Australia has reported 58 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, as the two most populous states, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, have said students will be tested twice weekly for the Omicron variant when classes resume next week, Reuters reports.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said parents will be asked to use rapid antigen tests twice a week to check their children for Covid-19 and report any positive result to the school and government.

Millions of the test kits are being distributed to 3,000 schools this week and students need to be tested before attending the first day of classes, he told reporters in Sydney.