NSW records 12,818 new COVID-19 cases and 30 deaths, including vaccinated man in his 30s

New South Wales has recorded 30 more COVID-19 related deaths, including a double-vaccinated man in his 30s with no underlying health conditions. Releasing the state figures early Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said there were 12,818 new infections over the past 24 hours.

This marks a decline from yesterday’s 13,026 cases.There are currently 2749 people being treated in hospital with 183 in ICU. Of those, 70 are ventilated. This marks a drop of 30 admissions compared to yesterday and a decline of two in ICU.

Dr Chant provided more information on the state’s 30 deaths, explaining 21 were men and nine women.

“Of the 30 people who died, one was in their 30s, one was in their 50s, five were in their 70s, 18 were in their 80s and four were in their 90s.”

The man in his 30s who passed away had had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had no underlying illnesses, Dr Chant said.The woman in her 50s who died had not been vaccinated.Five people who died had received three doses of a vaccine, 19 had received two, and six were not vaccinated.

Elective surgery to return

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said elective surgery will resume in a phased-approach from February 7, amid stabilising hospitalisation numbers.”Management of each city hospital will make that decision as to when they are ready,” Mr Hazzard said.Non-urgent elective surgery was postponed in early January as a response to soaring COVID-19 cases.

‘We are going to have a spike’

The new figures comes after it was predicted the state would see a spike in COVID-19 cases in just two weeks.This is fuelled by students’ return to school and a lagging booster rollout.Thousands of school students have today returned to the classroom.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrott addressed the anxieties felt by parents but emphasised the return to classrooms is important for children’s mental health and education.”This is incredibly important as we move to 2022, as we move back to normal, that we have students back at school.”Many students have lost a quarter of their time in face-to-face learning over the last two years as a result of the pandemic.”There’s nothing more important.”

To keep classrooms COVID-Safe, parents are expected to test their children with rapid antigen tests twice a week.Teachers must also follow the same process and face masks are mandatory indoors.Infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said the state should remain “alert but not concerned” as children return.”We are going to have a spike,” he told Today, adding parents should keep monitoring for symptoms and testing regularly.”But so many people are vaccinated, and so many more will be soon, and so many people are not susceptible because they have been vaccinated or because they have had the disease.”It is not going to find too much children to infect. There will be a surge, probably only for two weeks.”

Professor Booy urged residents to get children jabbed if they’re eligible, noting he’s seeing some vaccine hesitancy.”For children there is a little bit of hesitancy but in the main the access is great,” he said.”Children can be protected very quickly, two weeks after the first jab. For the booster, your protection kicks in after only one week.”Just book it.”Mr Perrott confirmed after Week 2 of school, the state government will review this process to make sure it’s working to control the spread of the virus.The state clocked 13,026 infections yesterday and a further 27 people with COVID-19 were confirmed to have died.

This marks a drop from Sunday where 13,354 infections were recorded and 49 people died, making it the deadliest day yet in the pandemic.There are currently 2779 people with coronavirus being treated in hospital, with 185 in ICU; 86 more hospitalisations compared to Sunday, and down one in ICU.The numbers came after clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at the Queen Mary University of London, Dr Deepti Gurdasan, warned NSW could follow a similar pattern of infections to the UK.In Great Britain students returned to school on January 6 in two weeks the number of coronavirus-positive children more than doubled to 321,000.

“In Australia right now, particularly the east coast, transmission is very high. With such high infection rates, it is very hard to contain transmission in schools,” she told Today.“If you don’t have things like masks, adequate ventilation or even contact tracing in schools, then what you see is huge outbreaks which is what we’re seeing in the UK right now.”Chair of the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness, Professor Jane Halton told Today a spike in cases is all but certain.However she remains hopeful the measures outlined above will help control infections.”We are hoping it will keep it pretty low. There is of course some suspicion we will get a bit of a spike,” she told Today yesterday.

Booster rollout lag seen in biggest states

Professor Halton said vaccinations will help to control spread of the virus, however the booster rollout has lagged of late.For weeks the NSW rate has struggled to reach the 40 per cent mark.

As of Friday, January 21 2022, 30.3 per cent of NSW residents had received a third jab, fast forward eleven days and that number sits at 39.4 per cent.A similar rate is being seen in Victoria, there 38 per cent of the eligible population is triple vaccinated.One reason for this slow uptake in NSW and Victoria, experts say, is possibly conflicting information about when to get your booster shot post-infection.In Victoria the advice from the government is as soon as your symptoms subside. In NSW, however, the government says four to six weeks post infection is best.

Source: 9news.com.au