PM

Soldiers set to patrol Sydney streets after another big jump in COVID cases and the outbreak is set to get even worse; A mask mandate's been imposed in hotspots and police have been given powers to close down businesses that don't comply, we'll speak to local MP Jihad Dib; And even with 80 percent of the population vaccinated, opening up would see thousands die in the first year. We have modelling from the Grattan Institute.

Another month of lockdown at least for Sydney, along with an assortment of new rules. But will it quash the Delta outbreak? As COVID cases continue to rise, the teacher's union's dumbfounded that face to face classes will resume for year 12. Some students are cautious too; And payments to out-of-pocket hotspot workers to return to JobKeeper levels. The Finance Minister Simon Birmingham joins PM.

Sydney's COVID outbreak is worsening, but the Premier still hasn't revealed what happens to the lockdown after Friday; The outbreak has reached another hospital and exposed an entire shopping centre full of customers over 11 days; And will this year's Census pick up the estimated 17 per cent of Indigenous people who were missed last time?

Sydney's vaccine strategy shake-up to deal with the persistent COVID emergency in the city's south-west – it'll start with priority access for supermarket workers in COVID hotspots; and amid the current Pfizer vaccine shortage, the Prime Minister announces 85-Million doses will arrive .. for next year and the year after, as boosters. But do we know we need boosters yet? Vaccine expert Dr Kylie Quinn joins us.

New South Wales declares it's in an emergency situation requiring “urgent additional measures”, with more than 130 new COVID cases; NSW hopes a vaccination surge can lift it out of the COVID hole, but National Cabinet has knocked back a request that Pfizer doses be redirected to the outbreak hot spots; And we'll go to COVID-hit Tokyo, with just hours to go before the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

The worst day of the New South Wales COVID outbreak, more than 120 new cases and at least 70 COVID positive people reported to have been in the community for some time while infectious, has the state lost control of the outbreak? Professor Raina MacIntyre joins PM; And we hear from a Tokyo resident who's seen the International Olympic Committee throw its weight around to make sure the COVID-plagued games actually happen.

The Prime Minister admits repeatedly lobbying vaccine experts to change their advice about AstraZeneca; There's also little hope of the lockdown across Greater Sydney lifting by the end of the month. Is it time to go harder against Delta? And devastating floods follow a record smashing heatwave in the Northern Hemisphere, is climate change at work?

More than half the population is in COVID lockdown as the Delta strain tests Australia's resolve; Australia's preparing to rush vaccines into arms before the end of the year in the race against Delta, we'll ask, when should teenagers get their shots? And Australia joins allies in calling out China for cyber hacking, Labor's cyber spokesman Tim Watts joins PM, saying there's more to be done.

COVID claims another Australian, a woman found dead at her home in South-West Sydney; Victoria's lockdown won't be ending on Tuesday as planned and the New South Wales case count remains high.  Can Delta outbreaks be stopped? Infectious diseases expert Professor Greg Dore joins PM; And after British media figure Katie Hopkins is booted from Australia – we'll look at why a local reality television show felt it needed her.

The tide turns for the worse in New South Wales, with its COVID outbreak proving hard to conquer, are tougher restrictions on the way? On the first day of Victoria's fifth lockdown, health care workers are burning out – hoping for a reprieve; And Indonesia's COVID catastrophe – more than 50 thousand known infections each day and too many families touched by death.