The warning came after the state recorded its first COVID-19 death of 2021 on Saturday.

The 90-year-old woman from south-west Sydney woman died on Saturday, just hours after being diagnosed as COVID-positive.

The premier also said it was "highly unlikely" lockdown provisions in Greater Sydney and surrounds will be lifted as scheduled on Friday.

Victorians were given just hours to return home yesterday as as the southern state shut its border.

All of NSW and the ACT became red zones under Victoria's travel permit system from 11.59pm on Sunday, as the southern state's school holidays ended.

The federal government has defended its ad campaign to urge people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus virus, which is now running rife in Greater Sydney.

A separate "more graphic" ad is running in NSW, showing a young woman in hospital on a ventilator struggling for breath. You can watch the Sydney ad here.

The new ads come as frustrated Australians wait for an expected surge of Pfizer vaccination doses over the coming months from overseas to meet demand from the under-60s population.

Overall, the campaign message is don't wait.

Richard Branson waits for no-one and has now made it to the edge of space in his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane.

The flight was a brief, up-and-down one which saw the space plane detach from the mother ship at an altitude of about 13 kilometres and fired its engine, reaching the edge of space at about 88 kilometres up.