Google mobility data released this week for several Hunter local government areas shows a decline of more than 50 per cent around retail and recreation hubs.

That compares to a 71 per cent drop in public transport, a metric gauged by location tracking at hubs including train stations.

The data tracks phone users anonymously through their location settings, using the same technology that generates the search engine's information around when venues and businesses are most busy.

The setting is turned off by default on most phones.

It has been made available in a bid to help governments and public health officials determine how effective measures to combat the spread of the virus have been.

The latest update shows significant declines in mobility around workplaces, parks, supermarkets and pharmacies. There was a modest increase (17 per cent) in residential mobility.

Those fluctuations are variations from the baseline, which Google said was a median measurement of traffic between January and February 2020 - before the pandemic hit in full force.

The changes were uniform across Hunter local government areas.

They also matched Sydney data released by the internet giant, although no data was available for Dungog and Upper Hunter, which Google said could be due to an insufficient sample size.

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The figures reveal the extent of the blow to businesses during the COVID pandemic, as well as how well the Hunter's residents are obeying the lockdown that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian extended until at least August 28 in a Thursday press conference.

Swansea MP and Shadow Minister for Customer Service, Digital and the Hunter Yasmin Catley said that business in the region needed help beyond what the government had on offer.

She said a one-off COVID grant offering businesses between $7,500 and $15,000, if they suffered a 30 per cent decline in turnover from 26 June to 17 July should be made available to Hunter traders facing at least another week in the lockdown that began August 5.

Lockdown rules prohibit movement beyond local government area boundaries or five kilometres from home.

'I have been contacted by small business owners who are struggling to keep their doors open after pouring years of hard work into the business," Ms Catley said.

"These businesses are crucial employers in the regions and must be supported by the government by extending the COVID-19 business grant to the regions.

"It is time this government valued our regions."

Health authorities have been at pains to make it clear that any non-urgent movement outside the home beyond the permitted reasons, which include exercise and shopping for essentials, should be reconsidered.

Regional NSW field operations NSW Police deputy commissioner Mick Willing said preventing movement to regional areas from Sydney, and between regional areas, was a key focus of Operation Stay at Home.

"From the start, this has been about reducing movement across the state and protecting the health and safety of everyone, and this operation significantly strengthens those efforts," he said at the operation's launch on Saturday.

"There will be nowhere to hide if you are doing the wrong thing. If you travel anywhere beyond your LGA at the moment, you are putting everyone else in NSW at considerable risk."

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