Australia may have seen the worst of the most-recent wave of COVID-19’s Omicron variant, which has swept through aged care facilities and strained hospitals, according to federal Health Minister Mark Butler.
Key points:
COVID-19 hospitalizations are high, but appear to be declining
Australia may have reached its winter peak sooner than expected
Millions of Australians overdue for a booster shot haven’t received one
Mr Mark Butler said ahead of a national cabinet meeting this morning he was cautiously optimistic COVID-19 cases have peaked.
“The data we’re seeing right now indicates we might have reached the peak earlier than we expected to,” Mr Butler said.
“We’re being a bit cautious about that because what we’ve seen through the pandemic is the ‘school holiday effect’, which shows numbers and transmission takes a slightly different course because of different activity in the school holidays.”
The Health Minister said hospital admissions were down, though remained high: about 5,000 admissions across the country.
State and territory health departments reported 66 COVID-19-related deaths yesterday.
