Sunshine Coast, Noosa Covid-19: Region’s hospitalisation numbers spike

Four people are in intensive care and dozens more hospitalised with the Sunshine Coast on the verge of being declared a Covid-19 hotspot.

Sunshine Coast Covid-19 hospitalisations have “rapidly escalated” with four people in intensive care and the region on the verge of becoming a new hotspot.

Up to 43 people out of 502 patients being treated in Queensland hospitals are at Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service facilities, according to new Health data.

Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard on Tuesday said the Sunshine Coast and South Brisbane were likely to become the next two areas to be declared Covid-19 hotspots.

As of 9am Tuesday, four of the 43 people being treated at Sunshine Coast hospitals for Covid-19 were in the intensive care unit.

Dr Gerrard said the next three weeks would be “tense” in health services.

“We are seeing an increase in the number of patients presenting to hospitals in parts of Brisbane’s south and also the Sunshine Coast, the numbers are increasing,” Dr Gerrard said.

The Sunshine Coast University Hospital is treating dozens of Covid-19 patients.

“We are seeing it at those major hotspots, the Gold Coast, Brisbane next and the Sunshine Coast.”

Dr Gerrard said Queensland was expected to reach its peak for Covid-19 cases late January.

He said hospitals were likely to be under pressure until early February.

“The plateau of cases in hospital will be a week or so after that plateau in the community,” Dr Gerrard said.

Queensland chief health officer Dr John Gerrard during a press conference in Brisbane. Picture: Tertius Pickard

The Sunshine Coast’s confirmed infections rose to 6740 on Tuesday, compared to 5993 on Monday.

With supermarket shelves bare, PCR testing wait times blown out, a lack of rapid antigen tests and elective surgery on pause, a Sunshine Coast health expert has taken aim at the state and federal governments’ handling of the Omicron wave.

University of the Sunshine Coast infectious diseases expert said it was avoidable and that the governments took an economical approach to a health problem.

Celebrity chef Peter Kuruvita has closed his new Noosa Springs restaurant, Alba, until Friday, January 14 with at least 30 businesses across the region hit by Covid-related staff shortages.