More than 500 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the Hunter New England region, with Lake Macquarie leading the tally.
Hunter New England Health figures released on Monday morning showed that the region had 579 additional coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, up from 510 the previous day.
There were 21 people in hospital and two patients in intensive care.
The latest figures take the region's total active cases to 7140.
The Lake Macquarie local government area had 200 new cases in the 24-hour period, followed by Newcastle (123), Cessnock (57), Maitland (55), Port Stephens (27), Upper Hunter (21), Muswellbrook (20), Tamworth (16), Moree Plains (15), Singleton (12), Armidale (8), Narrabri (8), Mid Coast (7), Gunnnedah (2), Gwydir (2), Walcha (2), Dungog (1), Inverell (1) and Liverpool Plains (1).
It came as NSW recorded three deaths and 6324 new cases in the same period.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said during a press conference on Sunday that wait times for test results had blown out to three or four days in many cases and symptom-free people should take at-home rapid tests instead before they "visit aunt Mabel".
He said "we're all going to get omicron" but local and international evidence pointed to the variant causing relatively mild disease.
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