To recap Australia’s daily Covid numbers:
Western Australia has recorded one new Covid case.
The case attended the Perth Mess Hall event, and was also staying at a hostel linked to a previous case.
They tested positive while in quarantine and aren’t considered to have been contagious in the community.
It brings the total number of local cases linked to the current outbreak to eight.
In addition, there was one other case reported overnight – an overseas traveller in hotel quarantine.
Today’s new case came from 3,387 tests.
Case numbers have not yet been released for Western Australia, but if there were 400 further cases that weren’t included in the official daily count in NSW because of the St Vincent’s hospital bungle, then Australia would have recorded more than 10,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day.
NSW would have accounted for the bulk of the cases - almost 7,000.
In Sydney, St Vincent’s hospital has launched an emergency response after falsely telling 400 people they tested negative for Covid when they were, in fact, positive.
The hospital has released a statement saying it is believed the mistake was down to “human error”.
The affected people are being contacted.
What is unclear is whether this impacts today’s case numbers in NSW - which were already at a record 6,394.
Here is the full update from the NT’s Michael Gunner. No cases have been found in Nhulunbuy, where positive wastewater was detected:
The Northern Territory has recorded 12 new cases of Covid-19 since our last update.
Four new cases are linked to the current cluster. This brings the total case count for the cluster to 144.
Two new cases are household contacts of previous cases in the Tennant Creek area. They were not infectious in the community.
Two new cases are in the Katherine area and are likely to be linked to previous Katherine area cases. They are in isolation and contact tracing is underway.
Two new cases were locally acquired in household contacts of a traveller from interstate. Six new cases are in interstate arrivals. They are all in isolation at home or at the Centre for National Resilience.
There are currently 18 people with Covid-19 in hospital, including one in ICU. The majority of admissions are for the purposes of infection control and assessment.
1,499 Covid-19 tests were processed across the NT yesterday....Covid-19 testing sites are open in Nhulunbuy, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Testing is also available at NT Health clinics in remote communities.
Back in Australia, the Northern Territory has recorded 12 new Covid cases, bringing the total number of cases linked to the current outbreak to 144.
There are 18 people in hospital with Covid, including one in ICU.
In a Facebook post, chief minister Michael Gunner said the “majority” of admissions were for infection control and assessment.
Two cases detected in Tennant Creek are household contacts of previous cases and haven’t been infectious in the community, and two cases have been detected in Katherine, likely linked to previous cases with contact tracing underway.
Two new cases were recorded in household contacts of a traveller from interstate, and six further cases were recorded in interstate arrivals.
Western Australia is yet to provide a Covid update after reporting two new cases yesterday.
More on the 206 new cases reported in China today from Reuters, which is the highest daily rise in local Covid cases in the past 21 months.
Infections more than doubled in the northwestern city of Xian, the nation’s latest hotspot. The city of 13 million, which entered its fourth day of lockdown, detected 155 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms for Saturday, up from 75 a day earlier, official data showed on Sunday.
It drove the national daily count to 158, the highest since China managed to contain a nationwide outbreak in early 2020.
Xian, with 485 local symptomatic cases reported between 9 December and 25 December, has imposed heavy-handed measures to rein in the outbreak, in line with Beijing’s policy that any flare-up should be contained as soon as possible.
Residents are unable to leave town without approval from employers or local authorities, and multiple rounds of mass testing have been conducted to identify cases. The city has announced no infections caused by the Omicron variant, although Chinese authorities have reported a handful of Omicron infections among international travellers and in southern China.
Including imported cases, mainland China confirmed 206 new cases on Christmas Day, up from 140 a day earlier. No new deaths were reported, leaving the cumulative death toll at 4,636.
To recap, Covid case numbers across Australia have been released for every state and territory excluding Western Australia and the NT. It brings total cases (so far) in Australia to 9,605.
Tennis player Denis Shapovalov, who is part of Canada’s team for January’s ATP Cup, has tested positive for Covid in Sydney.
Shapovalov played at the World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi last week, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the third-place play-off match. Nadal also tested positive for the virus after playing at the tournament, as did Belinda Bencic and Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
Shapovalov said his symptoms were minor. The ATP prefaces the Australian Open, due to kick-off in mid-January.
The Dominican Republic has identified its first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the health ministry of the Caribbean country said on Saturday and Reuters reports.
In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said Omicron had been identified in a person with mild symptoms who had arrived in the country from South Africa.
The ministry also said it had later been informed by Chilean authorities that a person who traveled to Chile from the Dominican Republic had tested positive for Omicron.
Other potential cases of Omicron are under investigation.
NSW shadow minister for health Ryan Park has responded to health minister Brad Hazzard’s comments about the Omicron variant earlier today.
Hazzard said it was inevitable everyone in the state would get Omicron, which was what made vaccination rates particularly crucial:
It’s not good enough for the premier to say ‘we’re all going to get Omicron’.
He’s the leader of the state, where’s the planning and where’s the resources and where’s the leadership? Where’s the plans for hospitals? For health workers? Are there enough resources for testing clinics to cope with demand?
We’ve got many people in NSW with Covid symptoms or positive RAT tests without access to a PCR test. Many clinics are closed for the next few days. That’s not good enough.
South Australia has tightened public health and social restrictions in response to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of the virus.
Gyms will return to density limits of one person per seven square metres, effective immediately. From midnight, hospitality venues will return to one person per four square metres density limits for indoor dining.
Home gatherings will be reduced to 10 people.
The state was due to further ease restrictions on 28 December. PCR tests will no longer be mandatory for interstate arrivals.
Back in Australia, South Australia has recorded 774 new Covid cases from more than 20,000 tests - another record day of case numbers. It is up from 634 cases detected on Christmas Day as the Omicron variant continues to spread.
There are 17 people currently being treated in hospital, including three in intensive care.
Some 93% of eligible South Australians have received their first dose of a vaccine.
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