Covid cases on the rise in schools as Queensland records 12 more deaths

Queensland has released new data showing a concerning rise in Covid cases among schoolchildren, sparking a plea from the health minister.

Queensland parents have been urged to get their children vaccinated as schools continue to report increased Covid cases.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath labelled the increase in schools “a difficult time” on Wednesday morning.

Children aged five to 17 were responsible for 1905 of the 6596 Covid cases in the most recent 24-hour reporting period.

Chief health officer John Gerrardsaid the daily case increase among children had increased by more than 300 since Tuesday when there were 1587 new infections.

“The biggest concern when children get infected is to their parents and their grandparents,” he said.

Hospitalisations in children are yet to increase.

Vaccination in five to 11-year-olds is still below 50 per cent while 12 15-year-olds have not yet reached 70 per cent.

Vaccination in five to 11-year-olds is still below 50 per cent while 12 to 15-year-oldshave a higher rate. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

An Australian Bureau of Statistics report recently found the average person who dies with Covid has 2.5 other illnesses.

Chief health officer John Gerrard said the state was seeing more complicated cases where older people have multiple medical problems.

“That [figure] doesn’t surprise me at all” Dr Gerrard said.

“It’s difficult to actually determine what extent the virus is playing a part in what we’ve been seeing clinically in 2022 versus one or two years ago”

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath (right) says it is a difficult time for schools as Covid cases in children rise. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Queensland recorded 12 more deaths related to the virus overnight.

Ms D’Ath said due to a delay, authorities were still awaiting the vaccination status of the victims.

Dr Gerrard said there were now fewer than 404 Covid patients being treated in hospital.

There are currently 36 people in ICU and 20 on ventilators.

There were 3394 rapid antigen tests taken in the past 24 hours – 1904 were from schoolchildren.

Queensland’s daily case numbers have eased from a peak of 23,600 on January 14 to just 6595 new infections on Wednesday. Picture David Clark

The passing of the Omicron peak means a suite of Covid mandates are currently under review in Queensland, including indoor mask wearing and restrictions on unvaccinated patrons.

A steady drop in case numbers and hospitalisations has already seen the Sunshine State abandon Covid check-ins for most venues – including supermarkets, gyms, salons and indoor sporting arenas – with Dr Gerrard now confirming a number of other restrictions were now being looked at.

“All of them are currently under review given that this Omicron wave is coming to an end,” he said on Tuesday.

“If some of these restrictions were to be withdrawn … such as masks then that would be purely on the understanding that if there was a resurgence of infection then masks will be reintroduced, say if that would happen in the winter.

“We’ll still see cases, the virus isn’t going to go away – we’re still going to see transmission of the virus heading into winter.”

There are still more than 500,000 active cases in the state but hospitalisations, ICU admissions, and the number ventilated patients are trending downwards.

Originally published as Covid cases on the rise in schools as Queensland records 12 more deaths