Health experts say vaccination rates need to be maintained despite figures pointing to a potential peak in the Omicron outbreak.
While some - including federal Health Minister Greg Hunt - have declared infections have peaked in NSW, Victoria, the ACT and South Australia, the World Health Organisation warns it is not time for countries to drop their guard.
The WHO's Dr Margaret Harris said vaccination levels must continue to rise to reduce further transmission.
"We all would love to be talking about COVID as if it was a distant memory. We're all heartily sick of it but unfortunately it's not sick of us," she told the Nine Network.
"It's unlikely to go away and when (people) mention a bad flu, you're really saying will it turn into a disease we don't particularly like but doesn't kill us and vaccination is certainly getting us closer to that position."
The daily case total rose by more than 3000 in NSW between Monday and Tuesday, while the ACT's daily total has risen on three consecutive days.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced his state's restrictions will roll over for another month, which he labelled a "cautious approach" to allow a safe return to school and non-urgent elective surgery.
Those measures include density limits, wearing masks indoors and a ban on dancing in hospitality venues.
Mr Perrottet said non-urgent elective surgery remained on track to return in mid-February.
Meanwhile, infectious diseases expert Sanjaya Senanayake says it's inevitable three jabs will need to be recognised as being fully vaccinated.
"The data is more and more compelling about Omicron - which is now the dominant strain in this country - that boosters provide more protection against both symptomatic disease and hospitalisation," he told the ABC.
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten has called for a school immunisation program as children prepare to return to classrooms next week.
Mr Shorten said at-school inoculations could streamline the vaccine rollout for a cohort who are struggling to get appointments.
"When I was a kid, you'd turn up to school and one of the things they'd do is immunise you against various diseases. What's wrong with us having an old-fashioned immunisation program?" he told the Nine Network.
"Why is it in this country when it's come to COVID we always make things more difficult than they have to be? Kids have got to go to school, we want to keep them safe, let's vaccinate them at school."
NSW reported 18,512 new cases and 29 deaths on Tuesday, while Victoria recorded 14,836 infections and 29 deaths.
Another 11 people died in Queensland, which reported 9546 new cases, while the ACT recorded 904 infections and one death.
On Monday, South Australia recorded 2009 cases and two deaths, while there were 619 new cases in Tasmania, 286 in the Northern Territory and 13 in Western Australia.
Tuesday marks two years since Australia confirmed its first COVID-19 infection - a man who flew from China to Melbourne.
