The Hunter is poised to stay in lockdown until at least October 18 after its battle against COVID-19 took a turn for the worse on Friday.
Hunter New England Health district recorded 10 new coronavirus cases, including three who were infectious in the community.
It was the highest case count in 16 days, putting a dent in the region's dwindling hopes of escaping lockdown before mid-October.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said on Friday that regions which stayed in lockdown beyond September 10 would remain under stay-at-home orders until the state reached its first 70 per cent adult vaccination target.
"Anyone that doesn't get lifted next week, there'll be no changes to restrictions until we get to the 70 per cent state average," he said.
NSW will reach the 70 per cent target on Monday, October 18, if the pace of the vaccination rollout continues.
Mr Barilaro has said previously that NSW Health will require regions to have zero cases for 14 days and no sewage detections to escape lockdown.
The employee worked on Monday and Tuesday and tested positive on Thursday, raising concerns he could have unknowingly passed on the virus in cramped underground transport vehicles and a crib room.
The owner of a Sydney tree lopping business at the centre of another COVID-19 scare apologised to the Newcastle community from his hospital bed on Friday.
Taanasau Fautua, who is from St Marys in western Sydney and owns Sau Tree Services, is in John Hunter Hospital after being admitted on Sunday.
A tearful Mr Fautua told the Newcastle Herald that he and his six sons had moved to Toronto looking for work before Newcastle went into lockdown in early August.
They had also lived in Lambton and Charlestown while knocking on doors in Newcastle.
"I'm so sorry. I hope people understand," he said.
Some of Mr Fautua's family members also have tested positive and his son-in-law is in intensive care in Sydney.
HNEH said Mr Fautua had remained in Newcastle since arriving but other family members had travelled back and forth to Sydney.
Mr Fautua said he did not know where he had contracted the virus.
Owners and staff at another Sydney tree lopping business have been fined a total of $33,000 for lying on a permit to enter regional NSW and knocking on doors looking for work in Lake Macquarie this week.
Mr Barilaro announced 11 cases for Hunter New England on Friday, but a case assigned to Upper Hunter local government area was later reallocated to Sydney.
Upper Hunter Shire Council said the person lived in Sydney and had not been in the Hunter while infectious.
The number of people coming forward for coronavirus tests in Hunter New England has plummeted from more than 100,000 in the week starting August 9 to fewer than 40,000 last week.
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The 10 new HNEH cases included household contacts of known cases at Salamander Bay, Swansea Heads, Whitebridge, North Lambton and Maitland.
Cases at New Lambton, Heatherbrae and Armidale had no known source of transmission and were infectious in the community, though HNEH flagged that the Armidale case could be removed if follow-up tests proved negative.
Hunter public health controller Dr David Durrheim said the new cases were "widely scattered".
"Unfortunately, there were a number of people who were very active in the community while infectious," he said.
One of the new cases was a "resident" of the Motto Farm Motel at Heatherbrae who had mixed "a lot" with other guests.
"There are a number of people who are symptomatic, and there's a large-scale operation this morning to make sure everyone is tested," he said.
Dr Durrheim said Sydney was "struggling to control the outbreak", resulting in "regular importations" of the virus to the Hunter.
Echoing the words of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, he said the "only way out of this" was for the community to get vaccinated.
NSW reported a record 1431 cases and 12 deaths.
Ms Berejiklian forecast case numbers would continue to rise for two weeks before falling as vaccination rates increased.
The lag time between infection and serious illness would result in hospitalisation rates peaking in October.
