COVID-19: What lockdown looks like in Newcastle & the Hunter

News of the week-long snap lockdown sent a wave of dread and panic among residents on Thursday who swamped test sites and supermarkets, and enraged community leaders who say not enough has been done to stop the outbreak leaking out of Sydney, or to vaccinate people against the virus.

In announcing the lockdown, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the five cases - three people in their 20s and two children from Maitland Christian School, aged 8 and 11, are believed to be linked to a party held at Blacksmiths Beach on Friday night.

"We believe there may have been people there from Greater Sydney and that's how it was introduced," Ms Berejiklian said. "We think there is a link to Western Sydney. I just thank people for being honest with us."

There are also nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the Central Coast, eight of which live in the same household. The ninth case is also thought to be linked to the beach party at Blacksmiths.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said that number of cases "does not fully explain" the level of viral fragments found in sewage at Belmont, Burwood and Shortland treatment centres in samples taken on Monday.

"We don't want anyone to be complacent that we have got the full picture at this stage," she said, urging people to come forward and get tested.

"That is in the best interests of anyone, at this time, to get to the bottom of it."

While Hunter New England Health has confirmed it is "providing care and support" to five people with COVID-19, they have not said if that care is being provided to people in their homes, or in hospital.

Close contacts are being asked to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days. Everyone else must stay at home except for essential reasons, and must not have visitors. "This applies to all social visits from those outside your household, including family and friends."

Police have warned the restrictions would take effect immediately, with no grace period for people breaching the public health orders. A crisis management command post has been set up at Newcastle Police Station for police to liaise with government agencies, and officers will be checking that people are using QR codes and wearing masks.

They are in place for people living in the local government areas of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Cessnock from 5pm Thursday until 12.01am Friday, August 13.

The restrictions also apply to people who have visited those LGAs on or since Saturday, 31 July.

Transport NSW warned motorists to expect traffic delays around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie as people answer the call to get tested. They also asked for people to check the Live Traffic NSW App or visit livetraffic.com before working out which test site to visit.

Testing of sewage treatment plants in the Hunter region have been ramped up and are now occurring daily.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Hunter will be "compensated" for the Pfizer doses that were redirected to Sydney. He promised 185,000 more doses would be delivered to NSW over the next two weeks in an effort to raise vaccination rates, arriving on August 9 and 16.

"We are ensuring that the doses that were reallocated from Newcastle and the Hunter by the state government are replaced in full," Mr Morrision said.

Ms Berejiklian said she was "overjoyed" at the news but community leaders were far from impressed, saying they were "furious" about the way the Sydney Delta outbreak and vaccinations had been managed.

Shortland MP Pat Controy said it has been "insulting" watching Prime Minister Scott Morrison tell Australians every day to get vaccinated. "Like it's a simple task," he said. "If only that was the case. There isn't a single Shortland GP offering a Pfizer appointment because they don't have adequate supply. "

"The booking system for the state hub breaks down all the time, and the system to get into GPs has been very convoluted as well. It's not as if they have made it easy to navigate."

Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon said Mr Morrison had failed to deliver enough vaccines in time.

"Make no mistake, this is Scott Morrison's lockdown. He left us in this mess because he failed his job.

"He failed to secure enough vaccines, he failed to deliver a speedy, effective vaccine rollout, and he failed to build purpose-built quarantine facilities to stop outbreaks spreading into the community.

"Now Novocastrians are paying the price."

The Newcastle Herald has reported that the Hunter Valley has some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in Australia. In the Hunter Valley, excluding Newcastle, about one in seven people aged 15 and above - or 14.1 per cent - are fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

Vaccination rates are only slightly higher in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, with 17.7 per cent of people aged 15 and above fully vaccinated, and 41.3 per cent partially vaccinated.

As at Wednesday the turn-around time for test results conducted at public test sites was less than 24 hours, a NSW Health Pathology spokeswoman said, with 90 per cent of patients receiving their results in less than 30 hours. "Positive COVID-19 results are always reported immediately to the referring doctor and public health unit," she said.

Updated figures were not available on Thursday.

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