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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Christopher Knaus and Josh Taylor (earlier)

Australia records more than 100,000 cases nationally – as it happened

Supporters of Serbia's tennis champion Novak Djokovic outside the Park Hotel in Melbourne where he has been detained since his visa was cancelled.
Supporters of Serbia's tennis champion Novak Djokovic outside the Park Hotel in Melbourne where he has been detained since his visa was cancelled. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

That’s where we’ll leave our live blog for the day. Thanks for sticking with us during what has been a busy Saturday.

Until next time, take care.

Western Australia records one new Covid case

Western Australia has recorded one new Covid-19 case. From WA Health:

Seven cases related to interstate and overseas arrivals have also been reported. All cases are in home isolation or hotel quarantine.

The eight cases reported brings the State’s total number of Covid-19 cases now to 1,229.

The total number of cases related to the Delta backpacker cluster remains at 21, which includes the index case.

In relation to the case of the hotel quarantine security guard at the Hyatt Hotel and his household contact who tested positive – together there are 26 contacts in total so far, with a majority testing negative, including all their work colleagues. Four people are still being tested.

There are now 86 active confirmed cases in WA and 1,134 people have recovered from the virus.

Updated

This image gives you an idea of the extent of the flooding around Gympie, Queensland.

It shows flood waters caused by ex-Cyclone Seth impacting the Woolooga Trader in Gympie.

Flood waters caused by ex-Cyclone Seth surround the Woolooga Trader in Gympie

Meanwhile, emergency services have issued an alert for the areas of Goomeri, Kilkivan, and Woolooga.

Updated

Thanks Josh. Just sticking with the Djokovic story, his former Australian strategist Craig O’Shannessy has spoken to AAP and predicted that the world champion will be back to his peak within days, if he wins his court case and is released from the Park Hotel.

Novak is one of the most supreme athletes on the planet.

It’s only a few days. If he wins the court case, it will only take him two days or so to hit top speed. He could be back to his peak by, say, next Wednesday or Thursday.

He continued:

But we’ve seen over and over during his career how strong mentally Novak is.

If there’s an athlete on the planet who could overcome all this and compete at a grand slam, it’s Novak Djokovic.

It could even steel him.

With that, I will hand you back over to Christopher Knaus for the rest of the day.

As a side note, Novak Djokovic’s court hearing over his visa cancellation on Monday is via a publicly-available Microsoft Teams link.

In case you are not familiar, in these ones, everyone who joins has their microphone and video switched on if they so choose (at least that’s how courts here have done it so far).

This promises to be a mess given the amount of global interest in the case, as well as the usual crowds who flock to anything involving protesting against vaccination.

Here’s a previous story on one such hearing for example:

Updated

'A lot of finger-pointing going on,' tennis boss tells staff

The Herald Sun has published a leaked video of Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley speaking to staff about the ongoing Novak Djokovic visa medical exemption saga.

In the three-minute video, he said Tennis Australia would like to share more information but cannot while Djokovic challenges in court the federal government’s cancellation of his visa:

We’ve chosen at this point not to be very public with it, and simply because there is a pending lawsuit related to entry into Australia for a few and once that run its course, we’ll be able to share more with you as well.

There’s a lot of finger-pointing going on. And a lot of blaming going on that I can assure you our team has done an unbelievable job and have done everything they possibly could according to all the instructions that they have been provided.

Updated

More than 100,000 Covid cases reported nationally

Here’s the Covid-19 case numbers nationally as we have them for everywhere bar Western Australia (but they will be low or zero most likely).

  • New South Wales: 45,098
  • Victoria: 51,356
  • Northern Territory: 594
  • Tasmania: 2,223
  • South Australian: 4,274
  • Australian Capital Territory: 1,305
  • Queensland: 11,174

The total cases reported today, therefore, sits at 116,024.

This is obviously the highest Australia has reported nationally ever, and the first time we have reported over 100,000 in a single day but the caveat here is that over half of Victoria’s reported cases are rapid test results, with around 20,000 of those tests from Saturday to Thursday last week.

The more accurate figure for test results received on Friday would be closer to 96,000.

Updated

Number crunching doesn’t just belong to Covid or the cricket, as weather geeks everywhere know.

Last year, as you may know, was marked by storms and floods and ended up as Australia’s coolest since 2012 but still unusually warm for a La Niña year. It was also the wettest year since 2016.

Well, how about the cities in which most Australians live? Here’s a summary of how the state capitals, ah, weathered 2021.

And a reminder that extremes seem never to be far away, it looks like we have an early contender for wettest day of the year in Queensland.

Those of us with an eye on the cricket along with the torrent of Covid news, meanwhile, might want to keep a watch on the heavens, particularly if you happen to be in the eastern parts of NSW including Sydney.

Updated

ACT reports 1,305 new Covid cases

The ACT has reported 1,305 new Covid-19 cases. There are 24 people in hospital, with five in ICU.

Updated

Pandemic leave payments extended to recognise positive RAT result

From Monday, people will be able to present evidence they have registered a positive rapid antigen test result with their state health authority in order to qualify for pandemic leave disaster payments.

Updated

Queensland has yet to decide whether to delay face-to-face learning when school returns in a couple of weeks.

Yvette D’Ath says a national plan is being developed, but the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has been clear she does not want kids returning to class at the peak of cases.

It might just mean a delay for primary school, where children have not yet had the chance to be fully vaccinated.

Updated

Queensland suspends non-urgent elective surgery

The Queensland health minister, Yvette D’Ath, says non-urgent elective surgery (category three and some category two) will be suspended until 1 March. She says it will be reviewed at the end of January depending on what the load on the hospital system is.

D’Ath also says for outpatients, there will be a postponement of appointments, or telehealth appointments put in place instead. She says it’s not just about hospital space, but healthcare worker availability:

It’s not just about bed capacity, it’s about health workers and their availability. So we have 3,505 health workers now, frontline health workers, who are either positive or who themselves are quarantining. So this puts pressure on the health system and that’s why we have to put these plans into place.

We will also be talking with the private hospitals to activate the contractual arrangements that we have put in place with the private sector to secure staffed beds over the coming days and weeks so that we have those beds ready that we can move public patients into the private hospital system to free up capacity so that we can deal with those emergencies and deal with more Covid patients.

The two deaths reported today are both men in their 30s. One of whom was unvaccinated. They both died from myocarditis, that is viral infection of the heart.

One had been flagged ten days ago but the cause of death is now confirmed.

Updated

Queensland has 17 people in the ICU being treated for Covid-19, and 349 Covid-positive patients in hospital.

The Queensland portal for people to register their positive rapid antigen tests (RATs) has gone live.

The health minister, Yvette D’Ath, says people can find it on the Queensland government website. She says anyone who has had a positive RAT in Queensland should register it on the website.

She says people should brace for higher case numbers when the RAT numbers are added, following the RAT numbers reported in Victoria today.

Updated

Queensland records 11,174 Covid cases and two deaths

The Queensland health minister, Yvette D’Ath, announces two deaths from Covid-19 since last reporting, as well as 11,174 new cases of Covid-19.

Updated

Of the five deaths reported in South Australia today, premier Steven Marshall says they are one person in their 50s, one in their 60s, one in their 70s, and two in their 90s.

With that, I’ll hand back over to my colleague Josh Taylor. Thanks for sticking with us.

Thankfully, Steven Marshall says Covid has not yet been detected in remote Indigenous communities on the state’s border with the Northern Territory. The news isn’t so rosy for other remote communities, though:

We have been reporting some outbreaks in Aboriginal communities in SA. We were very concerned about two positive cases close to the NT border. What I can report to you today is that there were about 300 people that have been tested. We have 270 results back already. All of them are negative. We are pleased and hopeful at this point in time.

But I can also report that we have another two cases on the west coast, the far west coast of SA, and we also have one further positive case where somebody from Adelaide moved back to a town recently and have returned a positive swab and we have brought them back to Adelaide and we are testing them in the community.

These are vulnerable communities due to their remote location and so we are working with the local health providers as well as putting our rapid response team in place to support them.

Updated

South Australia records five deaths and 4,274 Covid cases

South Australia has recorded five deaths and 4,274 new cases.

The premier, Steven Marshall, is speaking about the Covid situation now.

The state’s vaccination figures are not yet available, but the premier says a significant proportion of those in hospital are unvaccinated.

He also provides advance warning that the state will make the booster shot mandatory in some sectors:

It is now going to be mandatory for all healthcare workers or aged care workers and all of those in the disability sector to not just have the two doses to be fully vaccinated, but to have the booster as well. And we’re giving people to 29 January to make sure that they can comply with this and I do need to give advance warning that we are very strongly considering making it mandatory for the booster in other sectors as well, including childcare and the education sector.

Updated

Some sad news out of Canberra.

The Canberra Times reports that the founder of Questacon, Prof Mike Gore, has died.

Tributes have flowed for Gore, praising his contribution to science.

Updated

Visa ordeal will fire up Djokovic, says Nick Kyrgios

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios was just asked about the ongoing detention of Novak Djokovic.

He says the ordeal will have fired up the world No 1, and says he wouldn’t want to encounter him in the Australian Open:

I reckon he’s going to be pissed off. He’s going to be very determined to play well, and stick it to everyone of what’s going on. And I don’t want any bar of that Novak.

He says the sport needs Djokovic to play and says the way he has been treated is “not really humane”:

For the sport we need him here, it’s that simple. He’s one of the most influential sportspeople probably of all time. For the sport, I think, as I said, if he’s ready to play and he’s allowed to play, I think it’s in a way good for our sport with all this attention because probably the Australian Open would have as many views as it’s ever probably had if he’s able to play.

But I just want it to end, and I want like – I don’t know. I’m feeling for him now. Like it’s not really humane, is it, what’s going on? I think it’s just, if this was a normal person they wouldn’t have to deal with all this sort of media side of bullshit. His life’s probably hard enough as it is, and I know what that’s like. I just hope it all gets sorted soon.

Nick Kyrgios speaks to the media on day eight of the 2022 ATP Cup in Sydney
Nick Kyrgios speaks to the media on day eight of the 2022 ATP Cup in Sydney. Photograph: Jeremy Ng/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Annastacia Palaszczuk says the current flood event was unexpected. It appears to have caught the bureau off guard, delaying warnings to local councils:

As the bureau said with this severe weather event, no one was expecting it to sit and stay and produce thunderstorms that were not moving.

This was an unexpected event from the bureau’s point of view and they were sending out information as it came to hand. And also, alerting the mayors in the local council as well.

Updated

Police have just clarified that the Bruce Highway is now open. It was closed earlier.

Police have had requests to rescue 23 people and 11 vehicles so far. The safety of eight of those people has been verified, police say. The remaining 15 appear to be unaccounted for.

Annastacia Palaszczuk says:

They’re working to access these people. We will update you during the day.

Police have been unable to retrieve the body of the man who died at Kanigan, after being swept away by flood waters.

The flood waters are causing police immense difficulties in accessing affected areas.

Updated

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is speaking about the flood emergency now.

She says:

I can say that we do have a severe weather event at the moment. I think everyone would know that we had ex-tropical cyclone Seth off our coast. It crossed over and has been sitting around this Wide Bay region and has not moved, is producing storms, and excessive rainfall, like what we saw during tropical cyclone Oswald.

So we do have locally intense rainfall, which may lead to flash flooding. We have the areas between Bundaberg and Kilroy, including Gympie, where we expect this rainfall to be there over the next few hours as well. But we also have a major flood warning that has been issued for Maryborough.

Updated

Queensland floods: man dies as authorities grapple with emergency

Queensland is currently grappling with a major flood emergency across the Wide Bay and Burnett regions, which has washed away highways and cut off towns.

Tragically, police have just confirmed that one person has died after his vehicle was submerged in flood waters at Kanigan, Wide Bay.

Police said in a statement:

Police are investigating the death of a man after his vehicle became submerged in flood waters at Kanigan, Wide Bay last night (Friday, January 8).

Around 7.30pm, police and emergency services received a report of a utility being swept off the road on Cherry Tree Road near the Bruce Highway, and into floodwaters.

Following an extensive response involving police and fire and rescue swift water crews, the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, a 22-year-old Sunshine Coast man, was located deceased inside the vehicle this morning.

The areas around Gympie recorded huge rainfalls since early Friday. Marodian recorded 673mm while Mount Kanigan saw 650mm. The Bruce Highway is shut north of Gympie and Granville, a rural suburb of Maryborough, is about to be cut off by flood waters.

More storms are expected today across eastern Queensland.

Updated

Tasmania reports 2,223 Covid cases

Thanks very much Josh.

The Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, is warning of a significant uplift in cases, after the state recorded 2,223 new cases this morning. There are 10 people in hospital.

The state now has 6,509 active cases.

The state government says the virus is now spreading across younger, more mobile segments of the population.

Gutwein said:

Make certain that you wear your mask, make certain that you have good hand hygiene, do the right thing. We are going to see a significant uplift in cases as we move forward, and people should ensure that they are ready for that.

Updated

I will now hand over to my expert colleague Christopher Knaus for the next little while.

Northern Territory reports 594 Covid cases

The Northern Territory has reported another daily Covid-19 case record with 594 infections diagnosed overnight, AAP reports.

The figure – until 8pm on Friday – is up from 412 reported the previous day.

The health minister, Natasha Fyles, says the virus has spread to every region in the territory as the number of active cases grows to 1200.

“It is concerning that we have had significant escalation in the numbers but we expected this,” she told reporters on Friday.

“We can still manage these numbers that we’re seeing and I expect these numbers to grow over the coming days.”

Meanwhile, an investigation is under way into cases in Nhulunbuy in east Arnhem Land, about 700km east of Darwin.

More than 20 infections were also detected in Alice Springs and one was detected in Tennant Creek, 510km to the north.

A territory-wide lockout of unvaccinated people aged 16 and over started on Thursday and will continue until midday on Monday when a proof of vaccination pass system will be rolled out.

It will run on the territory’s check-in app and apply to most hospitality and entertainment venues.

Under the lockout, unvaccinated people can only leave their homes for medical treatment and testing, essential goods and services, and to care for a vulnerable person.

They are not permitted to go to workplaces or travel more than 30km.

Updated

At that press conference, the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, was asked about the ongoing Novak Djokovic saga. He largely avoided the questions, saying responsibility for travel restrictions lay with the commonwealth and advice to players was a matter for Tennis Australia. He made no criticism of Tennis Australia, despite revelations it told players that a previous Covid infection was enough for a travel exemption.

He said:

The entire Australian Open team deliver a fantastic event, which makes Melbourne the sport destination of the world. This particular set of incidents, the Victorian government is not briefed on the matter, in terms of how people got into the country, that’s a matter for the federal government. But Tennis Australia deliver an outstanding Australian Open and in very difficult circumstances I look forward to them delivering another great Australian Open.

He said the Victorian government had no regrets about partnering with Tennis Australia to facilitate the Australian Open this year.

Updated

The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, says the rapid test numbers in today’s figures are a vindication of the government establishing the system to record rapid tests this week:

The system will give us better oversight of people out there who previously we suspected were out there but we didn’t have the formal link to them. Now we do ... we would encourage particularly the RATs as they become more available, and we distribute them freely and widely as we possibly can, that we will bring more people into the system, particularly as we see case numbers spike. So this is a good start.

The numbers will wash out over the coming days, but there may well be more people out there who continue to be undiagnosed and therefore potentially unsupported in their Covid journey.

Updated

Victoria is now issuing rapid antigen tests at 40 of its testing sites across the state. People will get two tests each, and 13,000 tests were issued to 6,500 people, to alleviate the pressure on the queues for PCR tests in the state.

We know the Covid case numbers are increasingly meaningless, given the shift towards rapid antigen testing, if you can get your hands on one.

We might also wonder about the hospitalisation rates too. As noted in my article this morning, hospitals are being asked to accelerate the discharge of patients.

That might explain why the hospitalisation rate in NSW barely budged in the latest daily figures, up 3.3%.

Positive case numbers rose one-sixth, or almost 17%, but that 8.2% rise in ICU beds being occupied will be a better guide because it is less likely these very sick patients will be nudged out of hospital early.

Meanwhile, it’s clear staff are stretched at all aspects of the health system, from cleaners to pathology and so on.

One nurse at Sydney’s Liverpool hospital – where one senior Covid coordinator yesterday told colleagues they were facing a crisis “of epic proportions” – has provided additional detail this morning.

“Medical and nursing staff care for any inpatients can be out of their usual scope of practice; running local anaesthetic infusions into the spine or managing lung drains with no previous experience or consumables for this on the ward,” this nurse tells us.

“Covid-positive patients are treated in single rooms with ventilation that recirculates to non-Covid patient areas,” the nurse says.

Staff don’t have access to anterooms, donning and doffing their PPE in the “clean” hallway. “Gowns hang off walls and reused masks mix with clean equipment,” the nurse adds. “Not enough closed bins for contaminated dogged PPE so goes into an open bin in the hallway.”

There’s also a lot more detail, which we will write about later. In the meanwhile, if you know more you can also contact me on peter.hannam@theguardian.com

Updated

Victorian health minister speaks about record case numbers

The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, is holding a press conference.

He has broken down the 26,000-odd rapid test results included in today’s case numbers. They are:

  • 5,923 are from Friday.
  • 6,700-plus were from Thursday.
  • 5,000 approximately turned positive on Wednesday.
  • About 3,800 turned positive on Tuesday.
  • About 2,500 on Monday.
  • About 1,700 on Sunday.
  • And about 620 on New Year’s Day.

Updated

Novak Djokovic is not the only competitor to have his visa cancelled as the Czech foreign ministry joined the growing list demanding answers over the Australian Open’s medical exemption bungle, AAP reports.

Doubles specialist Renata Voracova has been confirmed to be at the same Melbourne hotel as the world No 1 after having her visa cancelled by the Australian Border Force (ABF) on Thursday.

And the ABF has also confirmed that action has been taken against a third person.

“One individual has voluntarily departed Australia ... and the visa of a third individual has been cancelled,” the ABF said.

The ABF added that one person had been taken into immigration detention pending deportation, but declined to to give details.

Czech tennis player Renata Voracova
‘Renata Voracova is in the same detention as Djokovic, together with several other tennis players, that is, in Melbourne,’ the Czech foreign ministry says. Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

The Czech embassy overnight confirmed Voracova was detained in Melbourne and is now in the Park Hotel after her visa was revoked. The embassy said she had played one preparatory match in Melbourne, and held a valid medical exemption from Covid vaccination, and until yesterday Australian authorities “had no problem” with her stay.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been issued with a please explain by the embassy:

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Canberra and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Sydney are in contact with R. Voráčová. Renata has decided to leave Australia at the earliest possible date and will not be attending the tennis tournament in Melbourne.

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Canberra has also contacted the Australian Department of Home Affairs (responsible for issuing certain types of visas and external border protection) with a request for an explanation of the situation. We are currently awaiting a statement from the Australian side.

We have been trying to get a statement from Tennis Australia about all this, but have not yet received a response.

The Herald Sun has documents suggesting the federal government warned Tennis Australia that players who had Covid-19 in the past six months would not be considered “fully vaccinated”.

This has led to the paper reporting that Tennis Australia has misled players who sought a medical exemption from vaccination on the grounds they have had Covid-19 in the past six months.

Tennis Australia told the Herald Sun, however, that they “reject completely” that players were misled.

Informing players they could get into the country on a medical exemption was taken from the Smart Traveller website that Greg Hunt directly referred us to.

The purpose of this document was to explain eligibility to participate in the AO under Victorian laws which required that an exemption be in line with the Atagi guidance.

The summary of the Atagi guidance in particular the information related to recent infection was new information taken from the expanded guidance issued by Atagi.

The Atagi advice has said people who have had Covid-19 in the previous six months are eligible for a medical exemption.

Updated

NSW Health has said of the nine people who died with Covid overnight there were four women and five men aged in their 50s, 70s, and 90s.

Five people were from south-western Sydney, two were from south-eastern Sydney, one person was from western Sydney and one person was from Newcastle.

There are 1,795 people in hospital in NSW with Covid-19, including 145 people in intensive care, 40 of whom require ventilation.

Updated

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull tests positive for Covid

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has also tested positive for Covid-19, as he urges people to not take out their frustrations on frontline workers.

Updated

While we are focused on case numbers, too, my colleague Elias Visontay has written this on what the change in not requiring people to get PCR tests when they have a positive rapid test means for how we are tracking the pandemic.

Updated

Labor MP Andrew Giles tests positive for Covid

Labor MP Andrew Giles has announced he has tested positive for Covid-19.

Updated

We have collected stories from readers on what it is like trying to get tested this week.

My own personal experience this week was lining up at St Vincent’s in Fitzroy in Melbourne at 4.30am for a 7am opening. There were six people ahead of me in the queue when I got there – and the line was completely full by 5.30am, wrapping around the whole testing site and down to Alexandra Parade. They’d closed the line for the day before I’d even got in to get tested at around 7.30am.

I am thankful, however, the result came back in less than 18 hours.

Updated

The Victorian State Emergency Service has dealt with hundreds of calls for help as wild storms crossed the state bringing large hail and flash floods, AAP reports:

The SES received 848 calls in the 24 hours to Saturday, mostly due to flooding and building damage overnight.

SES duty officer Geb Abbott told ABC Radio about a dozen cases were people calling to be rescued.

There were some events where rescues had to be enacted just with people that had been stuck in floodwater.

The storms have left hundreds of properties without power across the state’s west.

On Friday, the storms caused flash flooding in parts of Melbourne’s western suburbs and the roof of a shopping centre in Point Cook caved in, collapsing under a heavy downpour.

The wild weather had already hit Portland on Thursday night, bringing down trees, damaging buildings and causing flash floods.

Updated

I feel like it’s important to be clear about it. The reason Victoria’s case numbers went past NSW today is only because around half of the 51,000 cases recorded were rapid test results from the previous week because of the new system going live yesterday.

The NSW figure is just PCR test results alone because NSW isn’t recording that yet – they plan to roll something out in the Service NSW app next week.

It’s not a competition, but I think just important to contextualise. Victoria has probably a better picture of just how much Covid is circulating in the community because it includes the rapid tests.

People wait in line at a walk-in Covid testing site in Melbourne.
People wait in line at a walk-in Covid testing site in Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPA

Updated

New rules have come into effect from today banning retailers from gouging people on the price of rapid antigen tests, AAP reports.

Retailers caught marking up test kits by more than 20% of the supply price now face a penalty of $66,000 and up to five years in jail.

At the beginning of the pandemic personal protective equipment such as masks and hospital gowns as well as hand sanitiser were added to the biosecurity list to prevent prices being hiked.

The determination also controls the export of items on the list to prevent overseas buyers taking Australian stocks.

Health minister Greg Hunt told 2GB on Thursday the federal government was taking “the strongest possible actions” to prevent profiteering in a time of need.

A Sydney pharmacy displays a sign to inform customers that rapid antigen tests are sold out.
A Sydney pharmacy displays a sign to inform customers that rapid antigen tests are sold out. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/Reuters

Updated

Victoria records 51,356 new cases and nine deaths

Victoria has overtaken New South Wales for daily Covid-19 cases, recording 51,356 new cases overnight and nine deaths.

There are 644 people in hospital, and 106 in intensive care.

The health department says this figure included the people who tested positive via a rapid test and registered it yesterday when the new system went up. There were nearly 6,000 of those yesterday and around 20,000 for the whole week.

Updated

My colleague Peter Hannam points out that in NSW, the positive test rate is now 38.6%. There was just a 3.3% rise in hospitalisations, but an 8.2% increase in ICU patients.

Svetlana Kovacevic, the Australian Serbian Chamber of Commerce Public Relations director, is on ABC News Breakfast to discuss Novak Djokovic’s detention in Australia over his visa cancellation.

Kovacevic says the visa approval is a “political hot potato” between the federal and Victorian governments and is a bad look:

This is a bad look for the Australian immigration system and you would think that somewhere along the way, proper inquiries would have been made earlier regarding Novak’s suitability to come to Australia and to try to avoid this embarrassing situation for everyone.

It appears that this debacle is as a result of a lack of coordination between the federal and Victorian state governments and Tennis Australia regarding the organising of tennis players’ visas. It may have been that the left hand wasn’t talking to the right, or that Tennis Australia, in the middle, might not have communicated properly the requirements for entry. But the point is moot now – that the courts will decide.

Supporters of Novak Djokovic outside the Park Hotel quarantine facility in Melbourne.
Supporters of Novak Djokovic outside the Park Hotel quarantine facility in Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPA

She says the issue could escalate tensions between Australia and Serbia, pointing out Djokovic’s requests to be moved into different accomodation have been denied:

It is hard to believe that Novak is treated like a high-risk individual considering that his intention is only to play in a tennis tournament and then leave the country. The punishment that Novak is receiving does not appear proportionate to the circumstances he has found himself in.

Updated

NSW reports 45,098 new cases and nine deaths

NSW numbers have come in. The state has recorded 45,098 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths.

There are 1,795 in hospital and 145 people in the ICU.

Worth noting these numbers do not account for people who are testing positive on rapid antigen tests and are now not getting a PCR to confirm – NSW hasn’t put a system in place to record that yet.

Updated

Good morning

Good morning and welcome to the live blog for Saturday, 8 January. I’m Josh Taylor and I’ll be bringing you the news this morning.

Here’s what we know so far.

Australia reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases on Friday, with over 78,000 reported across the country.

The Australian treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, was among them, announcing on Friday night he is isolating with his family after testing positive.

New South Wales brought back restrictions on dancing and singing at hospitality venues in response to the massive number of Omicron cases in the state.

Male tennis No 1 Novak Djokovic remains in the Park Hotel in Melbourne ahead of an injunction hearing against his removal from Australia as Tennis Australia denies it misled players over potential vaccination exemptions to be allowed to play at the Australian Open.

Leaked documents to the Herald Sun suggested Tennis Australia had told players that a recent Covid-19 infection would be a reason for medical exemption from needing to be vaccinated, despite the federal government telling Tennis Australia that was not the case.

Czech doubles player Renata Voracova who was given similar advice on exemptions to vaccination was also moved into the same detention as Djokovic.

Djokovic, meanwhile, broke his silence for the first time since arriving in Australia, posting on social media overnight: “Thank you to people around the world for your continuous support. I can feel it and it is greatly appreciated,” in a post on his Instagram stories posted in both Serbian and English.

Let’s get into it.

Updated

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Groundbreaking: Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour discover they are related
Oscar-winning actor is set to reprise her role as Miranda Priestly in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
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