Covid Qld: 9k new cases, hospitalisations surge in low-vaxxed SEQ hotspot

More than half of Queensland’s 419 hospitalisations are happening in one South East Queensland region that also has the lowest vaccination rate in its area, with the chief health officer saying more than half of those on ventilators in local hospitals being unvaccinated.

More than half of Queensland’s 419 hospitalisations are happening in one South East Queensland region that also has the lowest vaccination rate in its area, with the chief health officer saying more than half of those on ventilators in local hospitals being unvaccinated.

Queensland has recorded about 9581 new cases overnight, including more than 3,000 from RAT kits.

But the state is still waiting on some results from private pathologists.

Of the 419 people in hospital, 21 are in the ICU, including seven who are on ventilators.

Chief health officer John Gerrard said of the 11 people in intensive care on the Gold Coast, six are unvaccinated and are presenting “classic Covid pneumonia” symptoms, he said.

“Of the five others, they were double vaccinated but all had complex other medical issues that were mixed in with the cause of their admission,” he said.

Those medical issues included two people with head injuries, one with stroke and one with a seizure disorder.

CHO Dr John Gerrard explains the case surge on the Gold Coast. Picture: Liam Kidston

Omicron is now making up about 90 per cent of the current cases in the state.

Dr Gerrard said the rate of hospitalisation was increasing steadily, with a significant increase expected from the end of the week.

He said just over half the ICU admissions, and a quarter of hospital admissions, were on the Gold Coast.

He said this suggested there was a significant surge of the virus in the Gold Coast region.

Parents and their children were seen lining up for testing at the Brisbane Convention Centre as children aged between five and 11 became eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine from today. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“It’s not surprising given the sheer number of interstate visitors,” Dr Gerrard said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said a lot of people were coming on holiday to the Gold Coast and many weren’t wearing masks, which she thought was contributing to the surge of cases on the Glitter Strip.

“Unfortunately when people come on holiday, they don’t feel like they need to comply with protective measures,” she said.

“In the southeast, the Gold Coast is just under the state average but for a tourist destination I would’ve loved to have seen the Gold Coast around 95 per cent vaccinated.”

She encouraged any unvaccinated person to rush out and get the jab.

“The surge does seem to be happening on the Gold Coast and I’m concerned about that,” she said.

Dr Gerrard warned Omicron can still cause significant disease, despite being “slightly” milder than the Delta variant.

“It is slightly milder than the Delta strain,” he said.

It comes as vaccinations begin today for children aged five to 11.

About 800 children are expected to be vaccinated at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre alone today, while Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said more than 4700 five- to 11-years olds were getting vaccinated from today.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queensland Health has recorded about 26,000 bookings for the jab among children.

Of the 30 vaccine clinics open today, 22 are available to children.

Walk-ins have already been stopped at the South Bank clinic as the hub has already reached capacity at 11am with 800 children booked in to get their jab today.

Vaccination coverage is now at 91.5 per cent first dose and 87.79 per cent double dose, meanwhile there were 13,301 boosters delivered yesterday.

There were four private pathology labs that were unable to provide their Covid tests results overnight due to what the government understands is a glitch in the update in software.

Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard. Pic Annette Dew

The Premier couldn’t provide a number on how many teachers in Queensland were vaccinated.

“I’m really encouraged by the number of people getting vaccinated, especially our front line workers,” she said.

She said there shouldn’t be any concern about unvaccinated children going to school with vaccinated children.

“The more people to get vaccinated, the better. That’s the way we are in society at the moment.”

It comes a after Ms Palaszczuk confirmed school start dates would be pushed back two weeks from January 24 to February 7 in a bid to avoid children being in class at the peak of the anticipated Omicron variant wave.

Dr Gerrad said it was inevitable that an outbreak would happen when schools returned but said parents shouldn’t be “too anxious” about their kids going back.

“I think parents shouldn’t be overly anxious about this virus,” he said.

“For the most part, the children will only have a mild illness, similar to a virus they’ve had in the past.”

He said the vaccine was the most important part in reducing the risk of passing it onto vulnerable groups.