Australia news LIVE: Booster shot wait times accelerated in NSW, Victoria as COVID-19 cases grow across the nation; 2022 Australian Open continues in Melbourne

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there will be no change to the nationally-agreed isolation period of seven days for confirmed cases of COVID-19, although the matter remains under review. In most states and territories, people who contract COVID-19 can leave isolation after the mandatory seven days, provided that their symptoms have resolved in this period. The Prime Minister and Health Minister had been asked in recent days whether the isolation period would be cut to five days.
• Mr Morrison rejected claims by some retailers that supplies of rapid antigen tests are being redirected to the Commonwealth. “The Commonwealth government, through the Department of Health, is reporting false claims of the requisitioning of rapid antigen tests to the [consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission],” he said.

• While Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews foreshadowed yesterday that national cabinet would consider whether a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine would be required in the future to be considered fully vaccinated against the virus, no decision has been made. Mr Morrison said today that making a third jab a requirement rather than an optional extra for full vaccination had been “an item of discussion for some time”. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said a number of implementation issues needed to be considered” but “the third dose is [important] ... if you have Omicron. If Omicron is present, it does increase protection against severe disease and against transmission and against infection”.

• Australia’s drug regulator has granted provisional approval for two oral treatments for COVID-19. The Therapeutic Goods Administration said it had given the tick of approval to antiviral pills Paxlovid, produced by Pfizer, and Legevrio, from American pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. This means both brands are set to become the first oral treatments for coronavirus approved for use in Australia. The first shipments of both medicines are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
• The treatments are designed for people who have coronavirus and are at risk of hospitalisation or death, who do not require ventilation. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the treatments were designed for those “most at risk”, particularly the elderly. The drugs are not a substitute for getting vaccinated. The TGA said either medicine “should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis” and “within five days of the start of symptoms”. In both cases, the treatment is taken twice a day for five days.

• Mr Hunt said Australia’s medicines regulator had also given provisional approval to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. “We know that some people have waited for this vaccine,” Mr Hunt said. “Although we have encouraged everyone to proceed with [getting vaccinated as soon as possible] ... we know that some people have waited. We have a first-dose national vaccination rate of 95.2 per cent. Hopefully, this [announcement] will encourage those people in the less than 5 per cent to come forward.” The next step is for the Australian advisory group on immunisation to give its nod of approval. After that happens, Novavax will be distributed through state and territory vaccination hubs, general practices and pharmacies.
• NSW and Victoria are working on a plan the states’ respective premiers say will reduce the risk associated with students returning to face-to-face learning amid current infection rates. National cabinet discussed those plans today. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet told ABC TV earlier today that “We see rapid antigen tests playing an important role, at least in the short term as we move through this Omicron wave. But there’s obviously a range of factors involved as well. It’s going to be a difficult and challenging time as we get kids back in the classroom. But we can’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.”

• The Victorian government has walked back its decision to pause IVF treatments in hospitals following advice from Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton overnight, Marta Pascual Juanola reports. Some IVF treatments will restart from today, with hospitals gradually scaling up their operations to enable procedures to resume fully from Wednesday next week.

• Victoria reported 21,966 official cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths. Today’s numbers are up on yesterday’s total of 20,769. Of today’s cases, 11,693 were positive PCRs and 10,273 were from positive self-reported rapid antigen tests. There are 1206 people in Victorian hospitals with the virus. Of those, 122 cases are in intensive care. Today’s hospitalisations are up from yesterday’s 1173 patients (when there were 125 cases in ICU).
• NSW’s has reported 30,825 official cases of COVID-19 and 25 deaths. Of today’s cases, 13,178 are self-reported positive rapid antigen tests (the majority of which were conducted over the past seven days) and 17,647 are positive PCR results. Today’s daily case total is down from yesterday’s 32,297 cases. There are 2781 people in NSW hospitals with the virus. Of those, 212 are in intensive care. That’s down from yesterday’s 2863 hospitalisations, when there were 217 people in ICU.
• Eight of the 25 people who died in NSW in the latest reporting people were unvaccinated and one had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Five people under the age of 65 died, including a triple-vaccinated person in their 30s who had significant underlying health conditions, two double-vaccinated people and one partially-vaccinated person.

• Asked on ABC News Breakfast this morning if he regretted easing a raft of restrictions in NSW on December 15, some of which were reintroduced as case numbers rose sharply, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said: “There will always be different opinions during a pandemic. Our job as leaders is to balance a range of impacts, whether that’s the public health, the broader issues, mental health, the economic challenges the state faces. We always said as we move through this pandemic, we’ll make adjustments and changes.”
• Queensland has recorded nine new deaths and 16,812 new known COVID infections as it announced its privately-owned regional quarantine hub will welcome the first 500 guests from February, Matt Dennien reports. Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the update took the total pandemic death toll in the state to 72. A total of 852 people were now in hospital with the virus, with 42 in intensive care — 20 of whom were on ventilators. Half of the beds at the Wellcamp site, near Tooowoomba, will be used for people who still need to isolate after arriving in the state such as unvaccinated international arrivals. The remaining 250 will be open for people who are directed to quarantine but have no suitable accommodation.

• Tasmania says its schools will reopen on February 9. The state government said in a media release this afternoon that “parents will receive a Back to School COVID Care Package, with detailed information and two Rapid Antigen Tests, per child, to have for use if your child becomes symptomatic and requires a test”. Schools will also be provided with “a further two tests for every student per week to take home to test if required due to being symptomatic”, the government said.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today. I will be back with you tomorrow morning.

NSW and Victoria are working closely together on a plan the states’ respective premiers say will reduce the risk associated with students returning to face-to-face learning amid current infection rates.

National cabinet discussed those plans today.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet told ABC TV earlier today that “we see rapid antigen tests playing an important role, at least in the short term as we move through this Omicron wave.

“But there’s obviously a range of factors involved as well. It’s going to be a difficult and challenging time as we get kids back in the classroom. But we can’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.”

with Broede Carmody

“It was not necessary for the Minister to consider and weigh in the balance the two ‘binary’ choices contended for by Mr Djokovic.

“The power to cancel relied upon by the Minister in this case arose once he was ‘satisfied’ that ‘the presence of [the visa] holder in Australia … may be … a risk to … the health, safety or good order of the Australian community’.

“No statutory obligation arose to consider what risks may arise if the holder were removed from, or not present in, Australia.”

The court said, in any event, the Minister had been “aware of any number of different consequences that might ensue if the visa were cancelled, including unrest”, but hadn’t regarded them as necessary to weigh in the balance.

In the court’s final remarks, which are also noted below, it said that Parliament made clear in the Migration Act that the Minister may cancel a visa if he or she is satisfied that the presence of its holder in Australia may be a risk to the health or good order of the Australian community.

“The Minister reached that state of satisfaction on grounds that cannot be said to be irrational or illogical or not based on relevant material,” the court said.

“Another person in the position of the Minister may have not cancelled Mr Djokovic’s visa. The Minister did. The complaints made in the proceeding do not found a conclusion that the satisfaction of the relevant factors and the exercise of discretion were reached and made unlawfully.“

An iconic world tennis star may influence people of all ages, young or old, but perhaps especially the young and the impressionable, to emulate him. This is not fanciful; it does not need evidence. It is the recognition of human behaviour from a modest familiarity with human experience. Even if Mr Djokovic did not win the Australian Open, the capacity of his presence in Australia playing tennis to encourage those who would emulate or wish to be like him is a rational foundation for the view that he might foster anti-vaccination sentiment.

The court added that “it was not irrational for the Minister to be concerned that the asserted support of some anti-vaccination groups for Mr Djokovic’s apparent position on vaccination may encourage rallies and protests that may lead to heightened community transmission”.

It was “open to infer that it was perceived by the public that Mr Djokovic was not in favour of vaccinations” and that his presence in Australia may cause others to emulate him, the court said.

The court said that the Minister had argued Mr Djokovic’s presence could not only encourage anti-vaccination groups, but also to people who simply may be uncertain or wavering as to whether they will be vaccinated.

The court said it was not irrational to infer that Mr Djokovic’s presence may be taken up by anti-vaccination groups in the future in support of their views.

“It was not irrational for the Minister to be concerned that the asserted support of some anti-vaccination groups for Mr Djokovic’s apparent position on vaccination may encourage rallies and protests that may lead to heightened community transmission.”

The court also said there was evidence that Djokovic had recently disregarded reasonable public health measures overseas by attending activities unmasked while COVID positive to his knowledge.

“It was open to infer that this, if emulated, may encourage an attitude of breach of public health regulations.”

They said that Djokovic’s views canvassed in the BBC article were “expressed and publicly known even before there was a COVID-19 vaccine”.

“Further, there was no issue ... that Mr Djokovic was not, by January 2022, vaccinated. It was plainly open to the Minister to infer that Mr Djokovic had for over a year chosen not to be vaccinated since vaccines became available,” the court said.

“That he had a reason not to have a vaccination at the time of the decision in January 2022, apparently having contracted COVID-19 on or about 16 December 2021, did not say anything as to the position for the many months from the availability of vaccines to December 2021.

“It was plainly open to the Minister to infer that Mr Djokovic had chosen not to be vaccinated because he was opposed to vaccination or did not wish to be vaccinated.”

They said that while Mr Hawke had not asked Mr Djokovic about his present attitude to vaccines, that only meant that there was “no express statement to the contrary of what could be inferred to be his attitude up to January 2022”.

“Mr Djokovic had not volunteered any information when interviewed at the airport by officers of the Department of Home Affairs. He did not give evidence of any apparent change of attitude.

“It was also open to the Minister to infer that the public would view his attitude as the media had portrayed: that he was unwilling to be vaccinated.”