Australian Prime Minister; Scott Morrison today said no Christmas lockdown as hospitals were coping well with a record surge in Covid-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant.

Australia is grappling with the more transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus as restrictions ease ahead of the Christmas holidays after higher vaccination levels were reached.

The new strain of the coronavirus will not ruin the Christmas holidays for the Australians, said the prime minister.

“Despite these rising cases, hospitals and health systems remain in a strong position but of course, they will be tested,” Morrison told reporters while commenting after an emergency Cabinet meeting.

Across the country, hospitalization and death rates remain low compared with those seen during a wave of cases from the Delta wave. As the top official said, Australians have worked very hard to have this Christmas together and the government does its best to protect the nation.

“One of the things we agreed on today is, we are not going back to lockdowns. We do not want to go back to lockdowns,” Morrison added.

No national mandatory rule to wear masks indoors would be introduced, although it would be strongly recommended. However, residents of most states, except the most populous New South Wales (NSW), have been ordered by their state governments to wear masks indoors in public buildings.

“That is not a decision for myself as prime minister or the premiers and chief ministers,” Morrison said.

On Wednesday, the health ministry reported more than 5,000 daily infections for the first time during the pandemic, eclipsing the previous high of about 4,600 the previous day. About 95% of new cases were recorded in NSW and Victoria states.

Australia’s tally of 265,000 COVID-19 cases and 2,162 deaths since the epidemic began is far lower than that of many nations.