Less than two weeks after NSW began emerging from months of lockdown there has been a spike in local cases of COVID-19.
After three consecutive days of fewer than 300 cases, there were 372 new local COVID cases and one death recorded in the 24-hours to 8pm on Wednesday - a jump of 89 on the previous day.
Authorities have said they expect case numbers to increase within weeks as restrictions ease.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant warned earlier this week the expected rise in cases was yet to come saying "next week I will be really interested in what our numbers are".
NSW began the second stage of its roadmap out of lockdown on Monday after passing the 80 per cent full vaccination rate, after the first stage of easing restrictions began on October 11.
NSW Health said a man in his 50s from south-eastern Sydney died at Sutherland Hospital on Wednesday. He had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In the regions, the Hunter New England district continues to cause concern with 74 new cases.
There have been 487 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since the current outbreak began on June 16 and 543 in total since the start of the pandemic.
There are 523 COVID patients in hospital, 124 of them are in intensive care and 64 are ventilated.
About 92.5 per cent of people aged 16 and over have had one vaccine dose and 82.3 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated.
Just over 76 per cent of 12-15 year olds have had their first dose and 40.9 per cent of them are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, treasurer Matt Kean is preparing to unveil more support for businesses ravaged by the lockdown with an economic recovery plan.
The government on Wednesday announced a $530 million financial aid plan for the tourism and events sector, after earlier this week outlining a mental health care package.
Included in the funding is a voucher scheme aimed at boosting domestic tourism, which will see every adult receive a $50 voucher to spend on a hotel in the state.
The package also included a $60 million aviation attraction fund, $150 million to restart major events across the state, a $25 million support fund for music festivals, $50 million to revitalise the Sydney CBD, and funding for business events, cancelled events, and recovery marketing.
But Premier Dominic Perrottet teased in parliament that more announcements would come on Thursday.
"The treasurer will be releasing the economic recovery plan ... which will support businesses to help recover every single one of the 230,000 jobs that have been lost during this most recent outbreak," he said.
"We are confident that we will do that because it's exactly what we did last year... by putting people and families and businesses before the budget.
NSW Health's ongoing sewage surveillance program has detected fragments of the COVID virus in sewage samples collected from across NSW, including Lightning Ridge, Armidale, Uralla, Inverell and Nyngan, where there are no known cases.
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.
