The era of lockdowns, vaccine mandates and daily case number bulletins seems long gone, but coronavirus is still very much present in Australia.
Case numbers increased in every state and territory in the last reporting period, and experts say the country is entering a new wave of infections.
Here’s what we know.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, surveillance indicators suggest COVID-19 transmission has been gradually increasing since mid to late-August.
In the week ending 24 October, 6,550 cases of COVID-19 were reported across Australia, an average of 936 cases per day.
This marked an increase of 23.6 per cent nationally.
In the same period, the number of people hospitalised with COVID-19
increased by an average of 17.5 per cent to 1,245.
Of these hospitalisations, 31 were admitted to the intensive care unit.
Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, said the real numbers were likely much higher due to a decrease in testing and reporting.
“If you look at the percentage of diagnosed cases that end up in the hospital, it’s now about four times what it was in January,” he said.
“And it’s not because the disease has got any more severe, it’s simply that we’re not counting cases anymore … there’s an awful lot of cases around.”
Paul Griffin, infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist, says the situation is being described as Australia’s eighth COVID-19 wave.
“Fortunately the magnitude of these waves is getting less and less, but it is clear that even though it’s harder to measure at the moment, case numbers do appear to be climbing,” he said.
“Hospitalisations have clearly increased and other things we measure like outbreaks in aged care homes, for example, have also increased.
“So it does appear there is more COVID around at the moment and I think it’s important that people do understand that.”
(SBS)
