Coronavirus: Omicron wave swamps Australia’s hospitals; Micronesia no longer Covid-free

Australia has seen at least 300,000 cases over the past seven days, with the number of people admitted to hospitals near record levels

Elsewhere, the tiny Pacific state of Micronesia – which had remained Covid-free due to its remote location – reported its first cases in the community

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An ambulance is seen approaching a hospital in Sydney. About 5,300 Australians are currently in hospital with Covid-19, not far off January’s record. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:28pm, 20 Jul 2022

Australians admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 neared record levels on Wednesday as authorities urged businesses to let staff work from home and recommended people wear masks indoors and get booster shots urgently amid a major outbreak.

Australia is in the grip of a third Omicron wave driven by the highly transmissible new subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, with more than 300,000 cases recorded over the past seven days, even as authorities flagged the actual numbers could be double. Tuesday’s 50,000 cases was the highest daily tally in two months.

“We need to do some things differently at least for a short period of time,” Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told ABC Radio on Wednesday, as he predicted the number of people ending up in hospitals will soon hit an all-time high.

People cross the road in Melbourne on Tuesday. Australia is in the grip of an Omicron wave driven by highly transmissible subvariants. Photo: EPA-EFE

“We know that working from home is a very key component of stopping what we call macro spreading.”

About 5,300 Australians are currently in hospital with Covid-19, not far off the record 5,390 recorded in January during the BA.1 outbreak, official data showed. Numbers in the states of Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia are already at their highest since the pandemic began.

But Kelly said he had not recommended the reintroduction of mask mandates or any other restrictions.

Last week, Australia reinstated support payments for casual workers who have to quarantine because of Covid-19 after more workers began calling in sick. Several frontline health workers are also sick or in isolation, further straining the health system.