Authorities say logging rapid tests will allow people to be connected to healthcare. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Authorities say logging rapid tests will allow people to be connected to healthcare. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Australia on Thursday reported a new record for daily cases of Covid-19 as multiple Omicron outbreaks continue to drive up hospitalisation rates and death tolls.
New South Wales reported 92,264 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday after rapid antigen test results from the last 12 days were included in the tally.
A record 21 deaths of people with Covid-19 were confirmed, making Thursday the equal deadliest day of the pandemic in NSW so far. The same number of deaths were reported on Wednesday.
There are 2383 people in hospital with the virus in NSW, with 182 of those in intensive care, up from 2242 and 175 respectively on Wednesday.
Of the new cases, NSW Health said 61,387 were detected on rapid tests and 30,877 were detected on PCR tests.
Victoria meanwhile recorded 37,169 new cases and 25 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours.
Queensland reported 14,914 new infections of Covid-19 and six further deaths. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has scrapped Rapid Antigen Tests and border pass requirements for anyone planning to domestically enter the state by land or air.
The three states reported a combined 144,347 cases.
Covid-19 infections were expected to surge in NSW on Thursday after 82,000 rapid test results were reported in the first day of the system going live.
Some of those people may have had PCR tests after returning a positive rapid test result and would not have been counted in the figures twice, though health officials are yet to clarify this.
The state government has made it mandatory for residents to report their rapid tests or face a A$1000 fine, which will come into force from next week.
Authorities say logging rapid tests will allow people to be connected to healthcare. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Almost 14,000 people reported their results through the Service NSW app within two hours of the online portal being launched at 9am on Wednesday.
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said that figure had risen to more than 82,000 by the end of the day.
He told Sunrise the figure was from results over the past 12 days. The positive tests include infections discovered by people testing themselves at home since January 1.
Health officials have said tracking rapid test results will give them a more accurate indication of the infection rate and allow them to link people with healthcare if they need it.
The fine for not logging positive RAT tests would be in place from January 19, Dominello said, but did not explain how it could be policed.
He admitted it would be "almost impossible" to enforce and the government would have to rely on people following the rules.
"But it's also showing the public that A: we take this seriously. As a government, as a community, we need to take this seriously," he said.
"Yes, we will rely on the public as we have done for the last two years to get us through this.
"But I've got no doubt when you look at the vaccination rates and all the other things that we have asked the public to do … they have always stood up to the mark."
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the system would rely on the public following the rules. Photo / NCA NewsWire
Dominello said there could be situations in the future where people needed to prove they had coronavirus and show their proof of registration.
"There may be grants in the future, for example, if you need to get financial assistance in the federal government, hypothetically and they need to say, well, show us that you had Covid," he said.
He said NSW was following the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory in introducing a financial penalty.
The NSW government has ordered 100 million rapid tests which it says it will focus on distributing to essential public workers, schools, rural areas, vulnerable communities and healthcare providers who care for them.
NSW recorded 34,759 new infections from PCR testing on Thursday.
