AS the state was plunged into a seven-day circuit breaker lockdown, locals were left mostly deflated.

Acting premier, James Merlino made the announcement on Thursday morning that at 11.59pm Thursday the state would go into a seven-day lockdown to halt the spread of the B1.617.1 variant of the virus.

The announcement came after the state recorded 12 new locally acquired cases COVID-19 on Wednesday and four on Thursday.

Thursday’s numbers also saw two new cases acquired overseas, bringing the state’s total active cases to 39.

Mr Merlino said of great concern, and the main seasons for the latest lockdown, were the substantial number of exposure sites and identified close contacts.

“From first thing this morning, we've identified in excess of 10,000 primary and secondary contacts, who will need to either quarantine or test and isolate,” he said at Thursday’s press conference.

“And that number will continue to grow and change.

“Our public health experts primary concern is just how fast this variant is moving. And we've seen overseas how difficult that movement can be to control.”

Mr Merlino said as previously seen, the “short, sharp action” was effective in stopping the virus’ spread.

Although all cases were linked to the “hotel quarantine breach in South Australia” the variant of the virus was making people more infectious, more quickly, and immediate action was required.

“We also know our nation’s vaccine rollout has been slower than we’d hoped. And if more people were vaccinated, we might be facing a different set of circumstances. Sadly, were not,” Mr Merlino said.

Subscribe for full story.