Hurstville and Lugarno-Peakhurst areas record highest numbers in St George as COVID cases surge

NSW Health figures show the number of active cases in Georges River increased by 1174 in the last week.

Bayside has 2044 active cases - up from 696 a week ago - with the Arncliffe-Wolli Creek having the highest numbers in the St George section.

NSW Health is encouraging everyone who is eligible to book in for their vaccination booster shot "to best protect yourself, your loved ones and the community from the ongoing transmission".

NSW Health figures by postcode up till 8pm on December 28:

Georges River

Bayside (St George suburbs)

Government leaders say the focus should not be on case numbers, but rather on the number of people hospitalised.

NSW Health revealed on Thursday, across NSW, there are 746 cases in hospital (347 a week ago), of whom 63 (up from 45 in a week) are in intensive care, 23 requiring ventilation.

Figures for individual hospitals are not released.

NSW recorded 12,226 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, compared with 11,201 the previous day.

There were 97,201 tests in the 24-hour period, compared with the previous day's total of 157,758.

The spiking case numbers follow NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard's December 15 warning that modelling suggested "by the end of January, we could be looking at 25,000 cases of the virus every single day".

Premier Dominic Perrottet will join other state and territory leaders at an emergency national cabinet meeting on Thursday, seeking countrywide consistency on close contact definitions and isolation periods.