• New South Wales residents have been warned to expect the state’s latest COVID-19 restrictions to extend past midnight Wednesday, when they were originally set to expire.
• State health authorities say the eastern Sydney cluster has grown to 11 people, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian warning of “momentary” transmission between individuals.
• “This requirement at this stage is in place until midnight tomorrow night, but I dare say I think it will be extended,” Transport Minister Andrew Constance told ABC’s “News Breakfast”.
  
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

New South Wales has been warned that current COVID-19 restrictions and mask mandates could stretch past midnight Wednesday, after the state’s latest outbreak officially grew to 11 people.

Speaking on ABC “News Breakfast” Tuesday morning, Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the mandatory use of face masks on public transport in the Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas is likely to continue.

“This requirement at this stage is in place until midnight tomorrow night, but I dare say I think it will be extended,” Constance said.

“It is really important… it doesn’t matter if you’re in an taxi or an Uber, on the major transport modes, we see you put that mask on.”

Under current guidelines, face masks must also be worn when visiting aged care facilities, or retail, entertainment, hospitality, and worship venues, in the regions of Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West, Randwick, City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra.

The mandate came into force Friday afternoon and was originally flagged to end at midnight Wednesday, but rising case numbers connected to Sydney’s eastern suburbs outbreak may push that timeline back.

State health authorities officially tallied two new cases coronavirus in the community on Monday, with a further two to be included in Tuesday’s status update. All four of those cases count towards the current 11-person total.

Both of the two newer cases are known close contacts of existing COVID-19 infections, and had been isolating before testing positive.

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday said health authorities had used CCTV footage to capture the “scarily fleeting” moment of transmission between two shoppers visiting Bondi Junction Westfield on the weekend of June 12 to 13.

“It is basically a crossover of individuals,” Berejiklian told reporters. “They are clearly facing each other but it is literally someone moving across from each other for a moment, close, but momentary.”

Berejiklian also telegraphed that restrictions could linger, given the transmissibility of the ‘Delta’ variant.

“I just want to foreshadow that it’s likely that beyond Wednesday midnight, we will continue having the exiting settings in place,” she said.

Lingering precautions may be necessary, “given that we don’t want to see further restrictions across our cities and our state,” she added.

Along with the face mask mandate, at-home gatherings are limited to 100 people, and outdoor events have a maximum capacity of 200.

Berejiklian is expected to deliver an update on the state’s COVID-19 situation Tuesday morning.

NSW’s interstate counterparts have enacted travel restrictions in response to the eastern Sydney cluster.

Anyone entering Victoria from the Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick, City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra regions must receive COVID-19 testing and isolate until they receive a negative result.

All people travelling from NSW to Western Australia must undergo the same process, but anyone who visited a listed exposure site must undergo testing and 14 days of self-isolation upon arrival.

Queensland has declared Waverley a hotspot. From June 19, anyone who has been to the local government area — or any of the other listed exposure sites — in the past 14 days is not permitted entry to the Sunshine State.

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.