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

Australian pharmacists are calling on State and Territory Government’s to urgently reinstate COVID-19 mitigation measures like mask mandates, QR check-in codes and density limits to protect public health as infection rates spiral out of control across the country, particularly in NSW.

Professional Pharmacists Australia President Geoff March said that the alarming spike in COVID-19 case numbers was fast becoming a major public health crisis and mitigation measures were urgently needed.

“Australia’s pharmacists are on the front line in the war against COVID and provide services, including vaccination, which are fundamentally important to protecting the community’s health,” March said.

“The spiraling COVID-19 case numbers across Australia, but particularly in NSW put the health of pharmacists and their customers, many of whom are elderly and immunocompromised, at risk.”

Early indications are that the Omicron variant is up to five times more infectious than Delta, but not necessarily less severe, he said.

“It also appears that even fully vaccinated Australians have only low protection against the new strain, meaning that almost everyone who hasn’t had their booster is at risk of infection,” March said.

“Now is absolutely not the time to be abolishing mandatory mask-wearing in retail and indoor areas, a measure that has been scientifically proven to slow down COVID transmission.

“We urge all State and Territory governments, particularly in NSW to immediately reinstate mandatory mask-wearing in indoor areas to slow down the spread of the virus and to protect public health.”

He also called for the state to reinstate QR check-in codes.

NSW Labor is going hard on free rapid antigen testing this afternoon.

Chris Minns, NSW Labor leader, said he was calling on the government to source more RATs to keep up with demand and distribute these for free, particularly as people were going away for the holidays.

Many people across NSW are simply trying to do the right thing by their families and communities, and want to get a test for peace of mind, or before a family gathering.

A free rapid antigen test will provide peace of mind to many and it will also free up some capacity at PCR testing sites.

We can’t have a situation where people get a PCR and clog up the system simply because they couldn’t afford or couldn’t locate a rapid test.

Anything that helps hardworking healthcare staff process PCR tests more quickly and ease the backlog and queues is a sensible move and worthy of consideration.

We’ve got some more info on the 56 cases in NZ today. This is from AAP:

All cases were on the North Island, with 33 in Auckland and 11 in the Bay of Plenty including one in poorly vaccinated Murupara.

The Wellington case recently visited the Lakes district, centred on Rotorua, and a string of retail places in Lower and Upper Hutt from Saturday before their positive test on Tuesday.

Wellington last recorded a case in November, which was later believed to be historical, with the previous cases in August at the start of the Delta outbreak.

Wastewater testing results from the Hutt Valley showed a positive result – as have a string of places which are yet to return positive cases, suggesting undetected community transmission in Napier, Whitianga, Dargaville and Gisborne.

On Wednesday, 51 people were receiving treatment in hospital, including seven in intensive care.

NZ is intent on trying to stop the Omicron variant from entering the community, pushing back plans to allow fully vaccinated Kiwis to self-isolate on arrival from Australia.

Hello everyone – this is Cait Kelly. First, a big thanks to Caitlin Cassidy, who has done a great job this morning.

We’re going to start the afternoon with an unconfirmed report the NSW government is considering charging people who are unvaccinated for their hospital stays.

Ray Hadley dropped this bomb on his show earlier but said he did not know how the premier felt about it.

“It’s a rather radical move put forward by cabinet ministers,” Hadley said.

“I don’t know where Perrottet sits with it at the moment but he certainly has forwarded the issue to Brad Hazzard.”

With that, I will pass you onto Cait Kelly, who will keep you company into the evening.

Sydney’s iconic Imperial Hotel has made the decision to close until 29 December due to escalating Covid numbers. Cafe Fredas in Darlinghurst made the same announcement earlier today.

A huge blow for hospitality venues hoping for a strong end to the year.

The NSW Labor party is calling for rapid antigen tests to be freely available in the state, to alleviate pressure on testing centres.

Bit of tennis news. Craig Tiley is “confident” Nadal will be in Melbourne to play at the Australian Open. But Novak Djokovic will need a medical exemption from ATAGI, or a vaccination. “It’s his choice”.