They include a Wollongong man in his 90s and two men and two women from the Shellharbour area, aged in their 60s, 80s and 90s.

All were vaccinated, except the youngest person in their 60s.

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These people were among 29 deaths reported by NSW Health on Tuesday, of whom two had received three doses of the vaccine, 21 had received two, and six were unvaccinated.

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District reported another 974 cases of the virus.

Of the cases detected from PCR tests, 271 come from Wollongong, 127 from Shellharbour, 15 from Kiama, and 124 from Shoalhaven.

There have now been 33,992 COVID infections recorded in the health district since the first case was detected in Australia two years ago to the day (of these, 130 were acquired overseas).

NSW recorded another 18,512 cases in the 24 hours to Monday night.

COVID hospitalisations in NSW are close to 3000, with 2943 people in hospital, including 168 in the Illawarra Shoalhaven.

The number of patients in intensive care sits at 183, 72 of whom need ventilation.

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More than 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 93.9 per cent have had two, while more than one-third of adults have had a third dose.

Among young people aged 12 to 15, 78.3 per cent have had two doses and 82.7 per cent have had at least one dose.

"We really encourage parents of those children aged 12 to 15, it's sort of been stubbornly sticking around that level, so please take that opportunity this week before school commences to have your children vaccinted," chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said.

Almost 29 per cent of five to 11-year-olds have had their first shot.

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