New Covid warning as Qld cases spike

The number of Queenslanders in hospital due to Covid-19 has jumped in the past week, as the chief health officer confirms the state was entering another wave of transmission.

The number of Queenslanders in hospital due to Covid-19 has risen to 207, with chief health officer Dr John Gerrard confirming the state was entering another wave of transmission.

Queenslanders aged over 65 are again being asked to get their Covid-19 booster jab to give them the best fighting chance against the virus.

A total of 207 people are current in hospital due to Covid-19, up from 146 people last week. Dr Gerrard said for the last couple of months the daily average number of pandemic patients had hovered at about 75.

“The numbers are increasing fairly steadily, sort of doubling about every two weeks,” he said.

“This seems to be happening around the country.”

Queensland chief health officer Dr John Gerrard. Picture: Glenn Campbell/NcaNewsWire

Dr Gerrard said there was not a good sense on how large the wave would be but affirmed he would be “very surprised if it’s big”.

He said the wave would almost certainly peak before Christmas, which is about 7.5 weeks away.

“The great majority of people being admitted to hospital are those over the age of 65 who have not had a booster this calendar year,” Dr Gerrard said.

“I think (the latest wave is) because of the vaccines wearing off in older people to some extent allowing the virus to spread.

“The vaccines are still protecting the majority of us from severe disease. We’re not seeing severe disease in younger people very often.”

Queensland has the largest share of people still unvaccinated against Covid-19 according to federal government data.

A total of 210,600 Queenslanders have not had a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, about 60 per cent of the national total of 350,100 people.

A total of 3.4m Queenslanders aged 18 or older have not had a booster jab in the last six months