Australia Covid live update: AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; NSW reports record 3,057 cases, Victoria 1,245 | Australia news

I’ve got some weather updates here for you and I am still not over how hot it is expected to be in Perth on Christmas Day!

We’ve got more info here from AAP about the mask mandate in the ACT:

Masks will again be mandatory indoors in the ACT as it tightens Covid restrictions due to an increase in Omicron infections.

From Wednesday, masks will be required across indoor retail and hospitality venues as well as aged care, workplaces and on public transport.

Aged care restrictions will also be reintroduced, with a limit of five visitors each day.

The mask mandate will continue over Christmas and the new year period before it is reviewed in January.

“Wearing a mask indoors is a small price to pay to keep your family and friends safe,” acting chief minister Yvette Berry told reporters on Tuesday.

It came as the national capital recorded 16 new infections and residents faced lengthy queues for testing.

Some testing clinics were forced to close early after reaching capacity.

Nearly 6,000 results were processed on Monday as demand for tests reached levels not seen since August.

Half of the ACT’s 124 active Covid-19 cases have been identified as the Omicron strain.

Three virus patients are in hospital, but none have that variant.

But the chief health officer, Kerryn Coleman, expected Omicron to become the dominant strain in the ACT.

“We anticipate we will see an escalation in cases similar to that in NSW,” she said.

The Bondi icebergs club has said it will close today after “a large number of staff” were exposed to a positive case while attending an event external to work.

“This is a precautionary measure for the safety of all members, visitors and staff,” the club management said in a statement.

“All exposed staff are vaccinated and will have a Covid PCR test before returning to work.

“We will keep you informed of reopening via email and Facebook. The safety of our members, visitors and staff remains our priority.”

The heroic actions of bystanders who tried to save the Falkholt family after a horrific Boxing Day car crash have been praised at the inquest into their deaths.

Home and Away actor Jessica Falkholt, her sister and her parents died after another car driven by a drug-affected driver failed to negotiate a bend on a highway as the family returned to Sydney from a Christmas event on the NSW South Coast in 2017.

From AAP:

Surf life saving Australia are begging people to swim between the flags and learn how to identify a rip – the most deadly hazard on Australian beaches – ahead of another busy summer.

More than 3.7 million people have been caught in rip currents, new research from Surf Life Saving Australia has found, with more than a quarter needing to be rescued.

On average, 26 people each year die after being caught in a rip.

That’s why SLSA’s Shane Daw is urging beachgoers to swim between the red and yellow flags.

“Already this summer there has been eight coastal drowning deaths, with four of those reported to be attributed to rip currents,” he said on Tuesday.

“While this is below last year’s start to summer, one drowning death is one too many.”

Almost two thirds of rip-related deaths occurred further than one kilometre away from a surf life saving service, with half at unpatrolled locations during patrol season.

Research also shows that two out of three people who thought they knew how to spot a rip, in fact were unable to identify one correctly.

“Alarmingly, we continue to see people who choose to swim at unpatrolled locations, away from surf lifesavers and lifeguards and they don’t know how to correctly spot a rip, which is a combination that can have deadly circumstances,” Mr Daw said.

That message should particularly be heeded by men, who make up 86% of rip-related deaths.

In 2016 surf life saving put together this useful video on spotting a rip:

The ACT is introducing an inside mask mandate to slow the spread of Omicron.

The mask mandate will be in place from 11.59pm. Masks will be needed in all indoor settings.

And that’s it for Khorshid. To recap: the AMA wants masks mandated for indoors and high-risk settings. They want density restrictions.

Khorshid says bringing boosters forward will not help at the moment, because we don’t have enough testing centres.

He slammed NSW for risking people’s lives with its “let it rip” strategy.

AND he said all our previous national modelling was kinda useless because of Omi. Nat-Cab needs a plan, he said.

Right.

Khorshid says Omicron means the modelling is now all out of date and Australia is now flying blind.

“The difference with the Omicron means all the modelling is out of date. We just do not have the data around Omicron to do new modelling as yet.

“We know it is spreading very quickly through previously immune population either through infection or vaccination.”

Cool cool cool…

Khorshid calls for Nat-Cab to deliver an Omicron plan and take it seriously.

I hope the change in national cabinet suggests that they’re taking this seriously.

They need to come up with a national plan.

It would be so much better if we could do things as a nation rather than each state taking its course. I am hoping it is a good sign but of course, time will tell.