Sixteen COVID deaths, virus hospitalisations climb in Queensland
Queensland has reported 16 COVID deaths overnight in the state’s growing pandemic toll.
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Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said this brought the total to 45 since December 13, only one of whom had had a booster shot.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said three people who died were in their 70s, eight were in their 80s, four were in their 90s and one was older than 100. Ten had been double vaccinated and nine were in residential aged care.
He said the state had seen a “substantial increase” in hospitalisations, up from 702 on Monday to 819, with 50 in intensive care. A total of 18 were on ventilators.
A total of 15,962 new infections have been detected from 5994 self-reported rapid antigen tests and 32,506 PCR swabs.
With testing system capacity meaning case numbers were no longer the best way to determine the virus’ spread in the community, Ms D’Ath also hit out at ads being run by the federal government suggesting free rapid tests were available at public testing clinics.
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“Scott Morrison should be apologising when he knows that supply is not available right now,” she said.
Ms D’Ath said the state would place a limit on the number of visitors to patients in hospital of two at a time, in addition to the patient themselves.
The state had reported Monday as its most grim day of the pandemic before the announcement on Tuesday, with seven deaths among people who had not had a booster shot, leading authorities to urge anyone eligible to come forward.
Dr Gerrard had said there were no plans to close aged-care facilities to visitors amid what has been described as a “very different situation” posed by Omicron compared with previous strains.
Both the Gold Coast and Brisbane were expected to feel the pinch of the state’s caseload and hospitalisation peak first, likely within the next two weeks, before the wave rises in other parts of the state.
Queensland authorities remain confident the hospital system will cope with the growing pressure, but have not released modelling predictions about its height.
NSW reported a record 36 COVID deaths were reported on Tuesday, while a statewide “code brown” was called for the Victorian hospital system on Tuesday with more than 1500 people hospitalised and about 4000 staff furloughed due to infections or isolation rules.
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Source: Thanks msn.com