Get up to speed on all the coronavirus news from across Australia.
Follow all of Thursday's updates in our live blog.
Key events
- Northern Territory records 1,045 new COVID-19 cases
- NSW is announcing reduced restrictions
- ACT records one death, 537 new cases
- South Australia records 3 deaths, 1,440 new cases
- Victoria announces easing of restrictions
- Queensland reports 5,665 new cases, 408 in hospital
- 680 new cases in Tasmania
- Fourteen deaths in NSW, 9,995 new cases
- Nine deaths in Victoria, 8,501 new infections
- Yesterday's figures
- Yesterday's blog
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Live updates
By Jonathan Hepburn
Cases, hospitalisations and deaths
For a detailed breakdown of cases across the country, check out Charting the Spread.
This post will be updated throughout the day as numbers are announced, so if your state or territory is not mentioned, check back later
NSW: 14 deaths, 9,995 new cases.1,447 cases in hospital, 92 in ICU
VIC: 9 deaths, 8,501 new cases. 401 in hospital, 78 in ICU, 16 on ventilators
QLD: 38 deaths, 5,665 cases. 408 in hospital including 26 in private hospital. 33 in ICU, 17 ventilated
TAS: 0 deaths, 680 new cases. 16 in hospital, 2 in ICU
SA: 3 deaths, 1,440 new cases. 221 in hospital, 13 in ICU
ACT: 1 death, 537 new cases. 47 in hospital, 3 in ICU, 2 requiring ventilation
NT: 0 deaths, 1,045 new cases. 531 in hospital, 21 requiring oxygen, 1 in intensive care
By Jonathan Hepburn
Northern Territory records 1,045 new COVID-19 cases
There are 137 people in hospital, with 21 patients requiring oxygen and one person in intensive care.
Authorities say 531 of the new cases were recorded in the Top End region, with 170 in Central Australia, 103 in East Arnhem, 53 in the Big Rivers region, 45 in the Barkly area and 143 still under investigation.
There are currently 6,977 active cases across the NT.
By Jonathan Hepburn
The NSW press conference turned into a general presser that left COVID-19 well behind, so I'll leave all of those matters off this blog.
If you're interested in NSW politics, it is continuing:
By Jonathan Hepburn
Read our story on changes to NSW restrictions
By Jonathan Hepburn
NSW schools plan is still being worked on
Premier Perrottet says issues like mask requirements and testing rules are being looked at right now.
By Jonathan Hepburn
NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce says the state will hit 50pc of people over 16 having a booster today
On elective surgeries:
From next week, all NSW hospitals will recommence elective surgery.
This will not be an immediate return to normal operation. Many staff are still furloughed.
By Jonathan Hepburn
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says we have to plan for new variants
She says new variants have to be either more transmissible or escape existing immunity in order to become successful.
She also says we have to consider the return of influenza, but points out that everything we've done to prevent COVID-19 — masks, personal hygiene — will work against influenza.
NSW is seeing an increase in the BA2 variant of Omicron.
Dr Chant says we are getting new antiviral therapies, and existing vaccines have held up very well at preventing severe illness.
She says 2022 will be a period of recalibration.
By Jonathan Hepburn
NSW Premier says capacity in health system is tracking very well
Dominic Perrottet says it is still under pressure, but it is tracking well. They expect to have spikes in cases from time to time.
By Jonathan Hepburn
NSW is announcing reduced restrictions
From tomorrow:
- 2 square metre density limit removed
- QR code check-ins only required at nightclubs and large music festivals. Hospital, aged care and disability facilities will continue to use their existing systems, as appropriate.
- Singing and dancing permitted at all venues except music festivals
- Recommendation of working from home will change to the employer's discretion
From next Friday:
- Masks will only be mandated on public transport, planes and indoors at airports, hospitals, aged and disability care facilities, correctional facilities and indoor musical festivals with more than 1,000 people
- Masks will continue to be encouraged indoors where physical distancing is not possible, and for customer service staff
- Singing and dancing permitted at all music festivals
Hotel quarantine will also be reduced for unvaccinated travellers from 14 days to 7 days
By Jonathan Hepburn
NSW presser is live
At this link, not the other one:
Last-minute change of plans.
By Jonathan Hepburn
New Zealand reports 1,573 community cases and 15 at the border
This is a significant increase on the community 7-day average of 844 community cases.
There are 63 cases in hospital, with none in ICU.
Since January 22, when the first Omicron case was detected in the community, double vaccinated cases are 10 times less likely to require hospitalisation than unvaccinated cases – 4 per cent of unvaccinated cases have required hospitalisation and 0.4 per cent of double vaccinated cases have required hospitalisation.
The full stats are available from the New Zealand Ministry of Health.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Omicron saw hours worked plunge in January
If it felt to you like no-one was at work for large parts of January, then the latest official employment figures confirm your hunch.
The Omicron outbreak saw hours worked plunge nearly 9 per cent in January, even as unemployment remained steady.
The Bureau of Statistics figures, taken in the first half of last month, showed Australians worked 159 million fewer hours in January than in December.
Those numbers are seasonally adjusted, so already account for the high amount of annual leave workers usually take in January.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Head of Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital 'still very concerned' about transmission
The head of Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital has told a parliamentary inquiry the health care sector is still very concerned about COVID-19 spreading inside hospitals.
The Victorian parliament's Pandemic Oversight Committee is hearing from senior health care staff about how Omicron public health measures have affected Victorian hospitals.
Sue Matthews from the Royal Women's Hospital said it's still a very challenging environment inside hospitals and staff are exhausted.
She said any changes need to consider the impact on staff as well as patients.
"There's this sense COVID is almost over in the community, but it isn't in hospitals," she said.
"It's almost an alternate universe we're still very concerned about potential transmission."
Meanwhile, the head of one of Melbourne's largest hospitals has told the committee elective surgery waiting lists have increased at the hospital by more than 1,000 people.
The CEO of Alfred Health, Andrew Way, said there are usually 2,000 people on the Alfred's elective surgery waitlist, but after elective surgery was paused as part of the Code Brown emergency there are now 3,100 people waiting for surgery.
He said up to 700 people are waiting longer than clinically recommended.
The government said yesterday that elective surgery would return to full capacity by the end of the month.
By Jonathan Hepburn
South Australia promises safe Fringe Festival
Premier Steven Marshall provided the daily update at a media event for this year's Fringe festival, which begins tomorrow.
"Unfortunately I do need to report that we had three deaths we need to report over the past 24 hours. We've had 1,440 cases," he said.
"Those numbers will bounce around a bit."
But Mr Marshall said current restrictions would ensure the Fringe had adequate safeguards.
"SA Health have been working with the Adelaide Fringe and all of the venues on their COVID management plans. There are COVID marshalls, it's safe, people will be QR code checking in," he said.
By Caitlyn Davey
All indicators in Canberra point to Omicron surge petering out by end of March
The peak of Omicron in the ACT happened sometime in mid-January with more than 6,000 Canberrans officially recording positive results.
By Jonathan Hepburn
ACT records one death, 537 new cases
A man in his 20s has died with COVID-19 in Canberra as the ACT records 537 new cases.
ACT Health announced the man’s death this morning, but did not reveal his vaccination status or whether he had underlying health conditions.
There are currently 47 people in hospital with the virus in Canberra.
Three of those patients are in intensive care, with two requiring ventilation.
62.9 per cent of Canberrans aged 16 and older have now received their booster and 76.8 per cent of children aged five to 11 have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Of the new cases announced today, 275 were from PCR tests and 262 were from rapid antigen tests.
By Jonathan Hepburn
South Australia records 3 deaths, 1,440 new cases
South Australia has recorded another three COVID-19 deaths, taking the total to 162 since the start of the pandemic.
1,440 people tested positive to COVID-19 yesterday, a decrease of 184 on yesterday.
221 people with the disease remain in hospital, while 13 remain in intensive care.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Let's try to clarify some of that Victorian press conference
Changes from 6pm Friday:
QR codes: No longer necessary in some shops, schools and many workspaces. But still required in hospitality and entertainment venues
Density limits: Removed for hospitality venues
Dancing: Allowed! Indoor dancefloors can reopen
Mask mandates in workplaces: Hold fire on that one, we'll find out next week
Schools: Surveillance testing will continue, with more RAT kits made available
Surveillance testing in workplaces like meatworks: No longer mandatory, but please continue to do it anyway
By Caitlyn Davey
Novavax bookings open for Aussies but no booster shots yet
Unvaccinated Australians waiting for the Novavax COVID vaccine are now able to book in for their first and second shots, but experts warn its availablity as a booster is a way off.
University of Melbourne immunologist Dr Jennifer Juno says Novavax presents a valuable alternative for people with potential allergies to other COVID vaccines.
Dr Juno says its effectiveness against the omicron variant is similar to the other vacccines used in Australia, but there's no large scale data yet.
"Novavax itself has actually tested using its vaccine for three shots, so using it as a booster, and that showed some nice results in preliminary data," she said. "But that's going to come a little bit down the line as they're able to present more data to the regulatory authorities."
By Jonathan Hepburn
How the summer of Omicron hit Warrnambool, but Warrnambool hit back
For the whole of 2021, the seaside Victorian city of Warrnambool (pop. about 35,000) had just 125 cases of COVID-19. Then the Omicron variant hit.
According to state government data, there were 125 cases recorded in Warrnambool in the first five days of 2022.
In the first 44 days of 2022, there were 3,766 cases of COVID-19 recorded in the city, an average of 85.6 positive cases per day.
The Omicron wave in Warrnambool peaked at a daily high of 257 cases on January 8.
