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The day in review
By Michaela Whitbourn
Good evening and thank you for reading our live coverage of the day’s events. If you’re just joining us now, here’s what you need to know:
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Tuesday.Credit:Getty
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet have continued to use the language of “personal responsibility” in response to rising coronavirus infections across the country, while a number of other states and territories have moved to mandate masks in some or all indoor settings as the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus takes hold across the globe. While Mr Perrottet so far has resisted reintroducing mask mandates, Victoria’s Acting Premier James Merlino says his state will follow the health advice and may introduce masks in more settings including potentially at the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Queensland on Tuesday.Credit:James Brickwood
Drivers queue for COVID tests at Bondi Beach on Tuesday.Credit:Anna Kucera
Dana Daniel reports that surging Omicron coronavirus infections will overwhelm the health system unless some restrictions return, according to modelling prepared for national cabinet that also recommends bringing coronavirus vaccine boosters forward. The Doherty Institute modelling predicts that without low-to-medium restrictions such as density and visitor limits, waning vaccine protection against the Omicron variant puts Australia on track to hit about 200,000 cases a day by late January or early February.
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Credit:Mark Mitchell/Getty
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is available for booster shots, as well as the Pfizer jab. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
- The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders will meet tomorrow as NSW and Victoria push for the interval between second coronavirus vaccine doses and booster shots to be shortened. Premier Dominic Perrottet wants the interval reduced from five months after a second dose to four months. Booster doses are only available to Australians aged 18 and up.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid says Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state and territory leaders showed great leadership during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and “now is not the time to step back”. “Let’s keep COVID at bay. Let’s keep numbers at reasonable levels,” Dr Khorshid said. “It is a no-brainer in the view of the AMA and in the view of many experts who have been coming out over the last few days that sensible measures that do not have significant impacts on people’s lives, like wearing masks and simple social distancing requirements and limits in indoor venues are all measures that are essential to manage Omicron.”
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has announced travellers from NSW, the ACT and Victoria no longer have to get a COVID-19 test on arrival in the state if they are asymptomatic, Cassandra Morgan reports. “We now have received advice from SA Pathology and SA Health that we can reduce the testing requirements for those people coming from interstate who do not have symptoms,” Mr Marshall said during a press conference. People from NSW, the ACT and Victoria still have to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their departure for South Australia. “At this stage the only thing we are changing is the removal of the day one compulsory test,” Mr Marshall said.
This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today. I’ll be back at 8am tomorrow.
Omicron cases could hit 200,000 a day next year without tougher restrictions, Doherty modelling warns
By Dana Daniel
Surging Omicron coronavirus infections will overwhelm the health system unless some restrictions return, according to modelling prepared for national cabinet that also recommends bringing coronavirus vaccine boosters forward.
The Doherty Institute modelling predicts that without low-to-medium restrictions such as density and visitor limits, waning vaccine protection against the Omicron variant puts Australia on track to hit about 200,000 cases a day by late January or early February.
The Doherty Institute modelling predicts that without low-to-medium restrictions, cases would reach about 200,000 a day by late January or early February.Credit:Getty Images
“Boosters alone will not be fast enough to halt the spread of Omicron,” the modelling, seen by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, says.
The modelling by a team of researchers including professors Jodie McVernon and James McCaw says rapidly growing case numbers would lift hospitalisation rates to 4000 a day. This would push emergency departments to capacity and fill the nation’s intensive care units, with between 8000 and 10,000 patients expected to be admitted to ICUs.
It assumes only baseline public health safety measures – no stay-at-home-orders, low density requirements, no retail restrictions, schools open – and the partial test, trace, isolate and quarantine responses of a strained contact tracing system.
The modelling also assumes that, in addition to being much more transmissible than the Delta variant, Omicron causes equally severe disease, stating that “all international modelling groups are using this conservative assumption”.
More than 1.5 million Australians have received a COVID vaccine booster shot
By Craig Butt
More than 1.5 million Australians - or about 6 per cent of the total population - have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, federal health department data shows.
A record 141,390 people received their third vaccine dose on Monday, compared with 34,782 people who were getting their second shot and 17,562 who were getting their first jab.
Booster shots now make up the majority of vaccines administered nationwide each day.
This graph shows how the total number of booster shots administered has increased over the course of this month.
You will notice that the graph has quite a shallow incline in the first half of this month, before it starts shooting up at a steeper gradient around the start of last week:
That increase coincides with the announcement that the recommended time between the second shot and the booster shot had been reduced from six months to five.
NSW Fire and Rescue warn of sinkhole in street in Sydney’s east
By Michaela Whitbourn
Fire and Rescue NSW has warned of a sinkhole in the middle of McCauley Street near Botany Road in Matraville in Sydney’s east.
“Multiple cars have been damaged due to its depth,” RFS said.
Two of three lanes were closed at McCauley street as a result of the “large pothole”, the state’s transport department said in a traffic update.
NSW Premier makes no change to mask rules, calls for vaccine booster interval to be shortened
By Michaela Whitbourn
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says his state will push for coronavirus vaccination booster shots to be brought forward from five months to four months after a second jab, but he has not committed to reintroducing compulsory masks in indoor settings.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will meet with state and territory leaders tomorrow as Victoria and NSW call for the interval between second and third vaccine doses to be shortened.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Monday.Credit:Anna Kucera
Australians aged 18 and up are eligible for a booster shot now if their second dose was at least five months ago.
Mr Perrottet said at a press conference in Sydney just now that he wanted to have a “constructive conversation” with national cabinet tomorrow about the booster schedule, and the state was keeping close to 40 vaccination hubs open for booster shots.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, and his state and territory counterparts, who make up the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, have advised all jurisdictions that masks should be worn in more indoor settings in response to the Omicron coronavirus variant of concern.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said earlier today the state and territory governments will make their own decisions about coronavirus restrictions but there is a “very important role for masks” in indoor settings.
But the rules across Australia remain piecemeal. Masks are mandated in some indoor settings in Victoria and Queensland, including shops, but masks are not required in most hospitality and retail settings in NSW, which is now leading the nation in new coronavirus infections.
As of today, Tasmania requires masks in all indoor settings, and the ACT will follow suit from 11.59pm tonight.
Mr Perrottet has urged residents to take “personal responsibility” after a raft of restrictions were wound back in the state last week.
He said that the state government had “always said” that as the state eased restrictions it would see an increase in COVID-19 case numbers, hospitalisations and intensive care admissions.
“We will get through this challenge too,” Mr Perrottet said.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard reiterated Mr Perrottet’s language of “personal responsibility” and said everyone in NSW needed to do their bit during the pandemic, including by getting tested if they developed COVID-19 symptoms.
Mr Hazzard said “we are obviously watching very closely at what COVID is doing” and the state was witnessing an increase in Omicron cases.
He said the state’s pathology teams were under enormous pressure as “tourism tests”, required to travel interstate, were adding to the burden on COVID-19 testing clinics.
Watch: NSW Premier addresses the media
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet held a press conference earlier this afternoon. You can watch the playback clip here.
Isolating over Christmas?
By Chloe Booker
Have you tested positive for COVID or been pinged as a close contact? Are you spending Christmas in hotel quarantine or isolating at home?
If you feel up to a chat, we’re keen to hear from you about how you’ll manage the day. Get in touch with us via the form below.
New Zealand’s phased border reopening to be delayed until end of February
By Michaela Whitbourn
New Zealand has delayed the start of its phased border reopening from 11.59pm on January 16 to the end of February next year.
The Ardern government said in a statement that the changes were aimed at slowing the “rapid spread” of coronavirus that had been seen overseas.
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Credit:AP
“There is no doubt this is disappointing and will upset many holiday plans, but it is important to set these changes out clearly today so they can have time to consider those plans.
“COVID-19 keeps throwing new curve balls and we have to respond in a way that continues to protect lives and livelihoods without putting in place restrictions and lockdowns unless absolutely necessary.
“Waiting till the end of February 2022 will increase New Zealand’s overall protection and slow Omicron’s eventual spread.”
Under the previous plan, New Zealand was set to reopen the border to fully vaccinated NZ citizens and visa holders in Australia from January 16 and fully vaccinated kiwis and visa holders anywhere else in the world on February 13. All fully vaccinated visitors including Australians would have been welcomed from April 30.
The revised timetable is not yet clear.
Under the proposed rules, travellers will not have to complete two weeks in government-run quarantine but will instead be required to spend seven days in home quarantine.
All travellers will require a negative pre-departure coronavirus test, and tests on day zero and one on arrival. They must also have a final negative test before leaving isolation.
New Zealand recorded 28 new cases of COVID-19 today, 21 of which were in Auckland.
Morrison government ‘rapidly losing control of this growing fourth wave’, Labor Opposition says
By Michaela Whitbourn
Federal Labor MP Mark Butler, the shadow health minister, has accused the Morrison government of losing control of a growing fourth wave of coronavirus infections as the highly transmissible Omicron strain takes hold.
As Dana Daniel, Lucy Carroll and Timna Jacks report, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, and his state and territory counterparts have advised all jurisdictions to mandate masks in indoor settings across the country.
Tasmania has already taken that step, while the ACT follows suit at 11.59pm tonight. Victoria and Queensland require masks in some indoor settings, such as shops. NSW has scrapped mask mandates in most settings, including shops.
Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler.Credit:
“Masks should be mandated in all indoor settings including retail, hospitality when not eating or drinking, and entertainment facilities,” the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, headed by Professor Kelly, said in advice to the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders.
Mr Morrison said today that a “strong recommendation” to wear masks in indoor settings was “very sensible” but added that “Australians don’t have to be told by governments how to live” and “we have to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility”.
He said the states and territories had “total authority when it comes to public health orders” in any case.
“Australians are responsible people who care about their own health, whether it’s sun smart behaviour or COVID, or any other element of their health and they really care about those they love and they care about their communities,” Mr Morrison said at a press conference in Queensland today.
Mr Butler said the Prime Minister was “rapidly losing control of this growing fourth wave directed by and driven by the new Omicron variant”.
“Australians, as we lead into Christmas, are confronting hours in queues to wait to get tested, days to get the results and one of the slowest booster rollouts in the world.
“We have a government in Canberra increasingly in denial, complete denial about the gravity of the situation. This morning, Scott Morrison has ... repeatedly refused to back in the clearest possible [terms] public health advice from his own Chief Medical Officer and all of the other chief health officers around the country to reintroduce mandates for mask wearing in indoor activities.
“Bizarrely, [he compared] mask wearing during a global pandemic to sunscreen. This departure from adherence to public health advice by the nation’s Prime Minister is a dangerous development.”
NSW, which has the most relaxed restrictions in the country, reported 3057 new COVID-19 cases today, an increase from 2501 on Monday and a new daily record.
Mask mandate returns indoors in Canberra over Christmas and New Year
By Katina Curtis and Michaela Whitbourn
The ACT has become the latest jurisdiction to reimpose a mask mandate indoors in response to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
From 11.59pm tonight, masks will be required in all indoor settings in Canberra other than homes, including shops, public transport, cafes, bars and restaurants, and indoor workplaces. As of today, masks are also mandatory in all indoor settings in Tasmania.
ACT Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
At this stage, the requirement for masks will be in place over Christmas and New Year in the national capital.
Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry said at least half the active cases in the ACT were the new variant.
“With this variant taking hold in NSW wearing masks indoors is a simple way that Canberrans can help control the spread of this virus,” she said.
“I know that it’s tough for all of us to be seeing more restrictions as we come into the Christmas and festive season.”
The ACT has also reinstated restrictions on the number of visitors to aged care facilities.
ACT Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said there had been a significant increase in new cases over the past week and the “unexpected emergency” and risk posed by Omicron required some stronger restrictions.
There were 16 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the ACT on Tuesday, bringing the number of active cases up to 124. Three of these people are in hospital but none are in intensive care.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, and his state and territory counterparts, who make up the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, have advised all jurisdictions that masks should be worn in more indoor settings.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said earlier today the state and territory governments will make their own decisions about coronavirus restrictions but there is a “very important role for masks” in indoor settings.
But the rules across Australia remain piecemeal. Masks are mandated in some indoor settings in Victoria and Queensland, including shops, but masks are not required in most hospitality and retail settings in NSW, which is now leading the nation in new coronavirus infections.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has urged residents to take “personal responsibility” after a raft of restrictions were wound back in the state last week.
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2021-12-21 06:33:31Z
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