‘Things to get worse before they get better’: Major booster shift as 13 more deaths, 16k cases recorded

The Premier has issued a warning to Queenslanders that ‘things will get worse before they get better’ after 16,031 new cases and 13 more deaths were recorded overnight, as she revealed the eligibility for booster shots will change from Monday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has issued a warning to Queenslanders that ‘things will get worse before they get better’ after 16,031 new cases and 13 more deaths were recorded overnight, as she revealed the eligibility for booster shots will change from Monday.

Of the deaths, two people were in their 60s, five in their 70s, five in their 80s and one in their 90s. Two were unvaccinated, one person had a single dose, eight had two doses and one had a booster. The status of the final person is unconfirmed.

There are now 855 people being treated in hospital including 54 in ICU - 22 of those are requiring ventilation.

Chief health officer John Gerrard said were it not for the high vaccination rate, there would be thousands of people in hospitals.

“If it was not for widespread vaccination, we would not be talking about 855 people in hospital, we would have been talking about thousands and our hospitals would have been overwhelmed,” he said.

From Monday, people will be able to get their booster three months after their second dose.

More than 1m Queenslanders have now received their booster.

“If you are due to have your booster, please come and get your booster,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, flanked by Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The Premier called on parents to get their children vaccinated in the added two week school holiday they have been given.

“Please, please think about the next two weeks booking your children in for a vaccine,” she said.

She said the state would release its back to school plan after cabinet meets on Monday.

Ms Palaszczuk said there was no national advice that children needed to be tested upon returning to school.

She said at-risk people should think “very carefully” about moving around for the next two weeks.

“My comments have been directed at the more vulnerable people in the community - if you are elderly and you have not had your booster for the next couple of weeks you should really think about your movements,” she said.

However, she clarified saying the vulnerable could still see family and go shopping but they should think twice about going to parties.

Ms Palaszczuk said cases and deaths were expected to rise.

“We have not gone through the peak yet so I do want to brace Queenslanders for the fact things are going to get worse before they get better,” she said.

Dr Gerrard said rapid antigen tests were being given to people who arrived at fever clinics for their sixth day of quarantine, and those who could not access a PCR test.

Additional supplies will arrive in retail outlets in the coming days.

Ms Palaszczuk said the state had increased its order from 18 million RATs to 23 million and that 37,121 tests in total were undertaken in the last 24 hours.

She said the Western Australia border opening delay was a matter for Premier Mark McGowan but she had no regrets opening the Queensland border.

“I said very clearly at the time that the federal government had all the information in relation to the omicron variant and it was safe to do so,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said there were no plans to allow unvaccinated people into hospitality venues and said she did not agree with calls from Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to get rid of the Covid check-in app.

“It’s not happening,” she said of dropping the Check-in app, adding it enabled contact tracers to identify super-spreading events.

“It will be in for the foreseeable future.

“Adrian and I get along very well - we work very cooperatively when it comes to the Olympics... on that one I respectfully disagree,” she said.

Today's update comes as Deputy Premier Steven Miles said emergency authorisation to manufacture rapid antigen tests in Queensland was vital to end crippling shortages of workers and groceries.

Eight Mile Plains medical company AnteoTech could manufacture 12 million rapid tests each year.

The local company is already supplying tests to the USA and Europe, but is still awaiting approval to do the same here.

AnteoTech CEO Derek Thomson said he had been in discussions with Canberra for almost two years about manufacturing tests for Australia.

“We didn’t get a huge amount of traction at the time in a discussion nor did any other manufacturers by the way,” he said.

Originally published as ‘Things to get worse before they get better’: Major booster shift as 13 more deaths, 16k cases recorded