Officially in Hunter New England, there were 224 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, although that number is expected to climb again with further infections diagnosed overnight.

A total of 28 of those cases were recorded in Maitland.

Hundreds of people have now been exposed and thousands of people in Newcastle and the Hunter are now in isolation as the number of close and secondary contacts associated with a string of new exposure sites grows.

Hunter New England Health's Dr David Durrheim has told the ABC that the super-spreader event at Argyle House will have been one of the highest transmission events in a single venue this year "probably anywhere in the world".

Some businesses were closing their offices on Tuesday morning, as they were notified staff or customers had tested positive or deemed close contacts after attending a venue of concern over the weekend.

There were 116 new cases in the Newcastle LGA, 48 from Lake Macquarie, 28 from Maitland, 11 from Port Stephens, and 7 from Cessnock. There were five from the Mid Coast LGA, five from Singleton, two from Inverell, one in Dungog, and one in Tamworth.

Across the state, there were 86,562 COVID tests and 804 new infections - a jump of 268 on the previous day.

There are 168 people in hospital, 21 in intensive care, and there has been one death.

In the Hunter, there are five people in hospital, three in ICU.