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Covid deaths in Victoria “have begun to increase”, following a surge in hospitalisations. This is how many people have died in the most recent reporting period.

Covid deaths in Victoria “have begun to increase”, following a recent surge in hospitalisations. Data from the Victorian government Department of Health on Friday morning revealed there had been 69 deaths in the most recent reporting period, from September 6 to October 3.

Last Friday it was revealed Victorian hospitals were again dealing with scores of very ill Covid patients, with an average of 193 people a day being admitted.

“Increases and decreases in the reporting of deaths attributable to Covid-19 tend to lag waves of infections and hospitalisations by several weeks,” the health department explained.

In a sign of hope, the number of people in hospital with Covid dropped slightly this week, to a daily average of 183.

The seven-day average of patients in intensive care also declined this week, from eight to six.

However, the rising death rate comes as vaccination rates across Victorian municipalities drop — with just 65 per cent of residents in Melton, Bacchus Marsh, Whittlesea and Wallan having received three Covid jabs and upwards of 80 per cent in Stonnington east, Yarra, the Surf Coast, Bellarine, Heathcote, Castlemaine and Kyneton.

While ’no jab, no work’ laws in Victoria saw rates for people with two vaccinations in most suburbs sitting between 85 and 95 per cent, they have plummeted with third boosters in nearly all regions.

Head of Melbourne’s Burnet Institute Professor Brendan Crabb took to social media this week to say his biggest Covid concern was now for children.

“What will repeat exposure, especially in those unvaccinated, mean for them in the future,” he said.

“No one knows but we know enough about viral persistence, immune dysfunction and organ damage in adults to tread carefully. Why take the risk when you don’t have to?” he said, adding his own children were the only ones at their school still wearing masks.

The Victorian government continues to recommend children wear masks in public settings on its health website.

Nearly 200 Victorians a week are being hospitalised with Covid. Picture: Getty

“School-aged children are encouraged to wear face masks indoors in a public space or outside in a crowded place where they can’t physically distance. This is especially if they are at a higher risk of serious illness from Covid,” the Department of Health advice, last updated in May this year, states.

It comes as new research reveals “long colds” — lasting for up to a month — can result from Covid infections.

The research, published in the prestigious journal The Lancet, says long Covid is also of increasing concern worldwide.

“Long Covid is estimated to affect at least 10 per cent of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, with far higher incidence among those hospitalised. With more than 670 million people infected to date, the number of people globally affected by long Covid may be estimated at 67 million, and will almost certainly be higher,” the research led by Queen Mary University of London notes.