States told to avoid Christmas border bans
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is urging state and territory leaders to hold the line on lockdowns amid fears the new Omicron variant will lead to the reimposition of restrictions.
Mr Frydenberg says Australians need to have every confidence going into 2022.
“We need to live with the virus. Nobody wants to go back into lockdown. That has a devastating effect on the economy … (and) people’s health and wellbeing,” he told the Seven network.
“My message to the premiers is not to panic, don’t overreact, show compassion and common sense.”
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten said people would continue to follow health advice with regards to the new Omicron variant but non-compliance would increase if restrictions were “bureaucracy gone mad”.
“If we are going to live with COVID-19, which we are, let’s just have sensible regulations which do the job, not just bureaucratic overkill which just drives people to despair,” he told the Nine Network.
Medical experts have called for COVID-19 booster shots to be brought forward again in the wake of the new Omicron variant.
University of NSW epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws is recommending a four-month interval, a reduction from the current advice of five months.
“We need to get you (in for boosters) before your immune system starts waning when you have a high level of a variant in the community, so that you supercharge your immune system,” Professor McLaws told the ABC.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid warned the booster program was falling behind.
He said the country risked repeating mistakes made during the early stages of the initial vaccine rollout if the boosters weren’t brought forward.
“The latest strain of COVID-19, Omicron, poses a significant potential risk to the population and appears much more transmissible than previous strains, so we have to pick up the pace to protect the community,” Dr Khorshid said.
“By the end of this month, close to four million people will be eligible for the booster. However, in the last week Australia has only been able to administer just over 210,000 booster doses.”
Since the start of the booster rollout, 868,122 third doses have been administered.
The emergence of the Omicron variant has led to a surge in cases in several states, with NSW reaching a post-lockdown high of 1360 daily infections.
As of Wednesday, there were 109 confirmed cases of Omicron in Australia. It comes as the NSW health minister warned daily cases could top 25,000 in January.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said the state would move NSW from a high risk to extreme risk category from Saturday, with travel from NSW not permitted except for extraordinary circumstances.
Approved travellers will need to return a negative test and do 14 days of hotel quarantine should they be allowed to enter.
WA is set to relax its controversial hard border measures from February 5.
There were 1405 COVID-19 cases and three deaths reported on Wednesday in Victoria.
The ACT had seven new cases as the national capital eased its quarantine requirements for Omicron close contacts, while South Australia reported 26 new cases.
There were six cases in Queensland in the latest reporting period.
Nationally, 89.7 per cent of residents 16 and over are fully vaccinated while 93.5 per cent have had their first dose.
