The NSW Police Minister has accused a group of Northern Beaches locals who blatantly breached lockdown rules to attend a wedding reception of committing a "bastard act".
despite the orders put in place after a coronavirus cluster was found in the area.
"It's just a bastard act," David Elliott told Nine's Today Show on Tuesday.
"You have been living in an area where there has been a cluster ... and now everyone at that wedding has to worry if they have been exposed to COVID-19."
The minister warned NSW Police have powers to move on, fine or jail people who breach the rules and pointed to a number of "disgraceful acts" of "blatant disregard" for health orders over the Christmas holiday period.
Meanwhile, Sydneysiders have been mostly banned from watching the famous New Year's Eve fireworks after the city's harbour foreshores shut down for the first time.
This includes the government's plan to host frontline COVID-19 workers, including health workers and teachers, on the eastern foreshore on Thursday night.
The state government is telling people to stay at home and watch the shortened seven-minute show at midnight to usher in 2021 on television.
"It's too much of a health risk having people from the regions and from Sydney ... congregate all in the CBD," Premier Glady Berejiklian said on Monday.
The Northern Beaches will kick off 2021 at home after NSW authorities extended stay-at-home orders. However, small indoor gatherings on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day will be allowed.
Overnight on Tuesday, NSW Health issued alerts for a number of venues in the Sydney CBD and Edgecliff and Bondi Beach in the eastern suburbs and a number of related bus and train routes.
Anyone who on 20 December went to Woolworths Metro at Bondi Beach, Coles in Edgecliff and Kinokuniya Books, David Jones or Uniqlo in the city is now considered a "casual contact" of an infected person and should monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and get tested if they appear.
NSW recorded five new local COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, and four were confirmed as being connected to the Avalon cluster which now totals 126 cases.
The fifth is linked to a previously-reported case on the Northern Beaches whose source of infection remains under investigation.
The government on Monday announced stay-at-home orders applying to Northern Beaches residents north of the Narrabeen Bridge will continue until at least 9 January, while a lockdown for the peninsula's southern zone will remain in place until 2 January.
"Whilst we're seeing the trends go the way we hope they do, there are still too many concerning aspects ... of not really being able to identify what we call the intermediaries, those unlinked cases," Ms Berejiklian said.
Restrictions for greater Sydney and regional NSW remain largely unchanged for New Year's Eve - barring the restrictions around the harbour - but outdoor gatherings in Greater Sydney have been tightened to a maximum of 50 people, down from 100.
The changes to congregating outdoors for Greater Sydney were made after several large Christmas gatherings occurred, including a and and Centennial Park.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your jurisdiction's restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
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