Australians gather for yet another COVID-19 Christmas as daily case journals continue to tumble around the country.
Thousands in NSW woke up to a lonely Christmas day where many were isolated or separated from the family when a record 6288 cases were reported.
It’s a similar story in Queensland, where 765 new cases were reported, 176 higher than the state’s previous record, set just the day before.
Victoria missed a record on Saturday, but another 2108 people in the state have had their festive plans thwarted after getting the virus.
Six deaths were also reported, all in Victoria.
Causes chaos
The country is fighting its biggest, most widespread outbreak, as the Omicron variant is destroying every state and territory.
Mandatory mask wearing is in place in most of them as managers try to limit the spread of the highly contagious variant during the holiday season.
Dozens of Jetstar and Qantas domestic flights from Sydney were canceled on Christmas Eve as frontline staff felt close contacts needed to test and isolate as the virus spread through the city.
Meanwhile, the wait time to be tested and received a result has been blown out massively in several states.
Not even Western Australia, which boasts of its healthy pandemic management and tough border restrictions, was able to escape the chaos.
Major high-risk public events in WA have been scrapped and dancing banned except at weddings after a backpacker tested positive Thursday.
Five additional cases were recorded in WA on Friday, a close contact to the original case and four random contacts that were revealed.
A hostel in the south of Perth has been locked down.
As infections continue to rise, the federal government announced that the waiting time for booster shots will be reduced twice in January.
Health Secretary Greg Hunt said Friday, Jan. 4, that boosters will be brought forward to four months after the second dose – down from five months at the moment.
So from January 31st, people can get boosters after three months.
About 7.5 million Australians will be eligible for their booster shots on 4 January.
This will jump to 16 million by the end of the month when the time frame has dropped to three months.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Anthony Albanese used their Christmas messages to thank the Australians for standing together and supporting each other during the pandemic.
“This pandemic continues to hit us … (but) Christmas is a time of hope and we are an optimistic people,” Mr Morrison said.
Sir. Albanese said Australians deserved to have a merry Christmas after two challenging years.
“When our boundaries reopen, we find each other again. Out of Zoom and actually back in space with family, friends and loved ones,” he said.
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