New South Wales has recorded 18 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, with a new cluster emerging in Sydney.
Nine are linked to the Avalon cluster but another six were found in the Croydon area in Sydney's inner west and three others are under investigation.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the new mystery cases were a concern.
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"As you can see we've seen the proliferation from outside the Northern Beaches overnight," Ms Berejiklian said.
"Can I stress at this time how important it is to come forward and get a test."
https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1344072887401996289?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe new Croydon cluster is made up of three adults and three children.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the six cases were from the same extended family and were linked to a person from the inner west who tested positive yesterday.
"We are expecting that there will be additional cases linked to that cluster just because of the number of close contacts they had over the period of Christmas and the preceding days," Dr Chant said.
The premier said the new cluster was a concern as there were "no direct links" to establish where the cases originated from at this stage.
There are also two new cases in Wollongong, with a woman in her 50s and a woman in her 20s, who is her household contact, testing positive.
The source is unknown, but the woman in her 50s had travelled to Sydney on December 15 and 17 and visited locations in the CBD on the latter day.
The other new case under investigation is linked to the Northern Beaches.
More than 17,000 tests were conducted in NSW in the last 24 hours.
New restrictions introduced following spike
The premier also announced new restrictions for Sydney ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations tomorrow evening.
Household gatherings have been reduced to a maximum of five people in Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains.
The maximum size of outdoor gatherings is now 30 people.
"We don't want New Year's Eve to be the cause of a super-spreader," Ms Berejiklian said.
"It only takes one person in a family gathering to give it to everybody else in the family."
The premier said the changes will be enforced "until further notice".
Restrictions on aged care visits
NSW will restrict people from Greater Sydney from visiting aged care facilities until 11.59pm on January 6.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the measure was necessary with new outbreaks being detected.
"We understand the impact that this has, but at the moment until we understand the full scope of transmission, we do not want to inadvertently have any introductions into our aged care facilities," Dr Chant said.
"There are no restrictions on people from regional New South Wales visiting residents in regional facilities."
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