On Tuesday, Australia reported at least 100 COVID-19 deaths, including 40 in Victoria, 30 in New South Wales (NSW) and 21 in Queensland.
On Monday, Australia set a new record for the number of people with COVID-19 in hospitals since the pandemic began. There were 5,429 people in hospitals compared with the previous high of 5,390 in late January.
On Tuesday, the number further grew from 5,429 to 5,571.
Check the latest COVID-19 trends for new cases, hospitalisations and deaths in Australia .
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the protein-based Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine for individuals aged 12-17.
Nuvaxovid contains part of the coronavirus spike protein. Immune system cells in a human body identify the spike protein as a threat and begin building an immune response against it. The vaccine doesn't contain a live virus and can't give COVID-19.
TGA is reviewing all COVID-19-specific laboratory antigen tests and RATs to validate their performance in detecting the Delta and Omicron variants and other emerging variants of concern.
TGA doesn't deny that these tests could show a false negative result as the virus has mutated several times since it was first detected in 2019.
"As a result, test kits may no longer be able to sensitively detect the virus, leading to false negative results," it said.
reported that The Royal Children's Hospital and the Royal Melbourne Hospital have more child patients with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) than COVID-19 or the flu.
Health authorities say RSV occurs both in children and adults. It can cause a cold with a runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, fever, headache, cough, wheezing and difficulty breathing. No vaccines are currently available for RSV.
The latest data shows COVID-19 vaccination uptake is low among children aged 5-11. As at 24 July, 53 per cent were vaccinated with a single dose and 40 per cent with double doses.
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