11 more deaths, 1000+ COVID cases reported in NSW

Up to 8pm on Thursday there were 32 new cases across the Western Local Area Health District.

Ten of those were in Bourke, nine in Cowra, eight in Wellington, two in Mudgee, two in Dubbo and one in Narromine.

NSW Health's ongoing sewage surveillance detected fragments in Lightning Ridge.

There were 1043 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 across NSW in the past 24-hour reporting period and 11 further deaths.

There have been 277 COVID-19 related deaths in the state since mid-June and 333 in total since the pandemic began.

There are 1186 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 232 people in intensive care, 110 on ventilators, which is a slight decrease on yesterday's numbers.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called for "caution" as the state's vaccination program continues.

"I am always wary of using terms like freedom day because when we start to open up it must be step-by-step, it must be done cautiously," Gladys Berejiklian said.

"While we are all looking forward, almost a gallop to the finish line in terms of the double dose, we need to make sure that what we do at 70 and 80% is done cautiously and also moderately."

The breakdown of the 1,043 locally acquired cases is:

The sewage surveillance program has detected fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 in Lightning Ridge, Jindabyne, Crookwell and South Lismore.