Health authorities have blasted a dangerous new trend as daily Covid infections explode to new highs in Queensland.
Another person has died as Queensland’s daily coronavirus tally hits a record 20,556 cases, with official data zig-zagging amid new testing protocols and technical glitches.
Tuesday’s update came as chief health officer Dr John Gerrard blasted people for holding ‘Covid parties’ in a misguided attempt to build up a natural immunity to the disease.
The trend – reminiscent of pox parties for children – has reportedly seen unvaccinated people deliberately expose each other to Covid instead of getting a jab.
“Covid parties – they are utterly ridiculous,” Dr Gerrard said on Tuesday.
“They are ridiculous. So please stop them. Please stop.”
The number of new infections reported on Tuesday more than doubled from the 9581 cases announced on Monday, when data from four private testing clinics was missing due to ‘software issues’.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the latest stats therefore jumped so significantly because they included Monday’s lagging data.
Ms D’Ath also advised a man in his late 70s with ‘significant medical complications’ had died in a Queensland nursing home.
He was the state’s 11th confirmed death since the start of the pandemic.
The state’s total Covid caseload is now 109,524, more than seven times the 14,000 reported on New Year’s Day, and 50 times the 2100 cases that were reported at Christmas.
Nearly 33,000 people are being cared for in their homes.
The Gold Coast remains the state’s major hotspot but cases in the southern regions of Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast are soon set to climb.
There are 502 people in hospital statewide – up from 419 in the space of 24 hours – while the number of people in intensive care has risen from 21 to 27 people.
Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard said there were six people on ventilators, up from four.
He said while hospitals were coming under increasing pressure, the number of serious ill people remained low.
“The lesson is the vaccines are working,” he said.
“By all accounts … I think we are doing reasonably well but the next three weeks will be tough. There will be a lot of people admitted to hospital, there will be significantly more intensive care admissions than what we see now.”
Earlier on Tuesday Controversial Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said residents in his city holding Covid parties were “brainless”.
But he also maintains concerns over Omicron may be overkill and called for the Queensland government to let the virus rip through the state.
On Tuesday there were 1196 positive rapid antigen tests logged via the online government portal, down from 3714 the day before.
Queensland’s daily cases surged to 18,000 on Sunday when self-reported rapid antigen tests were included in the figures for the first time.
Authorities expect the Omicron wave to continue to rise until the first week of February, a trend that triggered a decision to postpone the start of the school year by two weeks.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the weekend said it was a “sensible and logical” move to push back the start of term one back to February 7 for kids in prep through to year 10, noting the move gave parents more time to get their children vaccinated.
Students in years 11 and 12 will being online learning from January 31.
Earlier on Tuesday she refuted claims from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that delaying the school year would only push back the peak of the Omicron wave.
Ms Palaszczuk said she acted on health advice when the decision was made.
Pfizer shots for kids aged five to 11 began in Queensland on Monday with 6500 vaccinated over the past two days.
More to come
Originally published as Qld Covid: Daily caseload hits new record 20,556 after testing glitches, RAT reporting changes
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