Upper Hunter MP Dave Layzell is urging the NSW government to consider releasing Singleton and Muswellbrook shires from lockdown earlier than Newcastle and parts of the Lower Hunter.

The Upper Hunter electorate is currently split by lockdowns, with residents in Singleton, Dungog, and Muswellbrook local government areas (LGAs) under stay-at-home orders while those in the Upper Hunter and Liverpool Plains shires are free to move around as normal.

The Hunter's lockdown is due to end at 12:01am this Friday 13 August, which the Premier said was unlikely, after the region record 14 new cases to 8pm last night.

"At Newcastle, there's a number of transmissions, there's more [exposure] sites every day. There are real challenges down there," he said.

The Upper Hunter is sandwiched between the major cities of Newcastle and Tamworth, with the Tamworth LGA also in lockdown, until midnight August 16.

"Maybe until the Tamworth lockdown finishes, and if we can get through that period with no cases, I'm hoping that we can release some of those restrictions," Mr Layzell said.

Mr Layzell has urged the Deputy Premier to consider bringing the Singleton and Muswellbrook regions out of lockdown earlier than other parts of the Lower Hunter.

"Newcastle itself, it's very unlikely that would come out of lockdown in the near future.

"We're really advocating for some sort of easing of restrictions to help people get on with their lives and certainly there's a lot of small businesses doing it tough out there at the moment due to this lockdown."

More pharmacies to provide vaccines

An additional 12 pharmacies will come online to deliver mostly Astra Zeneca vaccines across the Upper Hunter in the coming weeks. 

Two, Quirindi and Gloucester, have put their hands up for the newly approved Moderna vaccine.

Merriwa Pharmacy was among those earlier announced to start offering COVID vaccines by mid-July but is still undertaking renovations to the business to meet vaccination guidelines.

"Hopefully we’ll be up and running in the next few weeks, I know Denman pharmacy is tin the same situation," pharmacist Robert Smith said.

"I see our role as rather than as a mass roll-out destination, more of a 'let's clean up the stragglers'," he laughed.

Sewage testing ramps up

Three of the four major towns in the Upper Hunter electorate — Scone, Singleton, Muswellbrook — are all now testing sewage for COVID fragments on a weekly basis.

Muswellbrook has been testing for about 12 months, with Scone and Singleton collecting the first samples this week.

Singleton Mayor Sue Moore said the testing would "give the community assurance".

"I guess from [NSW Health's] point of view, our small populations that are connected to the sewerage weren’t large enough for them to expend the cost of testing previously, however they have reached out to us this week to ask if we’d like to join the program," Upper Hunter Shire general manager Greg McDonald said.

He said the Upper Hunter Shire community, while not in lockdown itself, had many workers and residents who travel between it and locked down LGAs.