Addressing the media on Wednesday Ms Ludford said recent modelling shows the state is nearing the peak of the current COVID-19 outbreak.

She said it is still a "very uncomfortable time" with "high case numbers" locally, but over the next three weeks the number of hospitalisations is expected to begin reducing.

As of Tuesday there are 42 patients with COVID-19 in hospital at both Wagga and Griffith Base, with five patients in the ICU and one patient ventilated.

"Those numbers have been going up and down and we are seeing patients who come in are not staying for long periods and are relatively staying four or five days and then being discharged again," Ms Ludford said.

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The current number of people in hospital with the virus is just half of what was predicted in recent modelling, with "plenty of capacity both in the intensive care unit and [the] hospital in terms of looking after people".

Ms Ludford said that the MLHD is working closely with private hospitals across the region who are currently caring for public patients without COVID.

The return of non-urgent surgery will depend on the availability of staff, Ms Ludford said.

Meanwhile, the health district says the backlog in PCR testing stemming from the new year period has "largely been addressed", with 460 tests conducted in the region on Tuesday.

"There may still be a few people who are yet to receive their results, but people who are now having PCR tests are getting their results back within our 72 hour turnaround time," Ms Ludford said.

On Wednesday 834 new cases of the virus were reported within the MLHD, made up of a staggering 584 PCR tests and 250 self-reported rapid antigen tests.

The daily tally is just shy of last Friday's record of 839 new local cases.

Genomic sequencing conducted by the MLHD shows that a "majority" of the local cases are of the Omicron variant, with just two cases the Delta variant.

"This is consistent with what we've seen across the state with the Delta variant really washed out of the system and being replaced by this new variant," Ms Ludford said.

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