Another seven people have died from COVID-19 in Australia.
Victoria reported five deaths, while Western Australia reported four deaths and NSW and Queensland both recorded one fatality on Sunday.
A further 17,450 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in NSW, there were 7,466 new infections in Victoria, 7,738 in Queensland, 7,197 in WA, 1,517 in Tasmania, 799 in the ACT, and 281 in the Northern Territory.
There are currently 1,171 patients with COVID-19 in NSW hospitals including 47 in intensive care units (ICU), 260 people in Victorian hospitals - 19 of whom are in ICUs with four requiring ventilation, and 215 COVID-19 patients in WA hospitals including 10 in ICU.
There are 284 people in hospital with the virus including 13 in ICU in Queensland, 29 in Tasmania including one in ICU, 45 in the ACT including three in ICU, and 14 in the Northern Territory .
On Saturday, Australia reported 21 deaths due to the virus, with Victoria recording nine, Queensland eight, and four in NSW.
A day earlier, the federal government announced that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout would be expanded from 4 April to include a fourth dose for four groups.
The groups include those aged 65 years and over, residents in the aged care or disability sector, immunocompromised Australians aged 16 years and over; and Indigenous Australians aged 50 years and over.
The news comes as health experts predict a rise in the number of influenza cases after international borders reopened, with cases spiking in Denmark, New Caledonia and Fiji.
Deputy director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Professor Ian Barr, believes while the flu will return in 2022, it's still to be clear just how serious it will be.
"The only question is how severe the season will be, and that's difficult to judge. I don't think we're going to have a big year like 2017 or 2019, but we will see a low-to-moderate year I think," he told SBS News.
Before international travel was affected by restrictions in 2019, Australia recorded more than 313,000 lab-confirmed cases and 953 flu-associated deaths, which was one of its worst flu seasons on record.
In 2021, by comparison, there were just 598 cases of the flu and no flu-linked deaths.
