NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has defended his ‘unpopular’ approach to Covid

The NSW Premier was slammed by reporters over his handling of Covid following a stinging result at Saturday’s by-elections.

Dominic Perrottet has declared he has no regrets about opening his state up over the summer, insisting NSW is tracking well as the Omicron wave begins to subside.

Health authorities confirmed there were 6686 new cases of Covid-19 in the state on Sunday, a major drop from 8183 on Saturday.

Twenty two people - 13 men and nine women - died with the virus overnight.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is holding firm on his decision to let it rip. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Addressing reporters after the Liberal Party took a hit at by-elections on Saturday night, the Premier said his decisions may not have been popular, but they have been right.

“Ultimately, when you're in a pandemic, you’re going to make decisions from time to time that are unpopular,” Mr Perrottet said.

“Our job here as a government is to take our state through and we're doing that.”

“When you look at the hospitalisations and ICU presentations, I think things are certainly heading in the right direction.

“And I think that's one the success of everybody in our state standing tall facing into the virus – we’re gonna get through it.

“We can't hide away, we gotta get through.”

The Histopath Covid-19 testing centre at Sydney International Airport. Picture: Christian Gilles / NCA NewsWire

While the Premier said it was important for him to not “follow the populist approach”, opening up in December was still the right thing to do.

“I think the one thing that probably struck me about that was, as we've transitioned, that’s brought its challenges,” he said.

“We had a highly furloughed workforce with a highly transmissible variant. We didn't just see that in New South Wales. We saw that around the country.

“But it's still the right approach and I know that brings concerns in the short term, but it's the right approach in the long term.”

It comes as the state reaches a major booster milestone, with 52.3 per cent of the eligible population now vaccinated with a third dose of a Covid-19 jab.

More than 50 per cent of the eligible population has had a booster shot. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

“The facts are very clear, not just here, but around the country and around the world, boosters save lives,” the Premier said.

Of the 22 deaths, one person was in their 40s, one in their 50s, two in their 60s, four in their 70s, nine in their 80s, four in their 90s and one over 100.

Of those aged over 65, eight were not vaccinated.

Health authorities say 1614 people are in hospital with the virus, 93 of whom are in intensive care.

Originally published as NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has defended his ‘unpopular’ approach to Covid