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Victoria has recorded 2108 new COVID-19 cases, as the state celebrates Christmas amid the nation's toughest rules on masks.

Another six people have died with the virus in the state, and there are 261 people in hospital, including 71 in ICU.

A total of 42 people are on ventilators.

READ MORE: NSW recors more than 6000 cases on Christmas Day

https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1474500265013170178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

There were long lines for testing, despite it being Christmas Day.

Children as young as eight are included in the new mask mandate which came in in time for celebrations and means masks must be worn inside again.

READ MORE: Nursing student can't get back to Australia to be with 19-year-old daughter

However, hospital admissions are way down compared with during the state's last lockdown.

Despite the new restrictions Acting Premier James Merlino promised the state was not heading into a lockdown."

"This is the commitment that we gave to the people of Victoria," he said.

"The promise was if you go and get vaccinated, you can enjoy Christmas and New Year with your families and loved ones and that's exactly what will happen."

NSW cases have topped 6000, a day after mask rules were reintroduced.

The state has recorded 6288 new cases, in figures announced on Christmas Day.

Nobody has died, though there are 388 people in hospital including 52 in ICU.

READ MORE: Booster shots to be brought forward following ATAGI advice

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1474500188433575939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

There were long lines at testing centres including Bondi Beach.

On Christmas Eve there were over 5600 cases and one person died with the virus.

Last minute shoppers in Sydney's CBD wore masks and used QR codes when going into shops, after both rules were reintroduced amid surging Omicron cases.

READ MORE: Six more Victorians die with COVID-19

Plus the countdown is on for density limits again in pubs, bars and other hospitality venues, which must limit numbers to one per two square meters, from December 27.

The new rules are in place until January 27.

https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1474531513395937280

Christmas flight chaos

It was a miserable countdown to Christmas for thousands of people caught up in flight chaos at Sydney airport.

As well as having to grabble with lengthy waits for the COVID-19 tests needed to travel interstate, a raft of cancellations left people disappointed.

Jetstar and Virgin said several of their flights had to be grounded because of the number of crew members who had been forced into COVID-19 isolation.

The Melbourne and Sydney route was worst hit, with around a dozen Virgin flights and about 10 Jetstar flights cancelled on Christmas Eve.

Passengers took to social media to lash out at the airlines, claiming they had been left in the dark.

"I feel like screaming," one Twitter user wrote.

Thousands of flights around the world are being hit by the surge in virus cases.

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A Carnival cruise ship that departed Miami has "a small number" of people aboard who have tested positive for COVID-19, and it has been denied entry to ports at two Caribbean islands, the cruise line said.

However, the Carnival Freedom ship will be allowed to visit Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic on Friday, company spokesperson AnneMarie Mathews said in a prepared statement.

"Carnival Freedom is following all protocols and has a small number on board who are in isolation due to a positive COVID test," Mathews' statement reads.

READ MORE: NSW cases top 6000 on Christmas Day

"Our protocols anticipate this possibility, and we implement them as necessary to protect the health and safety of our guests and crew. This is a vaccinated cruise, and all guests were also tested before embarkation," the statement reads.

The Carnival Freedom departed Miami on December 18 and stopped in Curacao on Tuesday. Its planned stops at the Caribbean islands of Bonaire on Wednesday and Aruba on Thursday were cancelled.

READ MORE: COVID-19 outbreak on world's biggest cruise ship

Those stops were replaced by Friday's stop in the Dominican Republic, and the ship will return to Miami as planned on Sunday, the cruise line said.

Carnival and many other cruise lines require passengers to be fully vaccinated against COVID -19, with some exceptions for children.

READ MORE: Royal Caribbean cruise ship prevented from entering two island nations due to COVID-19 outbreak

The cruise line is working closely with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities at the destination it visits, according to the statement.

READ MORE: Australian cruise industry set to pass two years of shutdown

"The rapid spread of the Omicron variant may shape how some destination authorities view even a small number of cases, even when they are being managed with our vigorous protocols," Mathews' statement reads. "Some destinations have limited medical resources and are focused on managing their own local response to the variant.

"Should it be necessary to cancel a port, we will do our best to find an alternative destination.

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In March this year, Lynsey Stewart faced an impossible choice: stay in Scotland so her daughter could go to her dad's funeral, or seize her last chance to get back to Australia.

She chose the funeral and nine months later, she and 15-year-old Abbie are still waiting for another chance to get back to Perth.

Leaving older daughter Rachel, now 19, behind as schools went into remote learning at the start of the pandemic, the Scottish nursing student took Abbie back to Edinburgh as her ex-husband — Abbie and Rachel's dad — was given an emergency discharge from hospital.

AUSSIES OVERSEAS: Two funerals and a wedding on Zoom for woman stuck in UK

Ms Stewart thought it would be a six-week trip to help sort things out but thanks to border closures, flight cancellations, Western Australia's continued tough travel restrictions and her complicated visa status, the 43-year-old is still waiting.

To cap things off, she and Abbie are isolating over Christmas after her father caught COVID-19 for the second time.

"Christmas day we've decided we're just going to have a day of watching Netflix," the nursing assistant tells 9News.com.au.

"There will be no Turkey — you know a Turkey for two really doesn't work. 

"So yeah, there will be no large Christmas dinner, nothing like that. There's no crackers, there's no Christmas tree up.

"I don't see the point."

While Australia's borders are technically open to citizens, residents and some visa holders, state rules, logistics, cost and even vaccine recognition issues are still making it impossible for some to get home.

READ MORE: Bustling bars, surging business: Dubai sees a post-vax boom

Ms Stewart, who had been in Australia studying nursing and working as a nursing assistant and disability support worker since 2016, is in an even trickier position than most.

She said her student visa was converted to a bridging visa when her medical to renew the student visa was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The mother-of-two and her youngest daughter were granted an exemption to return to Perth in July last year but she said they couldn't get flights.

By the time her ex-husband died in March this year, Ms Stewart said there were only two weeks left on her visa's travel facility and weeks-long waits for funerals in Scotland. 

"Everybody thinks people have had so much time to get back," she says.

"Yep, granted, we have. But for a lot of people, there's obstacles, and you have to make a decision based on the information you have at that time. 

"And as a parent, when you're faced on 'do I choose that my child gets to say goodbye to their dying father? Or not?' What, you know, what do you choose?"

READ MORE: Adelaide man says 'false' jab on immunisation record has 'destroyed his life' and cost him his job

Now, despite a house, a job and a 19-year-old daughter who has graduated and become an adult since the last time she saw her mother, waiting in Perth, she's stuck in rainy Scotland — where she's been working for the NHS — for Christmas.

"I'm working in vaccination clinics actually vaccinating people, so I kinda class myself as someone that probably could come in handy fairly soon in Australia," she says.

"But I can't get back."

Ms Stewart has given up for now in hope things will become easier once Western Australia opens its borders in February. But even then, she'll still need an exemption to enter the country unless the federal government reopens the borders to tourists or bridging visa holders.

An Australian Border Force spokesperson said the agency wouldn't comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.

"Travellers must hold a valid visa and have an exemption to Australia's travel restrictions before they travel," they said, in a statement.

"Travellers can request an exemption online and must provide appropriate evidence to support their claims."

The mother-of-two is certain she's not the only person to be stuck out of Australia on a bridging visa with an expired travel facility and doesn't understand why they haven't been automatically extended for another year to let people get back.

"I think the kick in the teeth for me is when you see that they're letting in working holiday makers and people who are skilled visas who've applied who've been waiting to get in," she says.

"And you know, no disrespect to these people but these are people that have never set foot in Australia a lot of the time, never contributed, never paid a penny in taxes.

"And they are ahead of some of us who have. That's the kick in the teeth for me."

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden brought some Christmas Eve cheer to hospitalised children who aren't well enough to go home for holidays.

It's longstanding tradition for first ladies to visit Children's National Hospital at Christmastime, but Joe Biden's visit on Friday was a surprise.

It marked the first time that a sitting president had joined the fun, the White House said.

READ MORE: Queen's Christmas speech set to be particularly personal

The Bidens are set to help a group of children making lanterns as part of a winter craft project.

READ MORE: Joe Biden pledges 500 million free virus tests

Jill Biden will also sit by the Christmas tree and read Olaf's Night Before Christmas to the kids.

Video of her reading will also be shown in patient rooms throughout the hospital.

The Walt Disney Co. provided copies of the book for each patient so they can follow along with the first lady, the White House said.

Each book includes a White House bookmark designed by her office.

The annual tradition of a hospital visit by the first lady dates to Bess Truman, who served in the role from 1945-1953.

President Biden was also seen showing photos of their new puppy, Commander, to patients.

Biden shared a photo on his official Twitter account of the 3-month-old male puppy with a caption that said, "Welcome to the White House, Commander."

He also released a brief video of him tossing a ball to Commander and walking the leashed dog into the White House.

Commander was born Sept. 1 and arrived at the White House on Monday afternoon, a gift from the president's brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law Sara Biden, according to Michael LaRosa, a spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden.

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1473057147017744390?s=20

His name appears to be a play on Biden's status as commander in chief of the US armed forces.

The Bidens had two other German shepherds — Champ and Major — with them at the White House before Commander.

But Major, a 3-year-old rescue dog, ended up in the proverbial dog house following a pair of biting incidents in the months after his arrival last January. He was sent home to Delaware for training before he was returned to the White House.

White House officials had explained Major's aggressive behaviour by saying he was still getting used to his new surroundings.

But he was sent away again. Now, his permanent exile from the executive mansion appears official.

"After consulting with dog trainers, animal behaviourists, and veterinarians, the First Family has decided to follow the experts' collective recommendation that it would be safest for Major to live in a quieter environment with family friends," LaRosa said in an emailed statement.

"This is not in reaction to any new or specific incident, but rather a decision reached after several months of deliberation as a family and discussions with experts."

Champ died in June at age 13.