Australia reintroduced COVID-19 curbs such as mandatory mask-wearing indoors, capacity limits, and QR code check-ins to cover most of the population on Thursday as daily infections hit a fresh record, fueled by the highly infectious Omicron variant.

The changes for 17 million people two days before Christmas mark a reversal of the country's plans for a permanent reopening after nearly two years of stop-start lockdowns as the new variant rages through the community despite double-vaccination rates of more than 90%.