Anyone in NSW who leaves their house without a "reasonable excuse" could spend up to six months in prison and face an $11,000 fine under an emergency ministerial directive gazetted overnight.

The public health order, which enacts Sunday's recommendations of the national cabinet, gives police sweeping power to enforce the latest round of restrictions designed to limit the spread of coronavirus in Australia.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday. Credit:AAP

The NSW Public Health (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement Order 2020) makes it unlawful to leave your place of residence except "to obtain food or other goods and services", work and education that cannot be done from home, exercise, medical or caring reasons, and a limited number of other reasons.

It also bans gatherings of more than two people in public places, unless those people are members of the same household, or the gatherings are "essential for work or education". Unlike the order in Victoria, the NSW order does not appear to explicitly ban gatherings in people's residences.