Apostolos 'Jack' Moulos lived until 97. He died from COVID-19 in Sydney in January.
His last wish was to have his family with him in his final moments.
But that wasn't to be.
"We couldn't be with him," Mr Moulos' daughter, Carolyn Cox, told SBS News.
"When we has asked him what he wanted for end of life procedures, he said: 'all I want is for someone to hold my hand'. And that was what we were hoping for."
The nursing home where Jack Moulos was a resident went into lockdown - and so too did Carolyn Cox's household, due to family members returning positive coronavirus results.
Visits to the nursing home had been restricted since March 2020 due to the pandemic lockdowns - and Carolyn Cox and her sister, Michelle Moulos, were determined to fufil their father's last wish.
Jack Moulos with his wife and daughters. Source: Supplied / Carolyn Cox
But that time was too long and he died while she was still en-route.
When she arrived at the nursing home she put on the full PPE as she watched his body being taken away, separated from him by a glass window.
"I cried. And I said my goodbye to him.
"Because all of us had been through COVID, there is this sadness and also this acceptance that there is nothing you can do.
"I also knew that if I had got there in time, I would not have been able to touch him. I would be in full PPE and it would have been strange anyway [to say goodbye in this way]."
Jack lived a full life - making a career switch at the age of 45. He transitioned from working in a cafe to becoming a law librarian.
A lifelong photographer, upon retirement he turned himself more fully to spending time with the family.
Ms Cox said she learned a great deal from his generosity of spirit.
"He was very good at accepting anyone without judgment - and he was very kind."
Reflecting on third calendar year of the pandemic in Australia, Ms Cox said her plea is for Australians not to forget the lives lost and the very significant consequences from ongoing rise in COVID-19 cases.
"People are still dying - and I don't think we should forget that," she said.
"I think [right] now, people are a bit slack about basic protection, like social distancing and mask wearing. Those things are not hard to do. And if it prevents deaths, I think it's really worthwhile."
COVID-19 to be leading cause of death in Australia
The official COVID-19 national death toll surpassed 10,000 on Sunday and now sits at 10,015.
Most of the deaths happened in the last six months, after a rapid acceleration in numbers since Christmas 2021.
In the first 21 months of the pandemic, there were 2,006 cumulative deaths in Australia by the end of 2021.
Within a month, throughout January 2022, that number reached more than 3,500 (3,716).
And in the six months since then it has increased by almost three-fold to 10,000 and beyond.
Virologist Nigel McMillan at Griffith University said if the current trend in COVID-19 deaths continue, Australia is on track to reach 14,000 COVID-19 fatalities by the end of the year.
"We have had 8,000 [COVID-19] deaths this year alone. And at our current rate, we will reach 14,000 deaths by the end of the year," Professor McMillan told SBS News.
"That puts COVID at number two, in terms of the [for Australians] behind coronary heart disease."
Calls to improve booster shot uptake
He said the number of deaths could be arrested by improving the uptake of the third and fourth COVID-19 vaccines, mask-wearing, and the use of anti-virals.
The uptake of the third and fourth dose has lagged behind the coverage for the first and second dose.
"In terms of the world, we [Australia] is lagging behind - in terms of booster doses [third and fourth jab]. Most of us have had two doses - but that is almost six months ago, so it [the protection] is wearing off."
More than 95 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The national coverage for three doses is 70.5 per cent, with a lower uptake among Indigenous Australians of 53.9 per cent.
Coverage is inconsistent across states, with Queensland recording the lowest third dose vaccine rate of 63.5 per cent.
The fourth dose coverage among Australians aged 16 years is about 12 per cent - or 2,389,473 people. The majority of that group are aged 65 years and over (2,105,705).
Australia to lift COVID-19 border curbs
Border restrictions enforced in response to COVID-19 will be dropped this coming week, with arriving passengers no longer required to declare their vaccination status or obtain a travel exemption.
Changes to the Biosecurity Act coming into effect on Wednesday were made following advice from Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly that it was no longer necessary for travellers to declare their vaccination status.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the changes will make it easier for travelling Australians to return home as well as allow more international tourists and workers to come. It will also reduce delays that have plagued airports since travel resumed, Ms O'Neil said.
The Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) required people entering Australia to provide their contact details as well as declare their vaccination status, where they had been in the past 14 days, and commit to following quarantine and testing requirements.
The DPD will end on Wednesday but is expected to return in the future. "While in time it will replace the paper-based incoming passenger card, it needs a lot more work to make it user friendly," Ms O'Neil said on Sunday.
Global comparison
Globally, there are more than 6 million deaths (6,334,728) and the COVID-19 cases exceed 545 million (545,226,550).
Based on the per capita COVID-19 deaths figure, Australia ranks 115 globally, , which collates the reported data from health authorities.
Australia has 39.21 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people in the population.
That number for New Zealand is 31.00, for Canada it is 109.82, for the UK it is 266.76, and for the US it is 308.93.
A graph ranking nations on the per capita COVID-19 death numbers, puts Australia in the bottom quarter of the table. Credit: John Hopkins University
"If you look at our total deaths, the deaths as per capita compared to other parts of the world, we are still amongst the lowest in the world," she said.
Professor Bennett said the sharp growth in deaths in Australia has been influenced by the environment of the winter flu season, and the policy settings of reopening that have seen infection numbers continue to rise.
"Now we're in this pattern where we will continue to see deaths. While we have high infection rates, particularly over winter, we will have death rates that are higher than other parts of the world."
She said the death numbers provide useful insights on what strategies can be put in place to reduce and prevent the number of avoidable deaths.
Professor Bennett said the strategies should aim to drive down the overall infection rate through measures such as as mask use, physical distancing, hand hygiene - and importantly up-to-date booster shots.
"We've still got a number of young adults who haven't had the booster yet. And while that doesn't give you long-term protection from infection from Omicron, it does for the first month or two actually reduce your risk by up to a half.
"So if a third of our population went out over the next few weeks, and had their booster dose - that would make a difference and help us get through the rest of winter more safely."
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A - released on 28 June - has shown the third COVID-19 jab provided 65 per cent greater protection against hospitalisation or death from Omicron than two vaccine doses.
The study, led by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), followed over two million adults aged 40 years and over living in Greater Sydney during the peak of the Omicron wave in Australia in January and February 2022.
Professor Bennett said more research is also being done on the risk of repeat infections and the implications for long COVID-19 and an increased risk of death.
"There is the possibility that multiple infections actually gives you a greater likelihood of having those longer term consequences. So we do have to take this virus seriously, this is a reminder of that."
Mask mandates
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said there was no firm decision made to at the Friday meeting between state and territory health ministers and officials.
"There is no advice before the health ministers to introduce or reintroduce any new mask mandates," he told reporters on Sunday.
He said the ministers received a briefing from federal Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd.
"It is pretty clear that case numbers are expected to rise over coming months. There is pressure on our hospitals with more than 3,000 people in hospital today with COVID-19.
"And we're still seeing around 300 or more deaths every week with COVID-19. So, we are not through this virus yet."
He urged the six million Australians who have yet to get their third jab to remedy that.
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He said notified his department of an urgent push to roll out the fourth dose in aged care homes.
"Their fourth dose has climbed substantially over the last 10 days since I first made that call. I want to see it climb even higher, even more quickly."
The fourth dose coverage among aged care residents is at 65.7 per cent.
There are 3,415 COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
In the last 24 hours, 30,355 COVID-19 infections were recorded - taking the cumulative number of cases recorded throughout the pandemic in Australia to more than 8 million (8,225,124).
