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Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has flagged an announcement on the future of the state's COVID-19 check-in application later this week.

Coronavirus hotspots haven't been posted on the state health department website for the best part of two months but Tasmanians are still technically required to check in at venues.

Mr Gutwein said more would be said about the app "later this week".

"The reason people are still checking in is if there is a significant outbreak, that data can be used," he said on Monday.

"But obviously our circumstances today are better than what any of the previous modelling had demonstrated."

Tasmania recorded 408 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a slight increase on Sunday's figure of 371.

Eight people are being treated in hospital specifically for COVID-19, a rise from the five reported on Sunday. One person is in intensive care.

There are 3081 documented active cases statewide, continuing a broad downward trend since 8764 were recorded on January 12.

Mr Gutwein said public health was continually reviewing virus restrictions and the need for people to check in.

"It would obviously be kept in place for some higher risk settings," he said.

There have been 23 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, with 10 of those occurring since borders reopened in mid-December.

Modelling from the Kirby Institute undertaken last year predicted there could be around 52,000 cases and 87 deaths in the 200 days after reopening.

Tasmania has recorded 35,282 cases since December 15.

More than 49 per cent of Tasmanians aged over 16 have received a booster shot.

© AAP 2022

International celebrity chef Nigella Lawson is set to add a touch of superstar spice to Melbourne's annual food and wine festival next month.

The British TV cook and writer has been announced as the headline act for the 2022 Food and Wine Festival from March 25 to April 9

The 62-year-old "Domestic Goddess" will be part of opening night and the star attraction for a $285 three-course lunch and conversation between her and former Masterchef judge Matt Preston two days later.

Other well-known names to lend their culinary talents to the three-week foodie festival include Attica owner Ben Shewry and fellow restaurateur Matt Moran.

For non-food snobs, there will also be a family-friendly pasta fair, celebration of plant-based eating and drinking and tribute to chips in all their forms.

This year marks the festival's 30th following COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 and 2021.

The long-running festival was cancelled in 2020 as coronavirus arrived on Australian shores.

It returned last year but was forced to scrap its winter edition in August as the city bunkered down amid its Delta outbreak.

Victorian Major Events Minister Martin Pakula launched the 2022 festival on Monday and said it was more important than ever in light of the pain the Melbourne culinary scene has experienced across six lockdowns.

"It's not just about the domestic elements of it," he told reporters.

"We see food and wine as a way of selling Melbourne as a culinary destination to the world."

Tickets go on sale on Thursday.

© AAP 2022

Ivan Reitman, the influential filmmaker and producer behind beloved comedies from Animal House to Ghostbusters, has died. He was 75.

Reitman passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday night at his home in Montecito, California, his family says.

"Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father, and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life," children Jason Reitman, Catherine Reitman and Caroline Reitman said in a joint statement.

"We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world. While we mourn privately, we hope those who knew him through his films will remember him always."

Known for big, bawdy comedies that caught the spirit of their time, Reitman's big break came with the raucous, college fraternity sendup National Lampoon's Animal House, which he produced.

He directed Bill Murray in his first starring role in Meatballs and then again in Stripes, but his most significant success came with 1984's Ghostbusters.

Not only did the irreverent supernatural comedy starring Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis gross nearly $US300 million ($A420 million) worldwide, it earned two Oscar nominations, spawned a veritable franchise, including spin-offs, television shows and a new movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, that opened this last year which his son filmmaker Jason Reitman directed.

Among other notable films he directed are Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Dave, Junior and Six Days, Seven Nights. He also produced Beethoven, Old School and EuroTrip, and many others, including several for his son, filmmaker Jason Reitman.

He was born in Komarmo, Czechoslovakia, in 1946 where his father owned the country's biggest vinegar factory. When the communists began imprisoning capitalists after the war, the Reitmans decided to escape, when Ivan Reitman was only four. They travelled in the nailed-down hold of a barge headed for Vienna.

The Reitmans joined a relative in Toronto, where Ivan displayed his showbiz inclinations; starting a puppet theatre, entertaining at summer camps, playing coffee houses with a folk music group. He studied music and drama at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and began making movie shorts.

© AP 2022