Canberra, Dec 23 (IANS): Australia's hospital system is "well-equipped" to deal with the growing outbreak of Covid-19 cases, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Thursday.

Australia reported a record of more than 8,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday -- an increase of about 45 per cent from the previous record set on Wednesday -- and 11 more deaths, Xinhua news agency reported.

Despite surging infections, Hunt said the Omicron variant was not significantly increasing the burden on intensive care units.

He said the number of patients in intensive care has grown by three to 112 in a week, while those on ventilators are unchanged at 54.

"The hospital system is well-equipped," he said.

As of Wednesday, 94.1 per cent of Australians aged 16 and above had received one vaccine dose and 90.9 per cent were fully inoculated.

More than 1.8 million Australians have had their third booster shot, with about 1,60,000 doses being administered per day.

Anthony Albanese, the leader of the opposition Labor Party, on Thursday called for the minimum interval between second and third vaccine doses to be cut further from five months.

"The third shot, as a protection against Omicron, is particularly important," he told Nine Network television.