Sydney s exposure sites surged past 400 as New South Wales recorded 97 new Covid cases on Friday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian held crisis talks about tightening Sydney s lockdown restrictions after 29 of those cases were out in the community for the entire time while infectious.
NSW Health said 49 of the infections are household contacts and 14 are close contacts. Sixty-seven (69 per cent) of the new cases were found in south-west Sydney.
Health officials also found 14 cases of Covid-19 in south-east Sydney in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday night and nine in the city s west.
There are now 18 patients suffering from the virus in intensive care wards across NSW and five of them are on ventilators.
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