Those cases included four in Dubbo, one in Walgett, one in Cowra and one in Mudgee.

Four of those cases are linked to known cases, and three are under investigation.

Across NSW other new cases included:

Nineteen previously reported cases have been excluded after further investigation, and the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic is 53,709.

NSW Health reported that the deaths included one person in their 50s, one person in their 60s, two people in their 70s, five people in their 80s and one person in their 90s.

Six of the fatalities were from south-western Sydney, one from western Sydney, one from south-eastern Sydney, one from northern Sydney and one from Sydney's north-west.

Of the 10 people who died with COVID-19, six were not vaccinated, two people had received one dose and two people, a woman in her 90s and a man in his 80s, both with serious underlying health conditions, had received two doses.

NSW has recorded 255 COVID-related deaths in NSW since June 16.

Across the state, 1266 COVID-19 patients are in hospital, including 244

NSW Health's ongoing sewage surveillance program has detected fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 in samples from Ballina and Wardell in northern NSW.

On Tuesday, the NSW government also announced the creation of COVID-19 friendship bubbles for people aged 18 years and under. In Orange groups of three teenagers and children can visit each others homes during the school holidays as long as their parents and guardians are double vaccinated.

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