Australia news live update: diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics confirmed; Morrison says Christensen should retire ‘quietly’ | Australia news

You can read our full coverage on the newly announced Australian diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games below:

A man in his 80s with Covid-19 died yesterday in the Australian Capital Territory, taking the territory’s total death toll during the pandemic to 12.

This comes as the ACT records eight new Covid-19 cases overnight.

A pause on the return of visa holders to Australia will likely end on schedule next week, the prime minister has indicated, reports AAP.

Scott Morrison said it was likely visa holders would be allowed to enter from overseas without the need for a travel exemption from December 15.

Their return was delayed by two weeks from the initial date of 1 December, following concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Morrison told reporters in Sydney on this morning:

All of the information we’re receiving points to that, it was a pause.

The Australian government will keep moving forward and I think that’s really important.

The government estimates more than 233,000 visa holders will be allowed to come into the country under the border reopening plan.

While the pause was initiated following worries about the Omicron variant, experts have indicated the new strain causes milder symptoms despite being more transmissible.

The prime minister said vaccination rates in every state and territory would likely pass 80% fully vaccinated by the end of the week, while national rates were also set to reach new milestones.

We are going into the end of this week where we are going to be very close to hitting 90 per cent double dose vaccination around the country.

That is an extraordinary achievement for Australians.

Back to Queensland for a second. The health minister, Yvette D’Ath, the second case of the Omicron variant detected in Queensland – a person in hotel quarantine who travel from South Africa – is actually a separate lineage of the virus to the other case.

Unlike the conventional Omicron variant, it doesn’t have the “S-gene drop out”.

Deputy chief health officer Peter Aitken says this strain lineage will be classified as “Omicron-like”.

We now have Omicron and Omicron-like. It’s a reminder to us all that as we open our borders this doesn’t mean that the Covid journey has finished – in many ways Covid’s journey is just starting.

Also, I think something big has just happened in the Test cricket!

Australia just got a wicket on their first ball against England and from the looks of it on Twitter this is a big deal!

If you want more knowledgeable updates about those dudes in full formal dinner attire out on the grass you can follow along on the fantastic Geoff Lemon’s Ashes live blog below:

Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath has confirmed that a Nigerian man in hotel quarantine in Cairns is infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Good news for Queensland. The state has recorded no new local cases today, despite fears that a small cluster on the Gold Coast could grow.

We should be hearing from the Queensland health minister with a Covid-19 update in about ten minutes.

This press conference was delayed by two hours, although it’s unclear if this is due to any big breaking news or just logistical reasons.

Stay tuned to find out!

Here is the clip of Scott Morrison discussing George Christensen that I mentioned earlier.