Australia reports a further 27 COVID-19 deaths

A further 27 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded across Australia, with 17 in Victoria, seven in New South Wales, two in South Australia and one in Queensland.

AdvertisementVictoria also reported 5,052 new cases of the virus.

Of the 274 people the government said were in hospital, 38 were in ICU and five were ventilated.

The latest figures come days after the state eased indoor mask-wearing and working from home rules.

Additionally, all remaining elective surgery restrictions will lift on Monday.

NSW on Sunday also added 6,014 new infections to its COVID-19 caseload. There are 1,146 patients in hospital, with 58 in intensive care.

Current hospitalisation figures are less than half the admissions around the same time last month when the Omicron wave saw a peak of 2,943 people in care.

Like in Victoria, mask rules were eased across NSW on Saturday. Residents are now only required to use them in certain settings, including on public transport and in hospitals.

More non-urgent elective surgery patients will also be able to access services requiring an overnight stay in private hospitals from Monday.

NSW Health is lifting the cap to 85 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity in private hospitals before completely removing it on 7 March.

In addition to its two deaths, South Australia reported 1,467 new COVID-19 cases.

SA Health said in its Sunday update 114 people were in hospital, including 11 in ICU.

Queensland, meanwhile, recorded 3,571 new COVID-19 cases on top of its one death.

Of the 295 people in hospital in the state, 24 were in intensive care.

Western Australia reported 1,027 new cases of the virus on Sunday, with WA Health saying there were 13 infected people in hospital.

Tasmania reported 676 new cases. Hospitalisations have dropped from 10 to nine, with none in ICU.

The ACT reported 495 new infections, with the government saying there’s no longer any patients with the virus in ICU.

The Northern Territory had 368 new cases. There’s now 101 patients with coronavirus in hospital.

There have been 54,012,725 vaccine doses administered in the national COVID-19 rollout up to Saturday.

More than 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 94.4 per cent are double vaccinated.

Source: sbs.com.au