Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said much the same. The impact is such that "close contacts" in transport and emergency services can use daily RAT tests to stay at work.

This easing of isolation requirements is being justified, because the Omicron variant is demonstrably milder than others before it, especially Delta.

IN THE NEWS:

But there is another side of Australia's COVID crisis that is largely absent from the political discourse, but which shows up in detailed figures collected by the NSW government, which indicate that Delta is still very much a force to be reckoned with.

Full genomic testing is needed to formally classify anyone's COVID type.

This is most likely to be done for hospital patients, because experience is showing that Delta and Omicron require different treatments, so knowing the variant is important.

Genomically tested cases are a small percentage of the overall number, but this is the case the world over.

In early December, Delta heavily outweighed Omicron in NSW, but in the week before Christmas - the most recent figures available, published on Friday - Omicron had outrun Delta by 657 tested cases to 324.

Victoria says Omicron accounted for 76 per cent of cases tested over the Christmas period, which still leaves 24 per cent as Delta.

Nationwide, Australia had 100,000 new cases yesterday: 30,000 of these were in NSW, which also reported 16 deaths.

These and other indicators tend to show that Delta is still circulating in the community with case numbers that may not be so different from earlier peaks, when we were battening down the hatches.

This was confirmed at the very end of the premier's 45-minute press conference, when Nepean Hospital intensive care specialist Dr Nhi Nguyen said Delta was still putting people in intensive care, and on ventilators.

TODAY'S HERALD FRONT PAGE: DELTA THE KILLER BUT OMICRON THE FOCUS

Such is the difference in symptoms - and treatment - that we now effectively have two diseases going under the one name of COVID-19.

COVID has always been a lottery, with 2300 deaths so far from almost 1 million cases.

Now, we're being told it's "only" Omicron, and we can "cope" with it.

Those struggling for oxygen thanks to Delta may have another view.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: