Queensland records 6600 new Covid cases overnight with almost 1000 now in hospitals

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has admitted Covid modelling failed to predict the severity of Queensland’s third wave as the state recorded more than 6600 new cases on Monday.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said Covid modelling had failed to predict the severity of Queensland’s third wave.

Queensland recorded 6682 new cases of Covid-19 overnight as the state’s hospital system continues to face pressure during the deadly winter flu season.

Ms D’Ath reiterated the call for people to wear masks indoors, but did not mandate the direction.

There were 5747 cases recorded via a rapid antigen test, taking the number of active cases across the state to 49,359.

Ms D’Ath said it was up to National Cabinet and the federal government to release new taxpayer-funded Covid modelling.

But the Health Minister admitted the modelling released earlier this year had failed to predict the severity of Queensland’s third wave.

“We thought and the advice we were getting and the modelling we saw at the start of the year that we’d keep having waves for months and years, but they’d slowly reduce and our immunity would build,” she said.

“But with these new variants and sub-variants, we’re not seeing that.

“We’re now seeing higher waves than we did before.

“We don’t know what’s coming, but we know what we can do to slow down the spread.”

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath will provide a Covid update this morning. Picture: Jerad Williams

Ms D’Ath, speaking at Nambour Hospital, did not detail what would trigger a mask mandate but said the government would continue to “take the advice of the chief health officer and the health professionals”.

The Health Minister said any change to aged care restrictions would need to come from the Commonwealth, which had not issued any directions.

It comes as one in three Queensland aged care homes battle active Covid-19 outbreaks.

Ms D’Ath said the state would continue to support aged care providers with staff and facilities, and regularly raised issues of aged care facilities “in crisis” with the Commonwealth regulatory provider.

Ms D’Ath said the Australian Defence Force should be on standby to support aged care providers struggling with a lack of staff.

“The fact is the vulnerability of those residents is already high – if you cannot have a reasonable or safe staff to patient ratio … if you cannot maintain those ratios in a safe way then someone’s got to step in,” she said.

“We heard some awful stories earlier in the year where residents were being locked in their rooms … the food was inadequate because there was no staff members. I hope we don’t see that again.”

She said if the defence force was required to fill staff shortages then “it should be done”.

Ms D’Ath said there were almost 1000 people in hospital with Covid-19 or the flu, which coupled with staff shortages was putting significant pressure on the system.

She said 3 per cent of staff, on average, would usually be off sick – however Queensland’s absence rate currently hovers around 6-7 per cent.

“You get an idea of the pressures being faced on our hospital systems,” she said.

No deaths from Covid-19 were recorded overnight.

There are 815 public hospital patients with Covid, including 16 in intensive care.

In private hospitals 99 patients have Covid-19 while two people are in ICU.

Ms D’Ath said the state government was doing “everything we can” to find staff for Gladstone Hospital’s shuttered maternity unit.

She said staff shortages were occurring across the state and said expectant mothers had been informed of their options.

Gladstone Hospital is without a resident obstetrician and Ms D’Ath said efforts to seek staff from other hospital and health services had been fruitless.

Originally published as Queensland records 6600 new Covid cases overnight with almost 1000 now in hospitals