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Brady Anderson
Victoria has once again become Australia’s Covid capital with the state reporting 51,356 new infections.
The spike in cases, which were announced on Saturday, come after health officials allowed positive rapid antigen test results to be included in the reporting of daily cases.
The huge increase in case numbers comes as close to 440 Victorians have been hit with Covid-19 twice in the last two years, new figures have revealed.
The concerning figures come as a Melbourne woman this week revealed she had contracted Covid for the second time in less than four months.
Influencer Alexandra Duffin, 28, was hospitalised twice after she contracted the Delta strain in October last year.
Victoria has recorded 51,356 new infections on Saturday, once again becoming Australia’s Covid capital (pictured, recent public testing)
Melbourne based influencer Alexandra Duffin, 28, was hospitalised twice after she contracted the Delta strain in October last year
The huge spike in cases, which were announced on Saturday in Victoria, come after health officials allowed positive rapid antigen test results to be included in the reporting of daily cases (pictured, testing in Melbourne’s CBD)
Ms Duffin, who was unvaccinated at the time, experienced severe symptoms and even struggled to keep any food down.
Her sense of taste had just started to return days before she tested positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant on a PCR test this week.
‘I feel a lot more congested this time round, but I am trying to be positive. I managed to get through it the first time, and even though I was so sick, if I can do that, I can do it again,’ Ms Duffin said.
I really want more people to know about this.’
Ms Duffin has 70,000 TikTok followers were she has documented her Covid ‘journey’ in recent months.
After a number of negative test results in Melbourne, she flew to Sydney on December 27 and soon returned a positive reading – and has been isolating in the Harbour City since.
Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett said scores of Victorians could find themselves infected with Covid multiple times – especially if they previously caught the Delta variant.
‘We’ve got both variants circulating at the moment in Victoria, so someone could literally get a Delta infection this week and still be susceptible to Omicron in two weeks’ time,’ Professor Bennett told the Herald Sun.
‘Immune response to Delta doesn’t protect you from Omicron. Neither prior infection or vaccination, is protecting people from infection at the moment.’
Former World Health Organisation epidemiologist Adrian Esterman also weighed into the discussion, stating the exact number of people becoming reinfected with Covid across Victoria ‘may never be known.’
Meanwhile, NSW reported a record 45,098 new cases and nine deaths on Saturday.
Source: Daily Mail
