 283 cases of community transmission.
Ms Berejiklian said there were "at least 64 infectious for that time in the community" from among that number.
A woman in her 90s, who was unvaccinated and in palliative care, has died after contracting COVID.
Canterbury-Bankstown remained the epicentre of the virus in NSW, Ms Berejiklian said.
"We ask everyone in that local government area to be especially careful, and not to leave unless absolutely necessary," she said.
"Unless it is essential you should not be going into those areas if you don't live there."
Dr Chant said Sydney's eight local government areas remained what authorities were most concerned about.
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