THE nation will continue to 'push through' the current wave of COVID-19, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as the number of active cases recorded across the country reached 500,000.
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Two people from the Hunter region were among the 18 from NSW who lost their lives to COVID in the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday, setting a new record for the state's death toll for a second day in a row, following 16 deaths the previous day.
Hunter New England Health said on Monday that a man aged in his 80s from the Lake Macquarie area and a man in his 60s from Singleton were among those who died.
The region recorded 1115 new cases during the period, a drop from 2527 the previous day, which takes the total number of active infections in the Hunter New England area to 22,486, but with changes to reporting requirements, health experts say those numbers do not reflect the actual level of infection in the community.
There are 101 people in hospital, including eight in intensive care.
Of the new cases, the Lake Macquarie local government area recorded the most (284), followed by Newcastle (203), Maitland (119), Tamworth (114), Cessnock (70), Mid Coast (69), Port Stephens (67), Armidale (33), Inverell (26) and Gunnedah and Muswellbrook (23).
Singleton had 18 new cases, followed by Dungog (17), Upper Hunter (14), Narrabri (13), Moree Plains (10), Liverpool Plains (5), Glen Innes (3), and Tenterfield and Walcha (1).
The state recorded more than fresh 20,000 cases, which Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said was an under-estimate.
Mr Morrison said the best medical advice was to ride out the current wave of omicron cases, which is expected to peak in late January.
"You push through, you don't lock down," he said.
State and territory leaders are expected to come to an agreement at a national cabinet meeting on Thursday to resume face-to-face teaching at schools.
"Our objective is go back, stay back, term one, day one," Mr Morrison said.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has said his government is focused on children returning to school from day one.
On Monday Mr Perrottet said the supply of Rapid Antigen Tests, now relied on to diagnose COVID-19, will become more available to the general community.
But the government's focus was on supplying the tests they had procured to essential services from a state government perspective - schools, social housing, and vulnerable communities such as in rural and remote regions and aged care facilities.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said that while Australia was experiencing a surge in case numbers, they were mostly mild or asymptomatic, and the healthcare system was coping.
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