Australia has recorded another 18 COVID-19-related deaths, as business groups are calling for the easing of the seven-day isolation requirement for household contacts of people with COVID-19.
NSW reported eight fatalities, there were seven reported in Victoria and three in South Australia on Tuesday.
A further 10,856 new were recorded in NSW, while 8,976 fresh infections were reported in Victoria.
Some 1,623 people with the virus as hospitalised in NSW, including 70 in intensive care units (ICU).
There are 443 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals across Victoria, including 31 in ICU.
The figures come as Business NSW and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry say the COVID-19 rules should be relaxed to ease staffing shortages, wanting those deemed close contacts to be allowed to work and undergo daily rapid antigen tests instead.
Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said with such high vaccination rates, Australians have demonstrated a capacity to live and work with the virus.
"The current isolation rules are providing a barrier to businesses as healthy people are forced to isolate unnecessarily," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
With NSW and Victorian airport workers now exempt from household contact rules, there was an "inconsistency and unfairness".
"This needs to be fixed so that all businesses can have fair access to workers," he said.
"Business needs certainty and we know that they are already struggling with supply chain issues and staff shortages."
Victorian Chamber Chief Executive Paul Guerra said staff shortages continued to hamper business.
"We need to release the handbrake and enable businesses to operate at the maximum capacity possible and lead our economic recovery," he said.
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten agrees, saying a week of isolation is too long.
"Get vaccinated. If you're sick, stay at home but other than that, seven days isolation is unwieldy," he told the Nine Network.
"A lot of the rest of the world has got rid of it. I think it is time for us too."
Multiple Victorian worker groups are already exempt from isolating as household close contacts, including education, emergency services, healthcare and transport staff.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews last week flagged the state's isolation rules and vaccination requirements would be scrapped after the peak of the Omicron wave.
Tasmanian hospital deals with outbreak
A Tasmanian hospital ward has been closed to visitors and admissions after four patients tested positive for COVID-19.
Other patients in the Launceston General Hospital ward have tested negative on PCR tests, but will be monitored.
Staff who worked in the ward since April 15 have been instructed to take a PCR test.
It comes as the state recorded 1,418 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. There are 47 people in hospital with the virus, and one in intensive care.
Tasmania's Acting Health Commander Dale Webster said all of the COVID-positive patients have only minor symptoms and authorities were investigating the cause of the outbreak.
"The public should be reassured it is safe to attend the Launceston General Hospital," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"The outbreak has been confined to the ward and other areas of hospital continue to operate."
It is the fourth COVID-19 outbreak at a Tasmanian hospital since the pandemic started.
What's happening elsewhere?
In Queensland, 6,467 people tested positive for COVID-19. There are 564 people in hospital, with 20 in intensive care.
Western Australia recorded 5,605 cases. There are 227 people are in hospital, with six in intensive care.
The ACT recorded 816 new infections, with 64 people in hospital and one in intensive care.
The NT reported 475 new cases. There are 43 people in hospital, with three in intensive care.
