An additional two million residents across Sydney are waking to tougher COVID-19 lockdown restrictions this morning as the city's stares down another four weeks of stay-at-home orders.
9News Political Reporter Chris O'Keefe said the state could record more than 200 cases today.
READ MORE: All the new rules coming for Greater Sydney's extended lockdown explained
https://twitter.com/cokeefe9/status/1420538237383184387It comes after NSW recorded 177 new infections yesterday, the highest so far in this latest outbreak with at least 46 of those were out and about in the community.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro this morning admitted it's difficult to know "what's working and what's not working".
Three new LGAs have been added to the NSW Government's list of high-risk areas as the spread of the Delta strain shows no signs of slowing.
Those living in Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown are not allowed to leave their local areas unless on the list of authorised workers.
They join residents in the Fairfield, Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland and Blacktown local government areas.
The tightened rules are in response to rising coronavirus cases.
Speaking on Today, Mr Barilaro said the government was doing what it could to curb the spread of the virus.
"It's difficult to sort of quantify what's working and what's not working," Mr Barilaro said.
"The reality is, even though we continue to see a rise in numbers, those numbers aren't accelerating into hundreds and hundreds. So in one way the restrictions are working but, of course, more needs to be done...I have no crystal ball to tell you what to do next."
When asked by Karl Stefanovic how the public should have confidence in what the NSW government is doing, Mr Barilaro said there was "no rule book".
"I can assure the public that they should have confidence because what we have done in the past, what we have in front of us.
"But we are not going to pretend that we have every answer because we don't."
But infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy refuted claims from Mr Barilaro, insisting the state does know what measures were effective in crushing the outbreak.
"We know a lot of things that are working. Every day the evidence has improved," Professor Booy said.
He said Sydney had "flattened that curve" but case numbers were still surging due to people interacting with one another.
"It's already working, but there's too much mixing of people. It's pretty simple."
He also said expanded hotspot zones in Sydney will help drive COVID-19 cases down.
Professor Booy said he has been tracking Taiwan's coronavirus figures amid its lockdown and noticed similarities to the Sydney outbreak.
"I'm confident that we'll see a major improvement," he told Today.
"I followed the progress of a country (Taiwan) that's been one month ahead of us.
"They're down to less than 20 for the last few days. Same number of people, same level of Delta problem. They've got it under control."
The lockdown across Greater Sydney has been extended for a further four weeks, due to end on Saturday August 28.
Construction will not be allowed to resume in any of the eight LGAs of concern nor will construction workers be allowed to leave these areas.
READ MORE: Coronavirus outbreaks have 'significantly reduced' vaccine hesitancy
Work in other local government areas will only be allowed on unoccupied sites.
But there is a sign of reprieve for some.
Year 12 students will be allowed to return to the classroom from August 16 and will be offered the Pfizer vaccine.
Rapid antigen testing will be introduced to mitigate the risk of outbreaks.
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A singles bubble has also been announced, allowing people living alone to nominate one person to visit their homes.
NSW Health says the four-week extension will allow residents "to significantly increase the uptake of vaccines in areas most affected by the current outbreak and across the state".
Overnight, authorities added dozens of new venues to the state's growing list of exposure sites.
