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A tearful and apologetic Adele has postponed a series of Las Vegas concerts because half of her crew was sick with COVID-19 and the pandemic has caused delivery delays.

The British superstar had been scheduled to start a three-month residence at the Caesars Palace Hotel on Friday in what were to be her first live appearances since 2017.

"We've tried absolutely everything that we can to put it together in time. And for it to be good enough for you," Adele said in a video posted on Instagram on Thursday.

"But we've been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and COVID. Half my crew, half my team are down with COVID. They still are. And it's been impossible to finish the show."

Saying she was "sorry" eight times in a 92-second message, especially for people who had travelled to Las Vegas for the show, Adele said the delays prevented her from perfecting the show to her standards and she promised to reschedule.

"I'm going to finish my show and I'm going to get it to where it's supposed to be," she said.

The shows were to follow her latest album 30, which debuted at No.1 in 30 countries in November.

Concert residencies in Las Vegas have become a major attraction in the recent years for musicians who do not wish to travel extensively.

Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood, Usher, Barry Manilow and Shania Twain are among the top acts to have recently scheduled multiple concert dates in Las Vegas.

© RAW 2022

West Australians face being trapped indefinitely within their own state after Premier Mark McGowan broke his promise to reopen its borders next month.

Mr McGowan announced the extraordinary backflip during a late-night press conference on Thursday, saying WA's hard borders will remain in place indefinitely.

He claimed it would be "reckless and irresponsible" to proceed with the planned February 5 reopening given the surge in Omicron COVID-19 cases across the country.

The premier had promised to reopen the borders once the state's double-dose vaccination rate reached 90 per cent. It is currently at 89 per cent.

More compassionate exemptions will be granted from February 5, when the borders had been due to be brought down.

The decision raises serious questions about the government's lack of preparedness after almost two years of border closures.

WA's hospital system has struggled under the Labor government, with doctors and nurses concerned it could not handle a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"If we proceeded with the original plan, we would be deliberately seeding thousands upon thousands of COVID cases into WA and at this point in time, that is not what I'm going to do," Mr McGowan told reporters.

Anyone who makes it into WA from February 5 will still be required to quarantine for 14 days.

Interstate travellers will be allowed to self-quarantine but must be triple-dose vaccinated if eligible. International arrivals are required to enter hotel quarantine for seven days before being allowed to self-quarantine.

Mr McGowan said the hard border controls would be further reviewed over the course of the next month.

He insisted the health system was "strong and ready" but said he would like WA's third dose rate to get as high as 90 per cent.

It currently sits around 26 per cent, a level comparable with the eastern states.

Mr McGowan had said last month the only reason WA wouldn't reopen its borders on February 5 was if there was an "unforeseen emergency", such as the emergence of a new deadlier strain or a realisation Omicron was deadlier than anticipated.

He insisted his position had not changed despite WA having just 79 active cases.

"People aren't going to work (in the eastern states), hospitals are overflowing, hundreds of people are dying ... shopping malls are empty," he said.

"We are doing our best to avoid that."

Opposition health spokeswoman Libby Mettam said the premier's plan to "lock WA up indefinitely" showed a failure of leadership.

Head of the Australian Medical Association Dr Omar Khorshid lashed out at Mr McGowan for his lack of courage.

"Seems WA Premier @MarkMcGowanMP is a one trick pony when it comes to #COVID19. Hard border with the rest of the country and world remains despite almost 90% vacced," the Perth-based AMA president tweeted.

"Was hoping for more courage from a Premier with an unprecedented parliamentary majority. This decision should be acknowledged as a failure by the WA govt to prepare and a broken promise.

"Omicron is here already and it will cause a significant outbreak in WA soon enough. Sticking our head in the sand won't make it go away. Let's prepare!"

Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox described the WA border announcement as an "extraordinary decision from an economic perspective".

"The damage to the Western Australian economy in the long-term from this decision will be huge," he said.

"They can't stay cut off from the rest of the country forever. It's impossible to get labour in and out of Western Australia.

"It is a decision which will set back the national economy as well very severely. They are going to have to rejoin at some time."

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said "many people in Western Australia would be disappointed with the decision".

"Many West Australians will be asking 'If not now, then when?'," he told the Seven Network.

© AAP 2022

A senior Conservative lawmaker has accused the British government of intimidating and attempting to "blackmail" those lawmakers they suspect of wanting to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson out of power.

Johnson, who won a large majority in 2019, is facing growing calls to step down over a series of scandals, including admitting he had attended a party at his Downing Street office at a time when Britain was under a strict COVID-19 lockdown.

Some younger lawmakers have spearheaded attempts to unseat Johnson, but it was an attack by one of the party's longest-serving Conservatives that prompted gasps when he told the prime minister in parliament "In the name of God, go."

Johnson, 57, has vowed to fight on, saying he would lead the Conservative Party into the next election and warning a lawmaker who defected to the main opposition Labour Party on Wednesday that he would win back his seat.

But in yet another blow to his shaky standing, William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee which oversees constitutional issues and standards, accused the government of blackmail.

"In recent days, a number of members of parliament have faced pressures and intimidation from members of the government because of their declared or assumed desire for a vote of confidence in the party leadership of the prime minister," Wragg said in a statement before a meeting of the committee.

"Moreover, the reports of which I'm aware, would seem to constitute blackmail. As such, it would be my general advice to colleagues to report these matters to the speaker of the House of Commons and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police."

The threshold for a confidence vote in Johnson has yet to be breached, with several Conservative lawmakers saying they would hold off from calling for one until an investigation into the lockdown-breaking parties had been completed.

That investigation is being led by Sue Gray, a civil servant. The political editor for ITV said on Twitter that Gray had found an email from a senior official warning Johnson's principle private secretary that a party on May 20 should not go ahead.

Johnson has said he attended what he thought was a work event on May 20, 2020, to which staff had been told to "bring their own booze". Johnson said on Tuesday nobody had told him the gathering was against COVID rules.

Wragg referred to the work of government whips, parliamentary enforcers whose job is to ensure Conservative lawmakers back government policy and stay in line.

The whips - a term with its roots in fox-hunting that dates back to 1742 - are widely known to use threats and sometimes offers of promotion to get lawmakers to support the party line.

"It is of course the duty of the government whips office to secure the government's business in the House of Commons (lower house of parliament," he said.

"However it is not their function to breach the ministerial code in threatening to withdraw investments from members of parliament's constituencies which are funded from the public purse."

© RAW 2022