New South Wales has reported another 319 lcoal cases of COVID-19, recorded in the 24 hours up to 8pm Friday, and five more deaths.
Of those, the source of infection for 194 is still being investigated. Just 138 were in isolation through their infectious period, NSW Health said, and 51 were infectious were definitely infectious while in the community.
Neighbouring state Victoria earlier reported 29 new local cases, the biggest jump this year.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said almost 22 percent of NSW residents have been fully vaccinated, and nearly 50 percent have had a first jab.
Of the five who died, three were in their 80s, one in their 90s and another in their 60s. The death toll in the current outbreak is now 27, and the number of confirmed infections 4929. So far 84 NSW residents have died in the pandemic, including prior outbreaks.
There are 345 people in hospital, with 56 in ICU and 23 on ventilation.
New restrictions have been brought around the state, with infections spreading out of Greater Sydney, NSW Health said, including Armidale and Newcastle.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned on Friday the state's numbers would likely get worse.
"I do want to foreshadow that given this high number of cases, we are likely to see this trend continue for the next few days so everybody prepare themselves for higher case numbers in the next few days."
She pushed residents to get vaccinated as soon as they could, saying the more people who get vaccinated, "the sooner we will be able to live more freely".
The Delta variant of COVID-19 is behind the surge. It's a lot more infectious than the previous strains Australia had to deal with, and there is growing evidence vaccinated people can still transmit it, though their risk of illness is greatly reduced.
Earlier on Saturday Victoria reported 29 new locally acquired coronavirus cases, the highest daily jump this year.
The state remains under a seven-day strict lockdown imposed earlier this week to reign the highly infectious Delta variant.
Health authorities said that all of the new infections are linked to previously reported cases but were not in quarantine during their infectious periods.
Victoria, Australia's second most populous state and home to near 7 million people, on Thursday night entered into its sixth lockdown since the pandemic began, just weeks after exiting the last one.
