Qld reports 15,962 new Covid cases, 16 deaths as Omicron wave accelerates towards Brisbane

Queensland’s Covid death toll has spiked again as health authorities brace for the Omicron wave to accelerate towards Brisbane.

Queensland has joined NSW in reporting its deadliest day of the pandemic so far, with 16 Covid fatalities more than double the state’s previous daily high.

State Health Minister Yvette D’Ath also used Tuesday’s press conference to savage Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Federal Government for running a series of “chest beating ads” promoting free rapid antigen testing at public clinics before supply had even been secured in Queensland.

Tuesday’s update takes Queensland’s pandemic death toll to 45, a figure that has shot up six-fold over the past fortnight as the virus sweeps across the nation.

Today we have recorded 15,962 new COVID-19 cases.

Sadly, we have reported 16 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Full details âž¡ https://t.co/2vvTmliFglpic.twitter.com/t3k0rruW8L

— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) January 18, 2022

The 16 deaths were all elderly people, with three in their 70s, eight in their 80s, four in their 90s, and one aged over 100.

Nine were from aged care homes, four were unvaccinated, and only one of the victims had received a booster.

Authorities said it was clear that older people without a booster shot were most at risk from the disease.

Ms D’Ath said she wanted answers as to why there had been a lagging take-up of booster shots in aged care homes.

“Are we not messaging properly? Are we not communicating with the residents? Are we not communicating with the families? Why is it there isn’t 100 per cent take up with the boosters?” she said.

“Last year we were talking about these virus finds the unvaccinated, now we can say Omicron finds the elderly who haven’t had a booster and we need to get them boosted.”

Meanwhile, limits have been placed on visitations to Queensland hospitals, with just two people allowed to visit a patient in a ward at any one time, and only one person allowed to visit a patient in an emergency department.

This was in response to large family groups visiting people in hospitals.

The Sunshine State reported 15,962 new infections on Tuesday as health authorities brace for the Omicron wave to accelerate towards Brisbane.

Case numbers remain high on the Gold Coast, with other spikes occurring in Cairns and Ipswich.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D‘Ath has stressed the importance of vaccinations in minimising the impact of the virus. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass.

Ms D’Ath said the first of 100,000 federally funded rapid antigen tests were arriving on Wednesday to help ease supply woes, although 50,000 of those are point of care are tests that are not really suitable for public testing clinics.

She said she had, however, been angered to see the Commonwealth Government run he “self-serving” advertisements before supply had been secured.

“I think those ads are very self serving. They are highly political, and it’s about most and positioning himself to look good in the lead up to an election,” Ms D’Ath said of Mr Morrison.

“It is not Scott Morrison who is standing there at these testing clinics having to deal with the abuse of people who are unhappy because they can’t get up for a test and to run these ads now.

“To run these ads now, knowing this, is just I think absolutely appalling. And Scott Morrison should be apologising when he knows that supply is not available right now.”

There are currently 819 people requiring care in Queensland hospitals – up “substantially” from 702 on Monday – with three more people being placed in ICU, taking that number to 50. Image by Josh Woning

Ms D’Ath also knocked back an offer from colourful Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate to secure RAT tests for the state from South Korea via a charter plane.

“If Tom takes got access to a ready supply, he can pick up the phone and we‘ll have the conversation but I’m not going to just pay and divert money to Tom Tate,” Ms D’Ath said.

New infections were up on the 15,122 cases reported on Monday, with 5994 people registering a positive rapid antigen test online in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 819 people requiring care in Queensland hospitals – up “substantially” from 702 on Monday – with three more people being placed in ICU, taking that number to 50.

There are 18 people on ventilators, up from 15.

The update comes as NSW records its highest daily toll, with a record 36 people dead and 29,830 new infections.

Victoria reported 22 deaths on Tuesday – not quite a daily record – and 20,180 new cases.

The sharp rise in fatalities and hospitalisations in Queensland follows the long-awaited reopening of borders last month and the unexpected arrival of Omicron variant on Australian shores.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard expects the virus to accelerate its spread across Brisbane, having so far been mostly concentrated on the Gold Coast. Picture: Richard Walker

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard on Monday said while the Gold Coast remained the epicentre of the current outbreak, Brisbane’s south was also in the firing line.

“We are expecting Gold Coast to peak sometime in the next week or so and Brisbane will follow shortly thereafter,” Dr Gerrard said.

“So looking at what happens to Gold Coast, we’ll be able to predict, to some extent, what is going to happen in Brisbane just a few days later.”