SYDNEY (AP) – Australia’s most populous state New South Wales (NSW) made the reporting of rapid antigen test results mandatory yesterday as it experienced its deadliest day of the pandemic with 21 deaths.

State Premier Dominic Perrottet said residents who failed to register a positive rapid antigen test would face a fine of up to AUD1,000 starting next week.

Perrottet said the registration process was simple and would help health officials provide more support to people with underlying health conditions.

The 21 deaths reported in NSW yesterday topped the previous record of 18 set on Monday. The state saw 34,759 new COVID-19 cases and 2,242 hospitalisations, including 175 patients in intensive care.

Victoria state, whose capital Melbourne is hosting the Australian Open starting next week, also reported 21 deaths yesterday along with 40,127 new cases as the state government announced that 1,000 first-year healthcare students and retired nurses would be recruited as vaccinators to meet rising demand for booster shots.

Deputy Premier James Merlino said the state’s healthcare system is strained, with some 6,600 workers off duty after testing positive or coming into close contact with a positive case.

New pandemic orders which came into force in Victoria yesterday made booster shots mandatory for critical workers in various fields including healthcare, disability care, aged care, emergency services, correctional facilities, hotel quarantine and food distribution.

Workers in food and beverage manufacturing, distribution and packing will be allowed to continue working after coming into close contact with a positive COVID-19 case.

LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced damning headlines yesterday as he prepared to answer MPs’ questions over new claims he and his top officials breached COVID restrictions by holding a party.

The embattled leader has been silent since an email was leaked late Monday that appeared to show a senior official inviting more than 100 colleagues to an outdoor event in May 2020 and encouraging them to “bring your own drinks”.

Johnson and his wife Carrie allegedly attended the gathering in the garden of his Downing Street residence and office, according to anonymous witnesses quoted in the media. It was held in the midst of the country’s first strict lockdown, when the government was ordering ordinary members of the public not to meet, even outdoors, and tight restrictions were in place on social mixing, including at funerals.

The claims are the latest in a string of similar accusations which emerged last month about Downing Street parties held during subsequent lockdowns in the run-up to Christmas in 2020.

Widespread public anger over the revelations has caused poll ratings for both Johnson and his ruling Conservatives to plummet and sparked calls for his resignation from opposition politicians.

The 57-year-old refused to comment as the latest scandal began to unfold on Monday, but he will be quizzed by Labour leader Keir Starmer and other lawmakers at weekly parliamentary questions. He has previously denied knowing whether any rules were broken in Downing Street, as he faced weeks of excoriating headlines before Christmas.

But the latest accusations appear to directly contradict those claims.

Even the front pages of newspapers that normally back Johnson and the Tories were damning.

“Is the party over for PM?” asked the best-selling Daily Mail, while the Daily Telegraph’s headline said: “Johnson losing Tory support”.

“It’s my party and I’ll lie low if I want to,” mocked The Sun tabloid.

Johnson, elected by a landslide in December 2019, had hoped to start the new year afresh, leaving behind the previous revelations of lockdown-breaking Downing Street parties and claims of cronyism and corruption.

The prior allegations prompted him to appoint Sue Gray, another senior civil servant, to investigate. Her probe has now been widened to include the latest accusations.

Meanwhile, London’s Metropolitan Police have said they have been in contact with the Cabinet Office about the May 2020 gathering, raising the possibility of a more serious, criminal probe.

BERLIN (AP) – Victims of torture in Syria and human rights activists said they hope the upcoming verdict in a landmark trial will be a first step toward justice for countless Syrians who suffered abuse at the hands of President Bashar Assad’s government in the country’s long-running conflict.

A court in the German city of Koblenz is scheduled to deliver its ruling today in the trial of Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian secret police officer who is accused of crimes against humanity for overseeing the abuse of detainees at a jail near Damascus a decade ago.

Speaking this week before the verdict, one of those who testified against Raslan said that whatever the outcome, the court proceedings in Germany would send an important message that those responsible for crimes in Syria can be held to account.

“As Syrians who suffered a lot, especially after the beginning of the revolution, (the trials shows) those sufferings are not in vain,” said torture survivor and co-plaintiff Wassim Mukdad, who – like the defendant – now lives in Germany.

Mukdad was among dozens of witnesses who testified against Raslan and a second defendant, Eyad al-Gharib, who was convicted last year of accessory to crimes against humanity and sentenced by the Koblenz state court to four and a half years in prison.

The court concluded that al-Gharib was part of a unit which detained anti-government protests and took them to a facility in the Syrian city of Douma known as Al Khatib, or Branch 251, where they were tortured.

Federal prosecutors allege that Raslan was the senior officer in charge of the jail and supervised the “systematic and brutal torture” of more than 4,000 prisoners between April 2011 and September 2012, resulting in the deaths of at least 58 people.