Received

As millions of NSW residents go into a two-week lockdown, New Zealand and other states have moved to stop any infection seeping across borders.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian placed Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong under stay-at-home orders from 6pm Saturday until July 9.

Officially 29 local COVID-19 infections were recorded in NSW on Saturday, though 17 had been notified the day before.

The outbreak numbers 80 cases, but Ms Berejiklian has warned that number will likely rise.

Late on Saturday health authorities were scrambling to contact passengers on five flights after a Sydney-based Virgin cabin crew member tested positive to coronavirus.

The five flights on Friday and Saturday took passengers either to or from Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Sydney's infections continued to grow at a consistent rate Ms Berejiklian said, but exposure sites have begun emerging in areas outside of those locked-down.

They include communities within the northern beaches and western Sydney, where people have potentially been infectious for days.

Regional NSW will be under lesser restrictions including indoor mask wearing, staying seated in hospitality venues and limiting home visitors to five.

The NZ government paused quarantine-free travel from all Australian states and territories until 9:59pm Tuesday.

NZ's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the "precautionary step" will be reviewed on Monday.

"I acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience that comes with this pause, but given the high level of transmissibility ... it is the right thing to do," he said in a statement.

Queensland and Victorian leaders have told residents not to travel to NSW and warn of the ramifications of trying to cross their borders after being in a hotspot.

Victoria have posted extra police at the border and travellers run the risk of being turned around or fined up to $5000.

Tasmania has closed its border to regions affected by the lockdown, and Western Australia has reintroduced a "hard border" with the entire state of NSW.

Speculation is increasing one of the nation's premier sporting events, State of Origin, will have to be rescheduled or relocated, with game three between NSW and Queensland due to be played in Sydney on July 14.

In the Northern Territory, a fresh positive case in a worker at a mine 540km northwest of Alice Springs has caused it to shut down and forced hundreds of workers into isolation.

More than 1600 people in three states have been ordered into isolation after he tested positive to the coronavirus at the Newmont-owned Granites gold mine in the Tanami desert.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the mine worker tested positive on Friday, after arriving in the Territory on June 18.

The man had travelled from Bendigo via Brisbane, where he was ordered into a quarantine hotel on June 17. He was in quarantine for a single day, when it is believed he caught the virus.

Meanwhile, the federal government continues to be criticised for a slow vaccine rollout because supply does not meet demand.

Two thirds of staff working in aged care homes across Australia remain unvaccinated.

The vaccination rate would have to double to complete the program by the end of the year.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted the nation is well positioned in the fight against the "truly global pandemic".

"Australia has been able to save lives and save livelihoods and suppress this virus, more successfully than almost any other country in the world," the prime minister said later on Saturday.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration on Friday gave approval for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine - the third COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in Australia.

The Australian government has not yet made any deal to receive the US health company's vaccines, so the TGA decision will not aid the rollout.

"Whether the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will become one of the vaccines utilised in Australia will be up for discussion," Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said on Saturday.

Australia has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which would cover the entire adult population.

Federal opposition health spokesman Mark Butler lambasted the government on Saturday, blaming Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the lockdown.

"He's bungled the vaccine rollout so that only three per cent of the Australian population are fully vaccinated against these highly infectious variants," Mr Butler said.

Australia recorded 31 new community COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including 29 in NSW, one in Victoria and one in the NT. Six cases were acquired overseas and are in hotel quarantine.

© AAP 2021

State of Origin III is unlikely to be held in Sydney after the NSW government enacted a two-week lockdown in parts of the state on Saturday.

The ARL Commission will hold a crisis meeting on Tuesday where it will decide whether to play NRL games in Sydney as scheduled without crowds or relocate the matches to outside of locked-down areas.

The location of Origin III, which is set to be held on July 14 at Stadium Australia, will also be discussed.

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys confirmed to AAP that the blockbuster event is in extreme doubt considering it is set to be played just five days after the lockdown is scheduled to finish on July 9.

"Basically if you look at previous (lockdowns) they take a while to go back to normal, it takes a few weeks to reduce restrictions," he said.

"If you look at Melbourne, their lockdown finished two weeks ago and they've only just allowed 50 per cent crowds."

The NRL has acted accordingly already this year, moving the State of Origin opener from Melbourne to Townsville while Victoria was in lockdown at the start of June.

Moving the third game of the series out of Sydney would avoid playing one of the game's showpiece events in front of a reduced crowd.

That decision would be particularly crucial if it is a decider, which could attract a sell-out crowd.

Newcastle's McDonald Jones Stadium has already been raised as an option.

However, V'landys refused to assure that the match would be held in NSW despite the first two games being in Queensland.

"We'll look at all options and we have to look at the financial viability of it too," he said.

"The Townsville one was very financially beneficial for us, so we have to look at that.

"Naturally we want to minimise the losses we will incur."

Should the game be moved out of the state altogether, it would be the first time in history all three games of a series have been played outside of an Origin state.

Blues coach Brad Fittler was diplomatic when asked whether that is fair.

"We'll do whatever we've got to do," he said ahead of Sunday's game two at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

"There's people doing it a lot tougher than us.

"We're getting looked after in a hotel, getting the chance of a lifetime tomorrow to play in front of a lot of people who love what we do.

"I don't see any of it as a negative. It's all just a great opportunity to fulfil great dreams and have great memories.

"Whatever the challenge is, if we're strong enough, we can do it."

On Saturday the NRL was holding high-level meetings to determine the impact of stay at home orders for residents in Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Wollongong until July 9.

Currently, 10 of the NRL's 16 teams reside in those areas.

Decisions on relocating games and bubble restrictions hinge on negotiations with Queensland and Victorian state governments.

The regular NRL competition will resume on Thursday when the Sydney Roosters host Melbourne in Newcastle, which has already been shifted from the Sydney Cricket Ground.

There are three more games scheduled for Sydney next weekend as well as the first two games of round 17, which also fall into the lockdown period.

© AAP 2021

More than five million people in Greater Sydney and its surrounds will go into a 14-day lockdown as health authorities try to regain control of a coronavirus outbreak that has ballooned to 80 cases.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says residents of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong will only be able to leave home for essential purposes from 6pm on Saturday.

Those reasons include work, to shop for essential items, to seek medical care, or for caregiving or compassionate reasons.

Anyone in NSW who has been to Greater Sydney since June 21 is also being asked to stay at home for the entire lockdown period.

"The NSW government has always prided itself on taking the expert health advice," Ms Berejiklian told reporters.

"We're never afraid to take a decision that we need to take to keep our citizens safe and even though we don't want to impose burdens unless we absolutely have to, unfortunately, this is a situation where we have to.

"I said (earlier) that this is the scariest time since the pandemic started and that's proven to be the case."

The snap lockdown comes after another 12 new virus cases were recorded in NSW and exposure venues spread beyond the eastern Sydney hotspots to the northern beaches and western Sydney, where people have potentially been infectious for days.

Exercise outdoors is allowed in groups of up to ten, and COVID-safe funerals can proceed with up to 100 people.

Weddings are allowed to go ahead on Saturday and Sunday with restrictions in place, but must be cancelled from Monday onwards.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged people not to try to find a way around the restrictions.

"When you do that, you might feel self-satisfied for a moment or two, possibly even for longer, but you won't feel as satisfied if you spread the virus, so please do not do that," he said.

Ms Berejiklian urged people not to panic buy, or stress about money with shops to remain open and financial assistance to be available.

"It's never easy when all of us have to face these circumstances, but we're all in the same situation," she said.

"We've had to do this before. We know the drill."

Authorities will reassess the need for the lockdown in a week, but Ms Berejiklian said it's unlikely to be shortened.

"We could assess after seven days but I want to be very upfront with the public: this will be for all intents and purposes a two-week lockdown," she said.

"I don't want to take away from that but if there is a dramatic change and the health advice says that we can get out of a lockdown earlier (we may) but I'm not anticipating that.

"The best advice from Health is that we should brace ourselves for additional cases."

Restrictions have also been introduced for regional NSW.

No more than five visitors are allowed for a household each day, masks are required indoors and restrictions apply to weddings and funerals.

All hospitality has to be seated and the one person per four square metre rule has been revived, while outdoor events are allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

The restrictions are required to ensure the virus doesn't take hold in the regions if Sydney travellers unknowingly spread it there, the premier said.

Some 29 cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, 17 of which had already been announced, taking the cluster to 80 cases.

More than half weren't in isolation from the beginning of their infection period.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the virus was moving too fast for authorities to shut it down.

"Despite testing numbers being quite high and the contact tracers getting in contact with people rapidly, what we're seeing is by the time we've got there and uncovered the chains of transmission, we have a number of people infectious in the community," Dr Chant said.

Even some of the premier's own staff have been identified as close contacts after being near Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall, who has the virus.

Authorities are still trying to work out whether any other people in Parliament House are close or casual contacts.

"Fortunately, I wasn't there when that occurred, but a number of my staff have been identified as close contacts," Ms Berejiklian said.

Meanwhile, following an investigation into how a Sydney limousine driver at the centre of the city's coronavirus outbreak was not vaccinated, Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed on Saturday there was insufficient evidence to establish that either the driver or his employer breached any public health orders.

© AAP 2021