Australia news live update: Victoria surpasses NSW with 51,356 new Covid cases including rapid test results, Tennis Australia under pressure

I feel like it’s important to be clear about it. The reason Victoria’s case numbers went past NSW today is only because around half of the 51,000 cases recorded were rapid test results from the previous week because of the new system going live yesterday.

The NSW figure is just PCR test results alone because NSW isn’t recording that yet – they plan to roll something out in the Service NSW app next week.

It’s not a competition, but I think just important to contextualise. Victoria has probably a better picture of just how much Covid is circulating in the community because it includes the rapid tests.

New rules have come into effect from today banning retailers from gouging people on the price of rapid antigen tests, AAP reports.

Retailers caught marking up test kits by more than 20% of the supply price now face a penalty of $66,000 and up to five years in jail.

At the beginning of the pandemic personal protective equipment such as masks and hospital gowns as well as hand sanitiser were added to the biosecurity list to prevent prices being hiked.

The determination also controls the export of items on the list to prevent overseas buyers taking Australian stocks.

Health minister Greg Hunt told 2GB on Thursday the federal government was taking “the strongest possible actions” to prevent profiteering in a time of need.

Victoria has overtaken New South Wales for daily Covid-19 cases, recording 51,356 new cases overnight and nine deaths.

There are 644 people in hospital, and 106 in intensive care.

The health department says this figure included the people who tested positive via a rapid test and registered it yesterday when the new system went up. There were nearly 6,000 of those yesterday and around 20,000 for the whole week.

My colleague Peter Hannam points out that in NSW, the positive test rate is now 38.6%. There was just a 3.3% rise in hospitalisations, but an 8.2% increase in ICU patients.

Svetlana Kovacevic, the Australian Serbian Chamber of Commerce Public Relations director, is on ABC News Breakfast to discuss Novak Djokovic’s detention in Australia over his visa cancellation.

Kovacevic says the visa approval is a “political hot potato” between the federal and Victorian governments and is a bad look:

This is a bad look for the Australian immigration system and you would think that somewhere along the way, proper inquiries would have been made earlier regarding Novak’s suitability to come to Australia and to try to avoid this embarrassing situation for everyone.

It appears that this debacle is as a result of a lack of coordination between the federal and Victorian state governments and Tennis Australia regarding the organising of tennis players’ visas. It may have been that the left hand wasn’t talking to the right, or that Tennis Australia, in the middle, might not have communicated properly the requirements for entry. But the point is moot now – that the courts will decide.

She says the issue could escalate tensions between Australia and Serbia, pointing out Djokovic’s requests to be moved into different accomodation have been denied:

It is hard to believe that Novak is treated like a high-risk individual considering that his intention is only to play in a tennis tournament and then leave the country. The punishment that Novak is receiving does not appear proportionate to the circumstances he has found himself in.

NSW numbers have come in. The state has recorded 45,098 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths.

There are 1,795 in hospital and 145 people in the ICU.

Worth noting these numbers do not account for people who are testing positive on rapid antigen tests and are now not getting a PCR to confirm – NSW hasn’t put a system in place to record that yet.

Good morning and welcome to the live blog for Saturday, 8 January. I’m Josh Taylor and I’ll be bringing you the news this morning.

Here’s what we know so far.

Australia reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases on Friday, with over 78,000 reported across the country.

The Australian treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, was among them, announcing on Friday night he is isolating with his family after testing positive.

New South Wales brought back restrictions on dancing and singing at hospitality venues in response to the massive number of Omicron cases in the state.

Male tennis No 1 Novak Djokovic remains in the Park Hotel in Melbourne ahead of an injunction hearing against his removal from Australia as Tennis Australia denies it misled players over potential vaccination exemptions to be allowed to play at the Australian Open.

Leaked documents to the Herald Sun suggested Tennis Australia had told players that a recent Covid-19 infection would be a reason for medical exemption from needing to be vaccinated, despite the federal government telling Tennis Australia that was not the case.

Czech doubles player Renata Voracova and other players who may have been given similar advice on exemptions to vaccination were also moved into the same detention as Djokovic.

Djokovic, meanwhile, broke his silence for the first time since arriving in Australia, posting on social media overnight: “Thank you to people around the world for your continuous support. I can feel it and it is greatly appreciated,” in a post on his Instagram stories posted in both Serbian and English.

Let’s get into it.