Coronavirus

But the health secretary said people should "remain cautious" and celebrate outside on New Year's Eve if possible.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ministers would continue to monitor the data and urged people to get their "first, second or booster jab without delay".

Meanwhile, both England and Scotland reported record cases over Christmas.

Some 113,628 new infections were reported in England on 25 December, 103,558 on 26 December and 98,515 on 27 December.

In Victoria, some close contacts who were initially advised to get a PCR test have received text messages from the Department of Health suggesting they get a rapid antigen test instead if they don't have any symptoms.

In New South Wales (NSW), Health Minister Brad Hazzard says wait times for Covid-19 test results have ballooned to 48 to 72 hours, with many people waiting even longer than that to get a result.

The NSW government yesterday urged people to only get tested if they have symptoms, are identified as close contacts, or as part of their travel requirements.

The laboratory's medical director professor Anthony Dodds blamed the mistake on the "large volume of tests" they were processing.

Those affected were notified of their result, for swabs taken from December 22 and December 23, last night at 8pm.

Professor Dodds said they had become aware of the mistake this morning.

"These people had tested positive to Covid," he said.

"As soon we became aware of the issue this morning, SydPath immediately commenced a process to contact impacted people.

"We sincerely apologise to all those impacted."

The fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus has become dominant in the United States with lightning speed, and claimed the life on Monday of an unvaccinated man in Texas, officials said.

The spike in Covid-19 cases is alarming public health officials, who fear an explosion of infections after the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

The Omicron variant now accounts for 73 percent of US coronavirus infections based on sequencing data for the week ended on Saturday, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.

The Ministry of Health recorded the cases after the mandatory 3-day hotel stay and testing.

MOH’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said in accordance with entry requirements, all cases had tested negative in the 72 hours before departure and are fully vaccinated.

Dr Fong added that all the cases are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and have been isolated within hotels with protocols that have been established in the lead-up to border opening.

He said the positive samples will be sent to the partner laboratory in Australia for genomic sequencing.

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled" said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that "difficult decisions" must be made.

"In some cases, that will mean cancelling or delaying events" he said.

He added that there was now "consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than... Delta".

Dr Api Talemaitoga said he is sceptical the allocated government funding for Pacific-lead initiatives will be enough, with many providers running on the 'smell of an oily rag' already.

He said adequate funding will be the key to a strong community push to administer boosters and vaccinate children in the new year:

"The reason for that is just two doses of the pfizer vaccine doesn't give enough protection to people from Omicron," he said.

Fiji reported two cases of the variant two weeks ago - both patients had arrived in the country from Nigeria on 25 November.

Health Secretary James Fong said more than 70 countries had reported cases of Omicron and it was probably in most countries, even if it hadn't been detected yet.

He said if there was an outbreak in Fiji, it could again overwhelm the health system.

Dr Fong said vaccines alone would not get any country out of the crisis, and that nations must prevent the spread of Omicron with mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing.

Authorities have reported 2566 new cases of Covid-19 in NSW, breaking another record.

It is the highest tally of daily coronavirus cases yet in Australia, increasing from the 2482 cases announced yesterday.

Cases were expected to jump with the ongoing relaxation of public health orders, while the Omicron variant has been blamed for the fast rise in infections.

There were no deaths from the virus in NSW on Saturday, but NSW Health said 227 people were in hospital in the state, including 28 people in intensive care wards.

A further 90,418 daily Covid cases have been reported across the UK on Saturday, after days of record highs.

Cabinet ministers have been briefed on the latest Covid data.

London's mayor said he was "incredibly concerned" by the city's infection levels and the major incident was "a statement of how serious things are".

Sadiq Khan said Friday's 26,000 new cases in London were having an impact on staff absences for the capital's emergency services.