8577 new cases, three deaths; urgent warning to avoid emergency departments
A new site has emerged to help struggling Aussies find rapid antigen tests as many Victorians wait days in isolation for delayed PCR test results.
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Victoria has passed a grim milestone, recording more Covid cases in the first three days of 2022 than the entirety of 2020.
Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said the Omicron wave was “certainly right upon us” and warned that hospitals were bracing for an influx of patients.
“We are at this point seeing a lower rate of hospitalisation from Omicron cases but it’s still very early days,” he said on Monday.
“We are starting to see our hospitalisation numbers start to increase, 491 Victorians now in hospital with Covid and we’re expecting to see those numbers increase quite rapidly in the days ahead.”
Health authorities also revealed one in five PCR tests is returning a positive result — a tenfold increase in the space of a few weeks.
The spike has forced pathology laboratories to make sweeping changes, triggering lengthy delays.
“When we’re running at lower rates of positivity, we would pool all our samples together — essentially batch them up and run them through the labs.
“Only when we find a positive test in a group of tests (do we) retest that subset to work out which cases were positive.
“Because of the very high rate of positivity we’re now seeing, every test is now processed individually through all of our labs. That means it takes us longer to process individual test results that means we’re starting to see longer turnaround times.
“We would normally have a hallmark of nine out of 10 tests coming back by the next day, we’re now seeing a third of test results back by the next day, half coming back within two days. I’d like to apologise to everybody who is waiting for your PCR test result, it is because we’re seeing far more positive cases in our samples.”
It comes after three Melbourne hospitals sounded the alarm on Monday, warning Victorians to try to avoid their emergency departments, which are “under extreme pressure”.
In an extraordinary social media post, management for several Melbourne hospitals begged Victorians with mild Covid symptoms to stop showing up at their facilities.
On Monday morning, Western Health tweeted their emergency departments at Sunshine, Footscray and Williamstown were “currently under extreme pressure”.
“Those with mild Covid symptoms seeking PCR or rapid tests should NOT ATTEND.”
“Thank you for your co-operation.”
SITE TO HELP FIND RAPID TESTS
Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) are in short supply across the state, but a new website has made it easier for Victorians to locate test kits when they become available.
Findarat.com.au displays an interactive map of Victoria, featuring RAT stockists and their supply levels.
People looking for a RAT can use the website’s search list or navigate the map to locate a stockist in their area.
Pharmacies and supermarkets with available stock appear as green on the map, those with low stock are listed as orange and stores with no available RATs are displayed as red.
The website was built by VicExposureSiteBot, an unofficial Twitter account which previously listed Covid-19 exposure sites on its account.
Introducing Find a RAT - Easily find and report on Rapid Antigen Test availability across Australia.
— VicExposureSiteBot (@ExposureSiteBot) January 3, 2022
Built by yours truely! Jump on and report those RAT stock levels! https://t.co/f2ZiErkCN4 😷🀠#COVID19VIC
VicExposureSiteBot commented on Twitter the website data concerning RAT availability is manually reported by members of the public at this stage.
People are able to log on to the site and report where RATs are sold or when the tests are made available at a certain location.
8577 NEW COVID CASES, THREE DEATHS
Victorian Covid cases surged overnight, with the daily case record broken again after 8577 new cases and three deaths were announced.
There are 46 active cases in intensive care, 24 of which are on ventilators – two more than yesterday.
Monday’s figures were up from 7172 on Sunday while hospitalisations have risen from 472 to 491.
The seven-day average of hospitalisations is 444.
Meanwhile, NSW recorded 20,794 new infections on Monday as the state grapples with escalating case numbers.
Most Covid-19 cases in Victorian hospitals are believed to be the Delta variant, prompting hopes the state’s health system will not be overwhelmed as Omicron becomes the dominant strain.
An Andrews government minister on Sunday said there were positive signs in the fact the number of people in ICU with the virus had remained “relatively stable”
But experts are also warning that cases could spike as high as 100,000 a day.
The highly infectious Omicron strain now makes up more than 70 per cent of new infections.
High daily case numbers have prompted concerns Victoria could follow NSW in reporting more than 20,000 infections and place significant pressure on hospitals with staff constraints.
In NSW, where one in every five tests produces a positive result, staff shortages are already hitting hospitals.
Australian Medical Association vice president Chris Moy said he was getting calls from “extremely worried” doctors and administrators. He said staff were being furloughed because they were sick or were close contacts.
“What’s happening there is that the staffing situation is becoming pretty critical,” Dr Moy told the ABC on Sunday.
“I’m hearing about teams getting completely wiped out essentially because they are either contacts or they are positive.”
Deakin University chair of epidemiology Catherine Bennett said it was still unclear if the surge in Omicron cases would overwhelm the health system.
But early signs were that its impact was less severe, and that Victoria’s hospitals still appeared to be battling Delta infections in the community.
“The story of Omicron is playing in what we see as case numbers (but) we have Delta which is still most visible in hospital numbers,” Professor Bennett said.
“We had 83 people in ICU by mid-December before we had any Omicron. Hospitalisations are probably telling us that Delta is still circulating in the community; that is a problem particularly for those who are unvaccinated.”
Professor Bennett said 1.5 per cent of active cases in Victoria were in hospital, which was far lower than the peak of previous outbreaks and matched the trend in NSW.
“It still looks likely it will be manageable,” she said.
Daily infections have jumped from 1980 a week ago, in line with trends that show case numbers doubling every three to four days.
If the trend continues, Melbourne University head of population and global health Nancy Baxter warned it could lead to potentially 100,000 cases a day by the end of the month, putting a significant chunk of Victoria’s workforce in isolation.
Professor Baxter said these figures would not be reflected in testing results and could put “incredible stress” on hospitals.
“We are likely to get to the point – and are already starting to get to the point – where there are tents in front of emergency departments,” Professor Baxter said.
Asked whether the case trend was sustainable for the hospital system, Early Childhood Minister Ingrid Stitt pointed to ICU figures.
“My understanding is that over the last two or three days, the ICU numbers have remained fairly stable and that’s a good thing,” Ms Stitt said. “But we can’t take anything for granted.”
LONG WAIT GOES ON
Victorians are still facing long waits to receive their Covid-19 test results as heatwaves and high demand continue to put pressure on the state’s pathology system.
Some testing centres in Melbourne on Sunday closed within an hour of opening. Sites had also been forced to close on New Year’s Day due to high temperatures.
People have reported staying in isolation for up to four days while awaiting their PCR results.
Early Childhood Minister Ingrid Stitt said on Sunday the majority of results would come back within two days.
“The latest advice that I have about results is that they are overwhelmingly still coming through within 24 to 48 hours,” she said.
“(Saturday’s) heat, which affected some of our centres, may have something to do with some of the longer waits but there’s been unprecedented demand in the system.
“We are committed to making sure that we’re continuing to deliver results as quickly as possible.”
There were 48,252 tests processed in the 24 hours leading up to Sunday, down from 63,026 the day before.
Ms Stitt said changes to close contact and testing rules, introduced from Friday, would start to have an impact and ease pressure on the system.
“The main thing that’s been done is the decision out of national cabinet about prioritisation of who should present for testing,” she said.
“That will have a significant positive effect on wait times.
“We’re asking people with symptoms to turn up for PCR testing, but we will have rapid antigen tests for those who might be close contacts but are not showing symptoms.
“We can relieve pressure on our testing services.”
Ms Stitt said an announcement was imminent about how Victoria would be rolling out free rapid antigen tests to those who needed it, but declined to say when this would happen.
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