- New South Wales will ease restrictions from Friday 18 February, with no density limits in hospitality and entertainment venues and QR check ins only required at nightclubs, at music festivals with more than 1,000 people, hospitals and disability facilities.
- Singing and dancing will be allowed in all venues, with only music festivals on hold until 25 February.
- Working from home indications will be removed and the relevant policies will be only at employers' discretion.
- Indoor face masks requirements will be eased in a number of settings from next week.
- Victoria will ease restrictions starting on Friday 18 February at 6pm. There will be no density limits in hospitality and entertainment venues.
- From Friday 18 February at 6pm in Victoria QR check-in codes will no longer be required in shops, supermarkets, schools and childhood and early childhood education centres.
- Unvaccinated international arrivals in Victoria and New South Wales will now have to quarantine for 7 days, down from 14.
- Health Minister for Victoria Martin Foley said that indoor mask wearing mandates, particularly in office environments, may be lifted next week.
- A second vaccine is now available to children between 6 and 11. Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, previously recommended only to people over 12, has now received provisional approval by the TGA.
- New South Wales paramedics are on strike. They're demanding better conditions and improved resources, two days after nurses also staged a 24-hour strike in the state.
- Queensland announced today an unusually high number of COVID-19 related deaths. They did not all occur in the last 24 hours, but that's when they were reported and happened over the last few weeks, as explained by the Chief Health Officer John Gerrard.
- The Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre (QRAC) has officially opened. It's a 500-bed facility in Wellcamp, west of Toowoomba that will be used for quarantine purposes. It cost 48 million dollars to build and, according to Premier Anastaccia Palaszczuk, is also an investment for possible future pandemics.
- Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia, has said it's "safe" to visit the Adelaide Fringe Festival, due to start tomorrow, with COVID management plans and QR code check ins in place.
COVID-19 Australian Stats
New South Wales reported 1,447 patients hospitalised with 92 in intensive care. There were 14 deaths, and 9,995 new cases of COVID-19.
In Victoria, 401 people are in hospital with 78 in ICU and 16 on ventilators. There were 9 deaths and 8,501 new infections.
In Queensland, there were 5,665 new COVID-19 cases and 39 deaths. In the public hospital system there are 382 patients with COVID-19, in addition to 26 patients in private hospitals, with a total number of 33 patients in intensive care.
Tasmania has recorded no deaths with 680 new COVID-19 cases. 16 people are in hospital with COVID-19, two of them in ICU.
In the ACT 47 people are now in hospital with COVID-19, with 3 patients in intensive care. One death has been reported with 537 new cases.
In South Australia 3 people have died with COVID-19 with the state reporting 1,440 new cases. 221 patients positive to COVID-19 are now in the state's hospitals, 13 of them in ICU.
A number of states have set up RAT registration forms
Quarantine and restrictions state by state
Travel
Financial help
There are changes to the COVID-19 Disaster Payment once states reach 70 and 80 per cent fully vaccinated:
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