Australia Covid live news update: national cabinet meets as testing centres overwhelmed; NSW records 3,763 new cases, Victoria 1,503 cases | Australia news

The A-League Males’s recreation in Newcastle on Boxing Day will probably be behind closed doorways.

From Sydney, Perth and Adelaide festivals to main exhibits, tickets make nice last-minute items. However they may be a roll of the cube.

A ticket to an enormous present, a blockbuster exhibition or a summer time arts competition makes a great last-minute Christmas present.

However the present wave of Covid – pushed by the Omicron variant – isn’t going anywhere, and the cancellations are already starting.

Yesterday Steph reported on the Covid outbreak among the many Come From Away solid – they’re closing for longer now.

RATs are actually the high fashion of the pandemic. Influential however completely overpriced.

I do know this in all probability looks like an excessive amount of to deal with for a lot of Victorians however like – nobody needs to be sick over Christmas. Wash ya palms.

A well timed reminder – for many who may even get their palms on one.

Australian pharmacists are calling on state and territory governments to urgently reinstate Covid-19 mitigation measures like masks mandates, QR check-in codes and density limits to guard public well being as an infection charges spiral uncontrolled throughout the nation, significantly in NSW.

Skilled Pharmacists Australia president Geoff March mentioned that the alarming spike in Covid-19 case numbers was turning into a significant public well being disaster and mitigation measures had been urgently wanted.

“Australia’s pharmacists are on the frontline within the battle towards Covid and supply providers, together with vaccination, that are basically essential to defending the group’s well being,” March mentioned.

“The spiralling Covid-19 case numbers throughout Australia, however significantly in NSW, put the well being of pharmacists and their prospects, a lot of whom are aged and immunocompromised, in danger.”

Early indications are that the Omicron variant is as much as 5 instances extra infectious than Delta, however not essentially much less extreme, he mentioned.

“It additionally seems that even totally vaccinated Australians have solely low safety towards the brand new pressure, that means that just about everybody who hasn’t had their booster is prone to an infection,” March mentioned.

“Now’s completely not the time to be abolishing necessary mask-wearing in retail and indoor areas, a measure that has been scientifically confirmed to decelerate COVID transmission.

“We urge all state and territory governments, significantly in NSW to instantly reinstate necessary mask-wearing in indoor areas to decelerate the unfold of the virus and to guard public well being.”

He additionally referred to as for the state to reinstate QR check-in codes.

NSW Labor goes exhausting on free speedy antigen testing this afternoon.

Chris Minns, NSW Labor chief, mentioned he was calling on the federal government to supply extra RATs to maintain up with demand and distribute these free of charge, significantly as individuals had been going away for the vacations.

Many individuals throughout NSW are merely attempting to do the precise factor by their households and communities, and wish to get a take a look at for peace of thoughts, or earlier than a household gathering.

A free speedy antigen take a look at will present peace of thoughts to many and it’ll additionally liberate some capability at PCR testing websites.

We will’t have a scenario the place individuals get a PCR and clog up the system just because they couldn’t afford or couldn’t find a speedy take a look at.

Something that helps hardworking healthcare employees course of PCR checks extra shortly and ease the backlog and queues is a wise transfer and worthy of consideration.

We’ve bought some extra data on the 56 instances in NZ at this time. That is from AAP:

All instances had been on the North Island, with 33 in Auckland and 11 within the Bay of Loads together with one in poorly vaccinated Murupara.

The Wellington case lately visited the Lakes district, centred on Rotorua, and a string of retail locations in Decrease and Higher Hutt from Saturday earlier than their constructive take a look at on Tuesday.

Wellington final recorded a case in November, which was later believed to be historic, with the earlier instances in August at the beginning of the Delta outbreak.

Wastewater testing outcomes from the Hutt Valley confirmed a constructive end result – as have a string of locations that are but to return constructive instances, suggesting undetected group transmission in Napier, Whitianga, Dargaville and Gisborne.

On Wednesday, 51 individuals had been receiving therapy in hospital, together with seven in intensive care.

NZ is intent on attempting to cease the Omicron variant from getting into the group, pushing again plans to permit totally vaccinated Kiwis to self-isolate on arrival from Australia.

Hey everybody – that is Cait Kelly. First, an enormous due to Caitlin Cassidy, who has accomplished a fantastic job this morning.

We’re going to start out the afternoon with an unconfirmed report the NSW authorities is contemplating charging people who find themselves unvaccinated for his or her hospital stays.

Ray Hadley dropped this bomb on his show earlier however mentioned he didn’t understand how the premier felt about it.

“It’s a somewhat radical transfer put ahead by cupboard ministers,” Hadley mentioned.

“I don’t know the place Perrottet sits with it for the time being however he actually has forwarded the problem to Brad Hazzard.”

With that, I’ll cross you onto Cait Kelly, who will hold you firm into the night.

Sydney’s iconic Imperial Resort has made the choice to shut till 29 December attributable to escalating Covid numbers. Cafe Fredas in Darlinghurst made the identical announcement earlier at this time.

An enormous blow for hospitality venues hoping for a powerful finish to the yr.

The NSW Labor party is looking for speedy antigen checks to be freely obtainable within the state, to alleviate strain on testing centres.

Little bit of tennis information. Craig Tiley is “assured” Nadal will probably be in Melbourne to play on the Australian Open. However Novak Djokovic will want a medical exemption from ATAGI, or a vaccination. “It’s his alternative”.