Australia registered a record high of daily COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row on Wednesday, further increasing the pressure on hospital resources and testing facilities, as anger grew among people over the handling of the Omicron outbreak.

A record number of 64,758 new infections was reported on Wednesday, with the majority being in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. Total infections have increased over 50-fold from around 1,200 since late November, when the first case of Omicron variant was identified in the country. Hospital admissions in NSW and Victoria increased by 10% over the previous day. Authorities have warned that these figures would increase further over the next several weeks… (US News – Reuters, January 4, 2022)