Morning mail: aged care Covid deaths, renters turn to crowdfunding, DVD collectors

Thursday: At least 60 nursing home residents with coronavirus are dying each week as workers prepare to strike. Plus: the innately comforting' tactility of collecting movies

Good morning. Aged care Covid deaths soar in Australia, Muslim Australians abandon Labor in key marginals and the US pledges Nato cooperation with Finland and Sweden.

Covid deaths inside aged care facilities are occurring at rates unseen during the first two years of the pandemic, as government data reveals at least 60 people are dying a week, with more than 350 deaths since the start of the election campaign. Aged care works are preparing to strike tomorrow, citing frustration about low pay, heightened workforce pressures and workload. Scott Morrison has described every death as a terrible loss" but explained that the high number of deaths is due to people dying with Covid" but not necessarily because of Covid". Anthony Albanese flagged a new national strategy to reduce the deaths if Labor wins the election. Virologists, meanwhile, have accused both Labor and the Liberals of failing to address slowing booster uptake rates amid a creeping complacency" in pandemic planning.