Australia live news updates: Omicron Covid cases climb as Sydney pub and club at centre of scare | Australia news
16:27
From AAP:
One in five Australians in the outer suburbs have been living in “financial survival mode” during the pandemic and are more likely to feel stressed, frustrated and anxious than the national average.
City reaches are home to many of the essential workers who kept the Australian economy ticking over during rolling lockdowns yet their needs are being overlooked, the National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA) says.
Analysis of over 80,000 interviews commissioned by the group reveals 21 per cent of outer metropolitan residents are in survival mode.
More than half of them are struggling to pay at last one major bill, whether it be to meet their energy needs, groceries, rent or personal loans. For those aged 40 and under, the figure jumps to 64 per cent.
NGAA CEO Bronwen Clark says government is failing a segment of the population representing 5.2 million people in total and growing at twice the national average.
“Our outer suburbs are home to the most essential workers and faced the strictest lockdowns,” she said.
“These are the communities that saw us through the pandemic and to date governments have failed to understand their needs.
“Now, governments must join the dots between high COVID rates, high outbreak risk factors and the lag in social infrastructure in fast-growing outer suburbs.”
16:21
Assistant Commissioner Nicola Hogan from the New South Wales SES is currently on ABC.
She said they received 450 requests for assistance over the last 24 hours, 31 of those being flood rescues.
“Predominantly in the south-east of the state, although we do still have significant flooding in the north-west and west of New South Wales.
“There were some storms experienced in the Sydney metropolitan area also yesterday, so it was quite a day of wild weather that we were experiencing over the last 24 hours.”
Updated
16:13
For those ready and raring for some searing political analysis this morning, I’ve got this piece from Katherine Murphy for you …
Updated
16:07
An emergency warning remains in place for a fire burning near Margaret River in Western Australia’s south-west.
Despite conditions easing yesterday, the blaze at the Leeuwin-Naturaliste national park is still out of control.
It has burned through about 6,000 hectares, but so far no buildings have been destroyed.
DFES
(@dfes_wa)02:26 AM – Bushfire EMERGENCY WARNING for the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park in the SHIRE OF AUGUSTA-MARGARET RIVER: https://t.co/ZSEIQCTb4B
Updated
15:59
Good morning, this is Cait Kelly – we will be going through the day’s news together.
The number of cases of the Omicron Covid variant from a Sydney Harbour cruise is expected to grow.
Last night, NSW Health added two new Covid exposure sites visited by confirmed cases linked to the cruise that could be the Omicron strain – the Albion Hotel in Parramatta and the Cult nightclub in Potts Point.
There are two suspected Omicron cases in South Australia while Victoria has had three instances of the variant, two of which were in hotel quarantine yesterday. New South Wales has 42 Omicron cases of the strain but none have yet been admitted to hospital.
Overall infections are on the rise in NSW. The state reported 516 new cases on Friday, its highest daily caseload in two months. Victoria recorded 1,206 daily infections and two more deaths.
The ACT detected six additional cases and the Northern Territory four, while there were six locally acquired cases in Queensland.
National cabinet was focusing on Omicron yesterday, with the country’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, saying health experts were in the early stages of understanding the variant.
We’re going to be bringing you updates from Margaret River, where a huge bushfire has been raging the past few days.
The clean-up is continuing in the NSW south coast town of Mogo, where there was flooding yesterday, including up to 200mm in some parts.
And with that, let’s get cracking on the news.
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