NSW is again encouraging people to avoid queuing for PCR tests, ahead of a national cabinet meeting to discuss rapid antigen testing, while the state waits for the first of 50 million tests it has ordered to begin arriving next week.
The state reported another record for daily cases with 35,054 new COVID-19 infections from 108,844 tests, and eight deaths recorded until 8pm on Tuesday.
The number of people in hospital has risen to 1491 with 119 in intensive care, and 32 people on ventilators.
While ICU numbers are rising, the tally is short of the peak of 244 seen in September.
Six men and two women died on Tuesday.
A woman in her 60s who caught the virus at Gosford Hospital died there.
An unvaccinated man in his 70s died at the Bupa Aged Care facility in Ballina.
A man in his 90s who was a resident at Coffs Harbour Grange Aged Care Facility died at Coffs Harbour Base hospital.
Only two of the eight people to die on Tuesday were unvaccinated.
Meanwhile, the processing of PCR tests across the state continues to stall with more people facing longer wait times to get their results, long testing queues and reduced operating hours at testing sites.
At the same time, NSW residents are finding it hard to source rapid antigen tests (RATs), which are recommended before heading to a PCR testing centre.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the state is doing "everything we can to put downward pressure" on the testing wait times, with some of the 50 million rapid antigen tests the state has ordered expected to arrive next week.
He advised people who were not showing symptoms and had not been identified as a close contact to avoid lining up at testing clinics.
The pricing and distribution of RATs will be discussed at a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
"There is no dollar figure that we will not put on the table to ensure, as we move through this next phase, rapid antigen tests are available to anybody right across the state who needs one," Mr Perrottet says.
NSW Health deputy secretary Susan Pearce said NSW is aiming to administer about 300,000 vaccines daily by the end of the month, as the eligible vaccinated receive boosters, children between 5-11 begin getting vaccinated, and others receive their first dose.
On Tuesday, NSW Health administered first dose vaccinations to 1164 people.
Mr Perrottet encouraged parents to book vaccinations for their children as the state aimed to get them back into classrooms safely on the first day of term.
Many testing sites are operating at reduced hours until January 10.
Ms Pearce says the RATs expected to begin arriving late next week will be distributed through PCR testing clinics, as well as vulnerable communities including the homeless and Aboriginal medical services "to make sure the most vulnerable people in our society will have access to RATs provided by the state".
Meanwhile, more than 300 childcare centres were closed across NSW on Wednesday, mostly due to "health emergencies" linked to the outbreak, according to the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority.
Australian Associated Press
