What's what with COVID-19 in Australia on January 5, 2022

Hospitals continue to feel the brunt of ever-increasing numbers and now that is reverberating further down the chain, particularly in Victoria.

Extreme demand for ambulances in Melbourne prompted a 'code red' from the service.

For three hours between midnight and 3am on Wednesday the service advised there was likely to be delays in ambulances arriving because of an extremely high demand in the metropolitan region.

Queenslanders with mild COVID-19 symptoms are being urged to stay at home as hospitals and testing centres are overrun while in NSW is also encouraging people to avoid queuing for PCR tests.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the state is doing "everything we can to put downward pressure" on the testing wait times, with some of the 50 million rapid antigen tests the state has ordered expected to arrive next week.

Pressure on the system is expected to intensify further next week when COVID-19 vaccinations become available for children between five and 11 years.

The pricing and distribution of RATs will be discussed at today's national cabinet meeting.

The state reported another record for daily cases with 35,054 new COVID-19 infections from 108,844 tests, and eight deaths recorded until 8pm on Tuesday.

The number of people in hospital has risen to 1491 with 119 in intensive care, and 32 people on ventilators.

While ICU numbers are rising, the tally is short of the peak of 244 seen in September.

Victoria has recorded 17,636 new COVID-19 cases, with nearly one-in-three tests coming back positive.

There were 11 deaths reported in Wednesday's figures, with testing numbers dropping slightly below 60,000 again.

Active cases are at 51,317. There are 591 people in hospital and 20 on ventilation.

The state recorded 6781 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24-hour reporting period.

Ten people are in intensive care in hospital, two of which are on ventilators, with 268 in total in hospital while suffering from COVID.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said 18 million RAT kits had been secured by the government but that they would not be ready immediately.

The ACT has reported 810 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday, a decrease from 926 cases announced the day before.

The new cases bring the active total to 3069.

There are 16 people in hospital because of COVID, with one person in intensive care, and one on ventilation.

Tasmania recorded its largest single-day spike in new COVID-19 cases as the total number of active cases passed 3000.

In the past 24 hours, the state recorded 867 new COVID cases, 165 up on the previous day - bringing the state's total cases to 3118.

Of the fresh cases reported on Wednesday, 333 are being managed at home and 72 at a community facility.

The active cases have come from 2412 tests.

Five people with coronavirus are in hospital for unrelated medical conditions.

South Australia has reported another 3493 COVID-19 cases, with more people in hospital with the virus.

Case numbers were up from 3246 on Tuesday and hospital admissions jumped from 102 to 125.

The number of people in intensive care has remained unchanged at 12 with one person on a ventilator.

The Northern Territory has recorded 117 new cases, up from yesterday's 75.

There are 39 new cases from community transmission, 31 are close contacts, 46 are recent interstate arrivals, two are international arrivals, and nine are under investigation.

Five of the cases are from Katherine, with the majority of the rest from Darwin.

Western Australia has recorded five new COVID cases.

Three are linked to the Delta backpacker cluster. One is a security guard working at a quarantine hotel, while one is a close contact of an interstate arrival.

Another 11 cases are related to interstate and overseas arrivals. All are in isolation.

- with AAP