Omicron Variant Triggers Infection Explosion, Australia Sets Record Daily Death Due To COVID-19

Illustration of a COVID-19 vaccination center in Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Kgbo)

JAKARTA - Australia experienced its deadliest day from the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday with nearly 100 deaths, although several major states said they expected hospital admissions to fall on hopes the latest wave of infections would start to subside.

Triggered by the fast-spreading variant of Omicron, infections have exploded over the past four weeks, with about two million cases recorded. Until then, Australia had only counted 400,000 cases since the pandemic first hit the country nearly two years ago.

However, the steady rate of hospitalizations in recent days has raised hopes that the worst could be over.

"Generally the situation is stable and we expect a further decline (in hospital cases)," Queensland State Health Service Chief John Gerrard said during a news conference, as hospital cases in the state fell for a third straight day to 818, citing Reuters January 28.

However, on the same occasion he also warned the state's 5 million residents, the pandemic is far from over.

"So don't go out and celebrate, but the news at this stage is good," he said.

Meanwhile, the hospitalization rate has held steady at around 5,000 patients over the past few days, peaking at just under 5,400 on Tuesday.

New modeling released by New South Wales, the most populous state, shows the number of people in intensive care units is below the figure predicted in the best-case scenario.

A total of 98 deaths were registered in Australia in the afternoon on Friday, exceeding the previous pandemic high of 87 deaths two days ago. In addition, more than 40,000 new infections were reported, the lowest daily tally in almost a month.

That brings the total COVID-19 deaths in the nation of 25 million to 3,500 since the pandemic began, far lower than the figures seen in many comparable countries.

Australia is one of the most vaccinated countries against COVID-19 with more than 93 per cent of its adult population receiving a double dose and about two-thirds of eligible Australians having received a booster dose, according to official data.

Separately, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the Kangaroo State's drug regulator, on Friday expanded eligibility for booster doses to ages 16 and 17, joining the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom.