Another person has been added to the list of people from the Hunter who have died with COVID-19.
Hunter New England Health announced on Friday morning that a man aged in his 70s from the Muswellbrook local government area was among the 19 people with the virus who lost their lives in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday.
"Our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends," the local health district said in a statement online.
The Hunter New England region recorded the most new positive test results of all the NSW Health districts in the 24-hour period, with a total of 1378 fresh cases, ahead of Western Sydney, which had the second highest number at 1071.
Of the new cases in Hunter New England, 537 were the result of PCR tests and 841 came from rapid antigen tests.
There are 43 people with the virus in hospitals across the district - two of those in intensive care.
NSW recorded 8950 new COVID-19 cases during the period.
