As the death toll from COVID-19 continues to rise throughout the state, it’s a similar story within the Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD).

With NSW Health reporting 52 fatalities overnight, the local region also added a further two – one in the Newcastle LGA and the other in the Lake Macquarie LGA.

It comes as HNELHD detected another 1,529 new infections (767 PCR and 762 RATs), a drop of 200 in the past 24 hours.

Of the latest deaths, 33 were men and 19 were women.

Three people were in their 60s, 11 were in their 70s, 26 were in their 80s, 11 were in their 90s, and one was aged more than 100.

Older age is a significant risk factor for serious illness and death for COVID-19, particularly when combined with significant underlying health conditions.

One person who passed away was aged under 65.

The man, in his 60s, had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine but suffered significant underlying health conditions.

Six of the 52 who died had received three doses, 32 were fully-vaccinated, two had received one dose, and 12 were not vaccinated.

Twenty-six people were from south-western Sydney, six were from Sydney’s Inner West, five were from western Sydney, three were from Dubbo, two were from the Northern Beaches, two were from northern Sydney, two were from south-eastern Sydney, one was from southern Sydney, one was from the Newcastle area, one was from the Lake Macquarie, one was from northern NSW, one was from the Wollongong area, and one was from the Central Coast.

This brings the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,368.

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