Grotesque masks serve a dual-purpose

As the number of reported active cases across the state passes 100,000, experts say the real number is likely to be much higher, as concerns shift to pressure on the health system.

Damning findings against a former staffer have cost QIMR Berghofer dearly. Now it’s undergoing an independent review into its policies and culture.

Schools are yet to receive government guidelines on minimising COVID infections and closures, but health experts say any delay to on-site learning will jeopardise children’s mental health.

Novak Djokovic trains at the Rod Laver Arena as a free man, NSW is considering whether to mandate the registration of positive rapid antigen test results, and Ambulance Victoria issues another “code red”.

A shortage of supply chain workers is seeing chicken, red meat, fresh fruit and vegetables stocks faltering, with milk also at risk.

The NSW government is anticipating a spike in reported COVID infections by the end of the week as residents are required to register positive rapid antigen results from as early as Wednesday.

From the second floor of his “prison hotel”, where tennis great Novak Djokovic was held for four nights, Pakistan-born refugee Jaman watched on with frustration.

The payment, introduced to encourage nurses and paramedics to work in high-risk coronavirus settings, is due to end next month as COVID-19 hospitalisations are projected to hit a record high.

Don Scott and Donna Barter-Scott have celebrated 32 wedding anniversaries at the spot where they got married, even through the pandemic.

“We ... went down to the beach and there were a lot of people who had been evacuated and we all watched the fire, it was quite spectacular,” one holidaymaker said.  

Public transport services are being scaled back as more people work from home or are isolated due to the Omicron wave.

New Parramatta mayor Donna Davis is the first member of the ALP to lead Sydney’s second CBD since 2008.

The unvaccinated will soon be locked out of a range of public venues including pubs, cafés and gyms with the state unveiling its new vaccine passport app on Tuesday.

I never considered that COVID-19 would keep us housebound for the duration of more than one illness.

There was a time when the Australia’s border force could have subjected Novak Djokovic to a dictation test in, say, Gaelic. It got egg on its face, anyway.

To help ensure the school year can start on time, the state government has started its push to get as many children jabbed as quickly as possible.

The girls, who are both on bail, did not acknowledge one another during their court appearances on Tuesday and left separately with their parents, both refusing to talk to journalists. 

A total of 502 COVID patients are in Queensland hospital wards with a further 27 in intensive care, six of whom requiring ventilation, the Health Minister says.

The government has awarded an almost-$40 million contract for telehealth for people sick and isolating at home, and says it will be up and running come February 5.

WA has adopted a wait-and-see approach to learn from the rest of the world and the country; now crucial modelling is expected to arrive just before borders open.

A month since WA’s opening date was announced it is clear more restrictions will be in force, with the realisation Omicron could overwhelm the hospital system.

The state standards authority has refused to release full league tables for the first time in years, but a partial table online reveals the top 50 WA schools.

Michael Lang helped create one of the most pioneering music events of the 20th century – and spent the next 11 years paying it off.

Today on Please Explain, national lifestyle editor Julia Naughton joins Bianca Hall to talk about love at first sight and the chemical processes that underpin sexual attraction.

Melanie and Alex Moir’s baby Ethan arrived “completely white”, not breathing properly and not moving. When they called 000, the operator could not say when an ambulance would arrive.

There are 2186 people in hospital with the virus, up from 2030 on Monday.

Police are considering scaling back the search for the 14-year-old girl, who went missing in the Gympie area on Saturday.

For two years, Australia’s children, young people and their families have tolerated school closures to protect the adult and elderly population from COVID-19. Now it’s time for the kids.

The aged care sector has done an extraordinary job of protecting vulnerable older people during the pandemic, but government support is needed to keep COVID-19 out of residential care.

Premier Dominic Perrottet foreshadowed the changes to how the state processes rapid tests on Monday as NSW recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic.

State Treasury modelling shows a “vaccine-resistant” COVID-19 strain could cut as much as $354 million from the budget next financial year.

The Royal Australian College of GPs’ Victorian chair fears people who may be ill with coronavirus or other serious health conditions are “trying to go it alone at home”.

Human rights, like charity, begins at home and Australia’s on and off-shore detention centres have housed refugees for many years without trial or proper basic services.

Backlash has mounted over Minister Stuart Robert’s decision to veto Australian Research Council grants to six humanities projects that had been recommended for funding by an independent panel.

The “winter situation”, letter to the editor and monster sea creature found on beach.

Trivia buffs: test your knowledge with today’s interactive superquiz and target.

A nine-year-old boy has been caught in the crossfire of an alleged ‘takeaway turf war’ after his family was targeted in a brutal bashing at their Mandurah home.

The Premier and Chief Health Officer say they do not know how many people will be in hospital at the peak of the wave.

75 years down, onward for the century.

Workers in a range of critical industries in Victoria will be given a month to have a booster vaccine to protect them from COVID-19.

Novak Djokovic’s visa has been overturned in the Federal Circuit Court, NSW’s Deputy Premier has tested positive to COVID-19 and under-12s have started receiving the Pfizer jab.

Thirteen years after farmers started fighting to save the fertile Liverpool Plains in northern NSW they have bought back the land a Chinese miner had planned a mega coal project on.

There are many ways in which this episode has been handled badly, but perhaps the best characterisation of why it has been so unseemly is captured by Dennis Denuto, the lawyer in the movie The Castle – it’s been in the vibe of it all.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison stresses that on the “best medical advice”, we need to “push through” and open up despite being forced to “ride the wave” of Omicron infections.

Young Sydneysiders were given the opportunity to receive their first vaccine against COVID-19 on Monday.

Along with existing restrictions on large venues and nightclubs, Mr McGowan said unvaccinated people would soon not be able to attend cafés or gyms. 

With rapid antigen tests in short supply, but every headache suspicious, it’s hard to decide when to use a precious test.

Queensland Chief Health Officer John Gerrard has reassured parents they should not be anxious about children being infected with COVID-19

The 27-year-old was charged in November last year after an alleged incident involving a woman. He was also stood down by the NRL.