Australia on Tuesday suffered its deadliest day of the pandemic as a fast-moving Omicron outbreak continued to push up hospitalisation rates to record levels, even as daily infections eased slightly.
Australia is dealing with its worst COVID-19 out-break, fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coro-navirus that has put more people in hospitals and intensive care than at any time during the pandemic.
A total of 74 deaths were registered by late morning between New South Wales, Victoria and Queen-sland, Australia’s three most populous states, ex-ceeding the previous national high of 57 last Thurs-day, official data showed.
“Today, is a very difficult day for our state,” New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said during a media briefing as the state reported 36 deaths, a new pandemic high. Perrottet, who has consistently ruled out any tough curbs due to high vaccination levels, said hospitals can still cope with the rising number of admissions.
“Despite the challenges, they are not unique to the rest of the world,” he said. Amid rising hospitalisations, Victoria on Tuesday declared a “code brown” in hospitals, typically re-served for shorter-term emergencies, that would give hospitals the power to cancel non-urgent health services and cancel staff leave.—Agencies
