‘Significant decrease’ in NSW Covid cases predicted as Victoria nears peak – as it happened

And that’s where we’ll leave you tonight. You can check our national Covid summary in the pinned post for all the details about today’s Covid numbers. Here are the other stories that made headlines today:

• World tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic was deported and has arrived back in Serbia after the full bench of the federal court upheld the Morrison government’s decision to cancel his visa on the grounds of health and good order.
  
• The Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said the visa cancellation was because Djokovic didn’t comply with entry requirements – except that entry requirements were not the basis on which immigration minister Alex Hawke cancelled the visa.
• The TGA has today recognised Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine – the Gamaleya Institute vaccine (Sputnik V, Russian Federation) – for the purpose of establishing a traveller’s vaccination status when entering Australia.
• A New Zealand Defence Force aircraft has left Auckland on a reconnaissance flight to assess damage in Tonga, around 36 hours after the mammoth volcanic blast which caused a tsunami. The Royal Australian Air Force is currently undertaking surveillance activity over the affected area.
• Retailers charging “beyond outrageous” prices for rapid antigen tests will be referred to the federal police for investigation, as supply issues continue to hamper Australia’s testing regime.
• Unions will write to all employers warning them they have an obligation to do everything reasonable to keep workers safe during the Omicron wave, including making free rapid antigen tests available to all workers once supply issues are resolved.

Thanks for sticking with us today. Have a lovely evening!

This is pretty astonishing: Australian-trained doctors living overseas are treating patients in rural and regional New South Wales, to curb the bush doctor shortage.

My colleague Daniel Hurst has a really interesting piece this afternoon comparing the grounds on which Novak Djokovic’s visa was actually cancelled with the rhetoric the government has been using around the deportation.

Prime minister Scott Morrison says Djokovic was deported because he tried to breach entry rules at the border. But the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, did not make alleged non-compliance with entry rules a central plank of his reasons for cancelling Djokovic’s visa a second time on Friday.

Here’s our full wrap of the NSW Covid situation for today from Michael McGowan.

The New South Wales chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has warned deaths from Covid-19 are likely to spike in the coming days, as hospitalisation data shows unvaccinated people with the virus are 13 times more likely to end up in intensive care.

“Given the broader community transmission of Covid I would like to flag that the number of deaths are likely to be higher over the coming days,” she said.

The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, again urged unvaccinated people to get the jab, saying they needed “to give a damn about someone other than themselves”.

Read the full story:

Mask wearing is likely to be a long-term thing, McGowan says. (It’s not that bad, WA, I promise.)

McGowan says they aren’t going too hard too soon on Covid restrictions so they can “retain the capacity to step up measures over time” and because the community may tire of restrictions if they are introduced too soon.

He points to the state’s track record: “Every outbreak we’ve had we’ve managed to eliminate over the last two years ... because we put measures in place very quickly.”

There’s a question on when he expects an omicron outbreak to peak in WA – the suggestion is that it would be about six weeks after the expected peaks in the eastern states – but he sidesteps answering it directly, saying “it depends on the measures you put in place”.

McGowan is urging the WA public not to ignore symptoms: “Do not ignore the signs, get tested,” he says.

“We need to get test numbers up so we can understand where Omicron is… We suspect there are more cases in the community ... We cannot be complacent and we cannot drop our guard.”

WA premier Mark McGowan is giving a press conference with health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.

He mentions the three new local cases recorded today, in addition to the nine returned traveller cases. One of the three local cases had not been in isolation so there are more exposure sites listed than yesterday.

“The Omicron variant continues to be the biggest risk to our community,” McGowan says.

Following Luke’s story in the post below, ACT Labor MP Alicia Payne has called continuing enforcement of mutual obligations “incomprehensible and dangerous”.

A woman with chronic illnesses and an immunocompromised partner and the single mother of a toddler are among those being told they’ll have their benefits cut if they don’t attend face-to-face job agency appointments, despite an unprecedented surge of Covid cases.

Welfare mutual obligations, which have been suspended in Covid-affected areas for much of the pandemic, were reintroduced nationally in late October. Last week the government rebuffed calls to pause them, despite soaring infection numbers.

Guardian Australia has confirmed that while some job agencies are allowing people subject to mutual obligations to meet their requirements from home – by conducting meetings by phone or online, for example – others are insisting participants attend in person.

Read more:

Some more on the Tongan volcano disaster and the anxious wait for news from home in the Tongan diaspora, by Kate Lyons and Tess McClure.

The oceanic eruption sent huge swells around the world – here’s a compilation of footage of some of them.

The union statement also called for “new measures” to ensure safety at work:

We have determined that despite the Prime Minister not acting to keep working people safe, the union movement will. Accordingly, the meeting today resolved to write to all employers reminding them of their obligation to do all that is reasonable and practical to keep workers safe.

This will require each workplace to undertake a new risk assessment for Omicron in consultation with unions, workers and their health and safety representatives. In addition, where appropriate, sector-specific plans should be developed in consultation with unions.

The unions said that for workplaces where working from home was not an option, the provision of free rapid antigen tests (RATs) by employers to all workers would be necessary once supply was resolved, alongside upgraded masks and improved ventilation.

Union members will take whatever steps are necessary in their workplaces to ensure they are as safe as possible. Where employers do not fulfil their obligations, the union movement determines to do everything within its power to ensure the safety of workers and the community. This may include ceasing work or banning unsafe practices.

The statement said free RATs were needed for the whole community to limit the spread and keep people safe, not just essential workers.

The failure of the Federal Government to act and to provide free and accessible RATs puts us all in harm’s way. We are calling on the community to join us and demand the Federal Government reverse this decision. The union movement will work directly with the community to demand all members of the Federal Government be held accountable for the inaction of the Prime Minister.

Unions will write to all employers warning them they have an obligation to do everything reasonable to keep workers safe during the Omicron wave.

The call follows an “emergency” meeting of union leaders, called after the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, complained of a failure of leadership by the prime minister, Scott Morrison.

The ACTU issued a statement a short time ago reporting the outcomes of the ACTU leadership meeting. It said leaders from national unions had met to discuss “the ongoing health and economic crisis caused by the rapid spread of Omicron”.

The statement said:

Union leaders reported on the devastating impact the latest Covid wave is having on the health and incomes of working people. All unions express their solidarity, respect, and deep gratitude to the health care workers of our country who are experiencing the full brunt of this wave of sick people. The unions representing those workers report that they are exhausted and feel abandoned by governments who have encouraged ‘let it rip’ policies. The ‘let it rip’ governments have failed to prepare our health system and our community, and they are responsible for Australia suffering the highest per capita infection rates in the world.

The union statement said essential workers were being expected to “put themselves in harm’s way to keep the country going and in many cases without the protections they need”.

It said the union movement would “do everything we can to keep people safe and act to slow the spread of this latest wave of the Covid pandemic”.

The statement also condemned “the failure of the Morrison Government to respond to our requests to work with us during this crisis; or our demands for the provision of free Rapid Antigen Tests, improved masks, fixing close contact definitions and restoring support for businesses and workers”.

Australia’s visa cancellation regime has been exposed as “dysfunctional and dangerous” by the Novak Djokovic case, legal experts have said, arguing his expulsion is a “terrible precedent” that could lead to “political and populist” deportations.

The Djokovic case has drawn public attention to the so-called “God powers” held by Australian immigration ministers, granting them extraordinarily broad powers to summarily cancel visas.

Migration law experts say the Djokovic case – his visa was cancelled because the government believed he was a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment” – demonstrates the laws could be used to exclude a person who has previously expressed political views the government did not agree with.

Read more:

OK so I appreciate this is a bit sideways from our usual fare on this here blog but if you love the Lego portrayal of, well, everything (who doesn’t?) you will be interested to know that Lego are now being sued for an apparent reproduction of a very particular jacket.

I also share this because it was written by Guardian Australia’s new deputy culture editor Sian Cain, who has just moved back to our fair shores from the UK. Give her a warm welcome if you see her on the socials.

The brother of a British woman who was swept away from the coast of Tonga by the tsunami on Saturday and is still missing, has told the Guardian he has grave fears for her safety.

“What are we, 48 hours later? I don’t think this is going to have a happy ending,” an emotional Nick Eleini said.

So far, no casualties in Tonga – which has a population of just over 100,000 – have been confirmed. Though there are unconfirmed reports that three people were swept away by the waves, and that two have so far been found.

The impact of the tsunami, and the resulting ash cloud that has blanketed the islands, is feared to be enormous, with NGOs warning of contaminated drinking water, seawater ruining crops, as well as damage to homes and infrastructure.

Eleini, who lives in Sydney, spoke to the Guardian as he was travelling back to the UK to be with his mother, Jennifer. His sister, 50-year-old Angela Glover, was swept away from the beach along with her husband and four or five of the couple’s dogs by a tsunami triggered by a huge volcanic eruption. Glover ran an animal rescue shelter in Tonga.

Read the full story here:

SA Health has released its detailed daily Covid update, topline figures of which were reported by the premier earlier in his press conference.

Also, if you enjoy tennis, let me recommend you open another tab (don’t close this one!) and follow along with our other live blog, where my esteemed colleague Mike Hytner is keeping everyone updated with the latest on-court and off-court dramas.

A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. If you missed the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić’s comments on the Australian federal court’s decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa and deport the tennis player, here is a handy 2-minute video to catch you up.

Retailers charging “beyond outrageous” prices for rapid antigen tests are being referred to the federal police for investigation, as supply issues continue to hamper Australia’s testing regime.

The chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, said on Monday the consumer watchdog had received many reports of price gouging, which is now illegal under new laws that prevent profit margins of more than 20% on tests.

With reports of retailers charging more than $30 for a single hard-to-find rapid testing kit, Sims said the regulator was preparing to take action on the “beyond outrageous” price markups.

Sims said:

Clearly we are facing a supply issue. More supply is needed, we keep being assured that more supply is coming both from government agencies and the private sector.

But, when you have rapid antigen tests that are designed for use by trained professionals and they are being sold … without proper instruction, that is extremely concerning because people may take comfort from a test that they didn’t know how to perform properly, and I think that is an even worse outcome.

Read the full story:

On Friday, gas giant Santos agreed to settle a high-profile case alleging it had unlawfully tried to expand its fracking operations in the Northern Territory without notifying the pastoralists who owned the land on which it was drilling.

The case was brought by Rallen, one of the country’s biggest landholders, which alleged Santos had failed to disclose plans to drill two new wells at Tanumbirini Station, in the Beetaloo Basin, where the Morrison government is attempting to drive a huge acceleration in fracking activity.

Rallen alleged Santos was aware of “significant” environmental risks posed by the new drilling and was legally obliged to tell it of the proposal.

It accused the company of acting in a “cavalier” way. The case settled on Friday for $400,000 and Santos said in a statement that it was barred from fracking at Tanumbirini Station until after 31 December 2022. The company said:

Santos will work to improve the way it engages with landholders.

Graeme Sawyer, spokesperson for Protect Country Alliance, said the case had exposed the “arrogance with which Santos treats landholders”.

Sawyer said:

This is a terrific blow to Santos. Protect Country Alliance congratulates Rallen Australia on standing up to this oil and gas giant bully and fighting for what is right.

Marshall defends the state of SA’s classrooms – that is, their ventilation capacity and similar conditions – and accuses the Labor party, who have been calling for air purifiers to be installed in classrooms before children return to school, of “undermining the public health messages on a daily basis.”

SA premier Steven Marshall is speaking in Adelaide now. He’s talking about the return to school and return to work for teachers, and there’s a question about concerns from teachers about their safety.

We still haven’t finalised what that return to work strategy will look like ... We’ve got provision in place for teachers to be able to return to work … we would really like to get a handle on what’s going to go through national cabinet on Thursday this week with regard to rapid antigen tests, but I am confident we’ll be able to find a middle course… I think we’ve got the balance right. We want to work with teachers, principals … we want to navigate a way through.

On lockdowns being declared when there are potential outbreaks in residential aged care, again, he talks about “getting the balance right” regarding restrictions and processes:

If an outbreak is declared we do like to have that opportunity for SA health to go and do an assessment… I would probably shy away from using the term ‘lockdown’, I think it would be reduced visitation arrangements… It’s a vulnerable community.

The Northern Territory health authorities have announced lockdowns in Galuwin’ku (Elcho Island) for a week, and the community of Yirrkala for 72 hours. Both of these will begin at 2pm local time.

From deputy chief minister Nicole Manison’s press conference just now:

There are now a total of 19 cases in Galuwin’ku. Six of the 19 cases are staying in isolation in a motel on the islands, 13 others who are known close contacts are isolating as well on the island. Our vaccine rates on the islands are OK but slightly lower than other East Arnhem communities. This is a very isolated part of the Northern Territory so we have many people there with complex needs. For this reason we will be moving to a seven-day lockdown of Galiwin’ku from today at 2pm.

What we want to do is limit the movement of people in and out of Galiwin’ku, the main community there, there are a lot of people who move amongst each other on the island. We want to make sure we slow the spread of Covid there. That is really important. We think it will be very difficult to eliminate Covid-19 from Elcho islands and Galiwin’ku. That is why we are putting in this lockdown for seven days to make sure we can do this important work around testing and tracking the virus where we can, and making sure we slow that spread. And importantly, help as many people stay on the islands as possible because we know people want to stay close to their home.

We’re all fairly familiar by now with arts events being scuttled by Covid, and here’s another one – this time in WA, where the state’s major annual arts festival, Perth Festival, has cancelled its mainstage opening event, Escape.

Escape was described as “a large-scale free community event across multiple sites at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach and Victoria Quay involving hundreds of artists, staff and volunteers. It was projected to attract tens of thousands of people across two nights to open Perth Festival on 11-12 February”.

In a statement, the festival said:

Perth Festival is set to return for 2022 but we are sorry to say that we won’t be proceeding with the large-scale opening event Escape due to uncertainty around the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

We understand the cancellation of Escape will be immensely disappointing for our audiences and all the artists, staff, volunteers, partners and contractors who have worked on this event for many months.

Perth Festival had been working the WA government in planning the event for nearly a year, but said they decided they could not proceed with it because of the constantly changing risks around the spread of Covid.

Other parts of the festival will continue as planned.

Thanks so much Caitlin Cassidy for all your efforts today! Nice to be back on deck and here on this blog with you this afternoon.

With that, I will hand you to the capable hands of Stephanie Convery, fresh from leave! Enjoy your afternoon.

Hazardous weather is continuing in Queensland, with several beaches still closed for swimming.

In NSW, shadow minister for health Ryan Park is calling on the state government to implement a hospital surge support allowance like the one available in Victoria to keep up with increasing pressure from the Omicron spread.

The Victorian government currently pays health staff an allowance of between $15 and $60 to encourage non-Covid impacted staff to take on extra hours to counteract ongoing staff shortages. The allowance is available based on the duration of increased hospital demand.

Park said of last week, almost 4,000 health staff were furloughed due to exposure to Covid in NSW.

A small update on Tonga.

New Zealand’s Defence Force will be sending a second plane to Tonga: a Hercules C130 aircraft carrying supplies.

The flight is expected to leave on Monday afternoon.

A reminder that we should be hearing from the ACTU later this afternoon after an emergency meeting with more than 30 unions over Covid. They are calling for, among other things, free and accessible rapid antigen tests.

Here is a full breakdown of the Victorian government’s $1.2m program to support vaccination for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, announced late last year.

Community organisation The Huddle – established by the North Melbourne Football Club to improve inclusion for young people from diverse backgrounds – will receive $150,000 to support the vaccination of people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Alongside The Huddle, other recipients include:

• Brimbank/Melton Community Support Group
• Dandenong/Casey/Cardinia Community Support Group
• Junubi Wyndham Community Support Group
• Himilo Community Connect Community Support Group
• Le Mana Pasifika Project
• Northern Community Support Group
• Komak Community Support Group

Still in Victoria, and James Merlino is asked who in the federal government granted a visa for Novak Djokovic to come to Australia in the first place. Merlino says it’s a “fair question”.

Over at the Victorian presser, there are a few questions about rapid antigen tests availability and distribution.

The state-ordered rapid tests will first go to a Monash Health warehouse, from which they will be distributed, Merlino says. Three million of the 44m tests have already arrived. However, it’s a “global challenge” to acquire and distribute them, Merlino says:

We’re trying to get as many as we possibly can and as quickly as we can. It would have been better if there had been a national approach [to procuring RATs]. That did not happen.

Queensland education minister Grace Grace said the number of state school teachers who were vaccinated was “very, very high” but if they didn’t meet vaccination requirements by a certain date they would be stood down without pay.

Good news for the Australian Open!

Meanwhile, the Queensland press conference is continuing, and if you ever needed convincing to get a booster shot, just one of the state’s 29 Covid deaths had been boosted.

Back to Sims, and, asked specifically about the reports the federal government is taking rapid antigen test supply, he says the ACCC is “going to look into those instances and see what the truth” is.

First point I can go on what is in minister [Greg] Hunt’s letter, which says that is not happening, but secondly, when we find individual instances, we can see exactly what has been said and traced that down and see whether that is true or not, so I understand there are reports of that, sometimes it depends on what exactly is being said, but we’re going to look into those instances when we come across them and see what the truth the situation is.

Concerning news coming out of Tonga:

Over in Victoria, acting health minister James Merlino is reiterating the Covid numbers from this morning, which include an increase of people in hospital, and, unfortunately, six more deaths.

About 24.4% of Victorians aged 18 and over have had three doses of a vaccine now. Merlino urged Victorians to increase the pace of booster acquisition, reiterating that there are a lot of appointments available.

Last year there was $1.2m made available to organisations to reach out to multicultural community groups to encourage and assist people in those communities to get vaccinated. The Huddle, a community outreach group established by North Melbourne Football Club, is one of the groups that have received funding, and we’re also hearing from its CEO Cameron McLeod, who is talking about the various projects they are setting up including translated vaccination information, transport and youth outreach.

Merlino has said there are more grants available for community organisations in Victoria to do this kind of work – up to $20k per organisation – to do things like combat vaccine misinformation and help facilitate people to get vaccinated.

Sims says next week the ACCC will be in a better position to see what companies are saying, but if court action is required, it will be undertaken.

Obviously ... we cannot be acting without hearing their side of the story, but certainly I would anticipate that we will be mentioning some companies that are doing what we see to be the wrong thing very soon. Obviously when you talk about taking a company to court, that takes a lot longer, so that’s why I have always said here, naming and shaming, getting messages out is the fastest way to get those prices down.

But if we have to take court action we will. By taking someone to court, there is a lot of work that goes into that, so that takes a lot longer, and we want action now. We want prices down now because Australian consumers should not be paying ridiculous prices for a product they desperately need in the middle of a pandemic.

Sims says he received a letter pointing out reports supplies were being requisitioned by the government – and is “sure the government has said that is not true and that would amount to misleading conduct”.

He says specific instances of misleading contact are being referred to the TGA or the federal police in “appropriate circumstances”.

I am really hoping the company hear this message and adjust their behaviour very quickly so that we get sensible pricing for all Australians as fast as possible.

Queensland education minister Grace Grace is up. She confirms remote learning is resuming for year 11 and 12s from 31 January, while the rest of the state’s students will return a week later on 7 February.

But instead of the school year finishing a week later, the full curriculum will be delivered in the condensed semester, meaning the year will finish as planned on 9 December.

This ... is to avoid opening schools during the predicted peak of the Queensland Omicron variant and wave and allow more time for children to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations.

It is important that students education is not impacted. I wish to advise that after some very constructive, helpful and productive meetings with the Queensland teachers union, unions and key stakeholders, I am satisfied that the full curriculum can now be delivered in the condensed semester. That is over the next two terms. This means that the proposed extra week at the end of the school year will not be required. Can I repeat, it will now not be required, and the year will finish as planned on December 9, 2022.

If you are unvaccinated in Queensland, you are 19 times more likely to end up in hospital than someone who was triple vaccinated, Gerrard says.

If you are unvaccinated, in Queensland, you are 24 times more likely to end up in an intensive care unit than someone who was triple vaccinated.

Gerrard:

I am very pleased to see that almost one million Queenslanders have received the third dose of vaccine, that is fantastic. I am still very concerned that there are vulnerable people, elderly people who have not received their third dose of vaccine. They may have received their second dose of the initial course, some many months ago.

Often for the people ending up in intensive care, so they receive their second dose many months ago, the beginning of last year, and we know that immunity wanes particularly in their elderly and immunosuppressed. So I am particularly keen that the elderly and immunosuppressed get that third dose to prevent ending up in hospital in intensive care.

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard is up. He says of the seven Covid deaths reported today, two people were in their 80s and five were in their 90s.

Two had not been vaccinated, five were double vaccinated and none had received a booster.

Gerrard:

Our thoughts are with their families today.

Queensland has now reached 91.59% first dose vaccination and 88.71% second dose. Some 12.82% of five- to 11-year-olds have received a Covid-19 vaccination.

D’Ath:

This is extraordinary. It is one week to the day since we started the vaccination for 5- 11 -year-olds, and it is almost 13% of all of those children who are already vaccinated. Thank you to the mothers and fathers and carers, grandparents out there who have brought the little ones forward to get vaccinated.

Turning to hospitalisations, and there are 702 people being treated in hospital in Queensland, and 47 in ICU, including 15 people requiring ventilation.

D’Ath:

So quite a jump, 50 additional people in hospitals, in our public hospitals, in the past 24 hours. Thankfully, we don’t see the corresponding increase in ICU, but we want the least amount of people needing to be hospitalised, and it comes down to getting your vaccination and your booster shot.

There has been no request for Australian Medical Assistance Teams (Ausmat) members in Tonga at this stage, Payne says. She says the situation is also complicated by the quarantine requirements in Tonga – the nation is currently Covid-free.

Tonga also has extremely strict incoming quarantine requirements relating to Covid. It is a Covid-free country as far as I’m aware and that does complicate the movement of people as well.

But we would also always consider any requests of that nature. Frankly, our Ausmat teams have done an extraordinary job through the pandemic – in Papua New Guinea, in Fiji, particularly, in addressing what have been significant Covid infection increases, and also vaccination challenges.

And if we do need to send an Ausmat team to Tonga for any reason, then I have no doubt that there would be the same level of positive volunteering that I have seen right throughout Covid as well.

Returning to Payne, who was asked under what circumstances she saw Djokovic returning to Australia.

Payne:

I’m not going to speculate on that. The prime minister has addressed that this morning.

It’s official – former NSW MP Andrew Constance, who gained popularity during the 2019-2020 bushfires, has been launched as the Liberal candidate for Gilmore.

Foreign minister Marise Payne appeared in Nowra while the NSW press conference was going on, providing an update on Tonga. She said communications were still “very restricted” and the government was seeking further information about the extent of the damage outside of Nuku’alofa.

The Royal Australian Air Force are currently undertaking surveillance activity over the affected area.

Payne:

We will be working closely with the government of Tonga, with her royal highness, the high commissioner in Canberra of Tonga, to ensure that we can deliver the sort of support that we can provide to our Pacific family and friends.

This is a very challenging time. Communications are deeply, deeply affected by the events of the volcanic eruption. It has been felt in other parts of the region. We know ourselves here in Australia, we have seen the effects on our own coastline, but in Fiji in particular as well.

So we’ll continue to work through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, myself and the minister for international development and the Pacific, Senator Zed Seselja, to ensure that we are providing all of the support that Australia possibly can, working closely with our Pacific partners to ensure that we support the people of Tonga.

Victoria will provide a Covid update at 11am – the same time as Queensland.

So why are hospitalisations so high if Omicron isn’t as severe as Delta?

For one, vaccination rates, Morgan says.

There’s four key things I’d like to mention to you. One is that there are still people who are incompletely vaccinated. Some of whom have not had any vaccinations at all ... Some of whom are yet to get through their three doses as Dr Chant mentioned – the two doses and then the booster.

And there are a small group of patients who despite having all their jabs, they do not have an immune response that’s completely ... able to render them able to fight the virus.

If we think about eight million people in the state, even if there’s 1% unvaccinated, that’s 80,000 people who are still at significant risk of catching Covid and developing severe disease.

Many of these are our community’s most vulnerable. Our homeless, our patients with very severe or uncontrolled poor mental health. Those living in disability support facilities, even aged care facilities, our frail and elderly ... There are some people whose immunity has waned over the last two years, and this is a particularly important point about getting boosters. Those who were vaccinated in the first wave, the vaccination, which includes our healthcare workers and our elderly patients, are now coming to the time where they need boosters and their immunity is waning.

Morgan says the last time she spoke at a press conference was in the midst of the Delta wave, before vaccination rates ramped up, the curve was flattened and the wave briefly passed. “And then came Omicron”.

She says though Omicron is not as severe as Delta, it still has the potential to cause a serious illness and require hospitalisation.

Omicron ... so similar in so many ways to Delta – a flu-like illness, with some minor, subtle differences in the way that it causes symptoms for patients. So lots of aches and pains. Lots of headache. Lots of very sore throat.

And for some people, still, severe illness. So, having Omicron does not mean that you’re just going to have a cold. Omicron, as a variant of the Covid-19 virus, has the potential to cause very severe illness, just like Delta.

And those at particular risk of getting very sick from Omicron are the same group who were at risk from Delta. Those who are incompletely vaccinated, those with underlying health complaints or conditions and those who are frail – and that includes our elderly community.

It is true that most people who catch Omicron do not get so sick as to need my care or the care of my colleagues in the intensive care unit. Most people – proportionally, most people do not get as sick. But it is so much more contagious than the Delta variant, the sheer number of people who get Covid is enormous in comparison.

Turning to the breakdown of Delta cases v Omicron cases, more than 95% of samples taken in the past two days from a private pathology provider were of the Omicron variant, Chant says.

I thought that I might give an update on Omicron versus Delta and what we think that the transmission of the relative strain variants is in the community. So data from January 16, and I just want to acknowledge the private pathology provider who has been sharing sequential data as I’ve indicated before. This is based on the fact that the machines that that provider uses detects the S-gene dropout, which is characteristic of Omicron.

It shows that over 95% of samples taken over the recent two days are of the Omicron variant.

I would also say that I’m aware of the social media rumours and misinformation on the website, particularly targeting parents of children, but also pregnant women and also our Aboriginal communities. Can I just urge everyone to go to a trusted source of information. Don’t read or engage in those social media posts. Talk to your GP, your pharmacist, or go online and look at the Government websites.

Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant is up, breaking down vaccination rates. She says 13.1% of five to 11-year-olds have already received a first dose:

Across New South Wales, we continue to see that vaccination coverage rate increase. We’ve got 95.2% of people aged 16 and over have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine. 93.8% have received two doses. The 12-to 15-year-olds are 82.1%. So we’ve seen that first dose come up and the second dose is now at 78.3% have received the two doses. And of the 5-11-year-olds, we have 13.1% have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine, and that’s really quite amazing given we’ve just opened that program.

An “event saver program” for NSW events and festivals that haven’t been able to go ahead due to public health orders will be announced today, Perrottet says.

The support that we’ve provided in the past over the last two years will continue to be provided during this next wave. We’ve also said that we put people before the budget. That has been the success of our approach here in New South Wales. We want to make sure ... that we keep people safe. We keep society open and we keep people in work so that they can provide for their families. That’s been a success in the past. We’ve got through those challenges. And we’ll get through the next challenge that comes our way as well.

Perrottet says of 200 people in ICU with Covid in NSW, 50% are unvaccinated. Some 47% of people eligible for a booster shot have now received their jab.

It’s clear from those figures in ICU ... that boosters and vaccinations are key to keeping you and your family safe. And that’s what sets New South Wales apart from anywhere in the world and Australia apart from anywhere in the world, and is why our response has been so strong in the face of this ongoing pandemic. Having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world has meant that we’ve been able to have one of the lowest death rates, whilst at the same time keeping society and the economy open.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking now, thanking “everybody across the state” for sacrifices and efforts made during this “testing two years”. He says endless lockdowns are not an option:

It is two years that has tested our resilience as a people. But we have continued to make the efforts and sacrifices that have kept our state strong. That have kept people safe and have, in the main, kept society open.

It is a difficult time, not just here in New South Wales and around the country, but around the world. But the efforts that people have made have ensured that we’ve been able to move through this pandemic in a very strong way.

And whilst I accept and appreciate that people across New South Wales and across our country are anxious and nervous at this difficult time, if we look at the past and if we look at the efforts that we’ve made and the strength that we’ve had coming through this pandemic, I know that we will be able to push through this next wave as well.

The best way through ... it to push ... What we can’t have are never-ending lockdowns because that will result in a pandemic that becomes a never-ending story.

Novak Djokovic has been officially deported from the Australian Open Twitter page:

In Queensland, health minister Yvette D’Ath, education minister Grace Grace and chief health officer Dr John Gerrard will hold a press conference at 10am local time. It’s likely they will be discussing the delayed return to school for students.

A New Zealand Defence Force aircraft has left Auckland on a reconnaissance flight to assess damage in Tonga, around 36 hours after a mammoth volcanic blast caused a tsunami, AAP reports.

Communication to the remote Pacific nation remains limited following Saturday night’s eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, though power is being restored. In the absence of confirmed reports of death or harm, New Zealand officials report coastal damage from storm surges in the wake of the blast.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said boulders and boats had been washed ashore on Tongatapu, the largest island and home to the capital, Nuku’alofa, around 65 kilometres south of the volcano:

Seeing some of those waves come in and peeling back fencelines and structures, you can see the force of those surges. Everyone just wants to establish how wide scale that impact has been. We want to be in Tonga and on the ground as soon as we are possible able to be.

The blast also caused a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean, sending large waves to Japan, the US and Peru, while a sonic boom could be heard in nearby Pacific nations.

Pacific Peoples minister Aupito William Sio said key members of Tonga’s royal family were safe and well. Volcanic ash in the air and on the runway in Tonga prevented an aerial mission in the immediate aftermath of the blast.

Just prior to 9am NZDT on Monday morning, a Defence Force Orion aircraft took off from Auckland’s Whenuapai base on a mission to investigate further. The aircraft will also carry water, food and medical supplies.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said 80% of power had been restored however internet connection and communications remained an issue.

University of Auckland volcanologist Shane Cronin said the eruption was likely to be the world’s biggest for three decades. He wrote in the Conversation:

Our research into these earlier eruptions suggests this is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years. We found evidence of two huge past eruptions ... and then used radiocarbon dates to show that big caldera eruptions occur about ever 1000 years, with the last one at AD1100.

There have been some 259 Covid deaths in Victoria and NSW in the past week.

Lockdown is worse than Omicron, Frydenberg says. If you survive it.

Labor MP Andrew Leigh appeared on 2SM Radio this morning, talking, among other things, Djokovic and anti-vaxxers.

The fact that it’s led to his being kicked out of the country is a huge embarrassment for Tennis Australia. It’s rift in our relationship with Serbia, and it’s utterly unnecessary. Of course, Labor supports the decision to not allow him into Australia, but that should have been done by not granting him the visa in the first place.

You say that one anti-vaxxer can’t enter the country because he’s going to be spreading misinformation, but then Scott Morrison just isn’t willing to crack down on the anti-vaxxers in his own ranks who are causing immense problems, particularly in Indigenous communities ... talking to people about the extent of vaccine misinformation flying through Indigenous communities – this stuff isn’t just a parlour game, it literally costs lives. So taking a strong stance on anti-vaxxers is to be welcomed, but Scott Morrison needs to do it consistently.

10am in NSW.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil joined ABC News Breakfast earlier in anticipation of the unions meeting to be held today. She told the program there was a “monumental work crisis” hitting the nation, with a large number of essential workers sick and unable to go to work.

The issues that need to be resolved to keep workers safe at work include the free and accessibility of RATs ... we wrote to the prime minister more than a week ago now saying that urgently what was needed was those free and accessible RATs, improved access to better masks, to make sure people were safe ... access to paid pandemic leave which means looking at the definition of “close contact” because we all know that many people spend more time at work in close contact with people than they do in their home, but they’re excluded at the moment from getting assistance, income support, because the definition is so ridiculously narrow and we have also called for extra support for workers and business so get through what is an unofficial lockdown. All that fell on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, dozens of unions will hold an emergency meeting today in response to a “workforce crisis” and concerned over increased transmission in a range of sectors.

ACTU president Sally McManus says a “record level” of essential workers are sick and unable to work:

This has led to an overwhelming of our health systems and a crippling of our supply chains. Some employers are responding by pressuring Covid-positive people to work, others have not changed safety measures despite the more infectious nature of Omicron, workers are sick, many now without income and there is a serious lack of national leadership.

Too many people are being put in harm’s way and the failure of the federal government to secure RATs means we do not have the tools to keep ourselves and the community safe. We have offered to work with the Morrison government as we did in 2020, but this offer has gone unanswered.

We have called on the government to provide the immediate support working people need, such as free RATs, better masks, proper definitions of close contact and support for businesses and workers in the unofficial lockdown. These requests have also fallen on deaf ears, just like our requests to the federal government to secure a supply of RATs six months ago.

Keneally was asked about the light that has been shone on the 33 refugees held at the Park Hotel for more than nine years, where Djokovic was briefly detained.

There is a wafer-thin difference between Labor and the federal government at the moment on border protection when it comes to refugees. Will Labor change their position on what should happen to those men?

Keneally:

Labor has been saying for months now that if these refugees are able to live in the community, they should do so. In fact, we agreed with Peter Dutton when he said that it was more cost-effective to have these people living in the community while the outcome of their cases are determined. It is really now up to Karen Andrews to why that’s not happening.

Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally appeared on ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning discussing the fallout of the Djokovic decision.

She said Labor “welcomed” the decision but prime minister Scott Morrison oughtn’t “pat himself on the back”.

What we have here is another example of mismanagement during this pandemic. Mr Morrison never should have granted Novak Djokovic that visa in the first place. This is a series of unforced errors on Mr Morrison’s part and it’s a mess on our borders. We are now an international embarrassment thanks to Mr Morrison’s bungles.

There are so many points at which the Morrison government stuffed this up. They gave him a visa back on 18 November without working out whether or not he met the medical exemption. They didn’t do anything in Dubai. In Dubai, we have Australian Border Force officers who are supposed to prevent things like this from happening. This has been a monumental bungle at our borders by the Morrison government. They want to run around and pat themselves on the back about it, they deserve a kick up the backside.

The deputy head of mission for the high commission of Tonga in Canberra, Curtis Tuihalangingie, has appeared on ABC News Breakfast, warning the situation in Tonga “is not stable yet” but there had been no deaths reported so far.

We have limited access to information and we don’t have a direct communication to Tonga at the moment, but we receive information through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and according to what we have, it’s minimal damages and no deaths yet. So no deaths that has been reported and we hope that it will continue on to be that direction.

We spoke to some of our families and relatives and also to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tonga just before the communication was down and I tell you – it was unbelievable and they were not able to explain to us the noise and the sound and what happened at the time ... it’s something that they were not able to explain, the sound it’s huge and they never heard such sound and this is the first time for, I think, most of people in Tonga to experience such a disaster.

In New Zealand, a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion plane has left Auckland this morning for Tonga to assist initial damage in the area and low-lying islands.

On 2GB, Morrison said he had spoken to prime minister Jacinda Ardern and was working alongside New Zealand to get support in to the area. He said Tonga was “part of our Pacific family” but an ash cloud had made it very challenging to enter the area.

Prime minister Scott Morrison has appeared on 2GB this morning, confirming Djokovic didn’t comply with entry requirements ... but that is not why his visa was cancelled.

Australia has very clear rules and Australians have been following those rules ... we apply our rules equally in this country and there was a very clear message sent – he wanted to come, he wasn’t vaccinated, well you’ve got to have a valid medical exemption and neither of those were in place. People make their own choices, and those choices meant you couldn’t come here and play tennis.

Asked whether he should have been granted an exemption in the first place, Morrison said “no”.

The idea someone could come and not follow those rules just was not on ... he was wrong, simple as that ... we didn’t give him an exemption, the federal government gave him no such exemption.

To be clear, Djokovic did enter with an exemption from Tennis Australia and the Victorian government.

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has appeared on Sunrise this morning alongside member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon, chatting, you guessed it, Novak Djokovic.

Joyce says he’s “happy we came to a conclusion”.

And that is that Mr Djokovic would be asked to leave, it is in the remit of the minister to do that, the judges reviewed the process and found the process the minister followed was legal. But to be quite frank, I am on the same page as Mr Djokovic. We’ll move on. And the things I will move on to are making sure to keep food on the shelves of supermarkets as ... people have been interested in the story, it’s been a ... soap opera. But now people are going to focus on the tennis, watch the tennis and also focus on looking after them and one of the big issues right now is making sure we keep food on the shelves at the grocery store.

Friendly reminder of a jubilant Joyce in 2015:

Asked how soon rapid antigen tests will become more widely available, Hunt says 5.6 million rapid antigen tests have been delivered to aged care, and 70 million will come in over the “coming weeks and months”.

Hunt says “you always keep adapting” to new variants, and hopes NSW and the ACT’s peaks are plateauing:

The frequent but not inevitable course of a virus is they become more infectious but less severe, and that’s clearly what’s happened with the Omicron variant ... but it’s not a given, it’s a general course with many major viruses and this is how pandemics burn themselves out over time ... but we’ll move on all the advice we have on having a pandemic to an endemic, where it becomes less severe ... like the flu has.

Health minister Greg Hunt has told ABC Radio National on “multiple occasions” the government has said they disagree with anybody anywhere with an anti-vaxxer sentiment – including, one would presume, members of cabinet.

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews has appeared on Sunrise this morning, discussing all things Djokovic.

She said “at all times, the government has acted in the best interests of Australians”.

I understand that there is a level of confusion out there in relation to issues that go towards visa application processes, but let me be clear, applying for a visa and being granted a visa does not automatically give you the right to enter Australia. You also have to meet the entry requirements that apply at that time, so I don’t have any concerns with the process that was undertaken in terms of assessing the application for a visa, but we also have in place a number of entry requirements, so anyone who is coming into Australia firstly has to have a valid visa but they also have to meet the entry requirements and that was the issue in the first instance.

Asked whether Djokovic may be let back in within three years (currently, a ban is in place preventing him from returning to Australia within that timeframe), Andrews said:

The three-year band does apply and will be in place but it can be dealt with at some stage in the future but that is very hypothetical and a long way off.

On to economics, and Frydenberg is asked about a Business NSW survey that says 40% of 2,000 businesses don’t have enough cash flow to get through the next three months. He says the Omicron variant is “another challenge”.

It’s a new phase of the virus and it’s a reminder that the pandemic is far from over. So it is affecting consumer spending. It is affecting consumer and business confidence. And we’ve seen a large number of workers who are absent from the workforce and that’s put real pressure on our supply chains. Now, the government has in place a number of measures at both federal and state level to assist businesses and to ensure that the supply chains keep going.

On the emergency unions meeting to be held today, Frydenberg says the government has been working with health professionals, the AHPPC and the chief health officer on the changed rules to isolation requirements for close contacts in a range of sectors.

We need to keep food on the shelves. We need the trucks to continue to ensure the deliveries. We need the abattoirs to keep working. Indeed, we need water and energy and telecommunications and other essential services to keep going. We need our schools to open at term one and to stay open ... so the economy is a complex ecosystem and every bit is connected to the other. And we’re trying to balance here a series of objectives – not just the health objective, but also the economic objective. And what is absolutely clear from the health advice is that while Omicron is highly transmissible, it is less severe and people such as myself can have the virus but not be hospitalised and can get through it after those days required in isolation.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is back in action after being diagnosed with Covid-19. He is appearing on ABC News Breakfast now, “on the mend” though acknowledging it “wasn’t a walk in the park”:

It’s no teddy bear picnic. I had the common symptoms, cold sweats and headaches and various aches and pains. But it did pass and you know, it lingers a little bit – the fatigue. But fortunately, Omicron is 75% less severe compared to Delta. And fortunately, you know, I had the vaccinations and the booster shot as well.

Asked about the Serbian president’s accusations of “torture” of Novak Djokovic, Frydenberg says it was a “legal process” and “rules are rules”:

It doesn’t matter whether you’re Novak Djokovic and the number one tennis player in the world or Betty from Utah. If you’re unvaccinated and you come to Australia, you need to adhere to what are the Atagi guidelines, and the other conditions that are set. Now, Greg Hunt in a very clear letter explicitly set out what the conditions were to Tennis Australia back in late November for tennis players to come to Australia who were unvaccinated.

Now, Novak Djokovic did not meet those conditions. The ultimate decision was left to the immigration minister, Alex Hawke. He made that decision and that was upheld unanimously by a full court of the federal court. And that’s where it stands. But no one is bigger than the Australian Open. Certainly no one is bigger than the pandemic or no one is above the rules that we have in place at our borders that are helped to keep us safe through this pandemic.