One person dead after Sydney storm; NSW reports record 2,566 Covid cases; Victoria 1,240 – as it happened

One dead and two seriously injured following storm on Sydney's northern beaches; 80 Covid cases in South Australia as positive case linked to second Ashes Test; Tennant Creek lockdown likely' to be extended - this blog is now closed

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Deputy chief medical officer Dr Sonya Bennett says there is there's still a lot of uncertainty" surrounding Omicron, particularly with respect to how severe we think Omicron might cause disease and various opinions":

We are seeing rapid escalation of case numbers around the globe, particularly in the UK, with the UK recording over 90,000 cases yesterday. We are seeing case numbers rise here ourselves in New South Wales, particularly, with 2,500 cases, or thereabouts, yesterday as well. So, it is highly transmissible and appears to rapidly escalate with what's called the doubling time of around two days. Which is obviously concerning.