Five of the new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Friday were from Newcastle, three were from MidCoast, and there was one each from Maitland, Moree Plains, Lake Macquarie and Tamworth.

It comes as the state recorded 325 new cases of the virus.

Five of the new Hunter New England cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period, five were infectious in the community and two are under investigation.

Eight of the cases are linked to known exposures or clusters, two are unlinked and two are under investigation.

The new cases bring the total number of Hunter New England cases to 4359 since August 5.

New sewage detections have been recorded in Dungog, Gunnedah and Curlewis.

"The recent detections are a good reminder for everyone in this area, and not only in this specific catchment area, to come forward for testing even if they have the mildest of symptoms, so we can identify any unknown cases in the community and reduce transmission," Hunter New England Population Health public health physician Dr David Durrheim said.

New rules for returning travellers regarding the Omicron B.1.1.529 variant of concern are now in place. In line with Commonwealth measures, all travellers arriving in NSW who have been in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and Malawi during the 14-day period before their arrival in NSW must enter hotel quarantine for 14 days, regardless of their vaccination status.

All fully vaccinated travellers who have been in any other overseas country during the 14-day period before their arrival in NSW must travel directly to their place of residence or accommodation and isolate for 72 hours and return a negative result at the end of the 72 hours. They must also complete a PCR test on day six after arrival.

Anyone who has already arrived in NSW who has been in any of the eight African countries within the previous 14 days must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days, and call NSW Health on 1800 943 553.

IN THE NEWS

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: