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Tasmania will tighten coronavirus check-in measures at businesses and other venues and maintain a cautious approach to easing border restrictions.

From Wednesday, people aged over 16 will be required to check in at venues regardless of the amount of time they spend there.

Premier Peter Gutwein announced new locations, including supermarkets, accommodation, education settings and aged care facilities, will be required to phase-in QR code check-in throughout July.

"What we've seen occur across the country, with the Delta variant especially, there are times there have been minimal brush-past contact which has led to the transmission of the virus," Mr Gutwein said.

Tasmania has no active COVID-19 cases and has been largely free of the virus since a deadly outbreak in the northwest at the beginning of the pandemic.

As some mainland states ease lockdown measures, Mr Gutwein said Tasmania would keep a cautious approach to its borders.

He said any changes with Queensland, which has removed lockdown requirements for some regions, aren't likely until next week.

Tasmania is closed to southeast Queensland, as well as Townsville, a host of local government areas in NSW including Sydney, as well as Perth and Darwin.

Earlier this week, Mr Gutwein urged Tasmanians to reconsider their need to travel interstate.

© AAP 2021

Hundreds of firefighters have worked in high heat to beat back three large wildfires in the forests of far northern California, where the flames destroyed homes and forced some communities to flee.

The blazes are ominously reminiscent of last year's California wildfire season, which scorched more than 17,000 square kilometres of land, the most in the state's recorded history.

An extraordinary Pacific northwest heatwave that extended into the upper reaches of California was slowly receding, but it was only expected to cool off slightly before temperatures trend back up heading into the Fourth of July weekend, forecasters said.

"It is very hot and dry," said Suzi Johnson, a Shasta-Trinity National Forest spokeswoman for the Salt Fire, which broke out on Wednesday and grew to 18 sq km, shutting several lanes of Interstate 5 and prompting evacuation orders for some roads in Lakehead, a community of about 700 people.

A reporter for the Redding Record Searchlight saw at least a dozen buildings destroyed south of Lakehead.

To the north, the Lava Fire burning partly on the flanks of Mount Shasta grew to nearly 80 sq km and was 25 per cent contained. Evacuation orders for communities near the city of Weed were still in effect.

To the northeast, the Tennant Fire that broke out Monday in the Klamath National Forest and forced evacuations grew to about 38 sq km. The fire was expected to advance north toward Oregon.

© AP 2021

Aged care providers have warned of a coronavirus blind spot if community workers are not included in a vaccine mandate.

Catholic Health Australia, which represents residential and home-based aged care providers, has urged national cabinet to close the loophole.

The mandate does not apply to 150,000 aged care workers who care for one million older Australians living in the community.

Chief executive Pat Garcia said the community aged care workforce needed just as much protection as staff in nursing homes.

"Our workers need to feel confident in going out into the community just as the community needs to feel confident about letting them into their homes," he said on Friday.

"If anything, given their role is to go out and about into the community these workers should be given absolute priority for protection."

National cabinet has decided to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for all residential aged care workers.

Staff will need to receive the first dose by mid-September to continue working in the sector.

The federal government is giving aged care providers $11 million in grants to support employees getting vaccines.

Casual workers will be paid $80 per dose to go off-site for vaccinations.

They will also be given $185 for a day's sick leave if they feel unwell and have no other entitlements.

Aged care facilities will be offered up to $500 to cover the costs of facilitating access to vaccines for their workers.

"This will cover transport services, arranging groups of workers to be vaccinated and any other reasonable expenses that support workers to get vaccinated," Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck said.

A third of aged care workers have received at least one coronavirus jab.

Senior army officer John Frewen, who is heading the vaccination program, said every aged care facility in the country was on track to receive their first and second dose vaccination visits by the end of Friday.

Lieutenant-General Frewen is satisfied with vaccination rates among older Australians.

"We're now at more than 70 per cent of our over-70s on first dose," he told reporters in Canberra.

"Over the weeks ahead, many of them will be getting their second dose of AstraZeneca, so the fully vaccinated rates in that most vulnerable cohort will also rise."

© AAP 2021