NSW has added 6014 new infections to its COVID-19 caseload and recorded a further seven deaths.

There are 1146 patients in hospital, up from the 1130 reported on Saturday. Of these, 58 are in intensive care and 21 on ventilation.

The latest fatalities include six men and a woman. Two were aged in their 60s, three in their 80s, one in their 90s and one was aged over 100.

Five of the group were double-vaccinated, one single-vaccinated and one unvaccinated.

The deaths bring the NSW toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 1897.

Of the new cases recorded in the 24 hours to Saturday evening, 3816 were detected via rapid antigen tests and 2198 from PCR lab tests.

Meanwhile, more non-urgent elective surgery patients will be able to access services requiring an overnight stay in private hospitals from Monday.

NSW Health is lifting the cap to 85 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity in private hospitals before completely removing it on March 7.

Public hospitals are on track to perform up to 75 per cent of pre-pandemic elective surgeries or higher over the coming weeks.

“(The staged approach) ensures people have access to clinically recommended surgery while we continue to balance the COVID-19 emergency response,” NSW Health acting deputy secretary Wayne Jones said on Saturday.

Current hospitalisation figures are less than half the admissions around the same time last month when the Omicron wave saw a peak of 2943 people in care.

However the slow decline of hospitalisations sits in contrast with NSW Health’s best case scenario of the surge, which predicted admissions would be well under 500 cases by now.

Mask mandates were significantly eased across the state on Saturday, with residents only required to use them in certain settings, including on public transport and in hospitals.

NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty said masks are still recommended in places where maintaining physical distance is challenging.

More than 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over in NSW have received a first vaccine dose and 94.3 per cent are double-vaccinated. Almost 54 per cent have also had a booster shot.

AAP

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