NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says the state is "travelling very well" after recording its lowest daily death toll in almost three weeks.
The state reported 18 COVID-19 deaths, down from 31 yesterday.
There are 2,337 people with the virus in hospital, of which 152 are in ICU.
There were 8,389 new cases in the reporting period, of which 5,300 were from rapid antigen tests and 3,089 were from PCR swabs.
"We are seeing some very pleasing and reassuring data coming through in relation to hosptalisations and ICU presentations," Mr Perrottet said this morning.
More than 42 per cent of the population have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Despite the majority of deaths of the last week being among older people, only 18 per cent of those who died had had a booster shot and about one in five was unvaccinated.
NSW Health's Jeremy McAnulty said it was "really important" that people get the booster shot.
"We need to make sure those booster shots for all people 16 and over now are given on time because booster is really important for preventing the transmission and serious disease," he said.
Dr McAnulty said that of the 18 deaths, 11 were men and seven were women.
Mr Perrottet confirmed that Sydney would be the national hub for Rex Airlines, providing 2,500 new jobs, as part of the state government's pandemic economy recovery plan.
The package to help Rex Airlines is part of the $250 million Jobs Plus program.
"By supporting Rex Airlines to expand its Sydney headquarters we are not only creating thousands of jobs, but signalling to the world that NSW is open and ready to welcome travellers," Mr Perrottet said.
"A strong domestic aviation sector is critical to our recovery from the pandemic."
Speaking from Bega in the south-east of NSW, Oppposition Leader Chris Minns called on the Premier to provide immediate support to small and medium sized businesses for the sake of regional economies.
Mr Minns warned once jobs were lost, "it will be hard to get them back".
He questioned the timing of the government's Small Business Support Program which provides financial help for lost revenue of more than 40 per cent but is only for the month of February.
"I've spoken to businesses this morning in regional New South Wales who've been hit extremely hard over the last six to seven weeks," Mr Minns said.
"The New South Wales government's economic support package means that these businesses must prove a 40 per cent downturn in turnover for the month of January, but they don't get compensated for any of that downturn.
"So in other words, you've got to show that you've been hit hard but not $1 will be provided to you."
Mr Minns argues that January is when the deep losses occurred.
"We all need to be aware that small and medium sized enterprises are the biggest employers in Australia, if they start to struggle, the economy struggles," he said.
