Australia suffered its deadliest day of the Covid-19 pandemic on Friday, with 98 deaths registered by late afternoon on Friday. That takes the 25 million population country's Covid-19 toll to 3,500 since the pandemic began, far lower than numbers seen in many comparable countries. Fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, infections exploded during the past four weeks, with around two million cases recorded. Up until then, Australia had just 4,00,000 cases since the pandemic began.

Australia is among the most heavily vaccinated countries against Covid-19 with more than 93% of its adult population double-dosed and around two-thirds of eligible Australians having received a booster dose, according to official data. The country's drug regulator on Friday expanded the eligibility for boosters to 16- and 17-year-olds, joining the US, Israel and Britain.