On Friday, Australia reported at least 35 COVID-19 deaths, including 13 in Queensland, nine in Victoria and seven in New South Wales (NSW).
NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are registering a sharpest rise in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospitals.
Check the latest COVID-19 trends for new cases, hospitalisations and deaths in Australia .
Health Minister Mark Butler told ABC NEWS that Australia is unlikely to reintroduce mask mandates, restrictions and lockdowns in the wake of the current wave.
Mr Butler said Australia has moved "beyond the era of very broad mask mandates, lockdowns and things like that". Instead, he asked residents to take responsibility and make their own choices regarding wearing face masks and social distancing for their protection.
CISRO has developed a faster method using a machine-learning tool to identify ''emerging and dangerous" COVID-19 variants. Researchers believe they can better predict how a new variant might behave inside a human body.
In its recent report, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) noted that the rate of severe disease during the Omicron wave for Indigenous Australians was 1.4 times as high as the overall Australian population.
The Victoria government will provide free 15 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) to all students and staff to limit the spread of COVID-19. Students and staff at specialist schools will receive an extra 15 RATs.
Premier Daniel Andrews said up to 46.4 million RATs will ensure face-to-face learning at schools.
Queensland is encouraging older residents and immunosuppressed people to wear face masks until the end of August.
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