Australia’s New South Wales marks its highest COVID-19 death count

SYDNEY: Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths on Saturday as the omicron variant sweeps the country and lawmakers face pressure to close widening supply chain gaps.
The home to Sydney and a third of Australia’s 25 million people reported 16 deaths from the coronavirus in the previous day. New South Wales reported 30,062 new infections, near record levels.
The second-largest state, Victoria, which hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament this month, reported 44,155 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths.
The country reported just under 100,000 cases overall, down from a record 116,025 the previous day, but still surpassing most previous peaks. Total deaths for the day were 36.
With the surge bringing a rush for government-funded pop-up testing clinics, the authorities have shifted their messaging and urged people to instead take rapid antigen tests at home, then report positive results to their doctor, who enters it into a database.