The latest round of sewage testing has found coronavirus traces at Newcastle, eastern Lake Macquarie, Raymond Terrace and Maitland.
The Burwood sewage treatment plant in Merewether revealed viral traces on Wednesday, August 25, having also returned positive results on every testing day since August 4.
The Raymond Terrace sewage treatment plant, which also serves Medowie and Williamtown, showed viral traces a week ago.
Morpeth, Farley and Belmont also tested positive.
Kurri Kurri, which had been clear of the virus for two weeks, showed traces on August 25, as did nearby Branxton.
Treatment plants at Edgeworth, Toronto, Dora Creek, Singleton, Cessnock, Dungog, Muswellbrook, Fingal Bay, Tanilba Bay and Karuah all tested negative.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro has said that regions will not escape lockdown until they are free of sewage viral detections and free of cases for 14 days.
Meanwhile, the NSW coronavirus spread has slowed over the past week but is still on track to surpass 4500 cases by October 9 if rising vaccination levels do not slow it down further.
NSW recorded 1164 cases on Tuesday, prompting UniSA biostatistics expert Adrian Esterman to calculate that the state's transmission rate was now 1.2. This equates to case numbers doubling every 19 days, down from every 10 days a week ago.
Professor Esterman said on Tuesday that cases would exceed 2000 by September 10 "if nothing else changes".
The government is relying on vaccinations to slow the spread and keep hospital admissions at a manageable level before and after it starts easing restrictions.
The latest Public Health England vaccine surveillance report says studies have shown two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines to be between 65 and 90 per cent effective against infection.
Preliminary research also suggests the vaccines reduce transmission after people have been infected.
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