Warnings as Victorian Covid deaths set to rise as mutant, mystery strains take hold

Health authorities have warned mutant, mystery Covid variants now make up 21 per cent of Victorian cases, as deaths are tipped to rise.

Covid hospitalisations and deaths are set to rise in Victoria over the Christmas holidays. Picture: David Crosling

Covid hospitalisations and deaths are expected to increase in Victoria over the Christmas holidays, after numbers rose again this week.

Victoria’s daily Covid-related deaths increased by 62.5 per cent this December compared to last month, with 100 Covid patients dying this week alone.

Friday’s chief health officer update warned the spike in hospital patients had placed “continued demand” on the healthcare system and new variants were difficult to track.

“Covid-related deaths continue to increase and this is sadly expected to continue following periods of high Covid-19 transmission in the community,” the chief health officer update said.

While XBF remained the most dominant strain detected in waste water, it only represented 29 per cent of cases, and one in five Covid infections were from mystery strains.

“A group of variants that cannot be classified due to new mutations makes up 21 per cent of detections,” the update said.

“The genomic outlook is rapidly changing and is difficult to predict with evidence of newer sub variants, in particular XBF, out-competing other sub variants over several weeks.

“This has contributed to a rise in hospitalisations, putting continued demand on the health system.”

A group of variants that cannot be classified due to new mutations makes up 21 per cent of current Covid detections. Picture: David Crosling

There were 707 Covid patients in Victorian hospitals on Friday, including 35 in intensive care — seven of whom were on a ventilator.

Community cases have stabilised, with more than 24,000 Victorians infected in the past week — representing a weekly drop of about one per cent.

However epidemiologists have long warned that Covid hospitalisations and deaths peak after weekly new cases have begun to drop, as patients can remain in hospital or die beyond their first week of infection.

Authorities said social gatherings and events held over the holiday period will increase the risk of transmission, and urged people with symptoms to get tested before attending any parties.

They continued to urge people to get vaccinated, with Victorian Health Department data showing unvaccinated people were over-represented in Covid hospital numbers and deaths.

Despite representing only two per cent of the Victorian population aged 16-years and over, almost half of all Covid-related deaths in the past three months were in people who had not had any doses of the vaccine.