As COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the country, Australians will be able to get their booster shots earlier as of early next year, Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed.
The doses will be initially available after four months at the beginning of next month, and then three months from the end of January based on ATAGI advice.
The measure will come into effect from on 4 January with approximately 7.5 million people becoming eligible that day. In an effort to ensure more of Australia’s population is protected from 31 January, the timeframe will be shorted even further to three months. The interval between main doses and the booster has already been shortened to five months from six.
In terms of case numbers, today finds New South Wales recording 5,612 new COVID-19 cases with hospitalisations increasing to 382 and 53 people in intensive care. The numbers come following a whopping 164,000 people being tested yesterday.
An indoor mask mandate is now in force in NSW as well as in Victoria to tackle the wide spread of the Omicron variant. The rule applies to all people aged over eight in all indoor settings except homes
Victoria has recorded 2,095 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths. There are 397 patients in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19, including 75 active cases in intensive care and 40 patients on a ventilator. This comes as testing sites in the state continue to be inundated with the influx of people wanting to get tested before attending events of travelling interstate with several testing centres closing shortly after opening.
Acting Premier James Merlino said masks would also be required when people were moving around at major events of more than 30,000 people, but not when they were seated outdoors.
Mr Merlino said Victoria was in one of the “strongest” positions in the world to combat the new variant due to its high vaccination rate.
However, he said there was a “need to be smart” to make sure the health system was not overwhelmed.
“We are not considering going into lockdown,” he said. “We need to be smart and make sure the system is not overwhelmed”.
The ACT on the other hand has recorded 102 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily number recorded in the territory so far. Only two people are hospitalised there, none of which in the ICU. Canberra has, however, a high vaccination rate with 98.5 per cent of Canberrans aged 12 and over having had both doses.
Meanwhile, Queensland has recorded its own record of infections since the start of the pandemic with 589 new cases of COVID-19. Only three of those cases are in hospital with mild to moderate symptoms.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the state was entering a “new phase” of managing the virus.
Finally, Tasmania has recorded another 27 COVID-19 cases listing Salamanca Market and MONA as low-risk exposure sites alongside a Launceston cafe bringing the total number of active cases in the state to 79. Twenty one of those are being monitored in a medi-hotel and 37 are using the COVID@home program.
