Tamworth's historic 50^th country music festival was postponed as a result of the increasingly large outbreak of the virus, which continued to break records on Saturday.

There were 4,432 new COVID-19 cases in the latest update by Hunter New England Health, which covers the 24 hours to 8pm Friday night.

The bulk were in Newcastle, but communities in the New England and North West recorded hundreds of new cases in the update.

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Tamworth once again broke a record for the most cases ever recorded in a single day in the city, with 256 new cases.

Inverell recorded 107 and Armidale 87.

In Gunnedah, 50 people have been confirmed to be infected with the virus, plus 45 in Moree, 42 in Narrabri and 40 in the Liverpool Plains local government area.

There were nine in Uralla, eight in Walcha and seven in Glen Innes and the Upper Hunter local government area.

The region's health service is currently dealing with 19,755 active cases, with 106 active cases being cared for in our hospitals, nine of them in an intensive care unit

A women in her 70s died with the virus in Newcastle, on Friday.

The decision to delay the country music festival to April came the same day Premier Dominic Perrottet announced a return to restrictions on dancing and singing in pubs and clubs.

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