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Saturday was meant to be the day Greater Sydney emerged from a two-week lockdown.

Instead, the city will wake up to the toughest COVID-19 restrictions in over a year and the real possibility the lockdown will stretch beyond its scheduled end next weekend.

The tough new rules, limiting exercise to groups of two and banning browsing at shops, came into effect on Friday at 5pm.

Hours earlier, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had announced the state recorded 44 new cases, marking the worst day of the current virus outbreak.

But worse days are yet to come, foreshadowed Ms Berejiklian.

"Unless there's a dramatic turnaround in the numbers, I can't see how we'll be in a position to ease restrictions by next Friday," the premier said.

"(This is) the greatest threat we have faced in NSW since the pandemic started ... (and) at the moment the numbers are not heading in the right direction."

Twenty-nine of the cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday were in the community for some or all of their infectious period.

The premier said a premature reopening of Greater Sydney would result in thousands of coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday advised Sydneysiders to "push through" and comply with restrictions.

"Hopefully (the lockdown is) as brief as it can be, but as long as it has to be, to ensure that we suppress the virus and this most recent outbreak and we're able to get back to where we were a few weeks ago," Mr Morrison told Nine's A Current Affair on Friday evening.

The state's health department on Friday issued alerts for 30 more venues across Sydney.

Several places are listed close contact exposure sites for periods of seven hours or longer.

They include an Ikea at Tempe, where a staffer worked whilst infectious, and a construction site at Homebush.

Seven furniture stores along the same road in Campbelltown have also been identified as venues of concern for visitors on Sunday afternoon.

Other venues include Westfield Burwood, two Bunnings shops, in Randwick and Hoxton Park, a Miranda Service NSW, medical centres in Liverpool and Wetherill Park, and numerous supermarkets.

The number of close contacts isolating across NSW doubled in 24 hours, from 7000 to 14,000, Ms Berejiklian said on Friday.

Under the new restrictions, only one person per household may leave the home for shopping each day. Residents cannot exercise further than 10km from their home.

Funerals will be limited to 10 people.

Ten COVID-19 patients in NSW are in intensive care, with four ventilated - one person aged in their 20s.

© AAP 2021

Australia is set to trial home quarantine for fully vaccinated overseas arrivals who will still be required to spend 14 days in isolation.

South Australia will host the pilot scheme based around arrivals from countries with low rates of coronavirus infection.

Premier Steven Marshall indicated his state was keen to be involved at a national cabinet meeting on Friday.

"This is an important development," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

"It's trialling out these new quarantine arrangements which will take significant pressure off, if it's successful."

No time frame has been established for the pilot, which will be fully transparent to all states and territories.

That would allow other jurisdictions to implement similar schemes.

The ACT has allowed diplomats, government officials and the prime minister to quarantine at residences during the pandemic.

But the territory government is reluctant to immediately expand the program to the general population.

National cabinet also discussed overseas arrivals caps, which will be halved in five days.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne told the ABC the reduction would be in place until August 31 despite Mr Morrison previously stating it would be in place until at least the start of next year.

The government has scheduled 29 facilitated flights to return about 4000 people stranded overseas to the NT's Howard Spring quarantine centre each month.

From next Friday, all arrivals into Australia will have to officially declare their vaccination status.

Mr Morrison said the move would provide information to states about how to manage future quarantine arrangements.

For people leaving Australia, the federal government will link its strong preference for people to be vaccinated to granting travel exemptions.

Mr Morrison said that would reduce personal and community risk.

"As we know COVID is riddled through many countries around the world and many of the places Australians would be travelling to," he said.

The Australian Border Force commissioner will take into account people who are not yet eligible or can't take the vaccine for medical reasons.

© AAP 2021

Australia will soon have access to one million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine each week when rollout-boosting supplies are brought forward.

From July 19, arrivals of Pfizer doses will increase to about one million a week with 4.5 million expected in August.

In the past two months between 300,000 and 350,000 doses were arriving each week.

Pfizer said the total number of doses the company was contracted to send to Australia had not changed from 40 million.

"We continue to work closely with the government to support the ramp up of their rollout program," a spokeswoman told AAP.

The vaccine shipments are being fast-tracked by several months but the total order will not increase.

The government had projected receiving between 650,000 and 750,000 Pfizer doses each week in July and August.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said one million weekly Pfizer doses would allow the rollout to be completed in coming months.

"That's what you need to hit in order to get the job done," he told reporters in Sydney.

Pfizer supplies and changing advice on the AstraZeneca jab have hampered the rollout, sparking criticism of the government's vaccine portfolio.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Mr Morrison made the Pfizer announcement after coming under pressure following six days without a public statement.

"We're not seeing huge increases at all in spite of the government spin," he told reporters in Queensland.

Another 1300 GPs will join the rollout to deliver Pfizer doses, with the prime minister confident it can be completed by Christmas.

Almost 10.6 per cent of people over 16 have been fully vaccinated with two doses, putting Australia well behind most of the developed world.

A new advertising campaign promoting immunisation will launch on Sunday to coincide with increased supplies.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the virus could not be allowed to circulate in the community after announcing an outbreak-high 44 new local cases on Friday.

"If we chose to live with this while the rates of vaccinations are at nine per cent, we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalisations and death," she said.

Friday's national cabinet meeting of federal and state leaders did not make vaccination mandatory for disability care workers after advice from medical experts.

South Australia will trial 14-day home quarantine for returning overseas travellers with a view to it being more widely used in the future.

National cabinet also took a stocktake of Australia's health system which found there are 2020 spare ventilators and 7000 intensive care beds.

Australians under lockdown in NSW have been urged to get their second AstraZeneca dose within eight weeks of their first jab.

A 12-week gap between AstraZeneca doses provides the most protection against coronavirus.

But people can safely receive their second jab within four weeks of their first.

Mr Morrison said people living in outbreak areas were better off being vaccinated at eight weeks but told people to consult with their doctor.

© AAP 2021