Keep up to date with all the COVID-19 news from across Australia.
Look back at how Wednesday unfolded in the blog below.
Key events
- SA: 2,401 new cases and 13 deaths recorded
- Watch the South Australia press conference here
- Watch the WA press conference here
- NT records 492 new COVID-19 cases
- ACT: There have been 896 new COVID-19 cases with 67 people in hospital
- TAS: Fourth death recorded in Tasmania
- Victoria press conference set for 12pm AEDT
- Elderly Queenslanders urged to limit their movements
- VIC: 13,507 new cases and 35 deaths recorded
- NSW: 21,030 new cases and 29 deaths recorded
- COVID patients taking over Gold Coast hospital
- Elton John cancels shows after diagnosis
- Link to yesterday's blog
Live updates
By Michael Doyle
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: 21,030 new cases, 2,794 people in hospital, 175 in ICU, 29 deaths.
VIC: 13,507 new cases, 1,089 people in hospital, 113 in ICU, 35 deaths.
QLD: 13,551 new cases, 889 people in hospital, 47 in ICU, nine deaths. Watch the press conference here
TAS: 712 new cases, 11 people in hospital, two in ICU, one death.
ACT: 896 new cases, 67 people in hospital, five in ICU.
NT: 492 new cases, 84 people in hospital, three in ICU.
WA: 24 new cases.
SA: 2.401 new cases, 288 in hospital, 26 in ICU, 13 deaths
By Nicholas McElroy
That's all from the COVID blog today
Thanks for sticking around. We'll be back with updates from national cabinet tomorrow.
By Nicholas McElroy
'We're flying in blind': Return to school feels rushed for some families
While families across Canberra are finding their lunch boxes and getting out backpacks in anticipation of the return to school next week, some parents are weighing up if sending their kids back to school is worth the risk.
The education union says it is expecting up to 15 per cent of staff to get sick or need to isolate, and it doesn't know where the teachers who will be needed to replace them are coming from.
But infectious disease experts say the advice about resuming school is sound, and have reassured parents a delay in the supply of RATs is unlikely to have a big impact.
By Nicholas McElroy
Beijing records 14 new COVID cases ahead of Winter Olympics
The Chinese capital reported 14 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as it began a third round of mass testing of millions of people in the run-up to the Winter Olympics.
The announcement about mass testing, made late on Tuesday by Beijing's Fengtai district, prompted complaints from some residents who were asked to line up yet again outside as daytime temperatures hovered around freezing.
Beijing is stepping up China's already-strict pandemic response measures as it tries to quash any outbreaks ahead of the Olympics, which open in nine days. The city announced this week that anyone who bought fever, headache or two other types of medicine would be subjected to a COVID-19 test within 72 hours.
All 2 million residents in Fengtai district, where most of the cases in Beijing have been found, are being tested for the third time since last weekend. Testing was also being carried out for residential communities and neighborhoods elsewhere in Beijing.
About 90 people commented online about the mass testing, mostly making complaints. Some said the frequent testing wasted resources, disrupted work and daily life, and burdened healthcare workers and community officials.
China reported 24 new local cases in the latest 24-hour period, including the 14 in Beijing. That was up from five cases in Beijing and 18 nationwide the previous day.
The government's zero-COVID approach attempts to snuff out any outbreak, no matter how small, with lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions.
AP
By Nicholas McElroy
Rush to save Hong Kong’s hamsters after COVID-19 outbreak
Hong Hong's leader has defended the decision to cull thousands of hamsters after a COVID-19 outbreak.
Authorities say they're asking some people to surrender their pets out of caution, but as Lauren Beldi reports, a network of volunteers is working to save as many as they can.
By Bridget Judd
With COVID spreading in regional WA, rangers are ready to assist
With COVID once again spreading in regional WA, the rangers are prepared to assist again.
In 2020, the Badgebup Aboriginal Corporation was called upon by the Katanning Shire to deliver essential household goods to elders and others in need throughout the district.
"We helped in towns delivering food, wood, helping people in their day-to-day," leading ranger John Rod says.
"We were the only crew that were doing any help in the Gnowangerup and Tambellup areas [in 2020] and since then we've grown it to help more people.
"The Noongar community and other communities in our towns aren't getting help from bigger places."
By Bridget Judd
More on those figures out of SA
As we heard during that earlier press conference, the state recorded 2,401 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths.
SA's Department of Health has now released further details:
- The COVID fatalities include a woman in her 50s, a woman in her 60s, a man and a woman in their 70s, a man and four women in their 80s and two men and two women in their 90s
- The deaths include reconciled data of death notifications from the last to weeks
- There are 288 people with COVID in hospital, including 26 in ICUs and four requiring a ventilator
- Of those hospitalised, 170 people are fully vaccinated, 44 people are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and 74 have an unknown vaccination status
By Bridget Judd
Australian navy ship docks in Tonga, supplies delivered without contact to avoid COVID transmission
Tonga has allowed an Australian navy ship to dock and offload essential supplies, despite defence members testing positive to COVID-19.
Twenty-three personnel on HMAS Adelaide have the virus, and Tonga is currently COVID free.
The ship was allowed to dock today and offload humanitarian and medical supplies.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Marise Payne says the process has been entirely contactless to avoid transmission.
By Bridget Judd
Massage therapist banned from giving advice about COVID-19 and vaccination
A woman offering massage and homeopathy services in South Australia's north has been banned from providing COVID-19 vaccination advice after posting misinformation online.
Monika Milka, who offers her services in Gawler, has been banned indefinitely following an investigation by health and community services complaints commissioner Grant Davies.
The investigation was launched following a complaint about false statements posted on Ms Milka's business Facebook page about COVID-19 and vaccines between June and July last year.
Ms Milka has been banned from providing health services regarding information about COVID-19 and vaccines, and from providing advice in relation to vaccinations generally.
By Bridget Judd
Pfizer begins testing Omicron-specific COVID shots in adults
Pfizer is enrolling healthy adults to test a reformulated COVID-19 vaccine that it says matches the hugely contagious Omicron variant, to see how it compares with the original shots.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday (local time).
The new US study will include up to 1,420 volunteers aged 18 to 55 to test the updated Omicron-based shots for use as a booster or for primary vaccinations.
Researchers will examine the tweaked vaccine’s safety and how it revs up the immune system in comparison to the original shots.
It will be months before the full study results are known because volunteers will receive multiple vaccine doses and researchers will measure how long virus-fighting antibodies will remain at high levels after an omicron-adapted dose compared to a regular booster.
“We recognise the need to be prepared in the event this protection wanes over time and to potentially help address Omicron and new variants in the future,” Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer’s vaccine research chief, said in a statement.
AP
By Bridget Judd
More on those figures out of WA
As we heard during that earlier press conference, the state has recorded 24 new local cases of COVID-19.
WA's Department of Health has now released further details:
- Nine of the new cases are linked to the growing Bunbury cluster, which now numbers 17
- In total, 13 workers at a South West construction site have tested positive. Four close contacts of workers have also tested positive
- Of the 99 close and casual contacts identified on site, 12 have tested positive, a further 73 have returned a negative result, with an additional 14 either with results pending or yet to be tested
- Many are believed to have been infectious while in the community
"The source remains under investigation by the WA Health contact and trace team," the department said in a statement.
"This cluster is expected to grow in coming days."
Known clusters
- Two are close contacts of the Coolbellup cluster, including one household contact
- Two are connected to IGA Willagee
- Three are a close contact of the Safety Bay cluster
- Two are close contacts of the Haynes cluster
Other new cases
- One is linked to a Mandurah exposure site
- One is a household contact of previously notified hotel security guard
- Two are household contacts of confirmed cases who had unknown sources in recent days (residing in Perth Hills, and Rockingham area respectively)
-
Two are from an unknown source
- One in the Rockingham area, remains under investigation
- One in the Wheatbelt, unknown source but has spent time in the Southwest and remains under investigation
Today’s figures bring WA's total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,442.
By Bridget Judd
Darwin mental health ward becomes 'red zone' after positive COVID cases
Of the 492 cases recorded in the NT today, two were recorded in the mental health ward at Royal Darwin Hospital.
NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said authorities would treat the facility as a "red zone".
"What it means is that we are minimising the contact within those wards and we're also making sure staff are wearing the appropriate PPE, and then we're utilising other parts of the hospital," she said.
"We've got further areas [where] we can care for people with mental illness that stops them potentially coming into contact with people on those wards already."
By Bridget Judd
South Korea reduces quarantine periods, expands rapid testing
South Korea has begun enforcing new COVID-19 response measures, including reduced quarantine periods and expanded rapid testing.
The change came as the nation's new cases jumped nearly 50 per cent in a day.
The 13,012 new cases were 4,400 more than the previous single-day high of 8,571 set on Tuesday.
South Korean officials say their early analysis suggests Omicron spreads more than twice as fast as the Delta variant — which saw the country’s hospitalisations and fatalities spike during a devastating winter surge — but it is also significantly less likely to cause serious illness or death.
Starting today, the quarantine period for those who test positive after being fully vaccinated has been reduced from 10 days to seven days.
Fully vaccinated people who come in close contact with positive cases will no longer be quarantined, but they will be required to report their daily health conditions to health officials before being tested within six or seven days.
Officials are also planning to treat most mild cases at home and reshape a testing regime that had been centered around PCR tests, which will now be saved mostly for people in their 60s and older or those with pre-existing medical conditions.
By Bridget Judd
'There's the concern that some people will not fair well'
Locals on the Pacific Island nation of Palau say they are deeply fearful as COVID cases there surge.
The country is battling its first outbreak since the pandemic began, with nearly 700 infections.
There are around 20,000 people on the island and resident Michelle says there is concern everyone will catch it.
"If you come from a small country and you listen to the news, for example in Melbourne or Australia where there's 20,000 cases a day, [it is worrying].
"So that's a huge concern because with COVID there's the concern that some people will not fair well and possibly pass from the disease. Its scary."
By Bridget Judd
COVID-19 vaccine booster drive faltering in US
The COVID-19 booster drive in the US is losing steam, worrying health experts who have pleaded with Americans to get an extra shot to shore up their protection against the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Just 40 per cent of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And the average number of booster shots dispensed per day in the US has plummeted from a peak of 1 million in early December to about 490,000 as of last week.
Overall, the US vaccination campaign has been sluggish. More than 13 months after it began, just 63 per cent of Americans, or 210 million people, are fully vaccinated with the initial rounds of shots.
AP
By Bridget Judd
'We don't want to have delays to elective surgery for one day longer than we need to'
That's according to SA Premier Steven Marshall.
He says the Omicron outbreak appears to have peaked in SA, and the state can look to ease elective surgery restrictions.
"I think we are at or past that peak in South Australia at the moment.
"We have got really good capacity within our hospital system.
"We don't want to have delays to elective surgery in our state for one day longer than we need to."
By Bridget Judd
COVID-positive disability workers approved to do shifts
Victoria's COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar says authorities are hopeful the state has hit the "high point" of the Omicron wave, noting hospitalisations are still "fairly stable".
The state's healthcare system is in the midst of a Code Brown emergency, which allows hospitals to cancel leave for staff and adopt more flexible workflows to cater for a critical surge in patient admissions.
Mr Weimar said three disability support workers in western Victoria who were COVID-positive were recently given approval to provide care to residents of a private home, all of whom were also infected with the virus.
He said it was the only approval or exemption he was aware of which allowed healthcare or disability workers with active infections to work shifts.
He said the positive staff, who were asymptomatic, had longstanding relationships with the COVID-positive residents and had applied for an exemption so they could continue to provide care while infected.
He said a lot of time and thought went into the exemption, which was granted due to the "exceptional" circumstances.
"Given it was a private home with only COVID-positive people in it and everybody was aware of that setting, on that one occasion our Deputy Chief Health Officer made the decision to allow that arrangement, given the controls were in place," he said.
Reporting by Joseph Dunstan
By Bridget Judd
UK research indicates healthcare workers and households with children most likely to catch COVID multiple times
Researchers in the UK have found that two-thirds of people recently infected with the Omicron variant say they have had COVID-19 before.
The findings come from a large, continuing study, with more than 2 million people tested.
The results reveal the groups that appear to be more likely to catch COVID-19 again are healthcare workers and households with children.
By Bridget Judd
Questions from the audience
Do we know how many tests were conducted in WA?
-Nic Davison
Afternoon, Nic.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said the number of tests had dropped to 8,368 yesterday, down from more than 9,000 the previous day.
By Bridget Judd
Some fast facts out of Victoria
The Victorian Department of Health has released today's COVID-19 data, which provides a breakdown of testing and vaccination figures.
Of those who reported a positive result from a rapid antigen test yesterday:
- About 63 per cent were from tests undertaken yesterday (January 25)
- About 21 per cent were from tests undertaken on January 24
Unfortunately, as we heard earlier this morning, the state recorded 35 deaths:
- They included people aged in their 40s, 50s, 70s, 80s and 90s
- It was the highest number of deaths reported so far during the Delta and Omicron outbreaks
- Twenty-one of these deaths occurred during the past two days
- This brings the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 1,885
The majority of people with COVID-19 who have died during the Delta and Omicron outbreaks have been unvaccinated:
- 53 per cent of people who died were unvaccinated compared to 1.7 per cent who had received three doses of a vaccine
- People protected with three doses made up 7 per cent of all confirmed cases diagnosed with COVID-19 over the last week. They make up more than a third of the general adult population
