NSW has recorded 24 new Covid-19 deaths, as hospitalisations continued to plateau and the deputy prime minister walked back comments made on live radio that "people aren't dying" from the virus.
The number of people in hospital in Victoria with Covid-19 has fallen to 998, down from a high of 1229 a week earlier. Photo: AFP
The number of people with the virus in the state's hospitals is 2816, of whom 196 are in ICU; 69 people are on ventilators.
Admissions have dropped to below 1000 in Victoria while in Queensland the Chief Health Officer said the number of people in hospital is much lower than authorities expected.
This morning, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce apologised for comments made on a breakfast radio show after saying "people aren't dying" during the nation's latest outbreak.
Joyce was responding to a question asking if the Australian government could still claim to be the "envy of the world" when it came to pandemic management.
"Well, people aren't dying," he said.
When challenged by host Patricia Karvelas, Joyce retracted the comment.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yes, you are correct, I shouldn't have said that. But the number in which - the fatality rate is very low," he said.
"Obviously, that is a tragic thing for anybody ... [to die] for any reason - for catching the flu.
"But the fatality rate of Omicron is remarkably low and Australia has done a remarkable job."
Barnaby Joyce has apologised for saying Australians were not dying from the Omicron variant. Photo: AFP
There were 15,091 new infections recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday, of whom 6901 were from rapid-antigen tests (RATs) and 8190 were from PCR swabs.
It takes the number of active cases to 227,428.
NSW Health says 6336 of the positive RATs recorded yesterday were taken in the past seven days.
Those figures may include multiple tests submitted by the same person, or people who have had both a RAT and PCR test.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said by all metrics, the spread of coronavirus was slowing in the state, although the number of new cases from the most recent reporting period could be affected by lower testing numbers at the weekend.
Dr Chant expected an uptick in cases on the return of the school year, but said that could be "mitigated by the actions of you as individuals" such a getting booster shots.
"The evidence is that you really do need a booster, so all those people sitting there with those two [vaccine] doses and thinking I have done my bit, I have protected myself, we now know that particularly for the Omicron variant, immunity wanes and you need that higher level of protection," she said.
Of the latest deaths in NSW, only two of the 24 people had received a booster shot.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the state had distributed 5 million rapid antigen tests to schools ahead of the return to class.
He said there would be some disruptions for classrooms but praised NSW and Victoria for "leading the way" in their plans for a safe return to schools.
Meanwhile, Woolworths managing director Natalie Davis has reported an ease in supply chain issue which have crippled the essential services sector in recent weeks.
Davis said staff shortages that were as high as 20 per cent have now fallen to 10-13 percent, but challenges still remained for the sector.
"From our suppliers to our distribution centres, transport companies, and over the last week people have started to come back from isolation, and also the number of cases that we're having are dropping, so we're seeing more people come back to work," she said.
Victoria healthcare system remains under pressure
Victoria has reported the deaths of 17 more people with Covid-19.
The number of people in hospital after contracting the virus has fallen to 998, down from a high of 1229 a week earlier.
That includes 119 people in Victorian intensive care units, of whom 47 are on a ventilator.
While there has been a dip in hospitalisations, the figure of 47 ventilated patients is the highest since mid-December.
There is still significant pressure on the state's stretched healthcare and hospital system.
The state has officially recorded another 11,695 new Covid-19 infections, another significant drop in daily figures.
The tally is comprised of 7207 rapid antigen tests (RATs) and 4488 PCR test results.
It brings the official number of active cases across the state to 186,073, significantly down from the 245,000 active cases just seven days earlier.
More than 2 million Victorians still eligible for third dose
About 32 percent of the adult population have received three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, a figure which has been gaining pace over a four-day booster "blitz" across the state.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the blitz saw the most doses administered in a weekend since October, 2021.
About 2.2 million adult Victorians are currently eligible for a booster dose but have not yet received the shot.
"So we're doing well, but we have to do substantially better," Andrews said.
Hospital admissions 'significantly lower' than expected
Queensland has recorded another 13 deaths from Covid-19 and confirmed 10,212 new cases in the latest reporting period.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said there were 878 people in hospital, including 50 patients who are in intensive care.
"It's early but the number of people in hospital appears to be significantly lower than we had expected at this stage," he said.
"This, we believe, has to do with people's changing behaviour in avoiding getting infected."
Of the state's 13 deaths, four people were in their 70s, seven in their 80s and two in their 90s.
Three were unvaccinated, one had received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and nine were fully vaccinated.
None had received a booster dose.
Dr Gerrard said the number of people in hospital on the Gold Coast has "declined slightly every day for the past four days".
He said the Gold Coast was likely to be the first area to peak and Brisbane should follow within seven days.
"So it would appear the Gold Coast is close to or past the current peak," Dr Gerrard said.
"I would remind everybody though that this is the peak, it's not the end.
"That means that we've got very significant transmission in the community at the moment and the end will not be for a number of weeks.
"We won't know for a week or so when we hit the general peak for Queensland, particularly for south-east Queensland, exactly how high that peak of hospitalisations would be but we were certainly anticipating several thousand people in hospital."
- ABC