Good morning and happy new year! It’s nice to be back in your inbox and we hope you stayed safe and had a lovely festive season. The year is off to a tumultuous start with many states reporting record Covid infections and growing hospitalisations, compounded by concerns about the availability of tests. But there is some hope, with new studies indicating the Omicron variant currently spreading around the world is less severe than its predecessors.
Australia recorded 32,000 new Covid cases on Sunday, and the positivity rate reached 20.3%, meaning one in five people tested had Covid. The figure is well above the 5% the WHO says is needed to keep the spread of Covid under control. So what does a 20% rate mean for Australia? Here’s our explainer. There were 1,066 people in hospital with Covid on Sunday – an 18% increase a day after the number had already doubled between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve. The number of PCR tests in NSW dropped by almost 30,000 in 24 hours after the government encouraged people not to line up unless they had symptoms or were a close contact. Victoria’s health minister is expected to make an announcement in the coming days on widening access to rapid antigen tests after extreme heat caused the closure of eight of the state’s testing sites on Saturday, blowing out queues and test result wait times.
In some much-needed positive Covid news – there’s more research suggesting the Omicron variant is less severe than other variants. New studies suggest the variant is more likely to infect the throat than the lungs, which scientists believe may explain why it appears to be more infectious but less deadly than other versions of the virus. Some research has suggested that lateral flow tests detect Omicron better when the throat is swabbed rather than the nose.
US politician Liz Cheney, a Republican member of the House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol, says her party must choose between Donald Trump and the truth. “We can either be loyal to Donald Trump or we can be loyal to the constitution, but we cannot be both,” she told CBS’s Face the Nation. On Sunday, Cheney and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee chairman, again discussed the possibility of a criminal referral for Trump over his failure to attempt to stop the riot or for his obstruction of the investigation.
Australia
Our gut’s microbiome has a far greater effect on health than anyone previously imagined, according to emerging science, which is leading to stool transplants and designer gut bacteria. Researchers in Adelaide are harnessing the power of “super poo” in new treatments for the increasing number of people who are turning to faecal transplants for the health benefits.
It was a horror weekend in the water across the country after three men and a seven-year-old boy died in separate drowning incidents. A number of people were also rescued from the water in other incidents, which has prompted authorities to plead with the public to take care while swimming and fishing.
The world
A whistleblower in Canada has warned that a progressive neurological illness that has baffled experts appears to be affecting a growing number of young people. Young adults with no prior health triggers are developing troubling symptoms, including rapid weight loss, insomnia, hallucinations and limited mobility.
The Covid crisis has left Sri Lanka on the brink of bankruptcy and facing a deepening humanitarian crisis as inflation rises to record levels, food prices rocket and its coffers run dry. Half a million people have sunk into poverty since the pandemic struck, with rising costs forcing many to cut back on food.
Russia is “very likely” to invade Ukraine and might only be deterred by “enormous sanctions”, the chair of the US House intelligence committee said on Sunday, adding an invasion could backfire on Moscow by drawing more countries into the Nato military alliance.
Oxfam India has said its work in the country will be imperilled by the government’s refusal to renew a licence that permits it to receive funds from abroad.
Recommended reads
The last couple of years have surely reminded us that nobody can predict the future and nobody knows what’s coming around the corner. We can safely assume, however, that whatever troubles befall us, artists will struggle on, fighting the good fight, telling stories and taking us to places of imagination and illumination. As always, the new year offers a range of Australian films to look forward to. Hugo Weaving, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron star in some of 2022’s big movie releases, with directors George Miller, Ivan Sen, Baz Luhrmann and Gracie Otto at the helm.
For Benjamin Giles, running 2,000km in 2021 was the first resolution he’d kept longer than two weeks. But it wasn’t easy – it took an app, a long lockdown and pushing through injury to reach his self-imposed target. But most of all, it took obsession. “I was way behind the schedule. But I was also obsessed, and it was mathematically possible that by running 11km a day for six weeks, with one rest day a week, I could reach my target on Christmas Eve.”
Pruning is usually a technique applied to roses in winter, but more recently the gardening term has been cropping up whenever sociologists talk about our social lives. People have been pruning friends amid Covid – becoming “more insular and bonding-oriented”, and now many aren’t sure how to start rebuilding their social lives.
Listen
One of our best Full Story episodes from 2021 was this Guardian investigation into a scheme allowing foreign nationals to purchase citizenship in Vanuatu, or “golden passports” – and with it, visa-free access to the EU and UK. Pacific editor Kate Lyons and freelance reporter Euan Ward speak to Laura Murphy-Oates about how this passport scheme works and how it could be exploited.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Former Australian rugby league player Blake Ferguson has been arrested in Japan after alleged drug possession. Ferguson’s future in Japan’s rugby union competition is now in severe doubt given how seriously drug possession is viewed in the country.
Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says there is “quite a bit to play out” before the saga around Novak Djokovic’s appearance at Melbourne Park is sorted. The World No 1 has continually refused to reveal if he is vaccinated against Covid-19, a requirement to work in Victoria.
Media roundup
Northern Territory police have commenced a “major investigation” into the death of a child under five years old in remote Central Australia on New Year’s Day, according to the ABC. A 99-year-old former Manly ferry has sunk in Sydney Harbour after a decades-long push for the dilapidated vessel to be restored, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Coming up
Labor is expected to announce a policy to establish a strategic fleet of supply ships.
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