INTERNATIONAL: Australia recorded another record surge in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday as an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant has disrupted reopening of the economy, while state leaders have argued over domestic border controls.

The country has reported 11,264 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous day, once again surpassing its peak of a day earlier, as it grapples with a planned reopening while the new variant rages.

New South Wales Health Minister Br1ad Hazzard has said a quarter of clinical tests in his state were "tourism tests" for asymptomatic people, bringing huge pressure of the health system, long testing queues and wait times of several days for results.

He has called on Queensland to shift from mandatory clinical tests at the point of origin to on-the-spot rapid antigen testing for people travelling there immediately, rather than after January 1 as planned, but the Queensland authorities said the policy was working.