NSW records 8911 COVID-19 cases, one death

Preliminary data from the University of NSW suggests there could be a doubling of coronavirus cases in the next four to six weeks as the BA.2 variant takes hold.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard is "not keen to go back down the lockdowns and the no singing and dancing and other aspects".

"Everybody is over it, putting it bluntly," he told ABC television on Monday.

But he is urging people to adopt COVID-safe behaviour.

"If you can wear a mask, do it, and wash your hands, be careful," he said.

"Don't go to work if you have got symptoms at all. Get tested."

The BA.2 variant is a lot more transmissible but not necessarily more severe than Omicron.

"We have a lot more people who are getting it and we could expect more people in hospital and more people possibly to pass away, sadly," he said.

"But we have to balance mental health issues, the economic issues, young people having their cognitive development, being able to go to school, all of the things which have been so destructive for two years,"

Some two million people in NSW are overdue for their booster vaccine and need to be reminded of the "absolute necessity" of getting the third shot to protect them from Omicron.

"That is the big problem," Mr Hazzard said.

As of Monday, there were 1005 people in hospital with the virus, including 47 in intensive care and 15 on ventilators.

The latest person to die from the virus was a man in his 60s, who received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and had significant underlying health conditions.

The number of COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 now totals 1985.

NSW Health says 57.1 per cent of people have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, 79.1 per cent aged 12-15 have had two jabs, while 48.4 per cent of children aged 5-11 have had one dose.

Australian Associated Press