NSW records 20,794 cases while Victoria’s tally hits 8,577 as Scott Morrison vows no more lockdowns

NSW has recorded 20,794 new cases and four deaths but patients in hospital and ICU are starting to rise.

Hospital admissions rose to 1,204, up from 1,066 on Sunday, and another 12 people were put into ICU, rising to 95. 

Sunday marked the first time there were more than 1,000 Covid patients in NSW hospitals since October 2. The most ever recorded was 1,268 on September 21.

Victoria recorded three deaths and 8,577 new infections on Monday – jumping from 1,999 just seven days ago and 7,172 cases on Sunday. 

There are 491 patients in Victorian hospitals – up from 472 on Sunday – with 56 people in ICU and 24 on ventilators, both of which are stable.

Despite surging case numbers in both states, Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared ‘the days of lockdown are over’ because the number of new infections is irrelevant. 

He said the variant was 75 per cent less severe than the Delta strain and could be publicly managed like other infectious diseases such as flu.

Australia detected 32,216 new Covid cases on Sunday after a record 35,208 on Saturday but only 148 people are in ICU with the disease.

But when asked if Australia would need a ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown to stop the surge, Mr Morrison told the Today Show: ‘No. Because it is not about numbers.

‘I keep making this point. This is a different type of variant which requires an evolution of our response.

‘The days of lockdown are gone. We’re going forward. We’re not going back. That’s not how you manage this virus. 

‘There will be high case numbers but the severity is a lot less so you focus on your hospital system.

‘I think you’re seeing that. We’ve got 51 people on ventilators around the country. 148 people in ICU.’ 

Mr Morrison said the vast majority of people who catch the Omicron strain, which was discovered in November in South Africa, have a mild illness that can be managed at home.

‘If you are in hospital at the moment, the primary reason for that is you weren’t vaccinated. The second reason is you’ve got Delta, not Omicron.  

‘With Omicron, there is only a very small number of cases that are in hospital,’ he said.

‘We’re now dealing with a very different virus. We’ve really got to change the way we think about it and that’s why talking about case numbers now is really not the point.’

Last week state premiers agreed that only household contacts of a positive case must isolate for seven days in a bid to stop employees including nurses and supermarket workers from being unable to work.

PCRs tests, which have seen thousands queueing for hours at overwhelmed testing centres, are now only for people who are symptomatic, or who have tested positive to a rapid antigen test.  

‘The issue is how we’re managing the impacts on the health system and that’s why ensuring we have sensible rules that allow people to go back to work,’ the PM said. 

Monday’s numbers come after it was revealed hundreds of patients counted in NSW’s daily Covid hospitalisation tally are not in hospital because of the virus. 

Some have simply testing positive for Covid following routine checks after being admitted for broken bones or labour pains.

The revelation comes amid warnings infections in Victoria and NSW could soar to up to 100,000 daily cases within weeks if current trends continue. 

If infection numbers continue to double every four days case numbers could easily reach 100,000 by the end of January.  

Over in NSW, which saw more than 18,000 new cases for a third consecutive day and has also been predicted to reach six figures, hospital admissions have topped 1,000.

But data shows as many as 50 per cent of ‘Covid patients’ in the state’s hospitals were actually admitted for other reasons – such as a broken leg, labour pains or even mental health issues – and later tested positive to the virus during routine tests.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has admitted that over two days during the week, up to half of those cases were in hospital for something else entirely – raising questions about how hospitalisation figures are reported.

‘A reasonable proportion of cases being classified as Covid hospitalisations are actually people with other reasons for admission,’ Mr Hazzard said. 

‘Heart attacks, births, falls, none of that stops just because there is Covid. They come into hospital, they have a swab taken and it confirms Covid.

‘This shows us its out in the community, but we aren’t necessarily seeing that as the primary reason for all of the admissions.’

While Mr Hazzard admitted hospitals are under increasing strain, preliminary analysis shows that Omicron so far has proved to be a much milder illness for many.

Scott Morrison revealed on Monday he will talk to the premiers this week about agreeing on a definition of Covid hospitalisation amid fears the numbers are artificially high and giving a false picture.

‘There are people being counted as being in hospital for Covid when they didn’t go there for Covid, they went there for some other reason,’ the prime minister said. 

‘They’ve been tested when there and been found to have Covid. We need to get a standard definition on that because these are the key things we have to track.’

The 1,204 people in NSW hospitals are among 145,418 active Covid across the state.  

On September 6, there were 1,071 hospitalisations from 29,253 cases, including 177 cases in ICU, more than double of the 95 reported on Monday. 

Testing rates continue to remain under 100,000, with 96,765 people coming forward for testing in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday night. 

Of the population aged 16 and over, 95 per cent of NSW residents have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine while 93.6 per cent have received both.  

The revelation could provide some comfort to citizens in both NSW and Victoria who are watching daily Covid cases explode and hospital admissions creep up.

Meanwhile, it’s estimated around 70 per cent of Victoria’s daily infections are of the Omicron variant as the state continues to also battle the more severe Delta variant. 

Melbourne University head of population and global health Nancy Baxter believes the southern state could see 100,000 cases by the end of January if current trends persist.

‘We are likely to get to the point – and are already starting to get to the point – where there are tents in front of emergency departments,’ she told the Herald Sun. 

Hospitalisations are also on the rise in Victoria with 491 cases currently admitted.

However, only 56 are in ICU compared to 83 just before the new Omicron variant hit Australia’s shores.

Testing clinics are also under enormous strain as frustrated Melburnians face lengthy delays to be swabbed and wait up to four days to get their results.

Many testing centres across Melbourne closed within an hour of opening on Sunday due to the city’s heatwave.

Professor Adrian Esterman, the chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, holds similar fears for NSW.

‘In four days time that is about 40,000 cases, and four days after that 80,000 cases, so you can see how easily it can reach 100,000 cases,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The professor called for the government should reintroduce more Covid restrictions to stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed before the outbreak peaked. 

Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy has been inundated with calls from concerned doctors and medical administrators ‘struggling’ with staff shortages as case numbers rise.

‘People look at the numbers and see the 1,066 in hospitals but the health system doesn’t just look after Covid and people are having critical surgery delayed,’ he said. 

Dr Moy told the ABC: ‘What’s happening there is that the staffing situation is becoming pretty critical.

‘I’m hearing about teams getting completely wiped out essentially because they are either contacts or they are positive.’

A NSW Health spokesperson said as of December 30, 2,510 healthcare workers were in isolation after being exposed to Covid-19.  

NSW reported a record-breaking 22,577 new infections on Saturday, which is believed to be the result of backlogs in testing centres over the Christmas period. 

Tasmania recorded 466 new Covid cases on Monday taking the number of active infections in the state to 1,691. Two patients are in hospital.  

Source: DailyMail