The NSW Premier has announced a one-week lockdown in the Hunter and Upper Hunter region.

The Hunter Valley, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie lockdown will be in place from 5pm tonight until midnight next Thursday, after five cases were recorded in the area.

262 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded with at least 45 of spending time in the community while infectious.

Five people have died in the last 24 hours.

Four of the people were unvaccinated, while one had received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes told Jim Wilson the community has been anticipating cases since sewage detections were revealed.

A person from Western Sydney is believed to have started a cluster of cases by attending a beach party at Blacksmith while infected, but the Lord Mayor said they aren’t the only one to blame.

“The levels and the breadth of the sewage detection doesn’t just explain that one event, so that is probably of greater concern at the moment.

“Not having a hard border with Sydney has been a great frustration to a lot of people here in the Hunter region.”

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Image: Nine News