Hunter Covid: Fresh cases rise in smaller communities as district records another 1612 cases
Upper Hunter communities are seeing steep rises in positive cases as the Hunter continues to battle across the Omicron strain.
Newcastle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Newcastle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
There are now 65 Covid-19 positive patients needing care in Hunter New England hospitals, including four in intensive care, as the district recorded a further 1612 fresh cases on Monday.
Authorities said there were now 8208 active cases across the district, with the Upper Hunter beginning to record larger numbers as the Omicron strain takes hold in smaller communities.
There were 168 recorded cases across the Singleton (113), Muswellbrook (32) and Upper Hunter (23) shires in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, almost triple the number from two days previously.
There were also 20 fresh cases in the Dungog shire on Monday.
Lake Macquarie (342), Newcastle (320), Maitland (197), Cessnock (143) and Port Stephens (141) local government areas continue to record significant daily numbers.
Across NSW, there were four deaths and 20,794 new cases. There were 1204 people in hospital and 95 in intensive care.
SUNDAY
The Hunter New England Health District recorded a further 1342 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total of active cases to over 7000 and seeing 50 people in the region’s hospitals.
Newcastle (379) and Lake Macquarie (339) local government areas continued to lead the region in new infections in the 24 hours until 8pm last night.
Maitland (159), Cessnock (84), Port Stephens (71), Muswellbrook (53), Singleton (34), Upper Hunter (23) and Dungog (7) all reported fresh cases.
The 1342 fresh cases was down on 1811 reported on Saturday.
Hospitalisations across the region is now at 50, up five from Saturday and double Thursday’s number. Of those, three people are in intensive care.
There are now 7005 total active cases across the district, still well down on the 10,000 reported on Friday before isolation rule changes dramatically decreased the figures.
Across NSW, there were two deaths reported on Sunday morning as well as 18,278 fresh cases.
There were 1066 people in hospital and 83 in intensive care.
SATURDAY
Changes in isolation rules have worked to dramatically decrease the number of active Covid-19 cases across Hunter New England Health District despite more than 1800 new infections being reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday.
Authorities now say there were 6060 active cases across the health district on Saturday morning, almost half the estimated more than 10,000 infections on Friday.
“Previous technical issues and changes to the isolation rules have resulted in a dramatic increase in cases released from isolation,’’ the health district said in its daily update.
There were 45 people receiving car in the district’s hospitals on Saturday, up 10 from Friday but almost double the 25 who were in a hospital bed on Thursday.
Three of those people are in intensive care.
The health district reported 1811 new daily cases had been diagnosed, 1505 in the Hunter Region alone.
Newcastle (496) and Lake Macquarie (425) local government areas continue to report the most daily cases, followed by Maitland (241), Port Stephens (174), Cessnock (103), Singleton (45), Muswellbrook (9), Upper Hunter (8) and Dungog (4).
Across NSW, there were 22,577 fresh daily cases with four deaths.
Some 901 people were in hospital including 79 in intensive care.
FRIDAY
The number of active Covid-19 cases across the Hunter New England Health District has crashed through the 10,000 mark, with authorities reporting nearly 2000 fresh cases across the district in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday.
A man in his 70s from the Newcastle area died at John Hunter Hospital. He was a resident of the Kilpatrick Court aged care facility in Toronto, where he acquired his infection.
He had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had serious underlying medical conditions.
The 35 people being cared for in the district’s hospitals on Friday is 10 more than the 25 reported on Thursday, while two people are in intensive care, one more than the previous day.
More than 1800 of the new cases are within the Hunter’s local government areas, with Newcastle (730), Lake Macquarie (480), Maitland (245), Port Stephens (138), Cessnock (120), Singleton (43), Muswellbrook (24), Upper Hunter (19) and Dungog (8) all reporting increased numbers.
Hunter New England Health said there were 10,138 active across the district, although that number was believed to be inflated because authorities had been unable to confirm how many cases were released from isolation on Thursday.
Across NSW, the daily fresh cases rocketed past 20,000 and there were six deaths reported.
Although there were 21,151 new cases – 8925 more than Thursday – hospitalisation rates across the state increased from 746 people on Thursday to 832 people on Friday.
There were 69 people in intensive care, six more than Thursday.
THURSDAY
The Hunter New England’s active Covid-19 case count would now almost fill one of its smallest shires, with the latest spike ballooning the number of positives in the region to over 8000.
Health authorities reported a further 708 confirmed Covid-19 cases across the region for the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, with 15 active cases being cared for in hospital’s and one person in intensive care.
To give some perspective on how many positive cases remain in the region, there are now nearly as many active Covid-19 cases than the entire population of the Dungog shire.
The 8159 active cases have long surpassed the populations of Toronto (5602) and Kurri (6044) and is nearly double the number of people who call Stockton home (4160).
Of the 708 confirmed fresh cases, 600 were in the Hunter.
Lake Macquarie (194), Newcastle (153), Maitland (97), Port Stephens (58), Cessnock (48), Singleton (23), Muswellbrook (16), Upper Hunter (10) and Dungog (3) local government areas all reported more fresh cases.
Authorities said one person had died in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday.
There had been a record 12,226 positive cases in the same period, with 746 people in hospital and 63 of those in intensive care.
On Wednesday, health authorities announced two women who contracted Covid-19 at a Warabrook nursing home have died from the virus.
NSW Health said the women, one aged in her 70s and one in her 90s, had died at the Warabrook Aged Care facility where they acquired their infections.
Authorities said the woman in her 90s had received three doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and had underlying health issues.
The woman in her 70s had received two doses of a vaccine and had underlying health conditions.
The deaths were two of three reported across NSW on Thursday, with fresh positives cases across the state soaring to 11,201 for the 24 hours until 8pm on Wednesday.
There are now 625 people in NSW hospitals and 61 in intensive care, 23 of whom require ventilation.
The Hunter New England Health District recorded 775 fresh confirmed cases, bringing the number of active cases across the district to 7743.
Some 31 of those actives cases are being cared for in hospitals, with three in intensive care.
There were 653 cases across the Hunter local government areas, with Lake Macquarie (187), Newcastle (185), Maitland (122), Cessnock (55), Port Stephens (52), Singleton (31), Upper Hunter (8), Muswellbrook (7) and Dungog (3) all reporting fresh positives.
Bikie’s tighty whitey drug stash uncovered after dunny assault
A fight night bathroom assault at a Newcastle club led cops to the home of a nominee Nomads bikie, where officers then uncovered drugs and cash, some of which was stashed in his undies.
Passenger’s alleged undies package worth $400k on the street
Police allege it was the odd driving along a tiny suburban lane a few hours after midnight which first raised their eyebrows, before some questions got their full attention – 250g of ice stuffed down a passenger’s pants.