Look back on the day's events as they unfolded in the live blog.
Key events
- One state supplying detailed data on deaths in aged care
- The death rate from Omicron is 0.1 per cent - Dr Kelly
- Albanese says Richard Colbeck should resign over COVID-19 issues in aged care
- Hunt: Almost 75 per cent of aged care residents have had their booster
- Australia 'past the peak' of Omicron wave
- Australians can travel to NZ quarantine-free by July
- Aged care sector facing 'immense challenges'
Live updates
By Bridget Judd
Cases, hospitalisations and deaths
If you don't see your state or territory yet, don't worry - these numbers are updated throughout the day.
For a detailed breakdown of cases across the country, check out Charting the Spread.
NSW: 38 deaths and 12,632 new cases; 2,578 people in hospital, including 160 in ICU
VIC: 34 deaths and 12,157 new cases; 752 people in hospital, including 82 in ICU
TAS: 1 death and 656 new cases; 13 people in hospital, including 2 in ICU
SA: 1 death and 1,583 new cases; 226 people in hospital, including 18 in ICU
QLD: 9 deaths and 8,643 new cases; 820 people in hospital, including 71 in ICU
ACT: 0 deaths and 529 new cases; 63 people in hospital, including 1 in ICU
NT: 1 death, 977 new cases; 141 people in hospital, including six in ICU
WA: 19 new cases; one person in hospital, not in an ICU
By Jacqueline Howard
That's it for the blog today
As always, thanks for joining us and we will see you again tomorrow.
By Jacqueline Howard
Aged care workers are facing a 'crisis level of exhaustion' as the COVID-19 pandemic continues
Over the past three decades, Mark Sewell has worked in disability care, child protection and now aged care.
"I've never in those 35 years seen this kind of crisis level of exhaustion and work from frontline care staff in a human service," he told 7.30.
Mr Sewell is the chief executive of Warrigal, an aged care provider with 11 homes across New South Wales and the ACT.
Prior to Christmas last year, none of those homes had experienced a COVID-19 outbreak during the two years of the pandemic.
"On the 29th of December, we had our first case and then it went berserk," Mr Sewell said.
"We had staff working overtime, every day. And we had some staff who did 10, 12, 15 days in a row."
Finance staff, members of Warrigal's HR team and even Mr Sewell himself were donning personal protective equipment (PPE) to help out at the homes.
More than 280 residents and 250 staff caught COVID-19.
By Jacqueline Howard
New figures show the early 20s age group least likely to be triple vaxxed and there may be a reason why
Only about 15 per cent of people in their early 20s have received a third dose.
But they have also had less time to get boosted, given younger people had to wait longer to get their first dose.
Many only became eligible this week, when the booster interval was reduced to three months nationally.
One way to control for that difference in access is to consider how many people are unboosted well after they became eligible.
People who got their second dose more than four months ago have been eligible for a booster since at least January 4.
“There is no doubt that waning [immunity] is a real issue … the longer the period from completion of two dose vaccination increases the risk of hospitalisation and mortality clearly, particularly in the older age group,” Kirby Institute epidemiologist Greg Dore.
By Jacqueline Howard
Northern Territory case numbers
NT Health has announced there were 977 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday. Of these, 761 were positive cases from a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).
658 of these cases were recorded in the Top End Region, 149 in Central Australia, 65 in the East Arnhem region, 80 in the Big Rivers region, 15 in the Barkly region and 10 are under investigation.
There are currently 141 patients in hospital, with 15 patients requiring oxygen. There are six patients in ICU.
The number of active cases in the NT is about 6,900.
Following the submission of further RAT results, the case number for 1 February 2022 has been amended to 1,217.
By Jacqueline Howard
More on Victoria's numbers today
Is there any article from Victoria today. I note the link below to the you tube clip but no written update anywhere.
-Tam
Yes, each state and territory that records a COVID case will do a story each day. Here is Victoria's today, Tam.
By Jacqueline Howard
By Jacqueline Howard
How did Omicron make it into WA?
Do they know where the original recent Covid infections in WA originated, given the state has been in lockdown
-Lyn
WA is currently facing an outbreak of the Omicron strain. The variant first made it into the state through infection in a quarantine hotel at the beginning of January. A vaccinated security guard caught the virus from overseas arrivals quarantining at the hotel.
By Jacqueline Howard
Central Land Council welcomes biosecurity restrictions in NT but tourism industry wants more detail
A key Aboriginal organisation has welcomed the reintroduction of movement-restricting biosecurity zones in the Northern Territory, but the tourism industry wants more detail about what it means for them.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on Wednesday that people will be restricted from leaving or entering remote communities for a fortnight as COVID-19 case numbers continue to grow in the NT.
Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said he was still trying to clarify what the biosecurity zones meant for his industry.
He said his reading of the determination meant the resort town of Yulara near Uluru was excluded from the restrictions.
"If you fly into Yulara you're fine because you don't go through a designated area but if you drive from Alice Springs to Yulara you enter a designated area," he said.
But it was unclear if a tourist in Alice Springs might be able to head out to one of the nearby national parks.
"My reading of the determination is no, but we are seeking clarification on this."
By Jacqueline Howard
By Jacqueline Howard
55 new COVID cases in Winter Olympics personnel
A total of 55 new COVID-19 infections were found among Olympic Games-related personnel on February 2, the chair of the Beijing 2022 medical expert panel said on Thursday, the highest daily tally so far.
Twenty-nine cases were found among new airport arrivals, while 26 were among those in the "closed loop" bubble that separates all event personnel from the public.
The Games are set to officially open tomorrow, though preliminary games in curling and ice hockey are already underway.
By Jacqueline Howard
No date for elective surgery to resume in Victoria
When is Elective Surgery starting again in Victoria?
NSW has 3 times more cases, but it allowing elective surgery from Monday. Why not Victoria? Why are we made to suffer???!!!
-John
While there is a lot of speculation about elective surgery returning to Victoria as soon as next week, Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to confirm a date.
Yesterday, Mr Andrews said the government had been consulting with people in the health sector about resuming elective surgeries delayed by the pandemic, but no date had been confirmed.
"This is a difficult decision, a terribly difficult decision but it is the right decision and we will get these surgeries back up and running as soon as possible," he said.
The Victorian Opposition is calling on the government to resume elective surgeries immediately.
By Jacqueline Howard
Mixed response to biosecurity zones, brought back as COVID-19 tears through the remote Northern Territory
Movement in and out of remote areas across the Northern Territory is now off-limits to the vast majority of travellers, However, as COVID-19 spreads through many Indigenous communities, one leader has questioned if the travel restrictions are too little, too late.
The federal government implemented the restrictions last night in a bid to slow the spread of the virus between remote communities and from urban areas. (A full list of affected areas is here.)
Known as biosecurity zones, the restrictions will remain in place for at least two weeks and will buy health services more time to improve vaccination rates in remote outbreak areas.
There have been hundreds of COVID-19 cases on Galiwin'ku, population 2,200, and more than half of Milikapiti's 450 residents on the Tiwi Islands have been infected.
Similar stories of rising case numbers are unfolding across the remote Northern Territory.
Announcing the biosecurity zones in a press release last night, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said broader health measures were required in response to slow that spread.
But Matthew Ryan — the mayor of the West Arnhem Regional Council and several of the affected communities — has accused the Territory and federal governments of failing to properly plan for the outbreaks before the the NT's borders opened in December.
By Jacqueline Howard
Further information on boosters for 16-and 17-year-olds
As of the announcement this morning, 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible to get boosted from three months after their second shot.
That means some 370,000 are instantly eligible, as their second dose was at least that long ago.
They can access a vaccine through their GP, pharmacist or state-run vaccine hub, pending appointments.
Only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for the age group.
Of the 580,000 Australians aged 16 or 17 years, about 90 per cent have had two vaccine doses, meaning more will be eligible for a booster soon.
If a teenager was 15 when they received their first or second dose, but have since turned 16, they are also eligible for their booster three months after their second dose.
Pfizer, which has been approved for people 16 and 17 years of age, has not finished applying to have its vaccine used for the next vaccine age group, 12-to-15-year-olds.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said ATAGI was in the early stages of considering boosters for that age group.
By Jacqueline Howard
Hello
Hi everyone, I'm taking over from Kate this afternoon.
And congratulations Kate on a great blog debut on a very busy day!
By Kate Ainsworth
That's it from me today
Jacqueline Howard will be your guide for the rest of the afternoon.
Thanks for being so welcoming!
By Kate Ainsworth
One state supplying detailed data on deaths in aged care
Federal Chief Medical Officer Dr Paul Kelly also announced that one state is on board to assist the Commonwealth in investigating deaths in aged care, but stopped short of identifying which one.
"We will be setting up a specific task force in the Department to look at [aged care deaths] and do everything we can to get more detail about the issues that — particularly in aged care but more broadly in the community — related to those people who have passed away.
"I've been speaking with one of my colleagues in one of the states, I'm not going to be naming the state but there is one state that is very much on board for assisting us with this, and that chief health officer has assured me that we will be able to get some very good granular detail about those matters from one state, which will be able to be extrapolated to the rest of the country very similar in different places."
By Kate Ainsworth
The death rate from Omicron is 0.1 per cent - Dr Kelly
This was another key takeout from this morning's press conference with the Federal Chief Medical Officer Dr Paul Kelly, who said the death rate from the Omicron variant is low and dropping 'substantially' in Australia.
"We are looking closely at the number of cases we are seeing at the severe end of the spectrum, in terms of hospitalisations and intensive care admissions, both of which have dropped significantly and substantially in the last week right across all states and nationally. And also the death rate," Dr Kelly said.
"There are issues with long-COVID and we are finding more about that all the time. There are issues with other longer-term effects, but the reality is, the death rate from Omicron is 0.1 per cent, 99.9 per cent of people who have contracted it survive, and we are approaching 2 million in the last month that we know about, and probably more that have contracted it that have not been diagnosed.
"That is not to discount the fact that we have had a large number of deaths ... and my condolences go to every single family that has experienced that over the whole pandemic, but particularly in the last month.
"From 15 December up until the end of January, there were 1,103 deaths and 84 per cent were in people over the age of 70, and 24 per cent over the age of 90. It is extremely rare for young people to die from the illness, it has happened and that is very tragic. I think we need to consider the actual facts of this."
By Kate Ainsworth
Can someone please explain why it's taken so long for Dolly to be inducted to the Hall of Fame ?
-Why?
This is one question I don't know the answer to, but you're not alone! I had (wrongly) assumed she had long been a member. Maybe 2022 is her year?
This was my reaction when I found out:
OK, back to COVID!
By Kate Ainsworth
Let's recap the day so far
Is it just me or is there a bit of news around?
Here are some major developments from today:
-
Teenagers aged 16 and 17 are now able to get a COVID vaccine booster from today after ATAGI approved a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for the age group
-
New Zealand has announced its plan to "reopen to the world", which includes letting New Zealanders currently in Australia isolate at home from February 27
-
WA has recorded 19 new cases but epidemiologists fear the true number of cases in the state may be much higher due to low testing rates
-
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says Australia has officially passed its peak of the Omicron outbreak
-
NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have all recorded COVID-related deaths today
And if you need some non-COVID news:
- Dolly Parton and Eminem are among the latest nominees to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
