Saturday was meant to be the day Greater Sydney, Wollongong and Shellharbour emerged from a two-week lockdown, but instead NSW has recorded another 50 cases and woken to the toughest COVID-19 restrictions in over a year.
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The new cases were diagnosed from over 42,000 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, and include 26 who were active in the community for part of their infectious period.
"When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better.
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She again appealed for Sydneysiders to stop bending the lockdown rules, citing at least two people who police caught throwing parties overnight.
"The vast majority of those (new) cases - and I can't stress this enough - are close family or friends of people who have COVID," she told reporters.
"If you truly love your parents, your sisters, your best friends, please stick to the rules."
Some 44 cases were recorded the day before, marking the worst day of the current virus outbreak and prompting the premier to warn lockdown will likely be extended again.
The premier said a premature reopening of Greater Sydney would result in thousands of coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
Tough new rules, limiting exercise to groups of two and banning browsing at shops, also came into effect on Friday at 5pm, as the state's health department on Friday issued more alerts for retail stores across Sydney.
Among them are Woolworths stores in Mascot and Ashfield, Aldi stores in Hoxton Park, Quakers Hill and Ashfield, a Beacon Lighting shop in Bankstown, and KFC in Rockdale.
Several places are listed close contact exposure sites for periods of seven hours or longer.
They include an Ikea at Tempe, where a staffer worked whilst infectious, and a construction site at Homebush.
Seven furniture stores along the same road in Campbelltown have also been identified as venues of concern for visitors on Sunday afternoon.
The new restrictions also permit only one person per household to leave the home for shopping each day, and limit funerals to 10 people.
Ten COVID-19 patients in NSW are in intensive care, with four ventilated - one person aged in their 20s.
