Victorians who catch Covid after having two vaccinations are more than seven times more likely to require intensive care than those who have also received a booster shot.

The growing gap between the risks faced by different sections of the community has become so great that completely unvaccinated Victorians are now 34 times more likely to end up in an ICU than those who have had a full three doses.

An in-depth analysis of Victoria’s Omicron infections prepared for the Herald Sun reveals the full impact of booster shots within the state for the first time. 

A new electric car brand has locked in plans for an Australian launch in February, promising to make battery-powered vehicles more affordable than ever.

The team importing China’s BYD, or “Build Your Dreams”, claim to offer “the first electric cars in Australia that will be at price parity to comparable high-quality 
petrol cars”.

That should translate to a sub-$40,000 price for the BYD Yuan Plus electric SUV, a handsome crossover promising around 150kW of power and 500 kilometres of driving range.

The chairman of listed taxi group A2B, which operates nationally with brands such as 13cabs and Silver Service, has announced his retirement, following a shareholder revolt over a controversial property deal that involved one of Sydney’s wealthiest families.

A2B chair Paul Oneile will retire immediately and be replaced by fellow board director David Grant, who chairs the company’s audit and risk committee. “We will now embark on a process of board renewal and refresh,” Mr Grant said.
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The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported last week that A2B had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the property development company Addenbrooke, owned by the wealthy O’Neil family, in which the two would undertake a controversial land swap deal.

Commuters would be able to get local information on everything to do with transport in their area – from the availability of buses and rideshare cars to where to find a carpark – in one app under a government proposal.

The Transport Department would also give delivery drivers the ability to track the availability of loading zones and allow them to reserve the parking spaces when nearby in a Melbourne CBD pilot.

​The department has taken the proposal to the market as an “innovation challenge”, seeking IT experts to bring together transport data from all over Victoria to make the proposed system work.

Car sales figures for Tesla in Australia show the electric vehicle maker is now utterly dominant in the local market, even challenging popular petrol cars.

Outselling its nearest electric rival by 10 to one, annual Australian sales for Elon Musk’s Tesla Model 3 beat the Toyota Camry by about 2000 units in the ­medium sedan category in 2021.

The Tesla figures, which have been released publicly for the first time, recast the numbers for the electric car market showing a sector bigger than many expected, though sorely lacking in choice.