SYDNEY, Jan 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) – As the Omicron wave continues to rage across Australia, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) recorded its deadliest day since the beginning of the pandemic.
Today, NSW announced 21 deaths related to COVID-19 and 34,759 additional cases.
The daily death toll broke a state record set just days earlier, when 18 deaths were reported on Sunday.
The state also reported 2,242 people in hospital with the disease, up from 2,186 people reported yesterday.
Despite spiralling case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths, NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet, maintained his optimism.
“I know that many people are anxious. We will get through this. We will get to the other side and we will come out stronger as a state,” Perrottet said to the press today.
Perrottet also announced that, the state would begin logging Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) in official case numbers. Self-reporting has been made mandatory and failure to report a positive RAT would result in a 1,000 Australian-dollar (about 720 U.S. dollar) fine.
“It is important that we remain vigilant during this period of time. That’s why we’ve made the decision today, for the uploading of those tests to be mandatory,” he said.
This change is likely to translate into a sharp uptick in case numbers, as limitations on traditional PCR tests have failed to capture the full extent of the local outbreak.
In Victoria, the second-worst hit state, 21 deaths and 40,127 cases were reported today. The state has already begun logging positive RATs into their official numbers.
Health authorities announced that, Victoria’s health system is under strain, due to some 6,600 health workers being unavailable due to infections and isolation requirements.
In an effort to ease this strain, Victoria’s Health Deputy Secretary, Naomi Bromley, announced that high-risk workers would be required to have three doses of the vaccine in order to work.
This included health workers, food distribution and processing workers, and hotel quarantine workers.
“It protects them. It protects everyone they serve, everyone they support and everyone they work with,” said Bromley.– NNN-AGENCIES
