Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the number of COVID cases in NSW is likely to “rise substantially” as the state records 452 new infections and another death.

A record 168,000 COVID-19 vaccines were administered in NSW during the reporting period.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NSW would go on a "vaccination blitz" over the next three weeks to reach the target of 6 million jabs by the end of August.

The Premier said authorities would not allow the virus to run rampant in the community, but life would be freer once vaccination levels in NSW got to 70 or 80 per cent.

"We gave an undertaking that in September and October, which will be our most difficult months, the challenge for us as a team and a government in New South Wales will be how can we keep our citizens safe and as free as possible during those difficult months," she said.

The virus continued its spread through regional NSW.

Sixteen new cases were detected in Dubbo, while there were also 10 infections detected in the Hunter/New England Local Health District (LHD).

One new case was found in each of the Central Coast, Illawarra and, for the first time in the current outbreak, Broken Hill.

That case was a person who lives in the Far West Local Health District, NSW Health’s Jeremy McAnulty said.

"The person has been infectious for some days and has been in Broken Hill and Wilcannia," he said.

"Contact tracing is under way and identified contact are being tested and isolating and that work is continuing to identify the potential source of that infection."

Ms Berejiklian said health authorities were assuming case numbers would continue to rise and the ongoing challenge was to keep vaccination rates up.

"We envisage that case numbers in the next two or three weeks will bounce around and are likely to rise substantially and we have to brace ourselves for that, but our key aim will be keeping people out of hospital and keeping people alive and that's why the vaccination rate obviously helps us with that," she said.

Ms Berejiklian said she wanted to "call out" seven Sydney suburbs with residents warned to stay at home but seek vaccination as soon as possible.

The suburbs are Blacktown, Seven Hills, Merrylands, Guildford, Auburn, Bankstown and Greenacre.

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A woman aged in her 70s from Western Sydney who was not vaccinated died at Westmead Hospital.

"We extend our deepest condolences to her loved ones," Ms Berejiklian said.

"We know what a difficult time they're going through."

There are currently 447 COVID-19 cases in hospital, with 69 people in intensive care, 24 of whom require ventilation.

Two wards at Canterbury Hospital in Sydney's south-west are closed to new admissions due to recent exposures.

Eighty health staff at St George Hospital in the south-east are in isolation for 14 days after cases at the oncology ward.

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Meanwhle, health authorities in NSW are no longer listing every metropolitan COVID-19 exposure site publicly.

Dr McAnulty said while all COVID-19 exposure venues would continue to be listed in regional areas, that had not been the case in Sydney for several days.

He said the Delta COVID-19 variant was more likely to spread in households and offices than supermarkets and shopping centres.

“We've learned that people get lost in the detail when we put up venues that we don't think are risky places on the website or in the media,” Dr McAnulty said.

“So we're really trying to focus the public's attention on those where we believe there's a true risk.”

Of today's new cases, 129 were linked to a known case or cluster and the source of infection for 323 cases are under investigation.

NSW Health said 30 cases were infectious in the community, 24 were in isolation for part of their infectious period and the isolation status of 297 remains under investigation.

NSW Health warned that fragments of COVID-19 had been found in sewage at Lennox Head on the state's North Coast, but with no known cases in the area, they are asking residents to come forward for testing.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said police had issued 579 infringement notices for breaches of public health orders and visited 2,300 houses over the last 24 hours as part of Operation Stay-At-Home.

"The message, if it's not already there, people must really start to understand and take heed that if you're going to breach public health orders anywhere in this state, you will be caught," Deputy Commissioner Worboys said

"The time is over in terms of warnings and cautions."

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