Aged care resident in Tasmania’s north the state’s latest Covid death, bringing total to 29

Tasmania is expected to record up to 2500 Covid-19 cases a day in coming weeks, with public health authorities believing that the current wave of infections could extend for another month. LATEST >>

Tasmania is expected to record up to 2500 Covid-19 cases a day in coming weeks, with public health authorities believing that the current wave of infections could extend into April.

The state recorded 1786 new cases on Friday. There are now 10,406 active cases, 24 of whom are in hospital, with just eight being treated specifically for the virus. No-one with Covid is in ICU.

Public Health deputy director Julie Graham said Tasmania was “likely” to see high case numbers “for the coming weeks”.

“These numbers will range between 1500 probably to 2500 where we may expect to see this continuing through until at least the end of March and potentially into April,” she said.

“It reinforces the importance of doing some of the important measures that Tasmanians have been doing for the last couple of years to keep our community safe.”

Dr Graham said the spike in Covid cases could be attributed to the spread of the highly transmissible BA.2 variant of the Omicron strain.

“We first saw this in the north-west of the state where it very early on became the dominant variant and was responsible for the increasing case numbers that we saw initially in the north-west,” she said.

“And we’re now seeing those cases of the BA.2 variant spread through the north and is now becoming also the dominant variant down in the south. And this is what’s driving our high case numbers and will continue to drive these numbers.

“Importantly, we are not seeing this reflected in our hospital admissions at this point in time. But it is important … that we continue to encourage vaccination for all age groups, including our booster doses.”

Tasmania records state’s 29th Covid death

Tasmania has recorded another Covid-19 death, with an aged care resident in the north of the state succumbing to the virus on Wednesday.

The woman, who was in her 90s, was the 29th person to die with Covid in Tasmania since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

“I would like to pass on my sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of the woman who has sadly passed away,” Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said.

The state recorded 2009 new Covid cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of active cases to 10,247.

Tasmanian Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Chris Kidd

There are currently 28 people in hospital with Covid, nine of whom are being treated specifically for the virus. None are in the ICU.

A total of 65,071 Tasmanians have recovered from Covid.

Mr Rockliff said vaccination remained the most sure-fire way of protecting oneself against the virus.

“More than 64.27 per cent of Tasmanians have now received their booster dose, and we want to see even more people turn up and boost their protection against Covid, particularly before we head into the winter season,” he said.

“Importantly over 80 per cent of our over 50 population have now been boosted.

“If you’re due for your booster, please make a booking as soon as possible at either a state-run vaccination clinic, your local GP or pharmacy.”

Tasmania is leading the country with close to 63 per cent of the 5-11 age cohort having received one dose of a Covid vaccine and 31.5 per cent having had their second dose.

“I encourage parents who have yet to book their children in for a vaccine to do it as soon as possible to give their family the best protection against Covid-19,” Mr Rockliff said.

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