COVID-19 cases in New South Wales could double within weeks as a sub-variant of the Omicron strain sweeps across the state, according to new data.

The forecasted rise in cases comes after NSW recorded 16,288 new cases today, marking a significant increase from the 8782 daily cases recorded on Sunday.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told a NSW budget estimates hearing that preliminary data from the University of NSW has indicated COVID-19 cases could "more than double" within six weeks.

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He said the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, which is believed to be more infectious than the BA.1 lineage, was becoming the dominant Omicron variant in the community.

"It's very preliminary and we need to do a lot more digging," Mr Hazzard said.

"But we are concerned at this point that BA.2 is amongst us and overtaking BA.1."

BA.2 has been known to be in Australia since late January.

Mr Hazzard said he was concerned about the state's low booster rate, which is at around 60 per cent.

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"We're still sitting way off the booster doses that we need through the community," Mr Hazzard said.

"While the community has gone to sleep on the virus, the virus hasn't gone to sleep on the community.

"The virus is still out there and it can wreak havoc if we don't go and get our boosters fast."

Today just four COVID-19 related deaths were recorded in the state, compared to nine yesterday, and hospitalisations are also down.

There are 991 COVID-19 patients in hospital – down from more than 1000 at the start of the week, and 39 in intensive care.

Numbers are still far below the peak of the Omicron wave earlier this year.

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Queensland

Queensland has recorded 4571 new COVID-19 cases, and five deaths.

There are 252 people in hospital with the virus, 17 in ICU.

In the state 91.9 per cent of people are fully vaccinated.

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Victoria

The increase in cases has been steadier in Victoria, but numbers are rising there too.

The state recorded 7779 new COVID-19 cases today, up from 5046 on Sunday after several daily increases.

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Eight further deaths were recorded today.

Like NSW, Victoria's hospitalisations are falling, with 188 patients currently, compared to 219 on Sunday.

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For years, Rodney Galvin's family believed he had simply left them to start a new life.

In April 1987, the 21-year-old walked out his parents' front door on Rice Street in Ballarat. He has not been seen or heard from since.

Thinking Mr Galvin had made a choice, his family did not report him missing.

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However, in 1995, police received an anonymous tip-off from a member of the public about Mr Galvin's disappearance.

The person made it clear that foul play was involved and that there were people in the community with information about what happened to him and why.

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Despite a long-running investigation, Victoria Police say they have been unable to find any trace of Mr Galvin or track his movements on the night he disappeared. 

A keen sportsman, Mr Galvin was a member of several local sports clubs, including the Ballarat East Football Club, Golden Point Football Club, Miners Ice Hockey Club, Millbrook/Black Hill Cricket Club and Lucas Cricket Club.

Detective Acting Inspector Tony Combridge from the Missing Persons Squad said police believed Mr Galvin was no longer alive, but they wanted to help bring closure to his family.

"While it has been well over three decades, police still believe there will be people out there who can help us solve the mystery of what happened to Rodney," Acting Inspector Tony Combridge said.

"When he walked out the door that night, his family would never have known it would be the last time they would see him.

"Sadly, they have lived all this time without answers as to what has happened to Rodney.

"Investigators strongly believe that there are still people out there who know what happened to Rodney, why and who was responsible.

"It is our belief that he met with foul play, but we are really calling on those people with any knowledge of the matter to come forward and help us fill in the gaps."

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet today provided an update on the state's flood crisis from the Northern Rivers, where many residents remain in dire situations.

Mr Perrottet said there are more than 1200 people currently in temporary emergency accommodation in the region.

There have been 9200 assessments of houses, and of those, 5500 are damaged with 2834 not habitable.

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Mr Perrottet announced an additional funding package for people unable to live in their homes.

The government will provide 16 weeks of rental support in the form of $6000 for single person households and more than $18,000 for families.

He said the government will bring in motorhomes and look into longer-term housing solutions.

It comes as some Western Sydney residents have today been forced to flee their homes in the face of rising floodwaters.

Many are facing a long wait to begin the clean-up as flash-flooding is yet to ease.

Floodwaters peaked yesterday with the Hawkesbury River reaching 13.8 metres, higher than the level of the 2021 disaster.

Before 6am today it had subsided to 13.2 metres, leaving hundreds of residents still stranded away from their homes.

NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan said the main areas of concern included the Hawkesbury-Nepean area and the Lower Hunter, with crews focusing on a number of hard-hit communities, including Singleton and Windsor.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1501649327093129226

The suburbs are set to be hampered with major flash-flooding for the next 24 to 48 hours.

"We are not expecting those floodwaters to recede any time soon in some of those communities, and at this stage, we have a number of evacuation orders out," she told Today.

"We're urging people who are under evacuation orders to really just stay away from those floodwaters because, even though it appears the rain has eased, those floodwaters most certainly not have yet and they have not yet begun to recede."

In the past 24 hours, NSW SES received 1000 requests for assistance.

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Despite a hopeful forecast of sunny skies today, it's expected residents in the Hawkesbury and Nepean regions will not be able to get back home before the weekend.

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said flash-flooding in New South Wales and Queensland was the result of a "prolonged rain event" caused by a few different weather systems.

"There were two upper-level lows moving over eastern Australia and they were drawing in huge amounts of moist infrastructure from the Tasman and Coral seas and it was held by a high-pressure system over New Zealand," he told Today.

"This is a very unique weather pattern that lasted for two weeks and kept dumping rain over the eastern seaboard."

The highest rainfall total over the past two weeks reached in excess of 2.5 metres over South-East Queensland, Mr Domensino said.

More than a metre of rain saturated northern NSW, with 775mm falling in just one day – the highest daily rainfall total anywhere in the state on record.

The weather system then moved further south and hammered Sydney.

Sydney broke records with 617mm recorded over 16 days, as well as Brisbane with 677mm of rainfall over just three days.

The death toll from the NSW floods rose to eight yesterday after police confirmed the body of a delivery driver was found on Tuesday night.

The 50-year-old man's truck was found submerged in floodwaters at Greendale in Sydney's west.

His body was discovered at about 9pm on Tuesday.

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Counting the cost

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been slammed for the federal government's flood relief response, with residents in northern NSW saying some regions had been left out.

Mr Morrison yesterday declared the east coast flood crisis a national emergency, during a visit to Lismore.

But residents of flood-hit areas such as Mullumbimby, the Tweed Shire, and Murwillumbah said they've been left out in the cold.

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Richmond MP Justine Elliot said the response had been insulting to the region.

"We've got people here now who have no homes, they have no food, they have no money. We desperately need assistance right here," Ms Elliot said.

"We need Scott Morrison and the NSW Premier to start acting and help our region."

In Queensland, anger towards insurance companies is mounting with flood-affected residents accusing assessors of long delays in inspecting damaged homes.

More than 70,000 claims worth a billion dollars altogether have been lodged so far.

The state government has flagged the possibility of subsidies for people looking to flood-proof their homes.

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The body of cricket legend Shane Warne will land in Australia tonight, almost a week after his shock death in Thailand.

After some delays, the body of the 52-year-old is being flown back to Melbourne in a private jet.

The privately funded charter flight is due to land at Essendon Airport around 8.30pm, where his family will be waiting.

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Thai police escorted the ambulance carrying his casket from the hospital to the airport in Bangkok.

The casket was seen covered in an Australian flag.

Following an autopsy earlier this week, Thai authorities confirmed Warne had died of natural causes, following a suspected heart attack at a holiday villa on the island of Koh Samui last Friday.

A state funeral will be held to farewell the sporting great at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 30.

It is likely to be held at twilight to allow more people to attend.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that as many people as possible would be allowed to attend.

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"There will be no limits on crowds and that sort of stuff," he said.

"It will be a very big event, it will be a celebration of his life as it should be."

It is expected several of Warne's celebrity mates will be in attendance, including Coldplay's Chris Martin and singer Ed Sheeran.

A private ceremony involving family and loved ones could take place as early as next week.

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A Brisbane woman charged with fraud for paying another woman to get the COVID-19 vaccine on her behalf has been fined $2000 after facing court in south-east Queensland today.

Chloe Kavanagh, from Redcliffe, was a casual teacher working for Education Queensland who faced losing her job when the vaccine mandate came into effect last year.

Using an online classified site, she met another woman willing to get the vaccine in her place in exchange for $1000.

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The plan came unstuck at the Kippa Ring Vaccination Hub in December when the woman pretending to be Ms Kavanagh was unable to pronounce her surname or recall her date of birth without referring to the drivers licence.

Turned away, the pair were successful later that day, obtaining a vaccination at a pharmacy in a nearby shopping centre.

Reading from a psychological report tendered to the court, Magistrate Mark Bucknall noted Ms Kavanagh had formed an obsession with the pandemic, adding "(people) are entitled to their views, but they're not entitled to undermine the public health directives."

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Ms Kavanagh's defence lawyer told the court she had a genuine fear the COVID-19 vaccine could kill her, but her doctor had declined to give her a medical exemption.

But the magistrate said the mandate for teachers had been based upon health advice.

"These are serious and concerning charges that undermine the whole public health policy… to protect not only people working in the system but children," Magistrate Bucknall said.

The other woman involved faced court for her role earlier this year.

Ms Kavanagh was fined $2000 with no conviction recorded.

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