Recorded The Deadliest Day Yesterday, Australia Prepares To Face Soaring Death Toll Due To Wave Of Omicron Variant

Australian COVID-19 illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Kgbo)

JAKARTA - Australia must brace for more deaths from COVID-19 over the next few weeks, authorities said on Wednesday, as record infections sparked by the Omicron outbreak overwhelm the health system, forcing the State of Victoria to raise its state of emergency for hospitals.

"We have seen and we will continue to see deaths, mostly in the elderly, mostly in people with other chronic diseases," Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday, a day after Australia had its deadliest day with 77 deaths from coronavirus, citing Reuters January 19.

Amid record infections, Victoria State hospitals from midday Wednesday will move to 'code brown' status, usually reserved for natural disasters or mass casualty events. Meanwhile, reports say nurses have demanded the government get the army's help.

Nurses in the neighboring state of New South Wales (NSW), held a rally at one of Sydney's biggest hospitals to protest against staff shortages on Wednesday.

"Nurses and midwives are tired, angry, and frustrated and feel that the NSW government is not supporting them at all," said Shaye Candish of the nurses' union.

Although Kelly acknowledged the level of "challenge with nursing staff", he said the country's hospital capacity was facing increased admissions.

Despite increased hospitalizations, authorities are trying to justify their decision to live with the virus when higher inoculations are reached, citing a milder variant of Omicron compared to previous COVID-19 strains.

However, the sheer number of cases has put pressure on hospitals with 5.025 people being treated as of Tuesday. A month ago, the number was still 759 in Australia, with the number almost doubling in two weeks.

As many as 50 deaths have been recorded in the morning between New South Wales and Victoria, home to more than half of Australia's 25 million people. More than 53.000 have registered, with other states to report later.

To note, after successfully containing the coronavirus early in the pandemic, Australia is facing a record spike in cases, with around 1.3 million detected in the last two weeks. So far, Australia has reported around 1.6 million cases of infection and 2.826 deaths since the COVID-19 pandemic began.