Australia news LIVE: Victorian government to scrap mandatory vaccination in some settings as state records 1405 new local COVID-19 cases, three deaths; NSW restrictions ease as state records 1360 new cases, one death

• Victoria is scrapping the requirement that people must be vaccinated to enter retail premises, or to attend places of worship, weddings and funerals. The changes take effect from 11.59pm tonight. Customers must still be vaccinated to attend hair and beauty appointments. Unlike in NSW, masks remain mandatory in retail settings such as supermarkets and shops, regardless of your vaccination status, and are required for hospitality workers at cafes, bars and pubs. Masks are not required for attendees at weddings, funerals and other ceremonial events. Victoria recorded 1405 COVID-19 cases and three deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total number of active cases in the state to more than 11,500. The state recorded four new cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, taking the total number of confirmed cases of the strain in the state to 10.

• Zach Hope writes that Queensland tourism operators reported “many cancellations” from interstate travellers during 12 hours of state government silence about the quarantine fate of air passengers potentially exposed to the Omicron coronavirus variant. In a decision now reversed, health authorities on Tuesday night declared everyone on board flight VA1105 from Newcastle to Brisbane on Monday as a close contact, meaning they faced Christmas in quarantine regardless of their proximity to the known COVID-positive passenger. The same applied to all passengers on the subsequent flight VA375 from Brisbane to Townsville. It took until after 10am on Wednesday for Health Minister Yvette D’Ath to inform the public that only those sitting within two rows in front of and behind of – or next to – the infected passenger would be forced into two weeks’ home or hotel quarantine.

• Tasmania’s borders are now open to visitors from NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and Josh Dye has prepared a handy guide to interstate travel here. Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said this morning he was “very happy that the state is reopening”.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today. My colleague Broede Carmody will be back with you early tomorrow morning.

“I think it’s probably we’re talking more in the weeks than the months.

“What we’re seeing in New South Wales and the United Kingdom is very much faster, so we will be seeing that in the coming days and weeks and I think we can reasonably expect that Omicron will spread in Queensland in the coming weeks.

“It won’t be a surprise. We are not going to change our plans.”

Read the full story here.

“We would imagine from what we’ve seen that the spread of Omicron - given that it’s pretty well seeded into NSW - is going to be very hard to resist,” the Health Minister told ABC Melbourne’s Drive program.

“What that means in terms of caseload is a matter for us all with our boosters, mask wearing and [other measures], but we shouldn’t panic about that because what we’re seeing increasingly with high levels of vaccination is a disconnect between caseload, infection numbers, and the impact on the health system.”

The Health Minister said he had a meeting with Victorian modellers on Tuesday to ask for data that takes into account the best information on the Omicron variant.

“What has become clear from all the advice is that if we all come forward and get our boosters as they fall due, that if we all continue to follow the sensible measures and the prudent measures that we’ve got in place to keep our community open, that we will enjoy a successful Christmas, New Year, and holiday period,” Mr Foley said.

The line to focus on is the dark blue one showing booster shots each day. During November, there were more first and second doses than booster shots being administered each day.

But over the course of last week the number of people getting a booster shot each day started to pick up and there were consistently more people showing up to get their third vaccine dose than there were people getting their first dose.

Yesterday, for the first time, there were more booster shots administered than first and second doses combined.

“This is not a situation to take lightly and it is necessary because my priority is the health of Western Australians, first and foremost.”

Mr McGowan also revealed his government would halve its international arrivals cap on December 23 from 530 arrivals per week because of the advent of the more transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.

He said two cases of Omicron had been detected in returned overseas travellers in WA hotel quarantine.

“Anyone else approved to travel within the limited ‘extreme risk’ rules will be undertaking 14 days of hotel quarantine to better protect WA, and this is why it’s important we keep capacity in our hotel quarantine system and why we are halving the international arrivals cap,” he said.

NSW recorded 1360 new cases today, up from 795 cases on December 14 and 529 on December 13.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard warned that cases were expected to hit 25,000 new infections a day by the end of January.

On Monday Mr McGowan announced the state’s COVID transition plan, which will see its hard border policy dropped on February 5.

However, to enter the state travellers must have returned a negative PCR test in the three days before arrival and they must undertake another test within two days of arrival.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook confirmed on Tuesday the cost of the test taken outside of the state would be borne by the traveller.

“Victoria is one of the most vaccinated jurisdictions in the world and it’s a credit to the government and all in the community who’s gone out to get the jabs that an additional easing of restrictions can now occur,” ARA CEO Paul Zahra said.

“The removal of vaccine checks in retail will allow businesses to maximise their trade during the holiday sales period which is when most discretionary retailers make up to two thirds of their profits. With the vast bulk of the population now fully vaccinated, it makes sense to remove this impediment on businesses and customers, allowing people to move freely in and out of stores.

“Staff and customers have become accustomed to wearing masks in indoor retail settings; we respect this requirement as an ongoing safety measure at this time. As they have throughout the pandemic, retailers will follow the public health advice.

“The most important thing is ensuring retailers can safely trade at their full potential over the holiday sales period. We also saw elevated levels of customer aggression focused around the vaccine checks. Retailers will welcome the easing of tensions in this area and we look forward to these unsavoury incidents now being a thing of the past.”

Mr Zahra said “Victorians are set to spend $15.4 billion in the pre-Christmas sales period – up 11.5 per cent on pre-pandemic levels in 2019”.

“The pent-up demand for shopping will continue through to the new year as well, with Victorians set to spend $5.6 billion in the three weeks from Boxing Day – up 13.8 per cent pre-pandemic.”