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The Guardian - AU
National
Stephanie Convery (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

Australia records 77 deaths on deadliest day of pandemic; national medical stockpile activated – as it happened

Australia New South Wales Covid-19 Tonga Victoria Dominic Perrottet Greg Hunt Act (Organization) James Merlino Omicron

And that’s where we’ll say goodbye for this evening. You can find all the daily Covid statistics in the summary post pinned at the top of the blog. Sadly, it’s been Australia’s deadliest day of the pandemic yet, with 77 people having died from Covid across the country.

Here’s what else happened today:

• Federal health minister Greg Hunt announced the government was activating its private hospital agreement, which will see up to 57,000 nurses and over 100,000 staff from the private hospital system made available to the public health system to help deal with the Covid-19 surge across the country.

• Hunt has also slammed anti-vaccination sentiments – including those from within his own government – saying: “Frankly, the anti-vaxxers aren’t just losing the debate, they’ve lost the debate … Wherever people have said things that are anti-vax, we disagree with them.”

• In Victoria, the state government has issued a “code brown” across all public metropolitan and major regional hospitals from midday on Wednesday, which means the hospital system is being pushed to the limit and some logistical changes need to take place to ease the pressure.

• Tonga could be cut off for weeks amid efforts to repair an undersea communications cable, after the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano sent tsunami waves across the archipelago and blanketed islands in ash. Leaked New Zealand military photos show the scale of the damage.

Thanks for coming along for the ride with me this afternoon. See you tomorrow!

Updated

Aerial images prepared by the New Zealand defence force for the Tongan government have been leaked online and show some areas have had “catastrophic” devastation inflicted by the tsunami and volcanic eruption, while others were relatively unscathed.

When you’ve read that story, here’s a companion piece – a gallery of images of the eruption itself.

Another warning for potentially damaging winds, this time for parts of Victoria.

The saga of the South Australian meatworks that had many of its 385 staff test positive for Covid – and then got an exemption to keep operating with some of the positive workers – rolls on.

As we reported here, the supermarket giant Woolworths stopped sending its cattle to the Teys Australia abattoir near Naracoorte out of concern for the treatment of the staff, and after consulting with ACTU leaders.

Well, the suspension looks like lasting only five days, with Woolies today saying:

After consultation with Teys, SA Health and Safework SA we are satisfied that the COVID management protocols in place at the Naracoorte site meet the relevant health requirements.

Teys’ team members play an important role in helping deliver Australian beef to households across the country and we thank them for their contribution.

Guardian Australia has just sought a comment from the meatworkers’ union, but it’s likely they won’t be happy.

The company says a bevy of SA authorities oversee the staffing and how many days workers isolate before returning to work. One worker, though, told us yesterday some staff were still coming back after a day’s isolation.

The company last week said about 140 of the 385 workers had tested positive, and they also picked up two more positives. That anonymous worker, though, said the majority had now contracted Covid, and some were still working with symptoms.

The site has become a bit of a test case, with the unions worried that it might set a precedent for other companies desperate to keep operating amid the wave of Covid-related absenteeism.

I suspect this space will be worth watching.

Melbourne coffee roaster, St Ali, has been criticised online for offering two free rapid antigen tests with purchase orders over $159.99.

In a text message sent out to “special VIP customers,” St Ali offered two free rapid antigen tests if customers bought $159.99 worth of coffee or merchandise from their online store.

“We’ve been fortunate to secure a limited number of Rapid Antigen Tests for our staff, families and friends. As a special VIP customer, we’d like to extend these to you too,” they said in the text.

The coffee roasters were also offering pulse oximeters, hand sanitiser, and contactless thermometers for sale via their website, alongside bags of coffee, filters and champagne.

Read the full story:

Updated

My colleague Calla Wahlquist has pulled together all the information you might need on children returning to school at the end of the month and plans for their safety in These Covid Times.

Just a note on what’s happening in South Australia – SA premier Steven Marshall was saying earlier he’d rejected calls from the education union to delay the start of term by two weeks, but they have actually staggered when students will start in the classroom, and they are starting slightly later than the other states (by a couple of days).

More details and everything else we know on the matter is here:

Updated

More than 43,000 international students have arrived in Australia since December

The federal government says more than 43,000 international students have arrived in Australia since it reopened the international border to a range of visa holders in December.

The reopening included fully vaccinated eligible visa holders, including students and skilled workers, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and certain family visa holders.

The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said more than 8,000 skilled workers had arrived in Australia, and 22,000 working holiday maker visas had been granted since November 2021. He said Australia had also welcomed around 60,000 family members of Australians visiting since the November announcement.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Hawke also announced some extra flexibility to help visa holders affected by the pandemic, including giving extra time for all current and former Skilled Regional Provisional visa holders to make travel arrangements to start or resume living and working in regional Australia. He said:

The government will extend by three years Skilled Regional Provisional (subclass 489, 491 and 494) visas where the visa holder was impacted by Covid-19 international travel restrictions. This will assist around 10,000 skilled regional workers.

Hawke said the government would make changes to allow entry of current and former Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa holders from 18 February 2022, allowing them to re-enter Australia and apply for a further stay.

Visas will be extended for graduates who were outside of Australia at any time between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021, while they held a valid Temporary Graduate visa. The extension will take effect on 18 February 2022 and visa holders will be notified directly by the Department of Home Affairs of the extension of their visa and may arrive after this occurs, from 18 February onwards.

Hawke said the changes would “support the return to Australia of temporary graduates as soon as possible”.

Updated

La Nina close to peak, Bureau of Meteorology says

Phew, OK, presser over! Time for a little weather report from Peter Hannam:

While it’s not much consolation for sun-seekers whose summer has turned out to be mostly grey and damp, the La Nina pattern in the Pacific is close to or near its peak, the Bureau of Meteorology said today in its fortnightly update.

La Nina and its opposite, El Nino, have a big impact on weather across the Pacific and beyond. La Ninas have the usually east-to-west winds strengthening, pushing rainfall to eastern and northern Australia, while El Ninos have the reverse effect. Such patterns tend to decay in the autumn, and this looks likely to be the case for the current event.

“Five of the seven international climate models surveyed by the Bureau indicate La Niña thresholds are likely to be met during February,” BoM said. “By April, only two models continue to exceed the threshold, with the other five returning to neutral.”

However, the Pacific isn’t the only influence on the island continent (ie Australia).

The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index, which reflects changes in the Southern Ocean, is expected to return to its positive phase during the rest of January and into February.

“A positive SAM during summer typically brings above average rainfall to eastern parts of Australia, including eastern Tasmania, but typically has a drying influence on south-westerly exposed coasts such as western Tasmania,” the BoM said.

Those trends also feature in BoM’s seasonal outlook, with February to April rainfall likely to be above the median for parts of northern and eastern Australia, while below median rainfall is likely for parts of south-east Australia.

Odds favour daytime temperatures being warmer than average for most of the country, except for southern parts of the east coast such around Sydney.

Updated

Back to the AMA Victoria president Roderick McRae’s comments to the ABC earlier – he says the announcement this afternoon that the federal government has activated the private hospitals agreement will “assist” with the situation in Victoria, but he does sound a couple of notes of caution:

Bear in mind many healthcare workers operate between the private and the public system at any rate. There are currently in Victoria several arrangements where important, urgent elective surgery work is currently being undertaken in the private hospital sector. But this has its own opportunity costs. So those workers who are saying only in the private sector, their businesses are being undermined and compromised.

Their ability to look after their patients who are probably category one – some of them will be – has also been compromised because the public system is being decanted into the private system. Nobody wants any patient to suffer. Everything has to work together and have their shoulder to the mill, and ultimately the settings are such that’s where we are going.

Updated

Greg Hunt is being challenged again on his comments that the federal government “went into the market early” on rapid antigen tests. Didn’t the government fail to supply enough tests for at-home use before the end of last year?

Hunt responds by shifting the blame for the scarcity to the states, while simultaneously saying the states were following expert advice (including from commonwealth representatives) in focusing on PCR tests:

The balance of responsibility has always been that the states had principal responsibility for testing ... That has been very clear, that one of the things that protected Australia is the use of PCR tests.

Updated

While Hunt and Kelly have been speaking, Dr Roderick McRae, the president of the Australian Medical Association in Victoria, has been speaking to the ABC about the “code brown” declared in that state today:

We have been hearing certainly in Victoria for the best part of six weeks how every element of the healthcare system, particularly in the public sector is at crisis ...

In Victoria we have the equivalent of three major – the big public hospitals full of nothing but Covid-19 patients, and part of the background to everything is ... the staff are exhausted, they are mentally fatigued because they know they are not able to provide the high level of standard of care they want to and know they could have in ideal circumstances.

And we just want to have an opportunity to get a sensible centrally coordinated delivery of services. There is high demand, we have to cover emergencies from all areas of medicine and we need to look after the Covid-19 patients.

Updated

David Crowe from Nine newspapers asks Greg Hunt what his response is to the proposition that the federal government failed badly by not increasing the supply of rapid antigen tests when the Omicron wave was imminent, and what is his response to those who are calling for free tests now?

Hunt responds by characterising this as a Labor party policy question (as opposed to a question legitimately posed by community members who are struggling to find or procure a rapid antigen test and being price-gouged on them).

He says the numbers of tests required if you gave them out for free would involve diverting tests from people who most need them. I’m not sure how that maths computes, personally.

Updated

We might still be in heatwave season but Prof Kelly flashes forward to the coming winter:

We’re almost certainly going to have a flu season this year as well in winter, and flu and coronavirus together, as has been seen in several countries in the northern hemisphere, is going to be a challenge, and we’ll have more to say about that in the coming months.

Updated

Greg Hunt responds to another question on the anti-vaccination elements within the Coalition government:

We are pro-vaccination and have helped deliver a 95% vaccination rate. Wherever people have said things that are anti-vax, we disagree with them. Whether it’s people within our own movement, I disagree. ... The anti-vaxxers are losing and have lost the debate ... We disagree and the government makes the policy.

Asked about the aged care booster program – following reports from aged care facilities that their residents still haven’t been given their booster shots – Greg Hunt rejects the characterisation that the program is running behind schedule:

The aged care booster program is well ahead of the schedule that we set out. We have now had over 1,800 facilities that have been boosted and that’s increasing significantly every day ... We’re on track to ensure that over the course of the coming weeks that all facilities have that program in place.

Updated

Prof Kelly weighs in:

I won’t comment on other people’s comments. If people could listen to the Chief Medical Officer and my colleagues in the states, we’re all of agreement, the ATAGI group, which I would say is amongst the best experts on immunisation in the world, certainly in Australia. We are of one voice. It is very important for children now down to the age of five to be vaccinated. And so please go ahead with that and listen to the experts.

Greg Hunt again:

Frankly, the anti-vaxxers aren’t just losing the debate, they’ve lost the debate. We’re at a 95% national 16-plus vaccination beyond the perception of almost any commentator or observer through the course of the pandemic and we pushed through and it’s the Australian public, the Australian medical workforce, in partnership with local, state, territory and federal governments that have achieved that. We’ll just keep going and we want that number to go higher.

Updated

Asked about MP George Christensen’s anti-vaccination comments (he has been saying on social media, contrary to sound medical advice, that people shouldn’t get their children vaccinated), Greg Hunt says: “I haven’t heard those words” but that he would “flatly, plainly disagree with anyone who said that.”

Prof Kelly is up now. He is talking about the pressure that’s currently on the health system, suggesting the federal government has been prepared for such pressure:

We have been planning for workforce pressure in our healthcare sector for some time, right back to actually the beginning of the pandemic. This is the first time that the health system has come under pressure to the extent that we’re seeing in the last week or two.

I said on the weekend and I stand by those statements that we are either at or close to the peak of this in certain states. Some states are lagging a bit further behind. We do know that peaks of the Covid-19 pandemic, they have a cadence to them. They go up, they get to a peak, and then they go down. And that is happening. It will happen.

Updated

His third announcement is about provision of PPE to the aged care sector.

The third thing we’re doing is providing 10 million units of PPE and related products to the aged care sector and facilities around the country.

We have already provided 5.6m rapid antigen tests, another 100,000 today which will take to 5.7m and a further 3m to come. Out of those 10m units, there are 3m rapid antigen tests, 2m N95 masks, 2m surgical masks and up to a million each of gloves, gowns and goggles. And so that’s an important additional protection to be made available to our aged care sector so far.

Updated

National medical stockpile activated: Hunt

Hunt says that the federal government is also “activating the national medical stockpile to support any states or territories that have shortages of PPE” – though they don’t seem to think shortages are likely.

The national medical stockpile is well supplied, well supported and if there are any shortages – which at this stage we don’t foresee – but we are making this available, then that’s an important thing that includes of course the 10m rapid antigen tests to states and territories.

Updated

Greg Hunt continues:

The private hospitals agreement will see up to 57,000 nurses and over 100,000 staff made available to Omicron affected areas around the country. So it’s a workforce which is skilled, planned, appropriate and available. The states and territories will where necessary work directly with the staff and with the hospitals themselves, whether it’s the large part of the private hospital networks and it will be up to the states and territories to activate those. We have activated them at the Commonwealth end.

And any aged care facilities that will require that additional workforce. It’s one of five actions that are available for workforce support.

Updated

Private hospitals agreement activated to support state health systems

Federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking in Canberra, on videolink from Victoria. He says that Australia’s vaccination program has reached almost 2 million vaccinations a week, but he’s here to announce the next stage in the federal Omicron response plan.

There are three actions that we’re announcing today. Firstly, we are activating the private hospitals agreement. This agreement was established over the course of late March and early April in 2020. And it was designed for supporting state hospital systems add any time where they may have significant [case] numbers.

Updated

The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, is going to give a press conference shortly along with chief medical officer Prof Paul Kelly. Stick with us – they’re due up at 3.30pm.

Australia’s consumer sentiment dived this month as worries about the explosion in Omicron Covid cases sent confidence to its lowest January level since 1992, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan survey.

Consumer confidence fell 7.6% last week, sinking to its lowest rate since October 2020. Omicron case numbers surged across Australia, straining testing facilities and disrupting everything from supply chains to hairdressing salons.

Read more from Peter Hannam:

Western Australia records 14 new Covid cases

WA Health has reported two local Covid cases and 12 travel-related cases to 8pm last night, making 14 cases in total. There is one person in hospital.

You can read the full rundown from WA Health on their website.

ACT records one Covid death, 1,860 new cases

There are 63 people in hospital, with six in intensive care and two on ventilators.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that a huge branch has fallen outside Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown, crushing a car and blocking the emergency department driveway, which is definitely what they need in these Covid outbreak times, argh.

Marshall says he’s refused the request from the education union to delay the start of the school term by two weeks.

I’m quite sure that the advice we’ve received from SA Health and the Education Department is the advice we need to be listening to. It’s going to be a distruptive start to term one, there is no doubt about that, but I do genuinely believe we’ve got the middle course here in South Australia.

SA premier Steven Marshall is speaking now. He says he is optimistic that the state is reaching its Covid peak. The case numbers today have dropped a bit – they were at 3,829 yesterday – but if history is any guide, perhaps we should take that with a rather big grain of salt.

Updated

South Australia records two Covid deaths and 3,079 new cases

285 people are in hospital, and 24 people are in intensive care, with five on ventilators.

Covid has thrown many industries out of whack, perhaps few as much as the airline industry.

Figures out today from the ABS show arrivals in November rose almost five-fold and departures roughly tripled compared with the previous month.

Mind you, that was from a very low base and reflected an easing of some restrictions that month. The 72,250 arrivals for the month were less than one-20th of the level in November 2019. Departures, at 91,110, were slightly above the 5% proportion of two years earlier but pretty much of the same magnitude smaller.

Singapore supplied the most visitors, at 3,170, ahead of the UK’s 2,790 and India’s 2,310. In October, Vanuatu – perhaps reflecting short-term visas for farm workers – was the biggest single source of visitors at 440 trips, ahead of the UK’s 350 and the Philippines’ 340.

Qantas last week signalled how much Omicron had dimmed their outlook. It slashed domestic capacity for the March quarter to be at about 70% of pre-Covid levels, down from the 102% it had planned.

International capacity was also reduced to about 20% of pre-Covid levels from the 30% level that had been planned, as nations such as Japan, Thailand and Indonesia increased travel restrictions.

Updated

There are 43 patients in hospital with Covid-19 in the Northern Territory and 27 of those people are acute hospital admissions.

Northern Territory records 625 new Covid cases

534 of these new cases were identified by rapid antigen tests, with 1,474 PCR tests conducted in the reporting period. This is a big jump on yesterday, when the Territory reported 284 new Covid cases.

Updated

We’re still yet to hear the daily Covid news from the Northern Territory, South Australia, ACT and Western Australia, but we’re expecting the NT authorities to speak soon. Stay tuned – we’ll bring you all that information when it comes to hand.

Updated

Noelle Martin, a lawyer and activist against image-based abuse, has labelled the government’s proposed anti-trolling legislation as an “assisting well-resourced defamation claimants bill.”

When Martin was a teenager, anonymous trolls digitally fabricated pornographic images of her by lifting images of her from social media and photoshopping them onto pornographic images and videos.

A decade later, she told a parliamentary inquiry on social media and online safety, she is still fighting to have the images removed from some websites.

Australia already has laws in place to force the removal of image-based abuse online, but has also brought in the Online Safety Act from next week targeting online abuse of adults, and has flagged new anti-trolling legislation that will prevent social media companies being found liable for anonymous defamatory comments if they make it easier to unmask those making the comments.

Martin told the committee the proposed legislation would not help everyday Australians:

This bill contains fundamental flaws ... The major one that makes this bill not worthy of its name is that it is utterly inaccessible to those who suffer the most profound harms facilitated by the internet – women, people of colour and other marginalised communities. Without major renovations to the bill, it is a narrowly targeted reform that will only strengthen the hand of already powerful individuals. It is not built for the safety of everyday Australians.

Martin said the bill was a “slap in the face” to survivors:

I confidently tell you as a reformer, who has spent years advocating publicly in Australia and globally against anonymous online sexual predators, and the measurable personal and professional costs that will continue for the rest of my life. It feels like a slap in the face to those who have suffered a devastating sexist and racist abuse to be completely overlooked and unassisted by this bill.

Martin said more action needed to be taken by governments to make those at the very top of the platforms hosting the content be liable for what is posted on those platforms.

I think the principle is that what’s happening right now isn’t working, and the penalties that governments and regulators use to hold them accountable are not working. And so I think we really need to consider what is going to be the fear that actually pushes them to ensure that the platforms are not facilitating hate speech abuse, you know, the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, defamatory comments. And I think that’s what’s going to have to happen.

Updated

Some of the first images have emerged from Tonga’s volcano and tsunami-hit islands after a New Zealand defence force surveillance flight returned from the cut-off country, as two deaths from the disaster have been confirmed. Tess McClure has more here:

Updated

Women’s safety advocates have welcomed a move to make it easier to provide input into a domestic violence plan spanning the next decade, Dominic Giannini reports for AAP.

Brittany Higgins called out the federal government for being “breathtakingly disrespectful” after it set a two-week consultation period in the middle of January.

The national plan to end violence against women and children will span from 2022 to 2032.

“Two weeks to map out the next 10 years of the fight against gendered violence in Australia,” Higgins wrote in a Twitter post, which triggered a backlash over the timetable.

An open letter signed by prominent women’s rights advocates, community leaders and union heads, called for the consultation period to run at least six weeks.

The letter reads:

The tiny window of consultation diminishes this issue to our society and is shallow and disrespectful to our country. We need this plan to succeed ...

We are in the midst of a pandemic, and school holidays will not have ended prior to the consultation closing. We need the consultation period extended ... in order to give women and families affected by violence a time to meaningfully respond.

The consultation period will now run until 25 February.

Updated

For context, human rights advocates have criticised the prime minister, Scott Morrison, after he wrongly claimed those held in detention in Australia for as long as eight years had not been recognised as refugees.

Morrison’s comments were made in the wake of the detention of tennis star Novak Djokovic at the notorious Park hotel in Melbourne, where dozens of asylum seekers and refugees are detained indefinitely.

For more background, here’s our story from last night on the issue:

Updated

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation in Victoria (ANMF) have issued a statement saying it understands the state government’s decision to call a “code brown” across hospitals.

The ANMF said it will provide an important centralised response to what is now a statewide crisis in public hospitals:

The dire situation has been caused by the simultaneous increase in Covid positive admissions and the thousands of nurses and midwives required to furlough each day ...

Covid hospitalisations are expected to continue to rise until February.

Refined furloughing guidelines released on 15 January and improved access to rapid antigen tests (RAT) over coming days will alleviate some of the shortages as more staff will be able to return after a negative RAT.

Victorian branch acting secretary Paul Gilbert said:

Nurses and midwives have had the week from hell, on top of two years of intense difficulty. These coming weeks will only be worse.

Staffing a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week roster is impossible when you are missing up to 7000 members of your workforce. Nurses and midwives are working short staffed under emergency surge team models that include students and allied health.

They’re exhausted and making incredibly stressful decisions about how they prioritise and ration patient care to maintain safety.

Updated

Here’s a brief, soothing reprieve from Covid news from my colleague Donna Lu, Guardian Australia’s science reporter:

“A pod of orcas – including a calf – has been spotted in recent days off the back beaches of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Though killer whales are most abundant in cold waters, such as near Antarctica, they can be found in all oceans, including tropical and subtropical waters as well as coastal areas.”

I highly, highly recommend watching this video for 12 seconds of pure joy.

Orcas swimming off the Victoria coast.

Updated

Labor’s national disability insurance scheme spokesman, Bill Shorten, has responded to an exclusive Guardian Australia story at the weekend that revealed disability vaccination rates were as low as 50% in some areas of the country.

You can read that story here.

Shorten told a media conference on Tuesday:

Alarming statistics revealed from leaked Health Department documents reveal that 17% of people on the NDIS are not double vaxxed. These documents reveal that in some parts of Australia, the double vaccination rate for people with disability is as low as 50 per cent. Alarmingly, only 20% of the people who live in disability group homes funded by the NDIS have been boosted, have had their booster shot. This is a roll call of failure by the Morrison government.

Shorten said the government needed to put “people living with intellectual disabilities and people diagnosed with autism” [...] “from the back of the queue to the front of the queue”.

“The Morrison Government has forgotten that people with autism and that people with intellectual disabilities are not getting the same access to vaccinations, to booster shots and to rapid antigen tests that even other people in the Australian community are getting,” he said.

“It’s not good enough when the most vulnerable in Australia are at the back of the queue under Scott Morrison’s mishandling of the Covid disaster.”

Updated

Court hearings in New South Wales have been suspended thanks to the Covid surge. The statement linked in the tweet below says:

The Local Court of NSW continues to be severely affected by COVID cases. Accordingly, the Chief Magistrate, His Honour Judge Peter Johnstone, in consultation with stakeholders, has made the decision to vacate all defended hearings (including hearings where the defendant is in custody) statewide up until and including Friday 4 February 2022.

Back to Queensland for a moment:

Thanks Matilda Boseley for your inimitable blogging this morning! Hello everyone, hope the first half of your Tuesday has been a good one.

With that, I shall leave you for the day. But never fear, the fantastic Stephanie Convery is here to bring you all the afternoon’s news.

National Covid summary

Australia has marked its deadliest day of the pandemic, with 77 Covid-19 deaths recorded so far on Tuesday. Here is a summary of the numbers we know so far:

NSW
Deaths – 36
Cases – 29,830
Hospitalisations – 2,850 (209 in ICU, 63 ventilated)

Victoria
Deaths – 22
Cases – 20,180
Hospitalisations – 1,152 (127 in ICU, 43 ventilated)

Queensland
Deaths – 16
Cases – 15,962
Hospitalisations – 819 (50 in ICU, 18 ventilated)

Tasmania
Deaths – 0
Cases – 1,310
Hospitalisations – 25 (two in ICU)

Northern Territory
Deaths – 0
Cases – 625
Hospitalisations – 43 (27 acute)

South Australia
Deaths – 2
Cases – 3,079
Hospitalisations – 285 (24 in ICU, 5 ventilated)

ACT
Deaths – 1
Cases – 1,860
Hospitalisations – 63 (6 in ICU, 2 ventilated)

Western Australia
Deaths – 0
Cases – 14
Hospitalisations – 1

Updated

Tasmanian travel restrictions are relaxing from midnight with the requirements of a negative Covid-19 test and travel registration removed.

Updated

Journalist and anti-online bullying advocate Erin Molan, told a parliamentary inquiry into social media and online safety she has never considered using defamation law to pursue people who targeted her online, stating it is difficult to pursue even for the wealthy.

Molan, who had sued the Daily Mail over an article and two tweets she said portrayed her as racist, campaigned for the law that would become the Online Safety Act, targeting the bullying of adults online. Molan had advocated for the law after detailing her experience of harassment and bullying online.

Despite that law not coming into effect until 23 January this year, the government has already flagged more draft legislation to target people making defamatory comments online, requiring social media companies to attempt to reveal anonymous posters or face being held liable for their comments.

Molan told the inquiry on Tuesday she had not considered suing any of the people who made comments online about her because the bar to launch defamation action was so high:

I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think that that mechanism should exist for people, but I know first hand how difficult it is to take legal action in that way ... But I think it would also create a great deterrent for people in my mind because some of the most damaging things are written by anonymous people online.

But anyone will tell you it is the process of trying to take action legally. When it comes to something you consider to be defamatory. It is almost impossible even for [the] wealthy ... it is so, so difficult to do, so no one ever considers doing it.

I would have liked to probably on occasion. There’s been thousands of things about me online that are just completely untrue and in my opinion, quite damaging. But I just didn’t feel like it was a realistic or viable option for me and still probably wouldn’t. And I think that probably would be the experience of most people because it is just so hard. It’s so expensive to do.

Molan said she was “never going to say no” to more legislation targeting online bullying but as a first step it would be worth seeing how the Online Safety Act works in practice when it comes into effect next week.

Updated

OK so here is a graph of all of the Covid deaths in Australia across the pandemic so far.

The previous highest daily death toll was technically 59 in September 2020, but this is slightly misleading as it was the result of a large number of historical deaths (from the preceding months) being included in the official tally.

Today’s number also appears to have some historical deaths included as Victorian deputy premier James Merlino confirmed that only 11 of the 22 deaths recorded in the state were from the last two days. However, even excluding those, it still appears that today marks a new record.

Updated

Okay so while all of that has been going on, Queensland health minister Yevette D’Ath has been slamming the federal government’s failure to ensure all aged care residents have received their booster shots.

She has criticised the Morrison government for running ads that incorrectly state that RATs are now available in state clinics.

That’s a bit rich that the Commonwealth are spending money, taxpayers dollars, running ads about what the state public testing clinics are providing...

[Vaccinating those in aged care and disability homes] is their job and they need to get on with that job and look after those most vulnerable in our community.

Updated

Horsburgh says there is no plan to allow asymptomatic Covid-19 positive healthcare workers to return to work.

Last week, changes were made to the furlough guidance so staff who were a close contact of a positive case can now, in negotiation with those individual staff members return to work if that’s the appropriate thing for them to do.

At the moment we have no plans for asymptomatic positive staff to return to the workplace.

Updated

Reporter:

How do you think staff will react to this? They’ve worked so hard and been through it in the last 20 months and now some of them have had leave planned and they’ll be prevented from taking it.

Chief executive of Austin Health, Adam Horsburgh, will be heading up this new central response centre, he answered:

Overall, I think staff will welcome this. I can talk about that from my own experience at Austin Health. Our emergency physicians, intensivists, medical staff and support staff on Covid wards will welcome this because it recognises and validates the work that they’re doing and the pressure that they’re facing every day.

When I mentioned before that an option under the code brown is that some services may need to get to the point where they defer some leave, that’s a decision to be taken at an individual hospital level and it will be a decision that’s only taken if it’s absolutely necessary. We’re all conscious of how tired and fatigued our workforce are and this situation will be facing us for several weeks ahead.

Updated

Victoria’s deputy premier, James Merlino, says staff being forced into isolation is the single biggest stress on the state’s health system, although high Covid hospitalisation numbers are also taking a toll.

The real challenge of the impact of staff who have to furlough, staff who are in isolation ... it’s averaging around 5,000 healthcare workers every single day alongside the surge in hospitalisation as a result of the Omicron variant wave ...

We may well be at the peak or reaching the peak, that impact will be felt in our hospitals, in our ICU beds, over the next 2, 3, 4 weeks, with an already exhausted workforce. But it’s really the combination of staff absences as well as the highest hospitalisation numbers that we have seen throughout this pandemic that means that now is the right time to implement this system-wide code brown.

I want to make the point, and stress the point, that this is something that we have been planning for.

Updated

The nurse unit manager at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Susan Harding, says people have been abusing the health system to access Covid-19 testing, including someone who claimed to have severe chest pains in order to be admitted to hospital and receive a PCR test.

We had a patient last week that was desperate for a PCR. They called 000, called an ambulance under the guise of having chest pain, they presented to the emergency department and were fast-tracked down to a resuscitation room at which point they declared they didn’t have chest pain and that they really wanted a PCR and wanted it quickly.

That is an unbelievable misuse of resources.

Updated

Australia records deadliest Covid day after 16 more deaths in Queensland

Australia has recorded its deadliest day of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 74 deaths in the latest reporting period so far across NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

Queensland’s health minister Yvette D’Ath has confirmed that the state has recorded 16 Covid deaths today.

The state also recorded 15,962 cases with 819 people now in hospital, 50 of those in intensive care.

Eighteen people in Queensland are now on ventilators.

Updated

Merlino confirms this is the first time Victoria has ever had a statewide “code brown” declaration, and as such the government will establish a new and improved central response centre to coordinate the whole operation.

So we’ve had code browns in the past. We’ve had it with individual hospitals with the thunderstorm asthma event. We’ve had hospitals implement code brown during the Black Saturday emergency. This is the first time we’re having a system-wide pandemic code brown and why we need this response centre.

So the centre will have to be an overview of what is happening in all of our hospitals to help coordinate patient flow and distribute patients across the hospital network. The centre will also support decisions around service reconfiguration such as suspending particular activity or moving to home-based care, helping to make those calls when all other options have been exhausted.

Additionally, we’re expanding the amount of Covid streaming sites to increase the number of hospitals caring for coronavirus patients. This will mean more hospitals sharing the load as we deal with this extraordinary demand.

So what does a statewide code brown health system look like, Merlino asks, and then helpfully answers.

It will look like things such as redeploying staff to work in areas of highest clinical priority.

It means prioritising the offload of ambulance patients at emergency departments to get paramedics back on the road as soon as possible.

It means things like changing services to free up staff, including the delivery of outpatient services outside of the hospital.

For health care workers, this means they might be performing different roles than usual. They might be working in different parts of the hospital on different rosters and it might mean consultation with staff about some of their leave arrangements. For example, a nurse or doctor who normally works in elective surgery, which has been scaled back significantly, can now be redeployed to an emergency department where the caseload is much higher.

So the compounding pressures on our health system means there may be changes to the way services are delivered but, importantly, these decisions - in fact all clinical decisions, remain with the clinicians.

There also may be changes to the frequency with which patients can access certain services. This may give greater flexibility to prioritise services and free up additional staff to care for those with greatest need.

They will continue to have responsibility for services that impact patients and the sickest patients, as has always been the case, will be treated first.

So what this means is that from midday tomorrow, hospitals will activate their individual code brown plan so every hospital already has one in place and they’re ready to go.

Updated

Merlino:

We’re taking the next step of announcing a coordinated pandemic code brown across all public metropolitan and major regional hospitals from midday tomorrow and as I said, it is the right time to do it now, not wait for a code brown until two or three weeks down the track when we’re seeing the impact of the peak of Omicron in hospitalisations and ICU patients. We’ve got to act now.

In terms of regional health services, we’re talking about Barwon Health, Grampians Health, Bendigo Health, Goulburn Valley Health, Albury Wodonga Health and La Trobe Regional Hospital.

So this coordinated approach will help ease the pressure on individual hospitals by better sharing the load across our system through prioritising resources, redistributing patient demand across the system and managing workforce shortages.

Updated

Here is Merlino on why a code brown declaration is needed across all metro hospitals and six regional hospitals.

We’ve been saying for some time that our hospital system is under extreme pressure and the risks we’re seeing now in hospitalisations are testament to that. We’ve reached a point in our health system where it’s juggling severe workforce shortages.

We’ve got more than 4,000 health care workers unavailable right now. Alongside a vast amount of patients with Covid-19 who require hospitalisation. Alongside that an extraordinary workforce that are absolutely exhausted ...

We will see the peak in hospitalisations and ICU over the next 2 to 4 weeks. Hospitalisations lag a few weeks behind the peak of the numbers and then ICU follows on from that. So if we see what we’ve been seeing in New South Wales at 100 a day, we could well get to over 2,500 hospitalisations and more over the next few weeks, so now is the right time to implement this plan and now is the right time to act.

Updated

I’ll just try to confirm this but it seems Merlino says that only 11 people out of the day’s death toll of 22 died in the last two days.

That’s a fall from yesterday’s number of 1,229. 127 people are in ICU. It was 129 yesterday. 43 are on a ventilator and it was 38 yesterday. Sadly, 22 people with Covid passed away. 11 of those people died in the last two days.

Updated

Victoria’s deputy premier James Merlino is up now and is going through vaccination numbers before getting to the nitty-gritty code brown news.

In terms of vaccinations, 24.8% of Victorians 18 and over have had three doses, an increase from 24.4% yesterday. The number of Victorians 12 and over who have had two doses remains at 93.2%. 20,562 doses were delivered yesterday at state sites with 5.3m in total. 5,211 were children aged 5 to 11.

In terms of bookings, 115,000 bookings have been made in the last seven days. 77,000 of those were for the booster. 36,000 were for first dose for children 5 to 11. There are currently 175,000 appointments available in the system over the next 30 days for people aged 12 and over and 44,000 appointments are available for children 5 to 11. Yesterday, there were 33,000 appointments available.

Updated

More on the Victorian code brown hospital declaration:

Victorian declares 'code brown' for hospitals amid crippling staff shortages

Ten news is reporting that Victoria will call code brown for all metro hospitals and six regional health hubs. This basically means that the hospital system is being pushed to the limit and some logistical changes need to take place to ease the pressure - generally, more at-home services, asking staff to defer leave, changes to which hospitals urgent care cases are sent to.

This will likely be confirmed at the upcoming press conference.

Updated

We are also about to hear from the Victorian authorities. It’s like July 2021 all over again!

(Only this time I’ve only been recovered from Covid for one day and absolutely do not have the mental capacity to listen to four press conferences at once.)

But don’t worry! By hook or by crook I will bring you all the updates!

FYI we should also be hearing from the Queensland health minister for a Covid-19 update in about half an hour as well.

There’s another indicator out today pointing to how Omicron is dimming the optimism that seemed so widespread and strong at the end of the lockdowns late last year.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan survey has found consumer confidence dived 7.6% last week, sinking to its lowest level since October 2020 – that is about 15 months ago.

Every sub-group reported a drop, such as 11.3% for current financial conditions and 4.3% for future ones.

And 19% of respondents expect to be worse off financially this time next year, the highest proportion since September 2020. Those thinking of buying “a major household item” declined 11.4% to the lowest since August 2020.

It seems confidence is a seasonal thing, which might explain that chatter about Scott Morrison planning to call an election after January when we were all supposed to be relaxed, smiling and a little suntanned - rather than anxious, grimacing and sodden from the La Nina’d summer.

Anyway, consumer confidence is typically positive in January, so ANZ-RM tell us. Instead, the 97.9 point reading is the weakest January result since 1992 (when jobless rates were soaring and the RBA cash rate was 7.5%).

Confidence is below the 100-point mark for all states (though not our terrific territories) which suggests the malaise is widespread – and perhaps why Morrison is going to call the election as late as he can.

May 21 is that final date, so let’s see how close he gets to that as a sign of his own confidence.

Updated

Aged care Covid-19 outbreaks growing

Covid-19 outbreaks in aged care facilities continue to grow, with providers suggesting more than half will soon be impacted, reports Alex Mitchell from AAP.

Data released late last week showed there were more than 7000 active cases among residents, spread across about 1100 facilities.

But Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Paul Sadler told ABC that number was only rising.

I believe there is now a risk we will have over half of all the aged care homes in Australia with outbreaks. That number is likely to continue to increase.

With around three-in-four residents boosted as the Omicron variant sweeps the nation, Director of Australian Health Services Research Institute, professor Kathy Eagar, said the federal government’s planning had been “completely incompetent”.

40% of all homes in Australia have an outbreak of COVID. That is really appalling ... I think every family should be really concerned about what’s happening in aged care.

Eagar suggested all residents should have received booster shots before Christmas.

Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath on Monday said boosting aged care residents with urgency was critical.

I am concerned that not all aged care facilities have their boosters yet. And I am concerned that people in the disability sector as well [do not have boosters].

Meanwhile, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ election statement identified improving support for groups including aged care residents as a priority.

The RACGP is calling for “improved support for continuous and preventive care for vulnerable Australians, particularly for aged care, mental health, and disability”.

Updated

Perrottet:

You don’t provide financial support before a business closes. You provide financial support following that period and you assess the situation. That is exactly what the New South Wales treasurer is doing.

Reporter:

You are asking people to stay home and limit their movements, work from home, the settings are similar to lockdown settings, why haven’t you reinstated some of the measures like job saver, the business grant?

Perrottet:

In relation to the first point, there is no doubt that more of society is open than we had last year during lot down. That does not mean that there are no issues that businesses are facing with challenges with staff. We accept that. That is part of the transitional phase that we are moving through.

As we work through this there will be different challenges and difficulties that come our way but the worst case scenario is that if you have an across-the-board lock down at a time when we have a population that is highly vaccinated ...

This is a very different situation to where we were last year when we had a highly unvaccinated population. We had, as a country, to make difficult decisions. We are in a different phase and that transition can be challenging for people, I’ll accept that. It’s a new message, it’s an approach that differs from when we had a highly unvaccinated population.

We have seen over the last two years a high unemployment rate. We have a duty as a government to ensure that people remain in work, and talk about the economy and having a strong economy.

Updated

Reporter:

What about daycare’s and preschools, will they be included?

Perrottet:

We are looking at that and that is been a discussion at national cabinet ... We are looking at furloughed work staff at the moment. If childcare and early childhood education centres are closed, that adds an additional 5% of the workforce that will not be in a position to go to work.

As we have the health challenges, we have the economic challenges to balance.

We have seen over the last two years a high unemployment rate. We have a duty as a government to ensure that people remain in work, and talk about the economy and having a strong economy.

Updated

Perrottet has confirmed that RATs being distributed to schools will play a large part in the state’s plan to keep educational facilities operating throughout 2022.

We will see a rollout of rapid antigen tests and that’s why we procured here in New South Wales tens of millions of them. And we’ve already seen the first tranche arrive and many more will arrive over this period.

Rapid antigen tests will be rolled out in NSW schools, Perrottet says.
Rapid antigen tests will be rolled out in NSW schools, Perrottet says. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Updated

'Our hope is to ensure schools are open': Perrottet on school Covid plan

Perrottet has been asked about the government’s new plan to deal with Covid-19 outbreaks at school. The long and short of it seems to be - fewer total school shutdowns, but wait till Thursday to find out more.

Last year, if we had a case in the school ... it was very likely that that school closed for cleaning, and many students were affected and had to learn from home during that period. As we move through this phase there will also be learning from home as we move through, but there is a comprehensive plan that we are working through.

We’ve agreed at the national cabinet level that we will provide those operational plans for every state and territory across the board, we will be doing that on Thursday and we will release it after that, but it will be different to last year.

To [combat] the different variant, there are different challenges facing the state, as you say a highly [infectious variant] but in addition to that one that is also less severe. So our hope is to ensure schools are open, kids are in the classroom with as least disruption as possible. But there will be issues as we move through but that is the better path to take than to simply not have schools open.

Updated

Perrottet is back to chatting about schools resuming as scheduled:

There will be inconveniences, they will be challenges as we go through the reopening of schools. There is no doubt about that. But we are determined to make it as smooth as possible.

That will mean at times, teachers who are positive will need to isolated. It will mean at times at kids who are positive will need to isolate but that is a better issue to be dealing with than having our schools closed.

We need kids back in the classrooms. It’s best for them, it’s best for the educational outcomes, the mental health and the social outcomes. Particularly disadvantaged groups across the state. In NSW, we have seen certain students lose a quarter of their schooling because of lockdowns and because of not being able to access education.

Updated

Heads up – we will be getting a health update from the Tasmanian premier at 11.30am.

Updated

'It is moronic': Hazzard condemns 'prank' RAT result reports

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard says there have been a number of false RAT reports made, including someone claiming Hazzard himself was Covid-19 positive.

He has slammed these pranks as irresponsible and illegal.

I am aware of some instances of some people thinking it’s a joke, perhaps maliciously, to put in false reports to NSW Health about somebody being positive.

I can now speak from personal experience. I received notification yesterday and again today from NSW Health that apparently somebody has put my name in there as being a positive rapid antigen test.

Can I just say, first of all, it is extremely irresponsible. You are undermining what the public health team is trying to do here to keep the entire community safe.

It is juvenile, it is moronic but it’s also so disappointing to think that you would actually undermine an incredibly hardworking public health team here in NSW.

And I want to remind those who do that there is a $5,000 fine for anybody who misrepresents any facts to the New South Wales Health people who are trying to keep us safe.

The police will come hunting and if you’re caught, you will [receive a] $5,000 fine. But worse still, when you’re telling your friends about that, they will probably tell you how stupid you are. It’s quite moronic.

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard says it is ‘juvenile’ and ‘quite moronic’ to make false RAT result reports.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard says it is ‘juvenile’ and ‘quite moronic’ to make false RAT result reports. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/EPA

Updated

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard is using his time to drive home the health benefits of vaccination.

Unvaccinated people – total population, 5%. Total numbers in the ICU, between 50 and a 100%.

There is no question that getting vaccinated is a crucial step forward and I would ask the community, those remaining people who are still reluctant or have not got around to it, get around to it because it may save your life.

Updated

NSW health official Susan Pearce is giving an update on vaccination rates for primary school-aged children:

The vaccination rates for five- to 11-year-olds is going very well across our clinics.

Last week, we did have 20,000 five- to 11-year-olds in the New South Wales Health clinics. We have the capacity to do many more than that. And again yesterday over 3,000 children in that age group came forward so it’s very pleasing to see that going up.

Every single day, we are seeing people come forward for their first and second dose. And the adult population, is not too late. While obviously we are talking a lot about boosters at the moment, please don’t think that it’s too late for you to be vaccinated. We are ready, willing and able to assist you.

Updated

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has given some additional details on the 36 people who died in the latest Covid reporting period.

Today, sadly, we are reporting the deaths of 36 people – 22 men and 14 women and can I just pass on my condolences to those for the loss.

One person was aged in their 40s, two were aged in their 50s, one was in their 60s, 11 people aged in 70s, 12 people were in the 80s, nine people were in the 90s.

And of the 36 people, 33 were vaccinated against Covid. Generally, they had had two doses, three people were not vaccinated.

Of the three people who died, under 65, one was vaccinated against Covid and had two doses, and two people were not vaccinated. All three of those under 65 had underlying serious health conditions and of the older people only a handful had had the boosters.

Updated

I remember how jarring it was when the public messaging from politicians changed from “look how good Australia is doing” to “well everywhere else in the world is doing worse than us.”

Now it looks like we are going one step further, with Perrottet making the point that other countries around the world are also doing it equally as tough.

Perrottet:

Lastly, I say, despite the challenges, they are not unique to the rest of the world. As a state, we will get through this. And stronger [on] the other side. We have done that over the last two years.

Many people have made extraordinary efforts, many people have made extraordinary sacrifices. But that effort, that sustained sacrifice, the patience in continuing to keep and treat people with kindness and respect.

Updated

Speaking of the school year, Perrottet has once again affirmed his intention to have all government schools begin the year on schedule, despite many primary school students still remaining unvaccinated.

The premier says the government can’t “let perfection be the enemy of the good”:

It’s incredibly important for our children, education outcomes for their health, for the social understanding, that we are able to get kids back as quickly as possible and that’s why we are committed [to] doing that on day one, term one.

As a parent, I appreciate that many parents across the state are anxious about kids going back to school. We are working day and night with our health teams, education teams here in NSW to ensure that we have a safe environment for parents, teachers and for students.

In saying that, I know, as you move to this period of time, just like we had last year, they will be further inconveniences, they will be bumps and hurdles along the way.

We can’t let perfection be the enemy of the good and our focus is to ensure that we have kids back at school on day one. It’s incredibly important, not just for their health but for their educational outcomes.

We will continue to work through that process ... alongside other states. [We] are working very closely with the Victorian government to ensure that we provide this operational plans and national cabinet on Thursday and will release those plans following that.

Updated

Perrottet has heralded the arrival of “millions” of rapid antigen tests in the coming weeks in NSW.

We had over a million rapid antigen tests here in NSW by our government arrive yesterday, we will have millions more arrive over the course of this week.

They will be crucial, in ensuring that we provide support for our health workers at this time, to get schools open on the first day of term one this year.

Updated

The NSW premier says the state has nearly reached 50% of the eligible population having received a booster shot of Covid-19 vaccine.

Perrottet:

It’s very pleasing today that we nearly hit 50% of the eligible population here NSW receiving a booster shot.

The evidence is very clear – booster shots and vaccination makes a real difference in protecting you, your friends and your family.

We [have] close to ... 70,000 booster shots available to be administered a week, just in our hubs alone.

Updated

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking now, starting the press conference by addressing the state’s record day of 36 Covid-19 deaths.

In the last 24 hours, 36 people have died of Covid-19 and can I extend ... our condolences. And our thoughts and prayers and hearts go out to all those families who have lost a loved one at this time.

Often over the last two years we can get focused on reporting the numbers. We shouldn’t forget that behind every one of those numbers is a loved one who passed away ... [or] somebody who is in hospital ICU and going through a very difficult time. I extend my gratitude and thanks to the people of NSW and to health workers.

Updated

Tasmania records 1,310 new Covid cases

Tasmania has recorded 1,310 new cases of Covid-19, and there are now two people in ICU with the virus in the state.

Updated

A Hobart man has died in what police say was a targeted shooting.

Police were called to a home on Douglas Drive at Bridgewater shortly before 1am on Tuesday after receiving a report a man had been shot, reports AAP.

The man died a short time after they arrived.

“Police believe it to be a targeted incident between two people known to each other and an investigation is underway to locate the alleged offender,” police say.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Tasmania police or Crimestoppers.

Douglas Drive remains closed and people have been asked to avoid the area.

Updated

A distress signal has been detected in an isolated, low-lying group of Tongan islands after Saturday’s huge volcanic eruption, even as most external communications remain down, and diaspora families anxiously await news.

Reuters reports that the UN detected the distress signal on Monday, prompting particular concern for the inhabitants of Fonoi and Mango. According to the Tonga government, 36 people live on Mango and 69 on Fonoi.

The news comes as most communication between Tonga and the outside world is still cut off, after the Pacific nation’s main communication cable was broken by the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and subsequent tsunami.

Tongans around the world may be forced to wait weeks for regular contact to resume, after testing confirmed that the cable connecting the islands to the outside world was cut in at least one place.

You can read the full report below:

By the way, we are still waiting to hear from the federal treasurer this morning. I assume he will be starting his press conference soon.

A bit more context on the movements of the HMAS Adelaide from the ABC:

The HMAS Adelaide is makings its way from Sydney to Brisbane and the defence forces are readying for it to go to Tonga to provide support if requested.
The HMAS Adelaide is makings its way from Sydney to Brisbane and the defence forces are readying for it to go to Tonga to provide support if requested. Photograph: Susan Mossop/AUSTRALIA DEFENCE FORCE/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Red Cross cuts wait time for giving blood after Covid

Australians who recover from a bout of Covid-19 will only need to wait seven days to give blood under a new policy change amid the Omicron wave, reports AAP’s Callum Godde.

With more than 700,000 active cases isolating around the country – and many more close contacts and people awaiting PCR test results – Red Cross Lifeblood is slashing the recovery wait time to donate blood from 28 days.

The change will be implemented from Friday, while donors started being tipped off on Monday afternoon.

Lifeblood said the 28-day postponement was an important protective measure in the early phase of the pandemic when there was limited knowledge about Covid-19.

But with high appointment cancellation rates and no reports of Covid-19 transmission from blood transfusions after 300m confirmed cases globally, it has swung into action.

A Lifeblood spokesperson told AAP in a statement:

Following advice from our expert medical teams and with the approval of the Australian regulator, we will be reducing the 28-day postponement for donors who have fully recovered from COVID to seven days...

The seven-day postponement aligns with public health guidelines. A one-week recovery after mild respiratory illnesses such as a cold and runny nose is already our standard postponement.

There are 4,500 appointments going unattended each day at present and the Red Cross is urging more donors to come forward, with an additional 5,500 needed every week between now and Australia Day.

Red Cross has shortened to seven days the wait time for giving blood after recovering from Covid-19.
Red Cross has shortened to seven days the wait time for giving blood after recovering from Covid-19. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP

Updated

Economists are starting to polish their crystal balls and come up with their first guesses on what all this disruption to our lives might do to our economy.

The Commonwealth Bank, our biggest bank, is among the first out of the blocks to estimate the wider impact of absenteeism levels reaching as much as 60% in businesses such as hairdressing.

Gareth Aird, CBA’s head of Australian economics, reckons hours worked will drop 3-4% in January alone, and consumption will be hit by the significant economic disruption that “looks likely to be sustained over the next few months”.

As a result, CBA has slashed their forecast for first-quarter growth to 1% from the December quarter, compared with a 2.3% pace the bank had previously predicted.

That sounds bad but for now the damage is looking temporary with a “snapback” still predicted. Aird is leaving both the second half and fourth-quarter forecasts unchanged, provided Omicron comes and goes in a hurry and isn’t followed up by another nasty strain.

Aird tells Guardian Australia the first-quarter cut will lower the bank’s full-year GDP forecast to 4.8% from an earlier prediction of 5.1%. That’s “not a lot in the scheme of things”, he says.

As a result of the still strong momentum in the economy, the jobless rate will remain low and inflation pressures - probably made worse by these shortages - will continue to build.

The CBA still predicts the Reserve Bank of Australia to commence lifting rates by late 2022 or earlier than the central bank is so far fessing up to.

Updated

Victoria records 22 Covid deaths and 20,180 new cases

The Victorian numbers have just come through and sadly the state has recorded 22 Covid-19 deaths and 20,180 new cases.

This case number tally may also include RAT and PCR duplicates as states iron out their new reporting systems.

There are now 1,152 Covid positive people in hospital, including 127 in ICU and 43 requiring ventilation.

Updated

It’s worth noting that there are now 209 people infected with Covid in the ICU in NSW, with hospitalisation numbers sitting at 2,850.

Updated

NSW records 36 Covid deaths and 29,830 cases in state's deadliest day

New South Wales has recorded 29,830 new cases of Covid-19 and sadly 36 deaths – the state’s deadliest day of the pandemic so far.

The health department has noted that this daily case tally may include duplicates where people have reported multiple RATs or a RAT and PCR result.

Updated

Of course, we are fast approaching 9am, which means we are standing by for Victoria and NSW Covid-19 numbers. Stay tuned.

Updated

Looks like we will be hearing from the NSW powers that be at 10am (Sydney and Melbourne time).

Protracted Covid outbreak could cripple Rio Tinto workforce, miner warns

Big miner Rio Tinto has warned that a protracted Covid-19 outbreak could cripple its workforce or supply chains and “severely constrain” output at its mines.

In a quarterly production update out this morning, the company, one of Australia’s biggest, said it was already suffering from labour shortages and fatigue in its workforce, heightening safety risks.

Chief executive Jakob Stausholm said operating conditions in 2021 “remained challenging, including due to prolonged Covid-19 disruptions”.

The amount of iron ore Rio dug up from its mines in the Pilbara fell by 4% last year to 322Mt. The company expects to dig up between 320Mt and 335Mt this year, it said.

Our guidance assumes development of the pandemic does not lead to government-imposed restrictions and widespread protracted cases related to new highly contagious variants with high severity, which could result in a significant number of our production critical workforce and contractor base being unable to work due to illness and/or isolation requirements ...

This risk extends to prolonged interruption of service from a key partner or supplier which could lead to severely constrained operational activity of a key asset or project. This risk is exacerbated globally by tight labour markets and supply chain delays.

A Rio Tinto iron ore train in transit in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
A Rio Tinto iron ore train in transit in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Photograph: Krystle Wright/The Guardian

Meanwhile, the Australian Tourism Industry Council has called for the reintroduction of the federal government’s cash flow boost program after a 52% fall in business in the last three months of the year compared with the previous year – a fall that came before the current Omicron outbreak smashed many hospitality businesses.

“This is the worst it’s ever been for the tourism industry,” deputy chair Daniel Gschwind said.

The summer period is our peak season, providing revenue that takes businesses through the winter and they’re not seeing it come in. Too many businesses are staring at disaster.

Updated

Fears Tonga disaster death toll will rise

Tongan officials have warned the death toll from the volcanic eruption and tsunami in the Pacific nation is only set to grow, as damage assessment begins.

As Australia prepares to send more aid to Tonga, authorities have confirmed the first casualty from the natural disaster, British charity worker Angela Glover.

The deputy head of mission at Tonga’s high commission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, told ABC radio it would still be weeks before communication was fully restored in the country.

Communication is on locally, so people can call one another in Tonga, but can’t all internationally, we still have limited access to Tonga ...

We still don’t have a direct communication with our government.

All Australians have been accounted for in Tonga following the disaster.

There are normally about 300 Australians living in Tonga, but the number is estimated to be less due to Covid-19.

Tu’ihalangingie said there was still uncertainty about the level of damage to Tonga, but basic supplies were needed.

At this point [Tonga needs] water and also masks ...

The county was covered with volcanic ash and this is very alarming and dangerous, not only for young children but for everyone.

Australia sent a P-8 plane to survey the damage on Monday, with further support on the way.

An RAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft was sent to assist the Tonga government after the volcanic eruption.
An RAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft was sent to assist the Tonga government after the volcanic eruption. Photograph: Lacw Emma Schwenke/Australian Defence Force/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Now McManus mentioned businesses attempting to require Covid-19 positive workers to work. The highest-profile example of this in recent days has to be the Teys Australia abattoir in South Australia which was given state government approval to operate while some staff were Covid positive.

The ACTU said the exemption from the SA government was apparently unique in Australia and set a dangerous precedent given the risks of affecting other staff, but McManus has just confirmed that the workers of the plant have just secured a victory in this case.

Just with breaking news, that’s been resolved and those workers don’t have to go to work while they’re Covid positive. This is about being very clear with employers that this is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, the ACTU has been receiving a lot of pleas for help from workers, mainly in smaller organisations like hospitality and retail, where they’re casual workers and their employers have been saying “we know you’re positive, but come to work, you’re not infectious”.

Just because you don’t have symptoms doesn’t mean you’re not infectious. It’s dangerous not just for workers but customers as well. It’s a line in the sand for us. We can’t have a situation where people are put in harm’s way and putting the community in harm’s way.

Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Sally McManus.
Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Sally McManus. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Business needs to upgrade Covid safety to meet Omicron threat, ACTU says

Following a meeting of a number of major unions yesterday, Australian Council of Trade Union secretary, Sally McManus says businesses need to upgrade a raft of Covid-19 safety procedures to meet the new threat of Omicron.

She told ABC News Breakfast:

We are writing to all employers and we started that last night. We need to put in place upgraded safety protections for 2022. What cut it last year for Delta won’t work now.

That involves things like better masks, it involves RATs when they’re available. That has to be done under the law and in consultation with workers. Workers have a right to cease work if they’re not in a safe workplace.

At the moment, unfortunately, we’re seeing some employers trying to force Covid-positive people to go to work. That’s absolutely a red line. We must keep people safe during this pandemic, not just for them and their co-workers, but for the whole of the community.

Updated

A man who was forced to hand over his phone and passcode to Australian Border Force after returning to Sydney from holiday has labelled the tactic “an absolute gross violation of privacy”, as tech advocates call for transparency and stronger privacy protections for people’s devices as they enter the country.

Software developer James and his partner returned from a 10-day holiday in Fiji earlier this month and were stopped by border force officials at Sydney airport. They were taken aside, and after emptying their suitcases, an official asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper, before taking their phones into another room.

It was half an hour before their phones were returned, and they were allowed to leave. James initially posted about his ordeal on Reddit.

You can read the full report below:

Sam Kerr misses out on Fifa best award

Sam Kerr has been beaten to the Fifa best women’s player of the year award by Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas, reports AAP.

The Matildas captain came second to Putellas with another Spanish midfielder Jenni Hermoso, also of European Champions League winners Barcelona, in third.

Robert Lewandowski, of Bayern Munich and Poland, won the men’s award ahead of Lionel Messi and Mo Salah.

The awards were held in Zurich though most guests appeared by video link. The Australian captain was not on screen as she is preparing for the Matildas’ opening Asian Cup tie in India on Friday.

Kerr surprisingly did not make the FIFPRO Women’s World XI, but neither did Putellas or Hermoso in a very odd selection that did not include any players from either Barcelona or Tokyo Olympics gold medallists Canada.

Kerr’s boss at Chelsea, Emma Hayes, was women’s football manager of the year with Thomas Tuchel, also of Chelsea, taking the men’s award.

International captains, coaches and selected media vote. Kerr herself voted for Putellas, Barcelona and Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen, and Hermoso in the players’ category.

As coach she voted for Hayes, Barcelona’s Lluis Cortes and Bev Priestman of Canada.

Tony Gustavsson, Matildas’ coach, voted for Kerr, Putellas and Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema.

Kerr polled 38 points, 14 behind Putellas, five ahead of Hermoso.

Sam Kerr.
Sam Kerr. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Updated

Novak Djokovic may not be allowed to defend his French Open title in May after the French government ruled that all athletes will have to be vaccinated in order to attend and compete in sporting events in France.

The French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, has announced that athletes would not be exempt from France’s Covid pass, which will soon come into effect for over 16s. “The vaccination pass has been adopted. As soon as the law is promulgated, it will become mandatory to enter public buildings already subject to the health pass (stadium, theatre or lounge) for all spectators, practitioners, French or foreign professionals,” she wrote on twitter.

Earlier in January, Maracineanu had suggested that athletes could be exempt from France’s vaccination requirements through a “bubble” system, but the government have now scrapped any such plans.

You can read the full report below:

Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, has told ABC radio that it could be weeks before communications are fully restored to the island.

Communication is on locally, so people can call one another in Tonga but can’t call internationally.

We still have limited access to Tonga. We still don’t have direct communication with our government.

Tonga Geological Services staff observe and monitor the eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai on 13 January from a safe distance. The eruption pictured happened three days before the larger eruption that triggered a tsunami.
Tonga Geological Services staff observe and monitor the eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai on 13 January from a safe distance. The eruption pictured happened three days before the larger eruption that triggered a tsunami. Photograph: Tonga Geological Services/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

The shortage of rapid antigen tests for consumers is being exacerbated by state and federal governments and large corporates placing mammoth orders for the kits, causing stock to be diverted from online retailers and pharmacies.

Australia is in the middle of a huge Omicron wave after state and federal governments pivoted from a policy of Covid suppression to one of “living with the virus”, causing a surge in demand for rapid antigen testing kits.

Prof Trent Twomey, the national president of the Pharmacy Guild, said his members were struggling to secure stock and many had had orders delayed by their suppliers.

You can read the full report below:

Good morning all, it’s Matilda Boseley here on the blog with you, ready to bring you all of Australia’s morning news. (Which actually mostly takes place outside of Australia this morning.)

Australia and New Zealand are standing by to offer additional support to Tonga following reconnaissance missions to assess damage in the crisis-struck Pacific nation. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volanic eruption on Saturday – potentially the world’s most powerful blast for 30 years – caused a tsunami across the Pacific and blanketed the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa in thick ash.

While much of Tonga’s power has been restored, communication in and out of the remote Pacific nation remains limited.

Yesterday morning a New Zealand defence force Orion aircraft took off from Auckland’s Whenuapai base on a mission to investigate further, with an Australian P-8 Poseidon also leaving Brisbane on a similar mission.

New Zealand will follow the reconnaissance mission with flights from the heavy-duty Hercules C-130 to drop any needed provisions.

One fatality has also now been confirmed. The body of 50-year-old British woman Angela Glover, who ran the Tonga Animal Welfare, has now been found.

Heading across to Europe and the tennis star Novak Djokovic has touched down in his home country of Serbia after being deported from Australia after failing to meet vaccination requirements.

He was welcomed by a small but noisy band of supporters at the Belgrade airport before being whisked through passport control and customs and driven home by his brother.

However, it looks like the unvaccinated player isn’t out of the woods yet, after the French sports ministry made a point to confirm that a new law barring unvaccinated people from sports venues, restaurants and other public places will apply to sportsmen too.

That would prevent Djokovic from playing at the French Open in May though a spokesperson noted the pandemic situation “could change by then”.

There is certainly plenty to get through, so with that why don’t we jump right into the day.

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