Australia reported at least 13 COVID-19 deaths, including five in New South Wales and three in Tasmania, on Monday.
Check the latest COVID-19 trends for new cases, hospitalisations and deaths in Australia .
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has that the interval between two doses of mRNA vaccines be increased to eight weeks.
The previous recommendation for Pfizer was three to six weeks and for Moderna it was four to six weeks.
"A longer dose interval may also reduce the risk of and . The longer dose interval is particularly recommended for groups at higher risk of this side effect (those under the age of 40 years)," it said.
ATAGI has recommended extending the interval between two primary doses of protein-based Novavax vaccine to eight weeks (from a minimum of three weeks).
Australia's top vaccination advisory body further recommended that people who had COVID-19 infection wait for three months before getting their second dose. "The next scheduled dose should then be given as soon as possible after this period," it said.
It said Delta variant is no longer circulating in Australia and Omicron has been been the dominant variant for the past three months.
Western Australia to provide 10 free rapid antigen tests to close contacts from today. Free RAT kits are available at these .
Victorian health authorities have detected a new strain in a Melbourne wastewater catchment. The new strain BA.2.12.1 is a sub-lineage of the BA.2 Omicron variant, which continues to be the dominant strain in Victoria and Australia.
This strain was previously detected in North America and Europe. "Early evidence suggests it is more transmissible than BA.2 but does not cause more severe disease," the Victoria government said.
Last week, New South Wales reported its first case of BA.4 variant, which is blamed for an increase in number of infections and hospitalisations in South Africa.
The Novavax vaccine is now available at GPs, pharmacies and Adelaide (Myer Centre) COVID-19 vaccination clinic in South Australia.
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