Australia's Covid-19 infections have surged to a fresh record due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, overwhelming testing facilities in the country's most populous state, Reuters reports.

The crush at testing facilities in New South Wales, home to Australia's largest city, Sydney, has been partly blamed on neighbouring state Queensland requiring interstate tourists to return a negative PCR test result before arriving.

Queensland's so-called "tourism tests" came under severe criticism from New South Wales after holiday travellers crowded its testing hubs, causing delays in results of several days. Queensland authorities will now relax requirements for interstate travellers with domestic arrivals needing only a negative rapid antigen test result to gain entry from January 1 rather than the PCR test, state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

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