NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced more than 1400 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, and a staggering 154,00 tests were carried out across the state.

More than seven million vaccines have been administered in NSW, and with more than 827,000 people coming forward for vaccination during the week it is expected the 70 per cent of the state will be fully-vaccinated by mid-October, the premier said.

Twelve more deaths from COVID-19 have been reported, as the death toll from the Delta outbreak reaches 119 since the first case was detected in mid-June. More than 25,000 cases have emerged since then.

They range from a woman in her 30s to a man in his 90s, Dr Marianne Gale said.

"We are very sad today to announce the deaths of those 12 people, and on behalf of New South Wales Health I offer my sincere condolences to their families," she said.

In other news

The youngest of the 12 was a woman in her 30s who died at home in south western Sydney on Wednesday, Dr Gale said.

Three men in their 70s died in hospital - one from south eastern Sydney who acquired his infection in an aged care facility and died in St George Hospital, one from Sydney's north who died at Hornsby and a south-western Sydney man who died in Concord Hospital.

A south-western Sydney woman in her 70s acquired her infection at Westmead Hospital and succumbed to the virus while still in hospital. A woman aged in her 80s also died at Westmead.

A woman in her 60s, a woman in her 70s, and a man in his 80s passed away in Liverpool Hospital.

A man in his 90s passed away at the Hawkesbury Living Aged Care Facility after contracting COVID-19.

Almost 1000 patients are in NSW hospitals with COVID-19, 160 of them in intensive care and 63 are on ventilators.

The premier has reiterated that September and October will be the most challenging period for the state, and that people "have nothing to fear about getting the disease if you follow the health orders and get vaccinated".

"The next fortnight is likely to be our worst in terms of the number of cases," Ms Berejiklian said.

"But as I have said it is not the number of cases we need to be focusing on but how many of those cases and up in our intensive care wards and hospitals and how many people we have vaccinated as quickly [as we can]."

While most of the state's new cases are concentrated in greater Sydney, almost 100 are in regional areas, according to NSW Health.

The Western NSW Local Health District [LHD] recorded 53 cases, Illawarra Shoalhaven another 13, Hunter New England detected 11, eight on the Central Coast, seven more were found in the Far West and a lone case discovered in the Southern NSW LHD.

Fragments of the virus have been detected in sewage surveillance in Jindabyne, Cooma, Bega, Bomaderry, Wauchope and Blayney. There are no known cases in those areas.

"Everyone in these areas is urged to monitor for the onset of symptoms, and if they appear, to immediately be tested and isolate until a negative result is received," NSW Health said.

A mine in the Upper Hunter has confirmed a worker at an underground coal mine has tested positive, joining a growing list of Hunter exposures and concerns after Sydney tree loppers went door-to-door in the region before testing positive to the virus.

The source of Dubbo's outbreak has been revealed, as the city passed 500 COVID-19 cases on Thursday.

Authorities say they've tracked a location in western Sydney that has the same strain of COVID-19 and biological markers, Western NSW LHD chief executive Scott McLachlan said.

Another 53 in the Western LHD were announced on Friday.

Meanwhile, all positive adult COVID-19 cases inside NSW jails are being moved to a central location at Silverwater Correctional Complex, according to the Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network. A further 11 cases in correctional centres were detected on Thursday, NSW Health said.

An ugly border dispute has ended as a toddler stranded in the Riverina with his grandparents can now be reunited with his parents in Queensland.

After leaving the Fraser Coast in early July to visit his grandparents on their cattle farm located between Coleambally and Jerilderie, three-year-old Memphis Francis has been unable to return

The situation was resolved after much media attention on Thursday.

Member for Murray, Helen Dalton called the situation "ridiculous" and "unacceptable", telling The Area News she was glad that Memphis was now able to go home.

The interstate, trans-Tasman situation

Riverina businesses will now be able to appeal rejections for disaster payments after a hardship panel was announced on Thursday.

The panel, revealed by finance and small business minister Damien Tudehope and the deputy premier, will give businesses rejected for payments an avenue to have their individual circumstances assessed.

Businesses will also be provided with further reductions in payroll tax, as well as allowing eligible businesses to defer payroll tax payments, with 12-month interest free repayment plans to be available - moves Wagga-a based hospitality consultant says could have been made much earlier.

"Government support is late but not too late, it is welcome and will make a difference," Rob Illsley said.

"They didn't move very quickly compared to the last time when they were quite quick to announce support.

Mr Barilaro has also maintained his confidence in "big parts" of regional NSW being relieved of strict lockdown measures come September 10.

"We've argued the reason why we kept those regions with zero COVID in lockdown for a further two weeks was to give us more confidence in the data," Mr Barilaro said on Thursday.

"We'll make a decision next week about extension of the regional lockdown and I genuinely do believe big parts of regional and rural NSW will come out."

More pandemic news

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: