Australia nears peak of current COVID wave

Australia has reported a small uptick in active COVID-19 cases as the country nears the peak of its fourth wave of infections.

According to Department of Health data, there were an average of 11,953 new cases recorded daily in the week to Friday. It represents an increase of 10 percent from the previous week - a significantly smaller increase than in early and mid-November. On average there were 2,242 Australians with coronavirus being treated in hospital over the last seven days - up from 1,973 of the previous week and there were more than 100 deaths.

In South Australia (SA), chief health officer Nicola Spurrier said she believes SA is approaching the peak of the current wave after cases increased by 3 percent in the last week. "We are getting towards the peak. Until we see those case numbers come down I can't officially tell you we're at the peak, but we're certainly at that top-end plateau," she told reporters.