Live: All the COVID news you need from across Australia

By Jessica Riga

COVID figures and press conference times

NSW: 5,612 new cases, 382 in hospital, 1 death

Victoria: 2,095 new cases, 397 in hospital, 8 deaths

Queensland: 10am AEST press conference

Tasmania: 27 new cases, 21 in a medi-hotel

Tasmania records 27 new COVID cases

Tasmania has recorded 27 new COVID-19 cases, a new daily record.

There are now 79 active cases in the state. 37 are being monitored at home, 21 are in a medi-hotel.

1 person is in hospital, after being admitted for an unrelated medical condition.

Case numbers ‘not the most important thing,’ but people ‘shouldn’t hesitate’ to get their booster, CHO says

“We have been saying, the minister and myself, the prime minister and others, have been saying for quite some time: cases are not the most important thing at the moment,” Professor Kelly says.

“The vast majority of those cases are mild or asymptomatic. However, we have talked about transmission and so what we’re seeing in other parts of the world is a doubling rate of cases every two or three days and that is what we’re seeing here.

“We’re not seeing that same sort of increase in hospitalisations or ICU and I think they’re the most important metrics for people to look at.

“People should be alert to this, take it — particularly with this announcement today. Make that booking in the New Year to get that booster if you’re becoming eligible in the New Year period. If you’re eligible now, don’t hesitate, get it today.”

Does this mean four jabs a year going forward?

“In terms of the future, that’s the future,” Professor Kelly says. “Let’s deal with this booster at the moment. This is related to the changes from the Omicron variant.

“What happens in the future with future variants, if they come, that’s a matter for the future but we’re certainly looking at that very closely.”

Mr Hunt says it’s only been four weeks since we’ve known about Omicron. 

“The world has learnt a lot, particularly the combination of effectively more transmissible but less severe. And that’s an evolution that the epidemiologists have explained. It’s not uncommon in relation to the course of a virus and so we have adapted as we have had that information,” Mr Hunt says.

There are two reasons for bringing forward the booster doses, says CHO

“The first one … is to protect those that are most at risk of severe disease. They remain our priority. Protecting people against severe disease remains our priority,” Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly says. 

“The second reason is because boosters at this stage can help about the transmission of the virus.

“[Boosters] will be an important and is already becoming an important part of our control of the current Omicron wave in Australia. “

Decision to narrow booster time frame ‘out of an abundance of caution’, says Hunt

“These dates have been set out of an abundance of caution to give Australians early continued protection,” Mr Hunt sayd.

“The advice we have is that the protection as it is very strong against severe illness, but what we’ll see is a much stronger protection against transmission.”

COVID vaccine boosters brought forward to four months after second dose

Australians will be eligible to receive their COVID-19 booster shot four months after their second vaccine, with the change to come into effect from January 4.

“On the basis of advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, it’s no surprise we will be bringing forward the eligibility for the booster dose to four months as of 4 January,” Health Minister Greg Hunt says. 

“The planning behind that is that will open up a new cohort. Currently that means that we will go from about 3.2 million people who are eligible today to approximately 7.5 million who will be eligible as 4 January. That means that the cohort has expanded.”

From the end of January the interval will change again, meaning people will be eligible three months after their second dose.

“It will be expanded again on the 31st of January to three months and that will take it out to 16 million Australians who will be eligible at that point in time.”

Australia to pass the 2 million booster mark this morning

Health Minister Greg Hunt says 192,000 booster doses were administered yesterday.

He’s confident Australia will reach 2 million booster doses being administered so far this morning.

The national COVID update has started

Here’s where you can watch Greg Hunt and Paul Kelly’s COVID update

Queensland to provide a COVID update at 10:00am AEST

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard will provide a COVID update. 

We’ll be getting a COVID update from Health Minister Greg Hunt and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly at 9:30am AEDT

All the key updates will be here in the blog. 

Christmas Eve travellers in Victoria face delays as airline crew forced into isolation

Qantas and Jetstar say many of their frontline staff are in isolation, disrupting some Christmas Eve services.

At least three domestic flights departing Melbourne Airport have been cancelled at short notice this morning.

The airline group says it’s working hard to get affected passengers on comparable flights

Reporting by Oliver Gordon

Victoria records 2,095 new COVID cases, 397 in hospital, 8 deaths

Victoria has recorded 2,095 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths.

There are 15,471 active cases of the virus in Victoria, and 663 people have died during the current outbreak.

There are 397 patients in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19, including 75 active cases in intensive care and 40 patients on a ventilator.

The health department said a further 40 people were in intensive care, but their infections had cleared.

Victoria yesterday tightened its mask requirements in response to the spread of the Omicron variant.

As of 11:59pm last night, people aged over eight must wear masks in all indoor settings, except private homes.

Read more here.

NSW records 5,612 new COVID cases, 382 in hospital, 1 death

NSW has recorded 5,612  COVID-19 cases and 1 death in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

Hospitalisations for COVID have risen to 382, up from 347 in the previous reporting day.

There are 53 patients in ICU.

You can read more here.

COVID vaccination bookings in WA open for children aged five to 11

China orders lockdown of up to 13 million people in Xi’an after spike in COVID-19 cases

China has locked down about 13 million people in neighbourhoods and workplaces in the northern city of Xi’an, which is famous for its terracotta warriors.

The move follows a spike in COVID-19 cases, which has set off panic buying just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympic Games. 

State media reported that city officials on Wednesday ordered all residents to stay home unless they had a pressing reason to go out and suspended transport to and from the city, apart from special cases. The order was to take effect at midnight and last indefinitely.

One person from each household would be permitted out every two days to buy household necessities, the order said. However, some residents questioned if even this would be permitted.

You can read the ful story here.