New South Wales has reported 818 new local community cases of COVID-19 on Monday and three new deaths.
The Australian state's premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the new cases at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
Of the locally acquired cases, 120 are linked to a known case or cluster and 698 are still under investigation.
Health authorities confirmed 42 cases were infectious in the community, 47 were in isolation for their whole infectious period, 15 were in isolation for part of their infectious period and the isolation status of 714 cases remains under investigation.
There have now been 13,022 locally acquired cases reported in NSW since June 16, when the first case in the latest NSW outbreak was reported.
"I want to stress that we are going through the rollercoaster ride of emotions as case numbers go up and down," Berejiklian said, The Guardian reported.
"I don't want to focus so much on the numbers going up and down. We want to see them go down, no doubt about that, and we're working so hard to make it possible, but the number we need to focus on is a vaccination rate."
For those who are vaccinated, Berejiklian hinted there will be some "freedoms" which will be announced by the end of the week.
"We plan on giving advice later this week on what we can do at 6 million jabs. We have always said we will provide advice at the end of August and what is possible in September, October."
The three deaths in NSW on Monday include two men and a woman who were all in their 80s, Dr Marianne Gale from NSW Health confirmed.
There are currently 586 COVID cases admitted to hospital, 100 of which are currently in intensive care, and of them 32 have required ventilation. Of the 100 cases in ICU, 87 are not vaccinated, and the remainder have had their first dose of vaccine.
ICU specialist from the Nepean hospital Dr Huong Nguyen said health authorities are particularly worried about the increasing number of younger patients admitted to intensive care.
"They are staying in intensive care for longer, and they are needing care that cannot be provided anywhere else on the wards. There are those who are on breeding machines and on heart and lung machines.
"What is really worrying is the number of young patients who are coming in. Up to 25 percent have been less than 40 years old.
"Our nurses and doctors provide the best and compassionate care, and we need your help. We know it is difficult at the moment."
NSW has now reported 74 COVID-related deaths since June 16, and 130 since the beginning of the pandemic.
