COVID-19 Update: NSW mandates RAT reporting as another 42 deaths recorded nationally

This is your update on the Coronavirus in Australia for January 12, 2022.

Paramedics tending to their ambulance outside St Vincent hospital in Melbourne. Source: AAP

Australia recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic, with 42 new deaths reported across NSW and Victoria.
It is now mandatory for residents in NSW to report positive rapid antigen test (RAT) results through the ServiceNSW app, and failure to register a positive reading will incur a fine of $1,000, to be enforced from 19 January.
Of the 21 deaths announced in NSW, seven were historic and one was a man in his 30s, and there were 34,759 new cases recorded.
Around 90 per cent of NSW cases are the Omicron variant, CHO Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says.
Victoria recorded 40,127 new COVID-19 infections and 21 people died with the virus.
The number of people in Victorian hospitals with the virus jumped to 946, which is 85 more than the previous day, with 112 in ICU and 31 requiring ventilators.
Hospitalisations in Queensland have risen to 525, with 30 in ICU, eight of whom are ventilated.
Urgent health meetings continue to take place on Wednesday on which business sectors will have COVID-isolation rules relaxed after rapidly rising virus numbers led to widespread supply chain issues.
WHO experts have warned that repeating booster doses of the original vaccines is not a viable strategy against emerging variants and called for new jabs that better protect against transmission.
WHO's Europe director Hans Kluge says the Omicron variant is on track to infect more than half of Europeans in the next six to eight weeks.

A number of states have set up RAT registration forms.

COVID-19 Stats:

New South Wales recorded 34,759 cases and 21 deaths.

Victoria has recorded 40,127 new cases and 21 deaths. Of these cases, 18,434 were recorded from RAT tests.

Queensland has recorded 22,069 new cases, of which 3,985 are from RATS, while Tasmania reported 1,583 cases.

For measures currently in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in your language, visit

and Covid-19 and travel information

There are changes to the COVID-19 Disaster Payment once states reach 70 and 80 per cent fully vaccinated:

3 min read

Published 12 January 2022 12:19pm

Share this with family and friends