Get up to speed on all the coronavirus news from across Australia.
Look back on all of Sunday's news and updates on our live blog.
Live updates
By Dannielle Maguire
Cases, hospitalisations and deaths
For a detailed breakdown of cases across the country, check out Charting the Spread.
Can't see your state? Don't fret pets! We'll be updating this post throughout the day as numbers are announced.
Victoria: 18 deaths and 7,223 new cases. 465 cases are in hospital, 62 of those in ICU
NSW: 22 deaths and 6,686 new cases. 1,614 cases are in hospital, 93 of those in ICU
Tasmania: 371 new cases. 10 cases are in hospital, one of those in ICU
ACT: 458 new cases. 50 cases are in hospital, four of those in ICU
NT: One death and 757 new cases. 164 cases are in hospital, one of those in ICU
Queensland: Four deaths and 7,311 new cases. 496 cases are in hospital, 45 of those in ICU
WA: 38 new local cases
SA: Two deaths and 1,165 new cases. 211 cases are in hospital, 17 of those in ICU
By Dannielle Maguire
Gotta run!
Well, it's been swell, but it's time to call it a day.
I hope the rest of your Sunday is an absolute ripsnorter!
By Dannielle Maguire
SA records two deaths, 1,165 cases
That's the second lowest daily case count for SA since the start of the year.
SA Health says the two people who died were women in their 80s.
A total of 211 people with COVID-19 are in hospital, with 17 of those in intensive care and five on a ventilator.
By Dannielle Maguire
Let's get back to your comments
Now that the press conferences are done and dusted, we can get back to our chat.
I read the article this morning about how hard Covid has been on Doctors Nurses and Healthcare workers.
-Carol Tassie
As we are all starting to get on with living with covid my heart goes out to all these workers.
Next time you whinge about mask mandates indoors just remember these workers have been wearing full PPE for nearly 2 years.
They are the unsung heroes
It's interesting seeing people complaining about the prospect of wearing masks for entire shifts...maybe this will encourage people to have some more empathy for retail, hospo, and other customer service workers! I have been wearing masks for 9 or 10 hours straight, working in retail, since March 2021 -- it's really not so bad and you get used to it after a while, but it's been pretty hot and miserable during Summer! On top of that, the amount of abuse I have received from people who have to wear them for 5 minutes to come into our store is exhausting as well -- we are just trying to do our jobs and stay safe while we come into contact with who knows how many strangers. Have some consideration for those of us who aren't privileged enough to have the choice to work from home and have to deal with contact with people in the midst of the pandemic!!
-Have some empathy for your local customer service workers!
Back to the office….no sorry…..I’m not catching public transport with a bunch of people crammed in a tin can, some of which refuse to wear masks and are deliberately looking for trouble, mobile phones ready to record, so they can fuel outrage if any body dares challenge them to follow a basic socially responsible request like wearing a mask on public transport. Sorry the office days are gone.
-Ben
If politicians want us to go back to the CBD, they need to make us feel we will be safe. They don't do that with slogans, or by trying to force us back. They do it with good policies, like not removing all the restrictions at once e.g. retaining masks on public transport and in places like art galleries, keeping 2 square density limit
-Learn from past mistakes
It's incredibly frustrating trying to implement covid plans for a bit of certainty in the workplace when Mark McGowan won't tell us what they're planning. Do they even know?
-Tell us the plan
By Dannielle Maguire
When did WA start ordering RATs?
WA Premier Mark McGowan was asked about suggestions the state was "late to the party" with ordering rapid antigen tests.
He made a point of looking up a stack of boxes (presumably containing RATs) on the warehouse shelves behind him.
He was then asked what the exact datewas when the state placed its first order for RATs:
"It was mid-December.
"But the thing about it is that we had not had major community spread of the virus.
"And so, therefore, we have more than enough RATs.
"Other states had massive spread of the virus and they didn't have enough RATs, so our situation, once again by being cautious and careful has meant that we are better prepared than other states to deal with what confronts us
"But as you can see now, we're at 8.8 million RATs growing to 11 million within the next couple of days growing into to 100 million so we will have more than enough supply to meet the needs of the community."
By Dannielle Maguire
WA: What about financial support for businesses?
Reporter: It would be debilitating for WA business to have both gathering limits, density caps and a closed border at the same time. Is there going to be financial support for them?
McGowan: Look, the best financial support we've provided to businesses is keeping COVID out and keeping the infection rate low.
He pointed to a package announced earlier in support of businesses affected by the border closures like tourism operators and international education travel agents.
But he didn't say anything about any new financial support packages:
"Those sorts of arrangements at important.
"The public health social measures... the main ones are already in place.
"The others will not be - certainly the first round - will not be particularly severe and they're an independent thing of border arrangements.
"But I just remind you all as well, I think just the other day we had figures I think 20,000 people have come in from the east last week - people prepared to do a week's quarantine and get tested and catch up with family.
"So lots of people are already taking advantage of the opportunity to come to WA safely."
By Dannielle Maguire
Will there be more restrictions in WA when cases numbers grow?
Mr McGowan was asked when tougher rules would be brought in.
He stressed that they were actually called "public health social measures" and pointed out that, at the moment there were only two in place:
- An indoor mask mandate for Perth, Peel, Great Southern, Wheatbelt and the South West regions
- Vaccine entry requirements
"Further public health social measures we'll consider as case numbers grow - we haven't actually made a decision on when they'll come in but at some point in time, they will come in."
By Dannielle Maguire
WA: Omicron peak in the eastern states is in encouraging but there's no word on the border yet
WA Premier Mark McGowan was asked about when the state's border will reopen.
"There hasn't been any decisions on that.
"What we will do is review this matter over the course of February - we're currently looking at it
"The review is based upon the growth in vaccinations - which is going up very, very quickly we're basically at 50 per cent third dose now - and also what's happening in the east."
He says that, if the state had have reopened borders on February 5 as originally planned, that would have coincided with the peak in cases in states like NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
"As their numbers go down, that is obviously a good sign for what we can do in the future."
By Dannielle Maguire
WA: PCR testing is still preferred over RATs
Mr McGowan is speaking from a warehouse where some of the state government's rapid antigen tests are being stored.
"Currently, our PCR testing clinics have capacity for 35,000 tests per day."
But he said RATs were being distributed for emergency rooms at public hospitals.
"[It] means greater protection for patients, staff and the community as workers can more easily identify those patients that need COVID-19 precautions before entering the emergency department."
By Dannielle Maguire
WA records 38 new local cases
Of those, 27 are linked to known cases.
WA Premier Mark McGowan says people need to "take Omicron seriously".
"Our PCR testing clinics have capacity, I encourage everyone with symptoms to got get a PCR test while capacity remains with our clinics."
By Dannielle Maguire
Your thoughts on WFH
Two thoughts
1. I wish politicians would stop saying that getting back into the office is “incredibly important to get back on with life”. Many of us have discovered that life is much better without having to lose personal time and money commuting into a CBD to do work we have proven more than capable of doing from home.
2. How are politicians being allowed to keep getting away with saying how well the health systems is doing when doctors, nurses and ambulance staff are repeatedly telling us that things are very, very different for those people who are actually working in the health system?
-M
There’s a lot of people out there who probably don’t want to where a mask all day in an office, hence if they can work from home they do.
-Amber
Hi blogger, I love working from home and I can work from home…I just hope they allow this to continue at some level. Have we got any information or advice from fair work?
-WFH please
I wouldn’t want to be working in an office all day wearing a mask, don’t think I cld, masks are ok in small doses, some jobs do require masks every shift but that’s the nature of the job that you do.
-Sienna
Hi Dannielle. Does “WHF” in your recent headline stand for Working Home From? Or is it something quite different?
-Sudo Nim
By Dannielle Maguire
Queensland: A squiz at COVID rates in kids
Queensland's Chief Health Officer John Gerrard says the state's looking at infections in children "very closely" given school went back last week.
"We're averaging about between 1,000 and 1,500 children diagnosed formally with COVID per day across the state - almost all of whom have very mild disease.
"Of those children, about half are in the primary school age between five and 11 and the other half are in the secondary school age between 12 and 17."
He says he's expecting the number of infections in children to increase in the coming weeks.
"There is still no clear trend among children but it is still very early.
"It would be a very big surprise if we don't see a number of new cases in children in the next couple of weeks but so far it's not a significant rise."
By Dannielle Maguire
We're standing by for the Queensland COVID update
Health Minister Yvette Dath is speaking in a few mintues.
By Dannielle Maguire
Queensland records four deaths, 7,311 new cases
There are now 496 people in hospital, 45 of those in intensive care.
By Dannielle Maguire
NT records another death and 757 new cases
NT Health confirmed the death was a woman in her 50s from the Tiwi Islands - the territory's 10th COVID death in the pandemic.
She had underlying health conditions and died on Friday at Royal Darwin Hospital, a statement from the NT government said.
There are 164 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, with 21 on oxygen and one in intensive care.
By Dannielle Maguire
'Christmas Day probably killed a lot of people': Inside the toll Omicron had on our hospitals
As the Omicron wave peaked in Sydney last month, Background Briefing was following them to share their stories in their words.
By Dannielle Maguire
Whatcha thinkin' about?
Have you got thoughts, questions or delightful little anecdotes to share with us?
Hit that big blue comment button and chime on in!
By Dannielle Maguire
Victoria's QR codes 'under active review'
The check-in app was brought out to help contact tracing earlier in the pandemic.
But given the massive number of cases we've seen lately, the contact tracing system in the state isn't no longer regularly used by authorities.
So a bunch of people have been asking why check-in codes are still a thing.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the use of QR codes is under active review:
"Now that we've hit the peak of Omicron and those cases are coming down, we do I think have some room to make some refinements and some adjustments.
"We'd look to try to be as consistent with NSW as we can be so there's all sorts of discussions going on.
By Dannielle Maguire
NSW: When will WFH end?
NSW Premier Dominic Perrettot says he wants people to be able to go back into the office.
"There's no public health order, there's a recommendation: where you can work from home, work from home."
He says being back in the office is "incredibly important to get back on with life" but didn't give a date for when the recommendation would change:
"The earliest we can do it, the better."
