- Australians could find out whether they need to receive a second COVID-19 vaccine booster ahead of a predicted winter surge in infections.
- Health Minister Greg Hunt said by the end of the month a fourth dose would be recommended for people over 65.
- Mr Hunt also said a scheme which provided free rapid antigen tests for concession card holders would be extended until the end of July this year.
- The program allows Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. Health Care Card, Low Income Health Care Card, Pensioner Concession Card, and Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold, White or Orange card holders to access 10 free RATs over a three-month period.
- New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard said cases could "more than double" in six weeks due to the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2, as the state recorded 16,288 cases on Thursday, its highest number since January.
- BA.2, also known as Nextstrain clade 21L, has recently become the most dominant strain in NSW, a UNSW study suggests.
- Acting Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale said the technical term for the Omicron BA2 sub-variant is a "sublineage" and "Experience has shown us overseas that BA2 can quite quickly overtake BA1 to become the dominant sublineage."
- Across the globe, countries have experienced a surge in cases credited to BA.2, including Denmark, the UK, Norway and Sweden, according to Danish research institute Statens Serum Institut (SSI).
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) says infection data from South Africa, the UK and Denmark suggest there is no difference between the severity of Omicron's BA.1 and BA.2.
COVID-19 Australian Stats
New South Wales reported 998 patients hospitalised with 39 in intensive care. There were 7 deaths, and 14,034 new cases of COVID-19.
In Victoria, 185 people are in hospital with 27 in ICU and 3 on ventilators. There were 10 deaths and 6,811 new infections.
Tasmania has recorded 1,129 new COVID-19 cases. There are 16 people with COVID-19 in hospital, with 4 requiring intensive care.
In the ACT 31 people are now in hospital with COVID-19, one of them requiring intensive care, with 791 new infections and 3 deaths reported.
In Queensland, there were 4,327 new COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths. 250 people are hospitalised with COVID-19, with 16 patients in ICU.
In Western Australia there were 5,005 new cases of COVID-19 with 92 people currently in hospital and 3 patients requiring intensive care.
In the Northern Territory there were 273 new cases of COVID-19 and one death. 29 people are now in hospital with one patients in ICU.
In South Australia 88 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19 and 10 of them are in ICU, 2 are ventilated. There were 2,503 new cases and one death recorded.
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