SYDNEY: Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he tested positive to COVID-19, joining other top government officials in contracting the disease as the daily infection rate surpassed 100,000 for the first time amid an outbreak of the omicron variant.
“Like thousands of Australians, I tested positive today to COVID-19,” Frydenberg wrote in a short message which he posted to Twitter and Facebook late on Friday.
“I have the common symptoms and am isolating with my family,” he added without elaborating or disclosing which variant he had.
Other high-ranked Australian lawmakers including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Defense Minister Peter Dutton have contracted and overcome the illness.
Under current Australian COVID-19 guidelines, people who return a positive test and those deemed “close contacts” must isolate for seven days.
Australia has been posting successive record numbers of new daily infections, with another surge on Saturday.
The country reported 116,024 new cases, smashing the previous day’s record of just over 78,000. Nearly 100,000 of the new cases were in the most populous states Victoria, which is home to the upcoming Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, and New South Wales.
The state of Western Australia had not reported its daily count. Victoria noted that its daily caseload, which more than doubled the previous day’s to 51,356, included the results of rapid antigen tests taken up to a week before that could only be tabulated after being submitted on a website starting from Friday.
The country reported 25 new COVID-19 related deaths, its highest since the peak of the Delta wave in October 2021.
Australian leaders, including Frydenberg, have been urging the country to move on from a strategy of stop-start lockdowns now that more than 90 percent of the population aged over 16 is fully vaccinated.
But state leaders have been reintroducing restrictions amid exploding case numbers, mostly of the highly transmissible omicron variant. A day earlier, New South Wales canceled non-urgent surgery to clear hospital space for COVID-19 patients and resumed a ban on dancing and drinking while standing up in bars.
Australia treasurer tests positive for COVID-19 as cases hit a record
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Australia treasurer tests positive for COVID-19 as cases hit a record
- Other high-ranked Australian lawmakers including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Defense Minister Peter Dutton have contracted and overcome the illness
Danish Supreme Court case opens on arms sales to Israel
Denmark’s Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by four humanitarian organizations that accuse the country of violating international law by exporting weapons to Israel.
In April 2025, a lower court rejected the lawsuit, filed against the Danish foreign ministry and national police by the Palestinian human rights association Al-Haq, ActionAid Denmark, and the Danish branches of Amnesty International and Oxfam.
The organizations allege Denmark is violating its international commitments by selling Israel parts for F-35 jet fighters, given what an Amnesty official called Israel’s “war crimes and genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
The Supreme Court will solely address the question of whether the organizations are entitled to test the legality of Denmark’s arms sales in the courts.
The Eastern High Court found, in an April 2025 ruling seen by AFP, that the plaintiffs “cannot be considered to be affected in such a direct, individual and concrete manner that they meet the general conditions of Danish law regarding their right to bring proceedings.”
If the four win their case before the Supreme Court, they intend to move forward and contest the legality of Denmark’s arms sales to Israel.
“Amnesty International’s documentation shows that Israel is committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza,” Dina Hashem, an Amnesty official in Denmark, told AFP.
“Under the UN arms trade treaty and the UN common position on arms exports, states must deny an export license if there is a clear, overriding risk that this equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law,” she said.
“And that risk is clearly present in Gaza.”
‘In accordance’
In April, the Danish foreign ministry told AFP the Scandinavian country’s position on export control, including the F-35 program, was “in accordance with applicable EU and international law obligations.”
The Danish lawsuit was filed in March 2024 on the heels of a similar suit filed in the Netherlands by a coalition of humanitarian organizations.
A Dutch court in December 2024 rejected demands by pro-Palestinian groups for a total ban on exporting goods to Israel that can be used for military means.
The court ruled the government was respecting rules governing the country’s arms trade.
In Gaza, Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire that came into force on October 10, 2025 after two years of war.
At least 618 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, a figure the UN has deemed reliable.
According to the Israeli army, five of its soldiers have been killed.
Given the restrictions imposed on media in Gaza, AFP is not able to independently verify the tolls provided by the two sides.
Denmark’s Supreme Court is due to announce its ruling in about a week.
