Australia records most COVID-19 deaths in a single day
Another 93 people with COVID-19 have died, which is the highest number reported in a 24-hour period since the start of the pandemic.
Victoria said 39 people had died with Health Minister Martin Foley calling it a “significant loss”, NSW reported 35 deaths and 18 dying in Queensland.
The ACT also recorded one death.
Mr Foley said the state has 988 hospitalisations and 114 patients in ICU. That’s down from the 1,057 hospitalisations and 117 ICU patients from the previous day.
NSW had a slight rise from the 2,722 hospitalisations and 181 patients in ICU reported on Thursday.
Queensland’s deaths include one person in their 30s who was unvaccinated, and 12 people in aged care, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Friday.
There are currently 818 people in Queensland hospitals with the virus, with 54 of those in intensive care.
Tasmania has recorded 584 new COVID-19 cases, the state’s lowest daily figure since 3 January. Nineteen people are in hospital with COVID-19, with nine of those being treated specifically for the virus, and one person is in intensive care.
The ACT there were 734 new cases, and the number of hospitalisations decreased from 73 to 66 patients with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
Mr Foley said Victoria’s outbreak “seems to have stabilised” and the state’s hospital services, currently subject to a code brown alert, would be turned back on once it’s safe to do so.
“We’ve seen almost 40 people pass away in the most recent reporting period, this is a really significant challenge for our healthcare system,” he said.
“Our hospitals, our GPs, our pharmacists are all under pressure like never before. When it’s safe to do so, we will turn the system back on.”
Meanwhile, about a third of COVID-19 deaths in Australia this year have occurred in residential aged care, with more than half of all NSW facilities are battling outbreaks.
Aged care facilities have reported the deaths of 415 people to federal authorities since 31 December, including 207 in NSW and 84 in Queensland.
South Australia aged care homes reported 68 deaths, while 57 lives have been lost in Victorian facilities, according to the latest snapshot data released on Thursday.
Overall, the deaths of more than 1,160 people with COVID-19 have been reported in Australia this year.
The latest aged care outbreak data available shows more than half of all aged care homes in NSW have experienced an Omicron outbreak, with 58 facilities reporting at least one COVID-19 death.
Source: sbs.com.au
