NSW has reported 1,035 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours - its highest daily COVID-19 tally recorded in an Australian state or territory.
It is the second time that the 24-hour tally has exceeded 1,000 in the state, after earlier this week on 26 August.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the state's west and far-west expanded by 46 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday.
A further two deaths have been recorded, bringing the total number of fatalities in the current outbreak to 83.
The deaths included a woman in her 70s, who died at Nepean Hospital, and a woman in her 80s, who died at Westmead Hospital.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the deaths are tragic.
"It's a terrible situation. To have any loved one pass away at any time is obviously challenging, but in this situation many of us are feeling it even more."
The pressure on the hospital system is growing with 778 COVID-19 patients, 125 of them in intensive care and 52 needing ventilation.
Dr Jeremy McAnulty said one of those in the ICU is a health worker at Westmead Hospital who had been vaccinated.
"It stresses the importance of the vaccine. It is very effective against this severe disease but is not 100 per cent.
"(We need) all of us to be vaccinated as soon as we can (to reduce virus transmission)...please help protect our frontline workers."
'Ambulances are not taxis'
NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan urged people to not make unnecessary calls for ambulances.
He said yesterday alone 450 calls were received and that the volume of calls in the past three days rivalled the busiest period of New Year's Eve.
"We are seeing impacts on our ability to respond to the community," he said.
"When we receive calls that do not require an ambulance immediately, it can have dire consequences. I have been advised this week that we had a 25-minute response to an 18-year-old cardiac arrest. This is devastating. Wherever possible we need to be avoiding this."
He urged people to help paramedics by getting vaccinated.
Mr Hazzard pleaded with people to be mindful of the pressures on ambulance services.
"Ambulances are not taxis," he said, after Mr Morgan revealed people had called for an ambulance to take food to people's houses and for transport to vaccination centres.
COVID-19 rules eased for weddings
Mr Hazzard said weddings can take place with five people in attendance - not including those people who are necessary for running the event.
Wedding receptions are not allowed. The changes come into effect from 12:01am on Friday, September 3.
"The purpose is to allow people to get married, but sensibly," Mr Hazzard said.
He said at this stage there won't be a health order requirement for wedding guests to be fully vaccinated.
"Others may want far bigger weddings," Mr Hazzard acknowledged. "I think the short answer is we cannot allow it at the present time because we have had circumstances where weddings have actually been massive super-spreader events."
Minister condemns misinformation on fertility
Minister Hazzard said a record number of people - 61,778 - had received a vaccine in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday night.
"As we have said many times, vaccination is a critical path out of our current situation," he told reporters on Saturday.
Mr Hazzard said there was a "lot of misinformation" on social media about the vaccine, particularly targeting people who want to have children.
It suggested there were some negative aspects of being vaccinated in terms of fertility, he said.
"I just want to confirm that the most senior health advisory service in Australia has confirmed absolutely, that there is no evidence whatsoever that a woman's fertility or a man's fertility would be in any way affected by having the vaccine," Mr Hazzard said.
"Young women and girls who are contemplating having a child should understand that if they don't have the vaccine, and they do get the virus, they may suffer from long COVID or from symptoms that would actually make it more difficult to be able to have children, and to have as many children as they would like."
Mandatory vaccinations for authorised workers
NSW Health late on Friday announced that workers living in areas of concern need to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by September 6 in order to be authorised to work outside their area of concern.
Care workers who live or work in areas of concern must also have had at least one dose of a vaccine by September 6 in order to attend work.
Workers aged under 16 will be exempt from the vaccine requirement.
NSW Health said rapid antigen testing will no longer be an alternative to vaccination for authorised workers in the LGAs of concern.
Mr Hazzard said with 80 per cent of the daily COVID-19 cases recorded in western and south-western Sydney, the government is focussed on lifting vaccination rates among authorised workers.
"The rapid antigen testing can still be accommodated through the COVID safe plans, but the preferred alternative is to have people vaccinated."
Border communities want healthcare access, Deputy Premier says
Meanwhile, NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the state government is against moving the Queensland border checkpoint south to the Tweed River.
The Queensland border remains closed to people from NSW and Victoria who do not have exemptions.
Mr Barilaro said in a statement released on Saturday that border communities such as Mungindi need to be able to access healthcare and medical supplies.
"I want this resolved as soon as possible. I'm prepared to roll up my sleeves and get this sorted this weekend," he said.
SBS is providing live translations of daily New South Wales and Victoria COVID-19 press conferences in various languages.
