New Victorian daily Covid case record with 3767 infections; state to provide free rapid antigen tests

Daniel Andrews has received his booster jab while on holiday, sharing a photo of his vaccination on social media. It comes as health authorities flagged a plan to make rapid antigen tests available for free.

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Millions of rapid antigen tests will arrive in Victoria in coming days, with plans to make them available for free.

Health Minister Martin Foley said Victoria had secured an order of 34 million rapid antigen tests to support the changing response to the pandemic.

He said the tests should and would be made free and widely available.

In a jab at the Morrison government, the health minister said the state government was working now on how to roll these tests out more broadly.

“That will be part of a process that has fallen to the states. We would much prefer a national approach … failing that, as per usual the states have had to step up,” Mr Foley said.

He later added: “If I had to commentate endlessly on the areas in which the commonwealth hasn’t stood up and delivered national leadership on so many areas over the course of this pandemic, I’d be sounding like a broken record.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will briefly return from leave to attend the national cabinet on Thursday.

It is the second time he has had to change his holiday plans to attend the meeting, after making an appearance before Christmas to discuss the surge of cases and strains on testing sites.

A huge shipment of rapid antigen tests is set to arrive in Victoria to help keep the state on top of the Omicron outbreak. Picture: Getty Images

Victoria on Tuesday set another daily record for Covid cases, with 3767 reported to have the virus in the past 24 hours.

It comes amid surging numbers in other states, including in NSW where the daily figure set a new national record of 11,201 cases.

In Victoria, five lives were lost and there are 19,994 active infections across the state.

The number of people in intensive care — 62 — and in hospital — 397 — has remained stable.

Authorities tested more than 75,000 people on Tuesday.

It comes after the state reported a record 2738 new Covid infections on Tuesday – the highest daily figure of the pandemic after 2243 cases were detected on October 14.

DAN RECIEVES BOOSTER JAB

Premier Daniel Andrews has received his booster jab while on holiday, sharing a photo of his vaccination on social media.

In a post on Twitter, Mr Andrews revealed he had received his third dose and encouraged others to do the same.

“It’s good to set a resolution or two you’ll actually tick off,” the post reads.

“Put your third dose on the list.”

Premier Daniel Andrews urged Victorians to book their booster jabs.

“Big thanks to Denise and all of Victoria’s healthcare workers keeping our vaccination and testing centres running through the holiday season.”

It comes as Mr Andrews will return to work briefly to attend a snap national cabinet meeting on Thursday.

New definitions of close Covid contacts will be discussed along with rapid antigen testing and removing pressure of strained PCR centres.

PUSH TO CUT ISOLATION PERIOD

Australia’s chief health officers are reportedly considering cutting the isolation period for people who test positive to Covid-19.

It comes after health agencies in the US and the UK reduced the time of isolation requirements for Covid-infected people.

The new Australian recommendations will likely be presented to National Cabinet in 2022, Nine Newspapers reports.

It comes amid reports in The Australian that people who contract Covid-19 but are asymptomatic would be required to isolate for only five days under a proposal favoured by some NSW government officials, including the Premier, as part of an overhaul of the state’s quarantine protocols.

NSW Health has also quietly revamped its contact tracing ­regime for close contacts of Covid-19 cases, removing the requirement for them to isolate for seven days.

Close contacts only need to isolate until they receive a negative PCR test, officials confirmed.

As NSW anticipates soaring case numbers, senior government officials are looking at strategies for how the state should respond to the Omicron variant and a rapid rise in ­infections next year.

One proposal would include easing isolation requirements for those who contract the virus to preserve the running of small businesses and limit disruption to the broader economy, The Australian reports.

There were heavy queues at a Covid-19 testing site in Albert Park. Picture: David Crosling

TIP TO DODGING MASSIVE TESTING QUEUES

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton is “kindly” asking travellers heading interstate to get swabbed in the afternoon as the state’s overwhelmed testing system struggles to keep up with demand.

Prof Sutton said that while the travellers were following the interstate rules, “PCR testing for interstate travel is not the most efficient use of testing resources”.

“We kindly ask people who are getting a PCR test for travel purposes to get tested after 12pm daily,” he said in his daily update.

“This will help reduce testing demand for symptomatic people and contacts during the busier morning period.”

The state’s besieged testing system has been thrown into further disarray, with a device that processes PCR tests having broken down.

The Herald Sun is aware of some people been forced to isolate for more than three days while they await their results, including a new father.

Brett Sutton has urged travellers to get tested after midday. Picture: David Crosling

The Melbourne man reportedly missed the birth of his son, according to his sister, Kristen Ridgway, who said on social media: “They would not let him in the hospital without a negative PCR result. Result still not in and he is still (36 hours later) yet to meet his son.”

The Department of Health confirmed the PCR test analyser, used by pathology company 4 Cyte, was broken but said public and private testing laboratories had access to many others.

Authorities also said the breakdown was not having a “significant impact on turnaround times”, instead blaming interstate testing requirements for the increased demand.

While South Australia has dumped its requirement for interstate travellers to have returned a negative PCR test, Tasmania and Queensland have so far refused.

The sunshine state announced on Tuesday that while travellers would no longer need a day five test.

Acting Premier Jacinta Allan said the system had been put under “immense pressure”, with 362,000 tests processed over the five-day Christmas period.

Almost 67,000 tests were processed on Monday, but Ms Allan said “a lot of that strain has been brought about by other states’ decisions”.

By 8.30am on Tuesday, about a dozen testing sites had temporarily closed because they were “over capacity”, while two were estimating waiting times of up to two hours.

It comes amid a push from healthcare and business figures for the state to roll out rapid tests in wider settings to cut down the time people were forced to spend in isolation.

Ms Allan said she appreciated that in some individual cases, “there are some really challenging circumstances”.

Josh Frydenberg urged the state governments to “dig into their pockets” and fund rapid tests, but the state government on Tuesday said they had no announcements about the alternate testing method.

The federal Treasurer said the Commonwealth was “looking through our options” to make the tests free to all, but added: “We want the states obviously to also do their fair share.”

Australian Industry Group Victorian head Tim Piper said governments should immediately introduce the acceptance of rapid tests in the workplace to enable fewer “unnecessary isolations”.

“Businesses find it difficult to maintain sufficient staff numbers and in some cases are being forced to temporarily close,” he said.

“This has an impact on the consumer and on the supply chain which is totally reliant on having staff available. This affects supply chains and threatens to impact on the general community even more than it is now.”