Hunter New England has rocketed back to the top of the list of the state's local health districts with the highest daily number of COVID-19 cases.
The region recorded 3303 new instances of the virus in the 24 hours to 4pm on Thursday, new figures show, putting it ahead of the Western Sydney and South Western Sydney local health districts.
The latest daily figure is a jump from 2719 the previous day, and a larger spike than the 3184 new cases recorded on Tuesday.
No-one with COVID-19 died in the Hunter New England region in the latest reporting period.
There are 67 people with the virus in Hunter New England hospitals, including four patients in intensive care.
NSW recorded 25,495 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths in the same period.
There are 1345 patients in hospital with the virus across the state - 43 of those in ICU.