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Australians will be eligible for a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine earlier after the nation's immunisation body recommended a shorter time frame.

Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on Friday that from Tuesday, January 4, boosters will be brought forward to four months after the second dose, down from five months currently.

Then from Monday, January 31, people who have had two doses can get their booster after three months.

Around 7.5 million Australians will be eligible for their booster shot come January 4 and this will then jump to 16 million at the end of the month once the timeframe is dropped to three months.

States and territories will be able to move ahead of schedule and offer boosters under the shortened eligibility criteria if they are in a position to do so.

Some vulnerable and immunocompromised people will also be able to receive their fourth dose if the new timeframes make them eligible.

Mr Hunt said priority would be given to Australia's most vulnerable people and the ones who have waited the longest between doses.

"We know that it's not an immediate thing when the vaccine starts to wear off," Mr Hunt said.

"It's a time based thing and so we will prioritise the ones that are most at risk."

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly wouldn't speculate on whether the three month timeframe meant Australians would need to line up for four COVID-19 jabs each year.

Professor Kelly said the first two jabs remained the most integral component of the country's vaccination coverage but it was important to receive a booster shot once you became eligible.

"We know that unfortunately two doses does not change that ability to become infected," he said.

"(Protection) wanes over time. It remains in place for severe infection, but it's diminished for Omicron compared with Delta."

Mr Hunt added that the booster also reduced virus transmission.

"Protection is very strong against severe illness, but what we'll see is a much stronger protection against transmission," he said.

It comes as states and territories are slowly reintroducing restrictions and updating how they trace and isolate positive cases as infections soar across the country.

Compulsory mask-wearing is now in place across almost every state and territory after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet backflipped on his anti-mandate position on Thursday.

NSW will also reintroduce QR codes in all settings from December 27, when hospitality venues will return to the one person per two-square metre rule.

It comes as the state recorded 5612 infections and one death on Friday.

Victoria reintroduced a mask mandate, ahead of the state reporting 2095 cases and eight deaths on Friday.

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan also announced new mask rules when a backpacker tested positive on Thursday after being infectious in the community for a number of days.

High risk, large public events in WA will be cancelled and dancing has been banned except at weddings.

"I know this is not the news we wanted to hear two days before Christmas, but unfortunately this is the reality of COVID-19," Mr McGowan said.

Queensland reported 369 new daily infections on Thursday while South Australia had 484, Tasmania 26, the ACT 85 and the Northern Territory 10.

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The number of new COVID-19 infections in NSW has topped 5000 for the second day in a row, swamping contact tracers, overwhelming testing sites and forcing the reintroduction of some restrictions.

Some 5612 people were diagnosed with the virus in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday from more than 164,000 tests.

While the number of cases dropped by 103 from the record high of the day before, the number of tests increased by more than 3600.

One death was also reported.

The number of people in hospital has climbed to 382, up 35, with 53 in intensive care, an increase of eight.

The majority are among the 6.5 per cent of the population that remains unvaccinated, NSW Health says.

The spike has forced the government to reintroduce some restrictions that were only wound back less than two weeks ago.

Almost 30,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus in NSW in the nine days since.

Masks are again required in indoor settings from Friday, with hospitality venues to return to the one person per two-square metre rule and QR codes to be compulsory again from Monday.

The restrictions will last at least a month.

The announcement on Thursday came after the government spent two weeks avoiding mask and QR code mandates by insisting people needed to take "personal responsibility" for their actions.

Deputy premier Paul Toole on Friday defended the approach, saying the government had been striking the right balance.

"A lot of people were taking personal responsibility," he told Nine's Today Show.

"They were wearing masks already but what we have done is made sure that... anybody that is in an indoor setting is going to be wearing a mask."

It's by far the state's most widespread outbreak, spurred on by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and has forced NSW to scale back contact tracing efforts.

Just over one in two - 54 per cent - of people who test positive were fully interviewed by health bureaucrats within a day last week.

The week prior, that figure stood at 94 per cent.

To help NSW Health direct resources to the most vulnerable or high risk cases, people who test positive will get a text message asking them to fill out an online questionnaire.

About four in five people fill it out, said NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant on Thursday.

Those who are only contacted by text are asked to let their contacts know about their diagnosis, a task which used to be performed by bureaucrats.

Only those who work at or have visited a high-risk setting like a disability group home, Aboriginal community or jail will get a phone call from NSW Health.

The health care system is also beginning to struggle under the weight of the outbreak.

"About a week ago we had around 300 health professionals that were not able to work because they were isolating, but now we have over 1500 health workers," Mr Toole said.

Despite the escalating caseload and the strain on the health system, lockdowns will be a last resort and New Years Eve celebrations will proceed as planned.

© AAP 2021

Britain has a record number of new coronavirus cases as the Omicron variant sweeps across the country, with Thursday's tally reaching 119,789 from 106,122 a day earlier.

Many industries and transport networks are struggling with staff shortages as sick workers self-isolate, while hospitals in Britain have warned of the risk of an impact on patient safety.

Omicron's rapid advance has driven a surge in cases in Britain over the last seven days, with the total rising by 678,165, government data showed.

As the Conservative government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson struggles to limit the economic impact of the latest COVID-19 outbreak it said on Wednesday it was reducing the legal self-isolation period in England to seven days from 10.

This change, which is aimed at getting people back to work sooner, applies to people who have been legally required to self-isolate due to a positive COVID-19 test who then get a negative lateral flow test result for two days in a row, after completing seven full days of isolation.

Johnson, who has staked considerable political capital on the Christmas of 2021 being "considerably better" than the previous year, on Tuesday ruled out new restrictions before the day itself, saying that there was uncertainty about the severity of Omicron and hospitalisation rates.

However, he did not rule out further measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 after Christmas Day, which falls on Saturday, if the situation deteriorated.

The devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have already announced more post-Christmas restrictions.

There were 147 deaths within 28 days of a positive case, up from 140 on Wednesday, the latest government data showed.

© RAW 2021