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.
Key events
- Western Australia records 31 new COVID cases
- South Australia records 1,234 new COVID cases, one death
- Perth high school announces two-week closure as COVID spreads
- Two COVID patients in ICU in Canberra
- Nine COVID deaths in Queensland
- One COVID death, one person in ICU in Tasmania
- SA Premier calls on people to get PCR tests as queues and turnaround times drop
- 28 COVID deaths in NSW
- Six COVID deaths recorded in Victoria
Live updates
By Jon Healy
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: 28 deaths and 7,893 new cases; 2,321 people in hospital, including 147 in ICU
VIC: Six deaths and 7,169 new cases; 652 people in hospital, including 73 in ICU
TAS: One death and 471 new cases; 11 people in hospital, including one in ICU
QLD: Nine deaths and 5,746 new cases; 726 people in hospital, including 47 in ICU
ACT: 323 new cases; 60 people in hospital, including two in ICU
SA: One death and 1,234 new cases, 218 people in hospital, including 13 in ICU
WA: 31 new cases
NT: Numbers were not released yet.
By Jessica Riga
That's it for today
Thanks for following along with us today! You can continue to stay up to date on the ABC News website. See you next time!
By Jessica Riga
These women meet up every week to scream into the void. They're mothers navigating Omicron with young kids
The swift arrival of Omicron before an approved COVID-19 vaccine for kids under five has pushed parents to the brink. In the absence of a significant social safety net in the US, women are finding solutions: sometimes, just screaming together.
By Jessica Riga
Australia's Olympic curlers allowed to compete despite positive COVID test
Great news!
The Australian Olympic Committee says its curling team will compete on Sunday, having being given a "late reprieve" in the wake of Tahli Gill's positive COVID-19 test.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) announced earlier on Sunday Gill and Dean Hewitt would forfeit their remaining matches and fly out of China.
But it released an update on Sunday afternoon, announcing Gill and Hewitt would be allowed to contest their match against Switzerland.
By Jessica Riga
Tears, anger and frustration as returning outback WA residents vent at border rules
For the first time since early January, residents in the East Kimberley can drive back into Western Australia, but the approval process has some tearing their hair out.
Potentially hundreds of people from the outback region travelled interstate during the holiday period to visit loved ones, assuming they would freely return from February 5, until WA's reopening was delayed indefinitely.
Stranded East Kimberley residents then looked to return from February 5, under partially eased restrictions, but were shocked to find out they would have to quarantine 3,000 kilometres away in Perth.
Last week a wave of backlash saw the government impose a new rule, allowing approved returning residents, living within 200 km of the Kununurra border, to quarantine at home.
But the question of getting home became further complicated when Airnorth cancelled flights from Darwin to the Kimberley during February, saying it would only resume services when the WA government allowed.
That forced potentially dozens of people, including Debra Hunter and Bianca Brown, to pay more than $500 to freight their cars from their home town of Kununurra to Darwin so they could cross the road border.
Ms Brown vented her frustration to the ABC at the Kununurra checkpoint on Saturday.
"As far as making life hard for people in the Top End, Mark McGowan has certainly done that for us … kick in the guts really."
By Jessica Riga
SA records one COVID-linked death amid PCR testing drop-off
The death of a man in his 70s is the latest COVID-linked fatality in SA. Authorities are urging anyone with symptoms to seek a PCR test, not a RAT.
By Jessica Riga
Western Australia records 31 new COVID cases
Western Australia has recorded 31 new local COVID-19 infections, 25 of those linked to close contacts of previous cases.
WA Health says some of the new cases were infectious in the community with contact tracers working to determine exposure sites.
A further 15 travel-related cases were reported overnight.
All new cases are now in quarantine.
A total of 5,460 people were swabbed at WA clinics yesterday.
By Jessica Riga
10 billion COVID vaccines administered globally
Two years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has passed ten billion vaccine doses administered.
It passed the milestone as signs emerge the latest Omicron wave of the virus is starting to plateau.
Figures from Johns Hopkins University show a slight fall in infections last week, to just over 23 million, although deaths increased to 65,000.
Since the pandemic began there've been nearly 393 million infections worldwide, and more than 5.7 million deaths.
By Jessica Riga
South Australia records 1,234 new COVID cases, one death
A man in his 70s has died with COVID-19 in South Australia.
The state has recorded 1,234 new cases, which is down slightly from yesterday.
There are 218 people in hospital, 13 in ICU and five on a ventilator – all similar to yesterday’s figures.
Just 8,694 people had a PCR test – a major drop off from the more than 20,000 tests being performed at the height of the Omicron wave.
By Jessica Riga
Perth high school announces two-week closure as COVID spreads
A Perth high school is closing its doors for two weeks and shifting to online learning following two more COVID-19 cases being reported amongst its secondary cohort, while another school has reported a teacher being infected.
In a letter to parents, Corpus Christi College said two cases had been confirmed in its secondary school cohort, in addition to the two students who had tested positive earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, a teacher from Iona Presentation College has also tested positive to COVID-19, forcing multiple students and other staff to go into isolation.
By Jessica Riga
You have an item on why aren't NSW people getting boosters. As a Queenslander I want to know why it's taking so long in my state for people to get their second shot. Painfully slow progress. Any ideas why?
-Rob
Hi Rob,
While Queensland recently surpassed the 90 per cent vaccination target, the pace of vaccinations has slowed.
Why? Experts say a few different reasons could be at play.
According to infectious disease specialist Dr Paul Griffin, trends elsewhere have shown vaccination rates "slow towards the end," given people who have resisted getting vaccinated and "have resisted all the other efforts to try to get them vaccinated".
"I think it has slowed in recent times, perhaps a little more than I expected," Dr Griffin said.
He described the state's slowing vaccine take up as "multi-factorial".
"We did see a lot of sites closed down over the holiday period, so I think access declined to a degree," he said.
Dr Griffin said he also thought government messaging had been "a little bit mixed".
"Comments like, 'it's necessary to get', and 'we need to make sure people understand it is milder', that may have led some people to think that getting vaccinated didn't offer as many benefits as we know that it does."
Queensland's Deputy Premier Steven Miles expects those due for their second dose will get it "now that people are getting back into the swing of things" after the festive season.
"I suspect some people whose three or four week mark fell over the Christmas New Year holiday period, they might have been away [or] they might not have wanted to get their second dose at that time," he said.
By Jessica Riga
Ardern urges unity on COVID on Waitangi Day
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has urged New Zealanders to unite in their battle against COVID-19, as the pandemic forces the country to celebrate its national Waitangi Day online.
A growing outbreak of the Omicron variant has pushed all commemorations online.
"We all have a duty to do everything we can to protect our communities with all the tools that science and medicine have given us," Ms Ardern said in a pre-recorded speech.
"Togetherness is something we have shown throughout the last few years. I know it hasn't always been easy … But together we have, and we continue to, overcome."
Health ministry data show 93 per cent of those eligible above the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated and 49 per cent of eligible adults have received a booster shot, but infections keep rising.
New Zealand has today recorded 208 new community cases, following a record 243 the previous day.
Waitangi Day is named for the region on the North Island where representatives of the British Crown and more than 500 indigenous Maori chiefs signed a founding treaty in 1840.
Additional reporting by Reuters
By Jessica Riga
Hi there!
I'm taking over from Jon and will be keeping you in the loop for the rest of the afternoon.
By Jon Healy
Record case numbers but few deaths in South Korea
South Korea continues to report record numbers of new COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spreads in the country.
Today it's reported more than 38,000 new cases, taking the country's total since the pandemic began past 1 million.
Deaths have remained relatively low in the highly vaccinated country, however, with 15 new deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
South Korea reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case on January 20, 2020 and was the first country outside China to battle a major outbreak.
By Jon Healy
COVID ends Aussie curlers' Winter Olympic campaign early
The campaign of Australia's first Olympic curling team has been brought to a premature end by COVID.
Tahli Gill had contracted COVID before arriving in Beijing and was being managed under close-contact protocols as she and Dean Hewitt competed in seven matches, as ongoing testing alternated between negative and positive.
But successive positive tests for Gill have now cut their campaign short, missing their last two matches.
Gill will be moved to an isolation hotel today, and the AOC is looking at how to get them back to Australia as soon as possible.
By Jon Healy
By Jon Healy
Victorian mask rules
Hi Blog, did I miss a mask rule change in Vic? How come these few days there are so many people not wearing masks in my apartment? Masks are still required in “all indoor settings” in Victoria as far as I can see from the website. Corridors and lifts are very definitely indoors.
-No masks
Here are the mask rules in Victoria from the Department of Health...
Wearing a mask is required for everyone aged 8 and above in all indoor settings in Victoria (unless an exception applies, such as when in a home, when consuming food or drink, or when receiving beauty services).
Wearing a mask is also required in the following settings:
- On public transport, in taxis/rideshare services, in tourism vehicles and on commercial flights.
- At an airport.
- While attending an event that has 30,000 or more patrons present, unless you are seated outdoors at the event.
- While visiting a hospital or care facility.
- After being tested for COVID-19 and awaiting results, other than as part of surveillance testing.
- If the person has COVID-19 or is a contact, and is leaving the premises in line with quarantine, isolation or testing requirements.
- International passenger arrivals and international aircrew services workers who are in direct transit to their place of self-quarantine in Victoria and who leave their vehicle, or who are in self-quarantine and leave to undertake permitted essential services.
Carry your mask at all times when leaving home.
By Jon Healy
Definition of 'fully vaccinated' on the Check In app
With the science indicating that three doses, rather than two, gives the best protection against Omicron, there are some questions about whether the green tick on the Check In app should be modified in some way to show that people have been boosted.
Apparently National Cabinet and the federal government are waiting on ATAGI advice on those sort of steps.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard hopes ATAGI gives that advice to the Commonwealth soon.
"Having the booster is fully vaccinated at this point."
By Jon Healy
Why aren't NSW residents getting boosted?
The double-vaxx rate in NSW is in the high 90s, but the booster rate is down in the mid-40s.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says authorities are trying to figure out why that discrepancy is so big.
"There are a number of factors. One of the biggest is people are not actually aware they can have the booster. People are still locked in the old way of thinking that you have to wait six months."
It's three months after your second jab, or two to four weeks after having COVID.
