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There are 8201 new COVID-19 cases in NSW and 16 more deaths, as striking nurses prepare to march on parliament house.

That is 2017 more cases of the virus than reported the previous day and two more deaths.

Hospitalisations have dropped slightly overnight by 66 to 1583, while there are 96 people in intensive care - four fewer than reported by NSW Health on Monday.

About 48.5 per cent of people have received a booster shot.

Meanwhile, nurses in around 150 public hospitals are striking for the first time in nearly a decade.

A skeleton staff will remain at hospitals to ensure patient safety.

Thousands of nurses will rally outside NSW Parliament House to take their message to MPs as they return to Macquarie Street for the first sitting day of the year.

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association General Secretary Brett Holmes says nurses have made the "difficult" decision to strike because they are stretched to the limit.

"They want significant change to occur and they need it to start happening now," he said.

Nurses want one nurse to every four patients on every shift and a pay increase above the government's prescribed public sector offer of 2.5 per cent.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard says he's disappointed by the strike is proceeding, saying the changes they want would cost the state about $1 billion to implement.

© AAP 2022

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for the need for objective tests to be able to deport foreign-born criminals convicted of serious offences.

The government is planning to reintroduce laws to parliament on Wednesday that would close a loophole to migration character test laws.

Under the proposal, visas for non-citizens will be refused or cancelled if they've been convicted of a serious crime that's punishable for more than two years in prison, served less than 12 months in prison or are deemed a risk to the community.

The prime minister said judges in deportation cases had often handed down lesser sentences to get around existing character test laws to avoid people getting deported.

"Judges are handing down sentences which enables people to get around this, and we need an objective test," Mr Morrison told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"We want to make sure we can punt them."

The proposal will be reintroduced on Wednesday, after the previous attempt at the bill was defeated in the Senate late last year.

Labor and Greens senators had expressed concern the laws could mean visa holders could be kicked out of the country for minor offences.

Serious crimes listed in the bill include violent and sexual crimes, breaching apprehended violence orders, using or possessing a weapon or assisting in any of the crimes.

The prime minister said 4000 visa holders had been expelled from the country since the last election.

"We are being frustrated by soft decisions in the courts," he said.

"We have a law in this country which is if you commit a serious offence, then you go, do no pass go, you're gone you're out."

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said more power was needed to expel people from the country should they commit a crime.

"There are several laws that are inadequate to capture serious sexual and violent offending," he told the Seven Network.

"We just want to get this passed, there are no politics in ... this will protect women and children and the safety of people in Australia."

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it wasn't clear what additional powers the immigration minister needed.

"I'm in favour of the immigration minister being able to kick people out of the country if they do the wrong thing," he told reporters in Canberra.

"As I understand it, he has that power already, we saw that with the Novak Djokovic debacle."

Labor has accused the government of trying to reintroduce the legislation for a political wedge ahead of the election, due to be held by May 21.

© AAP 2022

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is calling on Ukrainians to fly the country's flags from buildings and sing the national anthem in unison on February 16, a date that some Western media have cited as a possible start of a Russian invasion.

Ukrainian officials stressed that Zelenskiy was not predicting an attack on that date, but responding with scepticism to foreign media reports. Several Western media organisations have quoted US and other officials citing the date as when Russian forces would be ready for an attack.

"They tell us February 16 will be the day of the attack. We will make it a day of unity," Zelenskiy said in a video address to the nation on Modnay.

"They are trying to frighten us by yet again naming a date for the start of military action," Zelenskiy said. "On that day, we will hang our national flags, wear yellow and blue banners, and show the whole world our unity."

Zelenskiy has long said that - while he believes Russia is threatening his country - the likelihood of an imminent attack has been overstated by Ukraine's Western allies, responding to Moscow's efforts to intimidate Ukraine and sow panic.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskiy's chief of staff, told Reuters the president was responding in part "with irony" to media reports of the potential date of the invasion.

Zelenskiy's office released the text of a decree calling for all villages and towns in Ukraine to fly the country's flags on Wednesday, and for the entire nation to sing the national anthem at 10am. It also called for an increase in salaries of soldiers and border guards.

US officials said they were not predicting an assault ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on a specific day, but repeated warnings it could come at any time.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington, which has already sent most of its diplomats home, was moving its remaining diplomatic mission in Ukraine from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv, much further from the Russian frontier. He cited a "dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces".

Russia has more than 100,000 troops massed near the border of Ukraine. It denies Western accusations that it is planning an invasion, but says it could take unspecified "military-technical" action unless a range of demands are met, including barring Kyiv from ever joining the NATO alliance.

Russia suggested on Monday that it was ready to keep talking to the West to try to defuse the security crisis.

In a televised exchange, Putin was shown asking his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, whether there was a chance of an agreement to address Russia's security concerns, or whether it was just being dragged into tortuous negotiations.

Lavrov replied: "We have already warned more than once that we will not allow endless negotiations on questions that demand a solution today."

But he added: "It seems to me that our possibilities are far from exhausted ... At this stage, I would suggest continuing and building them up."

Western countries have threatened sanctions on an unprecedented scale if Russia does invade. The Group of Seven large economies warned on Monday of "economic and financial sanctions which will have massive and immediate consequences on the Russian economy".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he still believed "from his own analysis, his own hopes" that there would not be a conflict, a spokesperson said.

Moscow says Ukraine's quest to join NATO poses a threat. While NATO has no immediate plans to admit Ukraine, Western countries say they cannot negotiate over a sovereign country's right to form alliances.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held talks in Kyiv with Zelenskiy. On Tuesday, Scholz is due to fly to Moscow, the latest Western official to make the trip after French President Emmanuel Macron and two British ministers went last week.

Scholz said he saw "no reasonable justification" for Russia's military activity on Ukraine's border, and that "we are ready for a serious dialogue with Russia on European security issues".

© RAW 2022