Over the last week, 38,226 cases were reported across Australia, with an average of 5461 cases per day.

While cases are spiking in almost every state and territory - including a 44 per cent spike in Tasmania - the seven-day rolling average of 5461 is well below the nation's peak of more than 100,000 cases in January 2022.

University of South Australia Professor Adrian Esterman said it is already very clear a new wave is coming in South Australia, where infections are forecast to double in the next fortnight.

"It‘s pretty much clear now across the country we're going into a fifth Omicron wave," he told the ABC.

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A joint letter to parents from groups representing Victorian public, independent and Catholic schools has asked school students aged eight and over to wear masks in class.

However, the state government said it was not a mandate and was just reiterating Covid-19 winter settings.

Students will not be required to wear masks outdoors, and school activities such as sport, music and performances will continue.

"We're asking all students aged eight and over and staff to wear masks when in class from now to the end of winter. Children won't be required to wear masks when they are outdoors," the letter read.

The group is also asking children to wear masks on public transport.

There is a feeling the Victorian government will not mandate mask-wearing ahead of the state elections in November.

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan said health advice about masks in schools has not changed. "Schools are doing their bit by reinforcing the health minister's advice to wear masks indoors," she said.

"Let's be clear: it's not a mandate," Allan emphasised.

Many children arriving at the school gates across the state were already masked, although most had their faces uncovered.

"It should make it more clear for people to understand," one parent said this morning.

The number of daily Covid-19 cases across Victoria continues to hover around 10,000. There are 65,416 known active cases in the state, with 897 in hospital.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 hospitalisations are at an all-time high in Queensland, with Health Minister Yvette D'Ath saying modelling failed to predict the severity of the current wave.

Queensland AMA head Dr Michael Bonning says there's "good health evidence" to back mask-wearing, even as states refuse to reimpose mandates amid a new Covid-19 wave.

"At the moment, we are also very early in this wave," he said. "We expect the peak into August, so we are nervous about where the health system will be able to cope and where it will struggle."

Bonning called on federal, state and territory governments to deliver consistent messaging as per a commitment in National Cabinet's Saturday meeting.

"Two days out from that, we are already changing the plan," Bonning said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is resisting the state's return of a mask mandate. However, she has advised teachers and students to wear them at school and for people to go masked at the upcoming Royal Queensland Show.

South Australian leaders held an emergency meeting on 19 July as the state battles new Omicron Covid variants.

The use of face masks and strain on the hospital system will be on the agenda as the state tallies a record number of people in hospital.

Sources

ABC

9News

"The safety and protection of our parishioners, employees and volunteers continues to be a high priority. We've seen witness to this over the past 18 months through the challenging protocols each parish and agency has had to adhere to in order to ensure safe places of employment and places of worship for our community," Bishop Harris said.

With the Queensland borders set to open in December and the expected increase in numbers of COVID-19 infections across Queensland, the diocese has decided the mandate is appropriate for the protection for staff and the community.

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While turning the unvaccinated away is a public health imperative, it is theologically very difficult for many religions.

Father Peter Nguyen of St Dominic's Catholic Church in Camberwell is grateful for an easing of restrictions in Victoria from Oct 29. This will allow him to hold a small Mass for people with "unknown vaccination status".

"I didn't want to say, ‘Sorry, you can't come' to the unvaccinated," Father Peter says. "Jesus was about including rather than excluding people."

From last Friday, places of worship are allowed to hold indoor services for the fully vaccinated, with a density limit of one person per four square metres. Outdoor services for the fully vaccinated are capped at 500 and services of up to 30 for those of "unknown vaccination status".

Most Masses at St Dominic's will require all people to be double jabbed and carry proof of their vaccination status. But a special Mass for those of "unknown vaccination status" will be held at 6pm on Sunday.

However, faith leaders do not need to be vaccinated to conduct a service.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged unvaccinated Victorians will be barred from most venues and events until 2023.

Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Peter Comensoli - who says Catholics are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated - welcomed Victoria's second to last opening-up stage from Friday.

Comensoli believes Victorians also need a marker when a unified gathering might happen. He says he will continue to work with other faith leaders on proposals that allow both vaccinated and unvaccinated people to worship in person safely.

"After many long months of isolation, continued forms of segregation within the community are deeply damaging. We cannot let this become the only way for COVID-accommodation," he says.

"As faith communities, we are here to support and comfort those in need and to be open to all regardless of who a person is or why they come."

Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann from the Ark Centre in Hawthorn East says most synagogues are unwilling to risk COVID transmission by allowing the unvaccinated to attend services or prayer groups.

"What I am seeing is the people most in need of a sense of community are the ones who aren't taking up vaccinations," Rabbi Kaltmann says. "I'm seeing people falling through the cracks of society and becoming increasingly isolated. I think once we reach 90 per cent double vaccination, the government must re-evaluate."

Bishop Paul Barker from the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is horrified by Mr Andrews' suggestion that the unvaccinated will remain excluded in Victoria until at least 2023.

"We are anxious that in society - not just in churches - we don't create a division or an underclass of the unvaccinated," Bishop Barker says.

Barker said he understood Victorian health officials were reluctant to set a date for when unvaccinated people could have the same freedom because they didn't want them to simply wait it out.

"But I think personally, if we get to 90 percent double vaccination and low case numbers, it should end then."

Sources

• The Age
• Australian Financial Review