Two elderly men from the Hunter region died with COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 4pm on Wednesday.
The Hunter New England Health District recorded 2719 new cases during the latest reporting period - down from 3184 the previous day but still higher than the daily case numbers before this week's spike.
A man aged over 100 years old from Maitland and another in his 70s from Lake Macquarie were among the 17 people with the virus who lost their lives across NSW.
There are 73 people with the virus in Hunter New England Hospitals, including five patients receiving intensive care.
Of the latest positive cases, 1907 were detected by rapid antigen tests and 812 from PCR tests.
NSW recorded 22,107 new cases during the reporting period ending Wednesday afternoon.
There are 1326 patients with the virus in the state's hospitals - 39 of those are in intensive care units.
