Sydney, Jul 26 (BUS): Hospital admissions for COVID-19 in Australia reached a new high for the second day in a row, while the number of daily deaths rose to the second highest with the coronavirus outbreak. country.
Nearly 5,600 patients with Covid are in hospital while 100 new deaths have been reported, a number just below the 102 deaths on Saturday.
Nearly 330,000 infections have been reported over the past seven days, but authorities say the real numbers may be twice that, Reuters reported.
It’s time to meet again and fight: get vaccinated, use a mask in crowds and indoors, and stay home if you’re sick,” said the prime minister in the hardest-hit state of Queensland, Anastasia Pallaschuk.
The COVID outbreak is driven by the highly contagious BA.4/5 Omicron subtype, and it is placing severe pressure on hospitals and retirement homes.
A model from the state health department showed that Queensland, which is battling the worst of the epidemic, expects the number of patients to reach a peak around late August.
Along with the rising number of hospital admissions, many frontline workers are becoming ill or in isolation, exacerbating the crisis. Read more
Palaszczuk said hospitals will add beds and move more staff to front line assignments.
Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said more than 8% of Victorian health workers, or about 10,000 employees, are sick.
Like many countries, Australia has abandoned its toughest coronavirus precautions and has been living with the virus since early this year.
Authorities are resisting pressure to bring them back, including calls from some doctors to make masks mandatory indoors.
Instead, they urged companies to allow employees to work from home and recommended people to get booster shots urgently.
About 71% of the eligible population had boosters compared to 95% who received two shots.
ZHB