A FURTHER 2,527 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the Hunter New England Health region in the 24 hours to 8pm Saturday night, bringing the total number of active cases to 21,823.

It is a significant drop from the previous 24 hours during which there were 4432 new cases recorded.

Of those, 106 active cases are being cared for in hospital, and nine are being treated in ICU. In the Hunter, there were 1,912 new cases, 472 from Lake Macquarie, 441 from Newcastle, 346 from Maitland, and 220 from Cessnock.

Another 208 are from Port Stephens,107 from Singleton, 62 from Muswellbrook, 33 are from the Upper Hunter, and 23 are from Dungog LGA.

Statewide, 30,062 NSW residents joined the already quarter of a million in isolation, after contracting COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The state has also recorded a further 16 virus-related deaths, making for one of the state's deadliest days since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest case numbers were registered from 98,986 test results, down on the almost 117,000 processed on Friday.

There are currently 1927 COVID-19 patients in NSW hospitals, 151 of them in intensive care.

Hunter New England Public Health Physician, Dr Tony Merritt urged people to get vaccinated, and for those who are double-vaccinated, to get their booster shot.

From Monday 10 January, COVID-19 vaccinations are available for children aged five years and older, Dr Merritt said Children in this cohort receive a third of a normal dose and require two vaccinations eight weeks apart.