Second coronavirus wave hitting younger Australians

A second wave of coronavirus sweeping Victoria is affecting a younger demographic.

A second wave of coronavirus sweeping Victoria is affecting a younger demographic than the first, the nations’ Deputy Chief Medical Officer says.

Australia recorded 229 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Saturday, 216 of those cases detected in Melbourne.

Fifty-five people are being treated in hospital, 16 of them in intensive care.

However, Dr Nick Coatsworth said hospitalisation rates had actually dropped compared to the first wave of coronavirus that hit Australia at the beginning of the year, along with the age of those infected.

“The demographic of the second wave has dropped. They are younger,” Dr Coatsworth told reporters on Saturday.

“Given there are only 16 Australians currently in intensive care, we are well within our (hospital) capacity.”

The Herald Sun has reported a quarter of Victoria’s new cases in the past fortnight are children and teens.

Dr Coatsworth said health authorities were on “high alert” for a second wave in other states. However, he said the pursuit of an elimination strategy was not realistic in Australia, given global infection rates were rising by the million daily and a vaccine could still be 18 to 24 months away.

“Until a vaccine is developed, we have to be able to live with COVID-19,” he said.

Australia’s death toll stands at 23, after a man in his 90s died from coronavirus in Victoria on Saturday.