?We?ll still have fun?: Australians isolating over Christmas reveal what they have planned for the day

Rebecca Miller is cooking up a Christmas Day feast - even though she can't taste a thing.

Both Miller and her partner Steven have Covid. They've cancelled their plans to go to Tasmania - where they were due to be celebrating her 50th birthday for 3 January, and his delayed 50th from last year. Instead they will spend Christmas at home in Adelaide instead, video-calling family and friends.

"Even though I've lost my sense of taste and smell, I'm still cooking up a full vego roast, a big stuffed butternut pumpkin with roast veggies," Miller said.

"We'll do the things we normally do Christmas Day but without people. We'll drink, we'll have fun."

The couple are double vaccinated, and are now mostly recovered. "It turned around quickly to feeling quite normal again," Miller said. "It's quite surprising how good we feel."

The Millers are among thousands of Australians isolating this year. Some, like them, caught Covid. Others are close contacts, and still others are choosing not to go out and expose themselves as case numbers increase sharply.

Ros Ben-Moshe, an adjunct lecturer at La Trobe University's school of psychology and public health, said it is critical for people to connect with others if they're isolating.