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Scott Morrison has declared lockdowns will be unsustainable once widespread vaccination coverage is achieved, in another warning shot to state premiers.

The prime minister continues to pressure state governments hinting at backing away from an agreement to end lockdowns and reopen Australia.

National cabinet has set vaccine coverage thresholds of 70 and 80 per cent to reduce the chances of lockdowns and move towards more normal settings.

Mr Morrison said the focus would shift to hospitalisation numbers rather than daily cases when immunisation targets were hit.

"That is our goal - to live with this virus, not to live in fear of it," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Consensus has frayed with Western Australia not budging from its zero-case goal and Queensland warning it may not reopen its NSW border even at the higher jab threshold.

Updated Doherty Institute modelling will be presented to a national cabinet meeting of the country's leaders on Friday.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the initial research was based on reopening with 30 cases in the community.

Coronavirus continues to surge in NSW with another 818 new local cases and three deaths reported on Monday.

In Victoria, there were 71 new infections, while the ACT recorded 16.

Australia has fully vaccinated 30 per cent of its population aged 16 and above, while 52 per cent have had one jab.

Mr Morrison said heavy restrictions, which are affecting more than half of Australia's population across Victoria, NSW and the ACT, could not go on forever.

"It is always darkest before the dawn and I think these lockdowns are demonstration of that," he said.

"But the dawn is not far away. We should not delay it, we should prepare for it. We should not fear it, we should embrace it and we should move forward together."

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who has abandoned trying to eliminate the virus, backed the prime minister's view of the future.

"Just as we tend to talk about the number of people that die from flu, when we have 80 per cent double dose vaccination that's how we'll treat it," he said.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly believes eliminating all cases is not achievable in the long-term.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles urged the prime minister to take charge of the plan to reopen.

"We're getting this debate at the moment because we don't have leadership from the federal government," he told Sky News.

"Scott Morrison has gone missing and he's struggling to get all the states on the same page."

Qantas boss Alan Joyce said it would be a "terrible shame" if the agreement was not maintained and challenged premiers to explain how life would return to normal.

"There would be a big backlash if people can maybe even go to London and visit relatives there for Christmas but can't go to Perth to visit their relatives," he told the ABC.

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There is no one-size-fits-all approach to losing weight and people may shed more kilos in the long term by working with their "diet type".

That's the message from a new study which identified six major diet approaches among more than 245,000 Australian respondents.

The two most common types of dieters are "thinkers" and "battlers", according to the report published by the CSIRO, Australia's leading science agency, on Monday.

Making up 14.1 per cent of the study's respondents, "thinkers" are goal-oriented, motivated and analytical.

But they're also sensitive to negative feedback that can lead to stress or anxiety, which could ultimately derail their diet.

"Battlers" make up 12.8 per cent of respondents, who are likely find themselves regularly tempted by food and prone to stress and worry.

As a result, they need strategies to help break the cycle and achieve long-term success in their diet, according to the study.

The study's lead author, CSIRO research scientist Dr Emily Brindal, said it was important for Australians trying to lose weight to learn more about their diet types.

"Too often diets are developed with a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the fact that some people behave or think differently to others," Dr Brindal said.

"Working with your diet type could help you achieve better weight loss outcomes in the longer term."

The four other common diet types identified are "cravers", "pleasers", "foodies" and "socialisers".

"Cravers" have the highest body mass index, according to the study, and are likely to experience strong food cravings that may lead to overeating in "tricky" food-related settings.

"Pleasers" are likeable and friendly people who could also be sensitive to social comparisons, which can make them feel like they are not doing well.

"Foodies" are passionate about all things food, including the experience of preparing and eating good quality meals.

The study found that "foodies" love variety and have the best diet quality of all six types.

Finally, "socialisers" are those who need flexibility to prevent diet restrictions from stifling social occasions or 'killing the mood' of an event.

"We are seeing people cope differently with COVID-19 stresses and uncertainty, which has included disruptions to health, fitness and social routines," Dr Brindal said.

"We hope to help people achieve greater success on their journey to rediscover their health by playing to their individual strengths while also helping them to gain better control over their weaknesses."

www.totalwellbeingdiet.com

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Victoria's COVID-19 crisis continues to escalate with hundreds of health workers forced into isolation after an outbreak at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Health Minister Martin Foley denies authorities have lost control of the latest wave of infections but has expressed "great concern" about the scale of community transmission despite a statewide lockdown.

Victoria officially recorded 65 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Sunday, 55 linked to current outbreaks and 10 mystery cases. Only 12 were in isolation while infectious.

Mr Foley has warned an outbreak in the regional city of Shepparton will almost certainly grow beyond the 21 cases included in Sunday's figures.

That cluster has been linked to a new case detected 125k away, in the town of Mansfield at the foot of the Victorian Alps.

And it is strongly suspected the Shepparton cluster spawned the outbreak at Royal Melbourne Hospital that's so far infected seven people - a mix of patients, staff and one visitor.

Health department deputy secretary Kate Matson believes a visitor to the hospital was infected by a Shepparton man who underwent surgery on August 12.

He was not tested for COVID-19 prior to his operation which happened before the Shepparton cluster surfaced. The patient was in various parts of the hospital including ICU and a cardiac ward before he tested positive. He remains there.

Ms Matson said "hundreds" of health workers have been temporarily stood down due to the risk of exposure. Another 50 are isolating after a positive case went to the Werribee Mercy Hospital on August 19.

"We're looking at emergency staffing as well to maintain the health system," she said on Sunday, but did not detail what that involved. "I'm confident we've got the contingency plans in place to keep that going."

Authorities listed more than 100 new exposure sites across Victoria on Saturday and more than 11,000 close contacts are in quarantine.

Mr Foley told reporters it was still possible to get on top of the spread despite unexplained wastewater detections in areas where there'd been no confirmed cases.

They include positive results from the Sunshine West industrial area west of Melbourne.

"What this shows is that we've got community transmission," he said, but added: "We're still in the realm of holding this back."

Authorities will reintroduce pre-surgery COVID tests as a result of the hospital outbreak.

The cluster wasn't picked up until a woman who visited the surgical patient's roommate fell ill and got tested.

Authorities worked backwards from there. They are waiting on further tests that will show if the man has the same variant circulating in Shepparton.

The source of the Shepparton cluster remains under investigation.

All public sector staff will get up to half a day of paid time to keep appointments for the two jabs they need for full protection, Mr Foley announced on Sunday.

He also promised an new vaccination blitz for residential aged care and disability workers at state run facilities, including walk-up jabs at more than 50 state-run centres.

Jobs Minister Martin Pakula also announced more help for 20,000 regional businesses affected by the lockdown.

Victoria currently has 440 active cases. There are 27 people in hospital,12 in intensive care.

Daily tests numbered 44,147 and 26,149 vaccinations were administered in state run vaccination centres.

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THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK IN NSW:

* New locally-acquired cases: 830 (up five on prior 24-hour period)

* Cases with isolation status under investigation: 694

* In hotel quarantine: zero

* Total for outbreak (since June 16): 12,217

* Total in NSW for entire COVID-19 pandemic: 17,806

* In hospital: 557 (+41)

* In intensive care: 94 (+9)

* Ventilated: 31 (+2)

* Deaths in current outbreak: 71 (+3)

* Deaths in NSW for entire pandemic: 127

* Tests conducted (over 24-hour reporting period): 206,193

* Vaccinations in NSW (on Saturday): 79,383

* Total vaccinations administered in NSW (as of Saturday): 5,845,663

* Vaccination coverage in NSW (aged 16 and over, as of Saturday): 58.33 per cent have had at least one dose, 31.26 are fully vaccinated.

* Borders: Greater Sydney residents are not permitted to visit regional NSW unless for essential activity, and cannot freely enter any other Australian state or territory. Regional NSW residents are also barred from freely entering other states or territories, with limited exceptions.

Restrictions and hotspots: www.health.nsw.gov.au

Workplace support: www.business.gov.au

Financial support: Services Australia and Service NSW

Mental health support: Lifeline 13 11 14, beyondblue 1300 22 4636, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)

© AAP 2021