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A new anti-clotting drug could significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients, with promising signs of improved blood flow to the brain to reduce instances of death and disability.

Treatment within the first few hours after a stroke is crucial to avoid the most serious outcomes, lead researcher Shaun Jackson from the Heart Research Institute said.

"We are talking about the acute phase of the stroke and there is currently only one drug that is available for the treatment of strokes, a clot dissolving drug called tPA," Professor Jackson said.

However the drug is ineffective for many patients and researchers are working to identify new anti-clotting methods that reduce stroke injury.

"In our preclinical models, we have shown that our anti-clotting drug, when combined with tPA, not only dissolves a blood clot from a stroke more effectively than tPA alone but it can stop the clot from reforming," Prof Jackson said.

"It has the ability to attack different components of the blood clot than tPA alone and the new combination therapy looks very promising in experimental models.

"It does this without an added risk of bleeding, and we know bleeding leads to more strokes so this drug may help reduce risk of another stroke."

The new drug will be trialled at stroke units across the country including at the Royal Prince Alfred, Prince of Wales, John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, Royal Adelaide and Royal Melbourne Hospital.

"We know from Phase 1 trials in healthy people that this antiplatelet drug is safe and well tolerated. We now need to test it to see if it has a positive impact on people who have suffered a stroke," Prof Jackson said.

Patients who suffer an acute ischaemic stroke, the most common form of a stroke where the blood supply to the brain is blocked, will be given the anti-clotting drug in addition to other medications during the first critical hours.

Preclinical models have shown the drug to be safe and highly effective in improving recovery from an ischaemic stroke.

© AAP 2021

Residents are barred from leaving three council areas while all but critical retailers across Sydney are closed as the city doubles down in its most serious battle yet with COVID-19.

NSW reported 111 new community cases of the virus on Saturday along with the death of a man in his 80s.

Stay-at-home orders have been tightened in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool with locals not allowed to leave until July 30 unless they work in health or emergency services.

More than 80 per cent of cases have come from the city's southwest and at least 29 of the 111 were infectious before going into isolation, a number authorities say is too high.

"I can't remember a time when our state has been challenged to such an extent," Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

"Not a single one of these decisions was taken lightly."

However the southwestern lockdown has prompted a harsh response from some within the medical community.

The Doctors Reform Society says enough Pfizer vaccine to administer to all 600,000 adults who live within the three municipalities should be provided within the next fortnight.

"It is not fair and it doesnt make any medical sense to completely lockdown several local government areas of Sydney without providing a means to escape lockdown by not providing sufficient vaccines," DRS President Dr Con Costa said in a statement on Sunday.

Tougher restrictions apply to the entire Greater Sydney region as well.

From Sunday, supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and few other retailers will be allowed to open and will have to operate with 'click and collect' or takeaway.

Construction sites, large or small, will be shut.

All office workers and others working from home should not be pressured to go in to work, with employers to potentially incur a $10,000 fine if they push staff to attend.

Ms Berejiklian also told Sydneysiders not to carpool with anyone.

With data modelling based on more than 400 exposure sites indicating everyone in Sydney is at risk, the premier said the harder line was needed.

She defended the measures taken to curb the outbreak so far, saying they had prevented "thousands and thousands" of cases and the further restrictions were a "no-regrets policy".

The harsher measures were prompted by the persistent numbers of people infectious in the community before they were diagnosed.

"We are seeing some cases still diagnosed late but we need to see that number get down, it is far too high and that is the basis for why we have recommended much more extensive actions to reduce those interactions," NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said.

Workplaces are a key area where new infections are being seeded, she added.

NSW police issued 162 fines in the 24 hours to Saturday to people flouting the lockdown.

Two more people were charged and another eight were fined on Saturday afternoon after an unauthorised protest in Sydney's south-west.

Commands are ramping up enforcement in the three southwestern local government areas that are going into an extra-strict lockdown.

Residents were assured on Saturday that government agencies would mobilise between now and July 30 to provide them with supplies and services as needed.

A record 82,000 people came forward for COVID-19 testing on Friday.

A full list of NSW exposure sites can be found at health.nsw.gov.au

© AAP 2021

A perfect storm of cybersecurity threats is swirling around the Tokyo Olympics with fans including Australian audiences, sponsors, broadcasters and the Games themselves potentially at risk.

Experts say recent research has identified ransomware attacks as a real threat to the complex supply chains that are in place to deliver one of the world's biggest sporting events.

They say the potential for disruption to the Games themselves, including the global broadcast and security services, is "very significant".

And the wider threats have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced almost all public interaction with the event online.

"There's many reasons why you could see the Games get called to a halt," cybersecurity expert Garrett O'Hara told AAP.

"You would hope that would be temporary."

Mr O'Hara is the Chief Field Technologist for cybersecurity company Mimecast, which recently tasked a team in Britain to conduct an analysis of the cyber threats to the Games.

He said the team conducted a deep dive into various scenarios to consider what might be the most likely threat and what posed the greatest risk.

Worryingly, in this case, their findings determined they were one and the same - the potential for a major ransomware attack.

Ransomware attacks, which are becoming more sophisticated and much more prevalent, involve the demand for a "ransom" to secure the release of locked down or encrypted data.

Mimecast's own State of Email Security Report found the number of companies experiencing ransomware attacks in Australia had jumped to 64 per cent this year, up from 48 per cent in 2020.

Of those, about half paid the ransom.

Olympics fans in Australia could also become targets as they seek to engage with the Games or companies involved in the events, by being targeted with spoof emails or lured to fake websites.

The flow-on effects could also present major problems for Australian businesses with many more people now using work devices, accounts or equipment from home, the same equipment they may use to interact with the Games.

"Because of COVID, unfortunately, what you're seeing is this almost perfect storm," Mr O'Hara said.

"In the environment where so many people are working from home and the personal and the business has completely bled into each other.

"Most people are doing online shopping, they're watching Netflix, they will watch the Olympics and they will click on links for personal emails on their work machines.

"Then what you're relying on is good endpoint security that will protect those end-users from something that's bigger."

In the worst-case scenario, an attacker could gain access to organisations at a higher level by tracking passwords or stealing credentials.

"COVID has just changed so many things, and the thinking about cybersecurity and resilience has just changed so dramatically because of the work-from-home popularity," Mr O'Hara said.

Mimecast country manager Nick Lennon said given the nature of the Tokyo Olympics, with even fans in Japan unable to attend, "nearly every device around the world is going to be connected back into the Games".

"The attack opportunity for a very well-crafted campaign has incredible reach. Reach we've not seen before," he said.

But notwithstanding the risks, Mr O'Hara said he was sure Games' organisers had invested heavily to ensure the cybersecurity of the two-week sports festival.

"I would bet there is a very large amount of money being spent on cybersecurity and making sure as much as possible they are secure," he said.

"The challenge they will face though is the complex supply chain. It's not just the Olympics, that's a problem in cybersecurity in general."

© AAP 2021