As it happened: NSW records 25,168 new local COVID-19 cases, 46 deaths in state’s deadliest day since start of pandemic; WA delays border reopening over Omicron fears

Good afternoon and thank you for reading our coverage of the day’s events. If you are just joining us now, here’s what you need to know:

• West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has defended his decision to delay reopening the state to the rest of Australia over fears lagging booster rates will cause the Omicron coronavirus variant to spread. Mr McGowan’s decision was criticised by business groups, including major employer and industry associations Ai Group and the Business Council of Australia, and Australians who have had to delay seeing family again. Mr McGowan said measures such as the border closure had saved the state from massive death and hospitalisation rates and economic damage. He would not give a timeline for when the border would reopen, saying any changes would be subject to a review. The Labor leader said the extra time will allow for more children to be vaccinated, more rapid antigen tests to be obtained, and more hospital beds to become available.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has delayed his state’s reopening date.Credit: WAtoday

• WA’s decision was backed by federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese but criticised by the Morrison government and the Australian Medical Association. AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said there was no doubt public hospitals and GPs in WA did not feel ready for Omicron, but there was also “little confidence that anything will change in coming weeks and months”.

• NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said Friday was a “difficult day for our state” as health authorities reported a record 46 COVID-related deaths, but there are “reassuring signs” on hospital admissions. Mary Ward reports that modelling released by NSW Health two weeks ago presented three possible peaks for the state’s hospitalisation and intensive care numbers. The best-case scenario – modelled on outbreaks in London and Gauteng – would see a peak of 270 intensive care beds and 3158 ward beds needed for COVID-positive patients. There were 2743 COVID-positive people in hospital and 209 in intensive care today, down from 2781 and 212 yesterday and 2863 and 217 on Wednesday. The state recorded 25,168 new infections today, down on yesterday’s total of 30,825 cases.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet at today’s COVID-19 update.Credit: Renee Nowytarger

• NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says there are likely to be high numbers of deaths from COVID-19 recorded over the coming weeks, due to the lag between diagnosis and death. Of the record 46 deaths reported today, seven were recorded before this week and had been determined to be COVID-19 deaths following coronial investigations.
• Health authorities have confirmed a baby with COVID-19 died in regional NSW last month, Daniella White reports. The Hunter New England Local Health District said the young infant, who had tested positive for the virus, passed away at a local hospital in December. “Given uncertainties as to the cause of death, the case has been referred to the Coroner,” a spokesperson said. It’s believed the baby’s death is the youngest COVID-19 fatality recorded in NSW. It comes after a three-year-old with a rare genetic condition died with COVID-19 earlier in the month.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant. Credit: Nick Moir

• Victoria recorded 18,167 new COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths. Yesterday, the state reported 21,966 official cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths. There were 1206 people in Victorian hospitals yesterday with the virus. Of those, 122 cases were in intensive care. Today, Victoria’s Health Department is reporting 1096 cases in hospital, 121 of whom are in intensive care.

• Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas says the state would provide time off for public sector employees to get their third vaccine dose and challenged the private sector to follow suit. The policy would mean 300,000 people would be given time off to get vaccinated against COVID-19. State employees will have up to half a day, including travel time, to get vaccinated.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit: Simon Schluter

• Another 13 people died from COVID-19 in Queensland as the state recorded 16,031 new cases today, Stuart Layt reports. The state’s death toll now stands at 85. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state would reach a peak of Omicron cases in the coming weeks and encouraged “our elderly and more vulnerable people in our community to think about limiting their movements”. She also urged Queenslanders aged 18 and up to roll up their sleeves for their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
• Ms Palaszczuk said the interval between second and third doses would drop from four months to three months from Monday at state-run vaccination hubs. That interval has also been cut to three months in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT. Under the federal government’s booster timetable, the interval between second and third doses was due to be cut to three months from January 31. While Queensland GPs and pharmacies can opt to wait until January 31 to accelerate their booster timetable, they can follow the state’s lead if they have vaccine supplies available.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.Credit: Matt Dennien

• South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said the state may have reached its peak of COVID-19 cases, as the state recorded 3023 new infections, with a drop in active cases to 31,582, and six deaths, on Friday. More people were in hospital with COVID-19, Mr Marshall said, with 298 in hospital and 33 in intensive care. The government is also planning to allow 25 per cent of public sector employees to return to the office from January 27, and 40 per cent of school students to return to face-to-face learning from February 2.
• In other news, Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has ruled out military involvement as part of Australia’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Senator Payne said this was not about direct military support, but about working “closely” with Ukraine after Russia recently deployed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border, sparking fears of an imminent invasion.

The AFP is investigating allegations of price gouging by people re-selling RATs.Credit: Justin McManus

• More than 15,000 Afghan refugees will be re-settled in Australia during the next four years amid the ongoing fallout from the United States-led coalition withdrawal from region after more than 20 years of conflict, Rob Harris reports. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke on Friday said the Australian government would provide thousands more visas for Afghan nationals through its humanitarian and family visa program. More than 100,000 Afghan citizens have applied for humanitarian visas in Australia as the situation in the country verged towards an economic and humanitarian catastrophe.

• Australia will significantly ease its COVID-19 testing requirements for inbound travellers in a major overhaul of how the country manages international travel during the pandemic.
  The Federal Department of Health is finalising substantial changes to give returning travellers the option of completing a rapid antigen test (RAT) within 24 hours before their flight, rather than having to take an expensive PCR test within three days as is currently required.

• Skin-fold tests would go, the term “physique” would be banned and quotas for women coaches would be implemented among recommendations made by an independent report into Swimming Australia’s treatment of girls and women released on Friday. The report urges SA to modernise its coaching regime to “challenge the misinformed view that lean body mass predicts performance” and to provide “training in using humanising and non-objectifying language in managing body image concerns”, Greg Baum reported.

• Federal police have launched investigations into rapid antigen test price gouging, warning individuals and businesses re-selling COVID-19 tests for 20 per cent more than the original retail purchase price face up to five years’ prison. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced earlier this month that the government had introduced new offences cracking down on people selling RATs for more than 120 per cent of the price they paid a retailer.

This is Tammy Mills signing off on the blog for today. Thanks for reading.

Swimming Australia president and former Olympic superstar Kieren Perkins has called for the sport to abandon a damaging, debunked obsession with body weight and shape and said that coaches who could not adapt should look for another career.

Speaking upon the partial release of a confronting SA-commissioned report that recommends the abolition of skinfold tests, a ban on the word “physique” and a quota for women coaches for a sport in which girls and women are a majority, Perkins said what struck him was how little had changed since his heyday late last century.

Swimming Australia president, Kieren Perkins.Credit: Getty

“It felt like a retelling of my childhood and experiences in our sport, but it’s not historic,” Perkins said. “It’s a today report. These things are occurring in our sport today. It’s very much about mental abuse and coercive control on the transition from being a child to a young adult. There is obviously a lot of focus still on body composition.”

Perkins said it surprised him that aspiring swimmers still were weighed and did skinfold tests publicly, on the pool-deck.

“At an elite level, we need to have a dialogue about whether it’s relevant or not,” Perkins said.

“But when you’re talking about development and the broader system in Australia, you have to seriously question whether they have any impact on an athlete’s performance and career? Is it reasonable or relevant to focus on these things as someone transitions from being a child to a young adult?

The catalyst for the report was a series of social media posts last June from Olympian Madeline Groves, who withdrew from the Tokyo Olympic trials “as a lesson to misogynistic perverts and their bootlickers”.

Read the full story here.

Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas says he was surprised when Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan announced another delay to the state’s border opening.

Speaking on Melbourne radio station 3AW this afternoon, Mr Zempilas said the move was “uncharacteristic” of the Premier.

Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas.Credit: Peter de Kruijff

“[To have a] 7.30pm announcement on a Thursday night is unusual anyway,” he said.

“It was clear that over the last week or so, with a delay in the roadmap being produced for the February 5 reopening, that there was some hesitation and perhaps some rethinking, and then last night, we got it.

“I am surprised because the Premier clearly enunciated a date five weeks ago … and then last night, he changed that call, and that has been uncharacteristic from the Premier.”

Mr Zempilas emphasised there was a lot of people in Western Australia who supported the decision not to reopen, however, “there is a growing number who are frustrated and were disappointed by last night’s announcement”.

Mr McGowan flagged a third dose target of 80 to 90 per cent and “a whole range of things” would be required before Western Australia would reconsider reopening to the rest of the world.

The Lord Mayor said he did not think the state would reopen in time for the start of the AFL season.

“There’s no way that football can now get extra concessions to be allowed to fly in and fly out,” he said.

“Now, in the grand scheme of things, well, they can suck it up - they’re highly paid professional footballers - but on a personal, individual level, young footballers being away from their partners and perhaps young children, that’s going to be very difficult.

“It’s the least of the Premier’s concerns. It is a consideration, it’s not the major consideration.”

With the press conference in WA ending, we will switch back over to Victoria now, where as we reported earlier, another 20 people have died with COVID-19.

Those who had died were a mix of ages, including in their 50s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and aged 100 or more.

Their deaths bring the total number in the state since the pandemic began to 1771.

Of Victoria’s 18,167 new COVID-19 cases, 8144 were self-reported from positive rapid antigen tests.

Of the people who reported their positive rapid results, about 62 per cent took their tests on Thursday, while about 19 per cent took their tests on Wednesday.

The remainder of people took their tests over the previous five days.

WA Premier Marc McGowan says the safety of the state, and the health of the state’s economy, is due to the measures such as the border closure.

Mr McGowan announced on Thursday he would indefinitely delay the reopening of the state’s border, citing the damage Omicron has caused to states such as New South Wales.

He said there were massive death rates, huge hospitalisation rates, economic disruption, people staying home from work and children not going to school in other parts of Australia.

“Now, here, we’re not going through that,” he said.

“So what we’re trying to do is put in place some measures that will protect us as best we can.”

He said the border was not completely closed, with exemptions granting people travel back to the state on, for example, compassionate grounds.

The Premier also announced a mask mandate for indoor and outdoor public events on Australia Day next week.

Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson said the decision to delay the reopening of Western Australia’s border would save lives.

“The right decisions are not always the easy ones,” Mr Olson said.

Mark McGowan during today’s press conference.Credit: Peter de Kruijff

He said the health system was not ready for an Omicron surge.

“We have the time and now the mechanism to recruit nurses and midwives from interstate,” Mr Olson said.

“We have the time to work out and implement what will be expected from patients using the WA health system with regard to COVID and vaccine status.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan said he had been receiving “a lot of criticism” for delaying the reopening, which had been set for February 5.

“Now, I’m getting a lot of criticism, we got a lot of criticism. What we’re trying to do is save lives and save jobs at the same time,” he said.

“And a lot of people say oh, we should be living with COVID. Well, there’s 752 people in the states who are no longer living with COVID. You should ask their families about that. About whether that’s the right approach, whether we should deliberately infecting large numbers Western Australia.“

Mr McGowan said the state’s hospital system was “as ready as it can be”.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has refused to be drawn on when he might consider opening up the WA borders during a press conference this afternoon.

“We’re going to have a review and obviously Western Australia will open at some point in time, subject to the results of that review,” he said.

Asked what he will do with the extra time delaying opening has bought, Mr McGowan said more children would be vaccinated, more rapid antigen tests will be obtained, and more hospital beds will become available.

He said when he announced the opening date of February 5, it was contingent on there being no emergency or catastrophe.

“Now what’s going on in the eastern states is both an emergency and a catastrophe,” Mr McGowan said.

The day after announcing a borders backflip by delaying the opening of his state, WA Premier Mark McGowan has pointed to the success of his strict borders strategy.

During a press conference this afternoon, Mr McGowan said thousands of Australians were in hospital with COVID-19 elsewhere, but nobody in WA was ill enough with the virus to require hospitalisation.

Mark McGowan arrives at the state’s press conference on Friday.Credit: Peter de Kruijff

“Sadly today, Australia has reported 88 deaths across the country, including 46 in New South Wales alone,” he said.

“This is absolutely devastating news for so many families across the country. Our thoughts are with them. It’s a heartbreaking...Omicron is dangerous and it’s serious.”

He said WA needed to take every precaution available.

The Premier also announced seven new community COVID cases had been detected.

Mr McGowan said there were now multiple clusters within the community, with a total of 151 Omicron cases. Of the active cases, no one was in hospital.

Mr McGowan said testing numbers were not high enough, and called on more people in the community to seek a COVID-19 test.

He said 89 per cent of West Australians had received a second dose, while 27.2 per cent have a third dose.

In the space of four weeks, the booster rate rose from 4.5 per cent.

Mr McGowan announced on Thursday night that the February 5 reopening date would be put on hold, suggesting a third vaccine dose target of 80 to 90 per cent would be required before he would consider reopening the state to the rest of the world.

Australia will significantly ease its COVID-19 testing requirements for inbound travellers in a major overhaul of how the country manages international travel during the pandemic.

The Federal Department of Health is finalising substantial changes to give returning travellers the option of completing a rapid antigen test (RAT) within 24 hours before their flight, rather than having to take an expensive PCR test within three days as is currently required.

The Federal Government is set to significantly ease international travel requirements.Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

Travellers who catch COVID-19 overseas will, meanwhile, have the wait time slashed from 14 days before they can fly home to seven days, according to multiple well-placed sources who were not authorised to speak publicly about the changes before their official announcement.

The Department of Health, in conjunction with Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly, have recommended the overhaul including accepting RATs but Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt is yet to make a final decision. Mr Hunt is expected to make an announcement on Friday night ahead of implementation on Sunday morning.

Read the full story here.

WA Premier Mark McGowan is set to hold a press conference, expected to start at 4.15pm, after announcing last night the state would delay its border reopening.

You can watch the press conference live below.