NSW records another spike in Covid deaths amid deadliest week yet
NSW has reported a further 30 Covid deaths while cases fell to 20,148 on Saturday.
The daily death toll follows 46 fatalities reported on Friday - the deadliest day of the pandemic for the state.
Dr Kerry Chant warned earlier this week the high number of deaths being reported will likely continue despite signs of cases appearing to plateau.
"There is a significant lag between cases identified to when we see them get hospitalised and then also flow through to tragically a small number of deaths," she reminded the state.
There have been 186 Covid deaths reported since Monday.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly warned fatalities amid a pandemic was unfortunately "the reality".
Hospitalisations and people in ICU with Covid remained relatively stable at 2,762 and 204 respectively.
The rates are better than NSW Health's "best-case scenario" predictions, based on outbreaks in London and South Africa, that projected a peak of 3158 people in hospital and 270 in ICU.
Premier Dominic Perrottet again stressed on Friday vaccinations and boosters were key to living alongside the virus, but has said the health system is coping.
In Victoria, cases dropped to 16,016 while the state reported a further 20 deaths.
There are 1029 people in hospital, of which 120 are in ICU.
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