COVID-19 hospitalisations in the Hunter New England region have continued to increase, as the state's top medico called on people not to turn up to NSW hospitals unless they genuinely needed treatment.
The Hunter New England region recorded 1612 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, according to figures released on Monday morning, up by 270 cases compared with the previous day.
There were 8208 active cases in the region, with 65 people in hospital and four patients receiving intensive care.
The number of hospitalisations continued to climb from the previous day, when there were 50, adding to the steady daily rise since Christmas Day when there were 12 people in hospital.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant on Monday called for people not to clog up hospitals if they did not genuinely need hospital treatment.
"NSW Health has one of the largest work forces in the country ... and our staff are incredibly skilled and committed," she said.
"But we are seeing health systems around the world put under stress and whilst we are very well placed in that global context to manage that care burden, it is important we all play our part in not placing unnecessary burden on our health system."
The Lake Macquarie and Newcastle local government areas continued to have the highest daily number of new cases, with 342 and 320 respectively.
Maitland had 197 cases, followed by Cessnock (143), Port Stephens (141) and Singleton (113).
Hunter New England Health was continuing to "strongly encourage" people to wear a mask in any situation where they could not socially distance, even in places where masks were not mandatory.
Four people died across the state in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday as NSW recorded 20,794 new cases - an increase from 18,278 a day earlier.
There were 141,722 active cases across the state, with 1204 patients in hospitals - 95 of those in intensive care units. More than 96,000 people were tested for the virus in the period.
NSW Health was investigating a further 32 possible cases, which were not included in the tally released on Monday morning.
The four people who lost their lives - one aged in her 90s, another in their 80s and two in their 70s - were not in the Hunter New England region.
Dr Chant on Monday also called for parents to make sure their children were vaccinated before the beginning of the new school year.
She said the proportion of vaccinated young people aged between 12 and 15 years old - 78.2 per cent double-vaxxed and 81.5 per cent single dose - has been "stubborn".
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