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Victorian Covid cases and hospitalisations have increased by 20 per cent in a week and nearly 30 people have died, as a highly contagious strain gathers strength.

Victorian Covid cases have increased by 20 per cent and hospitalisations by 21 per cent in the past week.

The Victorian government on Friday afternoon revealed there had been 3,960 new cases reported during the week and 116 people were in hospital, with seven in intensive care and four on ventilators.

A total of 29 people had died from Covid during the week, chief health officer Brett Sutton said.

“There has been an increase in Covid cases and hospitalisations this week indicating the beginning of a modest rise in community transmission. Recent transmission has been driven primarily by waning immunity and influenced by multiple emerging Omicron sub-lineages,” Prof Sutton said.

“The Omicron recombinant strain XBB.1.5 is now the most prevalent Covid variant in weekly wastewater detections, accounting for 39 per cent of detections. There has been a rapid growth in detections in the past six weeks.”

The XBB.1.5 strain is nicknamed Covid ‘Kraken’and is incredibly contagious.

Victorian government data has revealed regional Ballarat has one of the highest numbers of new Covid cases in the state, with 55 reported in the last seven days.

Residents of Melbourne’s outer suburbs are also continuing to diligently report cases, with Melton recording 63 new cases in the last seven days, Werribee 55 and Tarneit 51.

The people of Craigeburn have reported 42 new cases and Melton residents 63 in the same time frame.

It comes as the lasting effects of Covid are only now starting to be fully understood, with emerging evidence showing nearly every organ in the body can be affected and sometimes for years’ after a person was infected.

Ballarat has 55 new, reported Covid cases over the last seven days.

The official guidelines for certifying Covid deaths in the United States have been updated to state death can occur from Covid “even if the original infection occurred months or years before death”.

The U.S. National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) Guidance for Certifying Deaths Due to Coronavirus Disease guidelines now notes:

“Emerging evidence suggests . . . the virus that causes COVID-19 can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and potentially years after infection. Documented serious post COVID-19 conditions include cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, endocrine, haematological, and gastrointestinal complications, as well as death.

“Consequently, when completing the death certificate, certifiers should carefully review and consider the decedent’s medical history and records, laboratory test results and autopsy report, if one is available. For decedents who had a previous SARSCoV-2 infection and were diagnosed with a post COVID-19 condition, the certifier may consider the possibility that the death was due to long term complications of COVID-19, even if the original infection occurred months or years before death.”

In a tweet this month, Professor Brendan Crabb, director and chief executive of Melbourne’s disease research Burnet Institute, said: “Much more than a single health issue, COVID-19 has set back human development like nothing else in many decades . . . 2020/21 decline in life expectancy continues through 2022/23. It is unlikely to end itself anytime soon. What happens next is up to us.”

Prof Crabb also tweeted there was a need for honesty.

“The gaslighting is now farcical. Underplaying things makes matters worse,” he said. “Suppress transmission - especially with sustainable airborne mitigations. Accelerate and adopt the science - breakthroughs are happening all the time. The future is bright.”

The mutant, highly contagious Covid strain XBB.1.5 - known as Kraken - has surged hugely in Victoria in recent weeks, to last week make up 38 per cent of all Victorian wastewater detections.

And overall Covid cases are also on the rise, following a recent downwards trend.

Victorian Covid cases increased by more than 10 per cent last week, on the week before.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said the Omicron recombinant strain XBB.1.5 had overtaken the previously dominant strain XBF.

Prof Sutton has hinted a new Covid wave could be set to hit Victoria. Picture: Ian Currie

These were followed by the BA.2.75 strain and the BQ.1/BQ.1.1 strains.

There was also a group of variants that included those at low levels and those which could not be classified due to new mutations.

Prof Sutton has also hinted a new Covid wave could be set to hit Victoria, saying: “The implications of the increasing prevalence of XBB.1.5 upon the timing and scale of a future wave remain uncertain.”

The highly transmissible and immunity-dodging XBB.1.5 strain, nicknamed Covid Kraken, is currently sweeping America.