(Bloomberg) — Australia’s most-populous state has again seen a record high daily Covid-19 tally as omicron becomes the dominant strain. So far, its health system appears to be coping.
New South Wales detected 5,715 new Covid cases on Thursday, a 52% jump from the previous record posted a day earlier. While the surging outbreaks there and in other states are causing havoc to Australians’ Christmas plans, officials are placing more importance on the number of people needing serious treatment in hospital, which is so far proving manageable.
A total of 349 people in New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, are in hospital — the most since the start of November. But the number of patients being treated in intensive care units is at 45, compared with 77 almost two months ago when delta was the dominant variant.
Omicron is putting pressure on Australia’s push to fully reopen, after New South Wales and Victoria states recently removed months-long lockdowns which Prime Minister Scott Morrison says are now unnecessary due to a relatively high vaccination rate. Many testing centers have become overwhelmed due to the dramatic rise in case numbers and as some states require visitors to show a negative result from a test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival.
While more lockdowns aren’t being considered for now, New South Wales is on Thursday expected to announce incremental tightening around again enforcing Quick Response code check-ins in vulnerable places such as aged-care and health clinics.
Meanwhile Victoria, which includes Melbourne, recorded 2,005 new cases on Thursday, with 398 people hospitalized and 72 in ICU; it’s expected to soon tighten mandatory mask-wearing in some settings.
New cases in Queensland, the third-most populous state, doubled on Thursday from the day before to 369.
“Not only is the spread of this virus inevitable, it is necessary,” Queensland Chief Health Officer John Gerrard told reporters on Thursday. “In order for us to go from the pandemic phase to an endemic phase, the virus has to be widespread. We all have to have immunity.”
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