‘We’re all going to get Omicron’: NSW health minister’s warning as Australia records 9,618 cases
New South Wales reported 6,394 new infections on Boxing Day and 458 cases in hospital, with the health minister warning “we’re all going to get Omicron” and the Australia-wide tally reaching almost 10,000 cases.
The case numbers in NSW are a slight increase on the already record case numbers reported on Christmas Day.
“We would expect that pretty well everybody in NSW at some point will get Omicron … and if we’re all going to get Omicron, the best way to face it is when we have full vaccinations including our booster,” Brad Hazzard said.
“The challenge for us in the state is to make sure that our health system can cope with that oncoming virus that is so transmissible.”
There are 2,000 health staff currently furloughed across the state, prompting Hazzard to warn residents to “think carefully” before calling an ambulance or heading to hospital due to the “enormous pressure” currently on the system.
It comes as Sydney’s St Vincent’s hospital was forced to issue an apology on Sunday afternoon after wrongly informing 400 people they had tested negative to Covid-19 the previous evening, when they had tested positive.
SydPath medical director, prof Anthony Dodds, said it was believed the mistake was due to “human error” and the affected people were being contacted.
“Owing to the very large volume of tests we’ve been contending with, last night we incorrectly messaged 400 patients who had been swabbed at our centres from 22 December and 23 December, advising them they had tested negative to Covid,” he said.
“These people in fact had tested positive to Covid. As soon as we became aware of this issue this morning SydPath immediately commenced a process to contact these individuals. An emergency response team is now investigating the cause of this mistake.”
NSW Health was yet to confirm whether this would push the state’s daily case number to 6,794.
Queensland has recorded 714 new cases, another daily record for the state, with seven people in hospital and none in intensive care.
South Australia has recorded 774 new cases of Covid and has tightened public health and social restrictions in response.
Gyms will return to density limits of one person per seven square metres, effective immediately. From midnight, hospitality venues will return to one person per four square metres density limits for indoor dining.
Home gatherings will be reduced to 10 people.
The state was due to further ease restrictions on 28 December. PCR tests will no longer be mandatory for interstate arrivals.
Victoria reported a slight decrease in daily case numbers, with 1,608 new Covid-19 infections, including 374 in hospital.
The ACT has recorded 71 new cases with only one in hospital.
Tasmania has reported 44 new Covid cases, a slight jump on Saturday’s numbers bringing active cases on the island to 157. There is one person being treated in hospital and none requiring intensive care.
The Northern Territory has reported 12 new cases with one person requiring intensive care.
Western Australia has reported one new case, a close contact who was staying at the hostel of a previous case and wasn’t believed to be infectious while in the community.
It comes as thousands of Australians experienced a lonely festive season in isolation due to either contracting Covid-19 or coming into contact with a case.
The country is battling its biggest, most widespread Covid outbreak, with the Omicron variant in every state and territory.
Mask wearing is compulsory in most states and territories, as leaders try to limit the spread of the highly infectious variant over the festive season.
Meanwhile, wait times for testing and results have blown out in several states.
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, urged residents to rethink getting a PCR test if they were symp
tomless and hadn’t been contacted by NSW Health due to ongoing pressure on the system.
He said wait times had blown out to between 48 and 72 hours to receive a test result but was longer than three days “in some instances”.
“Only go and get a PCR test if you are required by NSW Health or you feel unwell or because of those interstate requirements by the other governments around the country,” he said.
“We have been working very closely with the other state premiers to move away from PCR testing to rapid antigen tests for those people who are travelling interstate … but in the meantime there’s still going to be pressure on the system.”
As infections continue to rise, the federal government announced the wait for booster shots will be reduced twice in January.
From 4 January, boosters will be brought forward to four months after the second dose – down from five months currently.
Then from 31 January, people can get boosters after three months.
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About 7.5 million Australians will be eligible for their booster shot come 4 January. This will jump to 16 million at the end of the month.
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, praised Australians who have rolled up their sleeves for their third dose.
“Many thanks to Australians for taking us well past two million boosters,” he tweeted.
Some 123,500 shots were given on Christmas Eve, 94,072 of them boosters.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, used their Christmas messages to thank Australians for standing together and supporting each other during the pandemic.
“This pandemic continues to buffet us … [but] Christmas is a time of hope and we are an optimistic people,” Morrison said.
Albanese said Australians deserved to have a happy Christmas after a challenging two years.
“With our borders opening up again, we’re getting back together. Off the Zoom and actually back in the room with family, friends and loved ones,” he said.