On Tuesday, Australia recorded a day total of roughly 48,000 COVID-19 cases, as the Omicron strain swept across the country, sending people racing for tests.

Australia, which for over 18 months relied on a system of continuous testing, contact tracing, and lockdowns to contain the majority of outbreaks, recorded 47,799 new illnesses, roughly a third more than Monday's record total.

Omicron cases increased in the country's two most populous states, while hospitalizations in New South Wales, home to Sydney, exceeded previous records set during the Delta outbreak.

The number of persons admitted to hospitals in New South Wales surged to 1,345, a new pandemic peak that surpasses the previous tally of 1,265 set in September during the Delta wave in the state.

In less than a week, the number has more than doubled, putting a pressure on the health system.

While the Omicron outbreak appears to have sickened just a tiny amount of people, it has generated a scramble for increasingly scarce self-administered rapid antigen kits and hours-long lines at facilities that perform more reliable PCR tests.

In Victoria, the second state, health officials said that one in every four people who came in for a swab test came back positive. Authorities stated that almost everyone in that state's intensive care facilities was unvaccinated.

Victoria reported 14,020 new cases, more than doubling the previous day's total.

Other states, who spent the majority of the epidemic with closed domestic borders and extended periods without a new case, reported similar numbers. Queensland reported six new infections a month ago; on Tuesday, it reported 5,699.

Political leaders across the country have been modifying their messaging to account for a population that is more than 90% vaccinated and a strain that some medical experts believe is more transmissible but less virulent than prior strains.

The coronavirus variant that caused the deaths is unknown, but New South Wales officials say that since December 16, around 74% of patients in the state's intensive care units have been infected with the Delta type.

Since the outbreak began, Australia has seen more than half a million coronavirus cases, with nearly half of those recorded in the previous two weeks. Despite this, the country's 547,160 cases and 2,270 deaths are lower than in many other comparable countries.

"When it comes to those substantial case numbers, they are still on the rise. We have never seen such a high number in Australia before," Sonya Bennett, the deputy chief medical officer, stated.