Increased intake of water and proper bed rest may help people recover fast from COVID-19 infections at home, according to an Australian expert.

The coronavirus pandemic in Australia has led to more than 612,000 cases and 2,290 deaths, with more than half of those infections occurring over the past two weeks. The number of Omicron infections has also risen more than 50 times from around 1,200 since late November when the first case was detected in the country.

"Most people can manage at home, and can manage well," Daily Mail quoted Sydney based Professor and infectious diseases expert Robert Booy as saying. "They will not get severe symptoms. They will get a cough, fever, lethargy and fatigue, and they will get better over a few days to a week. All you need is adequate hydration, water, bed rest, if you have analgesics for pain, and antipyretics for fever," Booy said.

Booy added people should look out for chest pain, worsening breathlessness, and lethargy as worrying symptoms that might need further medical attention, the report said. "For people with chronic conditions or lung disease, some are given an oximeter, a special machine to measure the amount of oxygen in your blood, and you will need to go to hospital (or get medical attention) if your oxygen saturation is dropping," he said.

Booy also stated that rapid antigen tests (RATs) should be free across Australia. It comes as experts slammed the Scott Morrison government for "painting a rosy picture" of the new Omicron variant because it is less severe than Delta - as hospitals continue to fill around the country due to the sheer number of people infected, the report said.

Dr Stephen Parnis, an emergency physician from Melbourne, said although the new strain was less severe, the surging number of cases means a significant number of people will still be hospitalised. COVID cases in New South Wales soared to 35,054 on Wednesday while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections overnight - but ICU admissions in both states remain steady.

Besides increase in hospitalisation, eight more people in NSW lost their lives with the virus while Victoria had 11 deaths. Queensland recorded 6,781 new COVID-19 cases, a significant uptick from the 5,699 cases detected on Tuesday, the report said.