Chief health officer Brett Sutton warns new Covid variants will create ‘upward pressure’

Detections of mutant Covid strains are rising and even those who have been fully jabbed may not be safe from further infections.

Twenty-three more people have died with Covid in Victoria in 24 hours.

Detections of mutant Covid strains in Victorian wastewater have increased, as Victoria’s chief health officer warns new stealth variants — more resistant to current vaccinations — are set to become predominant within months.

Victoria’s Department of Health on Saturday warned the new Omicron variants BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 “are more able to evade immunity from earlier Covid-19 infection and vaccination”.

It means even those who have been fully vaccinated, and/or have had Covid, may not be safe from further infections.

The state government warned there had been further detections of Covid Omicron strain sub-lineages in wastewater samples taken from Victorian catchments.

“The BA.4 or BA.5 sub-lineage of Omicron is being detected at increasing frequency at low levels in wastewater samples. There have been 33 wastewater detections at Tullamarine Airport and residential catchments in metropolitan Melbourne and the Greater Geelong area since mid-April,” the department said in a statement.

“The Omicron BA.2.12.1 sub-lineage has now been detected in 12 wastewater samples in Victoria since April ... there is no evidence to suggest that they cause more severe disease. These sub-lineages are unlikely to be at levels in Victoria that contribute to rising Covid-19 cases at this stage.”

Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton wants people to keep wearing masks indoors. Picture: Ian Currie

It added the government had been advised of 21 Victorian deaths on Friday, with people aged in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s passing away with the virus.

It brings the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 3,237.

There are 552 Covid cases in hospital in Victoria, with 21 active cases in ICU, including seven on a ventilator.

It comes as the state’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton warns Covid cases will remain in the thousands for months to come and Victorians need to “buckle up and keep at it”.

Speaking to the Herald Sun on Friday — when Victoria recorded 12,556 new covid cases and 23 deaths — Professor Sutton encouraged people to wear masks indoors.

“Obviously case numbers remain high and having 10,000 cases a day remains a significant thing that we’re still focused on,” he said.

He said deaths were occurring in the highest risk individuals and the low fourth dose rate in the 65-plus category was “not good enough”.

“Deaths occur in people who are at the most risk, some of them have had three doses, many of them have had two doses,” he said.

“We’re at about 23 per cent for those over 65 to receive the fourth dose, that’s not good enough.”

Professor Sutton said he believes an increase in testing numbers was behind the jump in positive RAT results, with case numbers slowly rising “over the last couple of weeks”.

“There’s just more respiratory viruses going around,” he said.

“And therefore people are saying, ‘Oh I’ve got a sore throat, I’m going to do a RAT test’.

“When you look at your proportion positive out of the PCRs, it’s remained at about 16, 17, 18 per cent.

“That’s an indication that we’re picking up about the same proportion but our RAT tests have gone from 5000 to 9000.

“So the extras that we’re seeing in our daily cases numbers are mostly from RATS.”

Professor Sutton says while preventive measures such as indoor masks are no longer mandated, they remained highly recommended. Picture: David Geraghty

He said he doesn’t expect “a really significant uptick” of cases but expects them to remain in the thousands this winter.

“I don’t make a case that Covid should be front page news,” he said.

“But I would like to see the prominence of it, that it’s certainly not over.

‘We’ve got months and months of thousands of cases.

“So we just need to buckle up and keep at it.”

Asked about the omicron sub-variants recently detected in Victoria, he said they represented a small proportion of current cases.

But he said new variants will remain an “ongoing challenge” and will create “upward pressure” as their numbers grow.

“Whether it’s BA4 or BA5 or BA2.12.1, one of them will become predominant over the coming months,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s driving numbers at the moment . . . and probably won’t be until July or August that they might be really significant numbers.”

Professor Sutton said while preventive measures such as indoor masks were no longer mandated, they remained highly recommended.

“It doesn’t matter whether the mandate is in place or not, the recommendations remain strong,” he said.

“It’s very sensible to follow advice to wear a mask when you’re in an indoor setting.

“Make sure that you’re home if you’re symptomatic.

“Make sure that you’re getting RAT tested and following the isolation and quarantine rules.”

He said he understands why people change their behaviour once vaccinated but urged them to consider that while their risk of death or severe illness was reduced significantly, they can still spread Covid.

“On the one hand it’s very human,” he said.

“But on the other hand, it’s just to emphasise it’s not just about you, it’s about protecting everyone because there’s a lot going around.”

Earlier on Friday, speaking at a press conference on the monkeypox, the chief health officer was pressed on whether he agreed with calls to reintroduce an indoor mask mandate.

He said, under the new pandemic rules, he would provide advice to the Minister if and when it was requested.

“I can’t tell you what my recommendations would be until I’m asked,” he said.

But he emphasised that while there is no mandate, masks remain recommended .

“Our healthcare workers have been wearing a mask for two and a half years,” he said.

“A bit of fabric on your face to protect yourself, to protect those around you and to protect the health system.

“It’s a small price to pay.”