• New record cases in NSW, Victoria
• Goodwood man charged over Streaky Bay fires
• Black Jack wins slowest Sydney to Hobart for 17 years
• Defence finds no reason to overturn Darwin port China lease
• 105-year-old among among latest 995 SA cases
• Marshall’s 2036 party plan under fire
• Knives out for Root after Ashes surrender

New record cases in NSW, Victoria

A record 11,000 daily COVID-19 cases have been reported in NSW as Victoria’s tally also jumped and testing centres in both states continue to be overrun.

NSW reported 11,201 cases on Wednesday – nearly double the 6062 posted on Tuesday.

There were three more COVID-19 deaths and 625 people are now in hospital with the virus, including 61 in intensive care.

The new case record came as demand pushed NSW testing centres beyond capacity.

More than 157,000 tests were carried out across the state yesterday.

Thousands of people including travellers required to have a negative PCR test before arriving in Queensland queued for hours to be swabbed.

Queensland has now announced it will accept rapid antigen tests instead of PCR tests for travellers from interstate hotspots from January 1.

Victoria’s tally meanwhile jumped to 3767 cases and five deaths overnight.

The state had 2738 new cases and four deaths reported on Tuesday.

Wednesday’s infection figure is the highest daily number the state has seen since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalisations rose from 361 to 397, but the number of patients requiring ventilation dropped from 33 to 28, with 62 remaining in intensive care.

Victorian testing centres processed 75,132 tests yesterday but by 9.20am Wednesday more than 20 sites across Melbourne closed after reaching capacity.

The Victorian Government announced on Wednesday morning that it will make 34 million free rapid antigen tests available by the end of January.

“Rapid antigen testing is the way that Victorians can have confidence as they go about living with COVID and making sure that they do their bit to keep the pressure off our hard working hospitals,” Health Minister Martin Foley said.

“We would much prefer to have a national approach to what is a national, indeed an international, supply issue. but failing that, as per usual, the states have had to step up over the course of this pandemic and fill the gap left.”

How the tests will be distributed is still being worked out.

The state is already handing out free rapid tests in some circumstances, including to students and staff exposed at schools.

Goodwood man charged over Streaky Bay fires

An Adelaide man has been arrested for allegedly lighting four fires in scrub near Streaky Bay on the state’s west coast.

Police said a 45-year-old man from Goodwood was arrested yesterday and charged with four counts of intentionally causing a bushfire.

Officers and CFS crews were called to grass fire along the side of the Flinders Highway about 8.30am yesterday.

The blaze was extinguished but a second fire was reported a short time later about one kilometre away.

Another two fires were reported along the Flinders Highway north of Streaky Bay just before 1.30pm.

Police said a witness reported seeing a man along the highway at the time of the fires. He was still in the area when CFS crews responded and detained him until patrols arrived.

The man was refused bail and will appear in the Ceduna Magistrates Court.

Black Jack wins slowest Sydney to Hobart for 17 years

Supermaxi Black Jack has overcome a coronavirus-hit preparation and rugged seas to take line honours in the slowest Sydney to Hobart in 17 years.

The Monaco-registered 100-footer crossed the River Derwent finish line at 1:37am (AEDT) on Wednesday.

Black Jack’s time of two days 12 hours 37 minutes and 17 seconds was the slowest since Nicorette III’s win in 2004.

Supermaxi yacht Black Jack has taken line honours in the Sydney to Hobart race. Photo: AAP /Rolex, Andre Francolini

Black Jack had been locked in a tight three-way tussle down Tasmania’s east coast with runner-up LawConnect and third-placed SHK Scallywag 100.

LawConnect finished about two-and-a-half hours behind Black Jack after this year’s fleet was decimated by rough seas with 36 of the 88-strong starting field forced to retire.

“It was tough in the beginning. The first 30 hours were pretty rugged,” Black Jack skipper Mark Bradford said.

“We had a tough race with both the (supermaxis). We dropped Scallywag at the end for a bit but she came back and LawConnect was right there the whole way.”

Bradford said he spent the first 20 hours below deck.

“I just had internal problems, mostly my stomach was coming out of my mouth,” he said.

Black Jack previously claimed line honours in the 628 nautical mile bluewater classic in 2009 under the name Alfa Romeo.

It finished fifth in the most recent Sydney to Hobart in 2019 and was second to Wild Oats XI by 28 minutes in a 2018 thriller.

Defence finds no reason to overturn Darwin port China lease

A Defence review has found no national security grounds to recommend the federal government overturn the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge.

The national security committee of cabinet has considered the review it commissioned to ­re-examine the 2015 agreement under which Landbridge won the bid to operate the port in a deal worth $506 million, The Australian reports.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton had pushed the review amid deepening tensions between Beijing and Canberra.

Photo: AAP/Lukas Coch

The government is still reviewing the matter but the Defence review recommendation makes it more difficult for it step in and overturn the port lease.

Scott Morrison has said the port lease was “undertaken by the former Territory government and it was not a lease that was approved by the federal government – it was not”.

He also said the government would only act in relation to the port lease “if there is advice from the Defence Department or our ­security agencies that change their view about the national ­security implications of any piece of critical infrastructure”.

The defence department also undertook a review of a Chinese company acquiring 50 per cent of shares in the Port of Newcastle back in March 2018 and found no concerns with the transaction.

105-year-old among latest 995 SA cases

A 105-year-old woman is among the 995 to have tested positive to COVID-19 in SA yesterday, with the number of cases since the Marshall Government opened borders on November 23 now passing 5000.

SA Health said on Tuesday afternoon that 81 per cent of the 5238 cases since opening up were Omicron infections.

36 people have now been hospitalised with the COVID-19 – up from 17 on Sunday.

Five people are now in intensive care as of Tuesday, including one on ventilation.

Tuesday’s cases include 84 children, 66 teenagers, 449 women aged between 18 and 105 and 396 men aged between 18 and 94.

Three young children are in hospital with the virus, along with three aged between 10 and 19. Two people aged in their 20s, five aged in their 30s and two in their 40s are also in hospital.

Ten of the hospital cases are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and 14 are fully vaccinated with the status of the remainder unknown.

More than 90 of the new cases acquired were infected in the state by a known case, three were infected in the state with the contact unknown and eight acquired their infection interstate. The remaining 893 cases are still under investigation.

Three cases that were removed from case numbers on Monday have been re-added due to data reconfigurations.

There were more than 20,000 tests carried out on Monday.

Testing queues at Victoria Park. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

More than 4,700 people are now in home quarantine in South Australia.

SA Health is urging the community to closely monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested as soon as any appear.

At Premier Steven Marshall’s press conference on Sunday, he urged people to work from home if possible and announced hospitality venue capacity would be cut.

He also said the number of people allowed at a household gathering would be cut from 30 to 10 and warned that the Omicron variant threatened to overrun health systems if action was not taken.

Marshall on Sunday also defended his decision to open state borders on November 23, saying the World Health Organisation did not declare Omicron a variant of concern until five days later.

Yesterday he flagged a business support package to help South Australians weather the current outbreak.

Marshall said the reintroduction of restrictions on Monday – including density limits – would have a disproportionate impact on the hospitality, catering and fitness sectors.

“We want to offer them our support,” he said.

“We’ve supported business in South Australia through the tough times already, that’s going to continue.”

But he defended the necessity of the restrictions, saying the state had to take action.

“We don’t want New Year’s Eve to be a superspreader event,” he said.

Marshall did not have any more details about the 94-year-old woman who died with the virus on Sunday. The coroner is investigating her cause of death.

“She passed while being infected with the coronavirus,” Marshall said.

“We’re not sure what the cause of death is but that will obviously be ascertained in the coming days.”

Marshall’s 2036 party plan under fire

Labor has criticised the Marshall Government for announcing plans to prepare for the state’s bicentenary in 2036, saying it stood in contrast with an “abject lack of preparation for opening the borders”.

On Proclamation Day yesterday, Marshall said: “As we approach the bicentenary of our Proclamation Day in 2036, my government has announced it will establish an organisation to plan and manage this historic milestone.”

But Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton contrasted the plan with the current COVID situation with long testing queues, ramping and the decision not to allow the sale and distribution of Rapid Antigen Tests until late last week.

“I am stunned preparing for a party in 2036 would be a priority for Steven Marshall when our state is facing a COVID crisis,” he said.

Knives out for Root after Ashes surrender

The knives are out for England in the UK after their Ashes third Test humiliation, with calls for captain Joe Root to step down and doubt cast over Chris Silverwood continuing as head coach.

England meekly surrendered at the MCG, capitulating for 68 in their second dig as Australia claimed an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

Former England batter Geoffrey Boycott says Root must hand over the reins after Australia won the Ashes series in only 12 days of Test cricket.

“Now Australia are 3-0 up and the Ashes have gone, will Root please stop saying Australia are not much better than us? I don’t mind him living in cuckoo land but stop trying to kid us,” Boycott wrote in his column in The Telegraph.

“If he really believes what he says then maybe it is time he gave up the captaincy of the England cricket team.

“The facts are staring us all in the face, except Joe doesn’t want to see it – England can’t bat. Our bowling is ordinary.

“Nobody would want to give up the captaincy, but it is not about Joe – it is about getting guys to perform better.”

Australia’s Cameron Green celebrates the wicket of England’s James Anderson to claim The Ashes during day three of the third Ashes test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Photo: Jason O’Brien/PA Wire.

Ex-England batter Mark Ramprakash hopes Root stays on as captain but believes he needs more support.

“Joe’s a great role model but the players around him have not been up to the mark and that’s why… you have to feel sympathetic for him,” he said.

“I don’t think he’s necessarily tactically the best captain we’ve ever had, and so he will have to take his share of responsibility… but equally I think Joe needs support from people above him.

“We need to have a good hard look at how we help Joe Root if he continues as captain… but if he has the drive and desire to carry on then I would stick with him.”

However, ex-England quick Steve Harmison believes heads will roll after their “embarrassing” MCG display.

“There is going to be a big inquest. There’s going to be a lot of things blamed, people’s careers on the line,” he said.

-With AAP and Reuters