Pre Christmas precautions: mask mandates are back in two states, but is it too late to save the holiday season from further restrictions?; Omicron's already hit short-staffed restaurants forced to close as employees await COVID test results; And, just when things couldn't seem to get any worse, a looming wine shortage?

A funding increase for pharmacies and GPs being crunched by demand for booster shots.

Long testing lines, rapid tests and booster shots hard to find, but in some good news, there's more evidence Omicron might not be as severe as other strains of COVID.

Governments plead for Australians to stick to their Christmas plans but will people hold their nerve as Omicron cases rise?; and a resounding win for pro-Beijing candidates in the Hong Kong elections, though most of the city's residents stayed at home and didn't vote.

Grief and pain as the names of the five children killed while playing on a jumping castle are released and questions remain unanswered about how it happened.

Advice from a psychologist and trauma expert on how to deal with the Devonport tragedy and an insight into the journey ahead for the young witnesses.

COVID makes its way on to another plane an infected person on a flight to Hobart sees a family holiday cancelled, instead, it's two weeks in isolation, including Christmas.

Growing pressure for COVID vaccine boosters to be offered three months after the second shot, as protection wanes and the virus spreads quickly.

Months after the medicine regulator approved them, why are rapid COVID tests banned in South Australia and WA?

And tech firms race to address a big security flaw in widely used software that's being exploited by hackers.

The biggest daily COVID case count for New South Wales in months, but the number in hospital is relatively low and authorities press ahead with eased restrictions.

Do COVID case numbers still matter since we're meant to be reopening? Epidemiologist Deborah Cromer joins PM with a view on our future as vaccine protection wanes.

And Pop superstar Billie Eilish speaks about the harmful impact of pornography, we'll have advice for parents on the conversations that need to be had.

More than 200 people catch COVID at a Newcastle nightclub, can vaccines still avert a Christmas disaster?

Survivors of abuse by former US gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar, reach a big financial and accountability settlement, former US gymnast Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to blow the whistle, joins PM.

Fire authorities get an upgraded toolkit to predict the speed and behaviour of eucalypt forest fires.

Reunions as Queensland's border restrictions are eased, while West Australians will be free to roam from February 5th.  

COVID caution or an invasion of privacy? A South Korean trial will see artificial intelligence and facial recognition tracking COVID positive citizens, what could go wrong?

A major disaster declared in the US state of Kentucky after tornadoes tore through, we'll look at climate change and the increasing risk of extreme weather.

Will the states and territories planning a Christmas reopening hold their nerve as COVID infections tick up?

The Prime Minister's confident all five to 11-year-olds who want a COVID vaccine will have it by the time school goes back, but roll-out weary doctors aren't so sure.

There's flooding in the east, while communities in Western Australia are battling bushfires, accusations are flying that we're still ill-prepared.