Coronavirus: Australia sees record deaths as Omicron variants push up hospital cases
- The country reported 89 Covid deaths and more than 55,600 new cases on Thursday as the highly contagious BA.4/5 variants take hold
- The government has resisted pressure from doctors to impose mask mandates, while businesses have been urged to let staff work from home
The BA.4/5 variants are good at evading immune protection from vaccination or prior infection and have been driving a surge of new infections globally.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said state leaders and federal health officials have not recommended making masks mandatory in indoor venues, despite calls by some doctors to do so.
Australia avoided the high death tolls seen in other countries during the first waves of the pandemic thanks largely to high levels of public compliance with tough social distancing restrictions.
But there is little public appetite for a return to such measures to defeat the latest surge in infections and Albanese has resisted pressure from some health experts to impose mask mandates.
“It’s no good having a mandate unless it’s enforced,” Albanese told ABC Radio.
He said health officials also had to take into account the effects of tough restrictions on mental health.
The latest Omicron wave is pushing the number of people with Covid-19 in Australian hospitals close to the peak hit in January. About 5,350 patients are in hospitals, and several states are battling record admissions.
Authorities have urged businesses to let staff work from home and recommended people get booster shots urgently, with only about 71 per cent of the eligible population having received their boosters. About 95 per cent of people above 16 have had two doses.
Since the pandemic began, Australia has reported about 9 million Covid-19 cases and 10,968 deaths.