New South Wales has recorded another 12 new coronavirus cases, as clusters related to popular pubs and restaurants continue to grow.
All of the new cases announced on Thursday were locally transmitted, with none coming from overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
Ten were locally acquired linked to known cases including one who had attended the Apollo Restaurant in Potts Point.
One had attended the Mounties club in Mount Pritchard and eight are household contacts of known cases.
Two are still under investigation.
New South Wales is battling at least 104 active coronavirus cases, causing fears the state is heading towards an out-of-control second wave of infections as seen in Victoria.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged young people to reduce their social activities during the critical time as the government ramps up its fight against the coronavirus.
Australian Defence Force staff and Victorian police are seen on patrol as a lockdown of Melbourne forces people to stay at home
‘If you have the virus and you go out five times a week to different places you could potentially be spreading it to five different locations, and then we have to contract trace everybody,’ she told Sydney radio Triple M.
‘It’s not anybody’s fault but it’s just the nature of the virus. It’s so contagious that if you don’t know you have it and you are still socialising you have the potential to give it to so many people.
‘It only takes a few cases to get out of control.’
Her warning comes as new data shows 16 recent cases had no known link to other cases or clusters in the past four weeks, proving there undetected COVID-19 cases within the community.
Residents in their 20s made up the largest number of coronavirus transmissions in NSW.
‘We’re not saying don’t socialise or don’t go out at all but we are saying please limit you behaviours just in the next few weeks,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
From midnight on Thursday all arrivals from Victoria will be forced to undergo 14 days of hotel quarantine at their own expense in a bid to avoid an outbreak like what has been seen in Victoria.
Travellers will only be allowed to return to the state through Sydney airport, unless they live within the NSW border regions.
New South Wales is tightening its quarantine rules for travellers from Victoria as the government ramps up its fight against the coronavirus
Ms Berejiklian said the new line of defence would reduce the risk of spreading the virus throughout the state.
‘We love our Victorian fellow citizens, but their rates of infection are incredibly high at the moment and not going down,’ Ms Berejiklian.
‘We are not an island, we are a state within a nation with geographic proximity to, unfortunately, other states.’
The move comes as an alarming number of travellers from Melbourne continue to flock to Sydney.
Between 100 and 200 people have arrived in the Harbour City from Australia’s coronavirus capital every day over the past week.
Anyone who has been in Victoria in the past 14 days is banned from entering New South Wales without a border permit under the Public Health (COVID-19 Border Control) Amendment.
She said border permits will also be restricted further.
‘We are reviewing and look to tightening some of those definitions to make sure only those with absolutely necessary requirements [are allowed to enter],’ she said.
From 11.59pm on Wednesday, only workers in certain industries will be allowed to send their children to daycare and must apply for an Access to Childcare Permit to do so. Pictured: Police patrol parks in Melbourne
But there will be some exemptions, she said.
‘The death of an immediate family member would be an example of a situation where we would allow obviously people to continue coming in to NSW.’
Passengers arriving domestically were previously only required to spend 14 days in self-isolation at their own home, rather than locked inside a hotel.
Dr Kerry Chant said the change would reduce the number of people entering NSW from Victoria and reduce the risk of community transmission.
Victoria announced 471 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday. The figure marks a dramatic decrease from the record 725 cases on Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, thousands of businesses were scrambling to operate under strict new rules which limit the number of staff allowed on site in a bid to slow the virus spread.
The state government only released a full list of businesses which are allowed to continue operating at 11pm last night, just one hour before the rules kicked in.
Premier Daniel Andrews had warned earlier this week the new restrictions, which would see normal staffing levels at food warehouse and meat production outlets reduced to one-third, would impact food supply.
Retail stores across the city will largely be closed to customers from Thursday, while construction and manufacturing work will also been scaled back in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
Employees allowed to work on-site now have to show a permit or official work ID if they are by stopped police to prove they can leave their homes, or face fines of up to $99,123 for businesses and up to $19,826 for individuals.
Permitted workers and those working from home who cannot supervise their kids must fill out separate forms to send them to child care, kindergarten or primary school.