Australia dwell information updates: federal authorities to answer Djokovic courtroom filings; Omicron will increase stress on well being programs

One in every of Victoria’s largest public hospitals, the Alfred, predicts as many as 15% of its workers could also be unavailable due to Covid with the Omicron wave anticipated to final for as much as one other eight weeks.

Workers on the hospital, which incorporates Australia’s largest intensive care unit, had been instructed in an e-mail on Friday from the chief govt, Andrew Manner, to arrange for rising demand simply because the obtainable workforce was lowering. The Alfred now has greater than 50 sufferers in ICU, or about twice the subsequent largest hospital in Victoria.

Learn the complete story from Guardian Australia’s economics correspondent Peter Hannam right here:

This determine is simply instances confirmed by PCR assessments, not Speedy Antigen Assessments alone.

There at the moment are 1,927 individuals in hospital with the virus, 151 of whom are within the ICU.

Good morning! It’s Justine Landis-Hanley right here, again on the weblog for 2022. Let’s dive straight in.

Novak Djokovic’s visa cancellation battle continues. The tennis star is detained in an immigration lodge in Melbourne whereas he waits to enchantment his visa cancellation at a high-stakes federal circuit courtroom listening to on Monday.

In a courtroom submission, Djokovic’s legal professionals claimed that he had been suggested by residence affairs his journey declaration met the necessities for “quarantine-free arrival”. They claimed that Tennis Australia granted him a medical exemption to play on the Australian Open regardless of not being vaccinated in opposition to Covid-19, on the grounds that he examined optimistic for the virus in mid-December.

The federal authorities is anticipated to file its response to Djokovic’s submission as we speak.

However the tennis star is now facing fresh criticism after pictures on social media confirmed he appeared at public occasions after his optimistic Covid check.

In the meantime, Pparts of Queensland’s south-east are experiencing main flooding following heavy rain. A 14-year-old woman is lacking close to Gympie and a 22-year-old Sunshine Coast man was discovered lifeless yesterday.

Covid-19 instances are additionally persevering with to rise throughout the nation.

NSW recorded 45,098 instances yesterday from PCR assessments, acknowledging that the true quantity was doubtless a lot bigger. Victoria reported 51,356 instances, which included outcomes from fast antigen assessments logged on-line over the previous six days.

Queensland reported 11,174 instances and introduced the suspension of non-urgent elective surgical procedure for eight weeks.