Coronavirus: Australia tops 10,000 daily cases; Malaysia says no mass celebrations allowed for New Year’s

Health officials in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, said everyone was likely to catch the Omicron variant at some point

Elsewhere, India gave emergency use authorisation for Merck’s Covid-19 pill molnupiravir, and a teen in Adelaide was arrested for partying while infected

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Australians protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine passports in Sydney, New South Wales, earlier this month. Photo: EPA

Published: 3:39pm, 28 Dec 2021Updated: 5:14pm, 28 Dec 2021

Australia reported more than 10,000 daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic amid the rapid spread of the Omicron strain.

New South Wales on Monday recorded 6,324 cases, with 55 in intensive care among 520 people in hospital. The most populous state also reported its first known death from the Omicron variant – a man in his 80s with underlying health issues who had received two doses of vaccine and became infected in his nursing home.

Everyone in the state is likely to get Omicron at some point, the state’s health minister Brad Hazzard said on Sunday, according to a local report.

New South Wales health chief Brad Hazzard reportedly said everyone in Australia’s most populous state is likely to get Omicron at some point. Photo: EPA

The second biggest state, Victoria, posted 1,999 daily cases. Infections also multiplied in smaller states that recently reopened domestic borders for the summer holiday tourism season: Queensland had 784 new cases on Monday, while South Australia counted 842.

There was one new case in Western Australia, the country’s last holdout of the Covid-zero approach. State Premier Mark McGowan extended restrictions introduced last week, such as masks at indoor public venues.

“We are not out of woods yet,” McGowan told reporters on Monday.