More than one in 10 people in New South Wales diagnosed with Covid-19 now require hospitalisation.
According to the latest NSW Health figures, the current hospitalisation rate for the embattled state is 11 per cent for the past seven days.
And with a “peak in cases” looming in the current weeks, there are growing fears the system will struggle to cope in the weeks ahead.
But that figure could be just the tip of the iceberg for two concerning reasons.
Firstly, NSW Health itself has revealed that number is actually likely to be far higher.
That’s “because there can be a delay between a person becoming ill with Covid-19 and subsequently requiring a hospitalisation, and because cases in the current outbreak have a median of 11 days between onset and death, hospitalisations and deaths are under-reported,” according to the newest surveillance report.
And secondly, that figure is set to rise in the weeks ahead, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealing a “peak in cases” was still coming.
“All the modelling indicates to us that the peak is likely to be here in the next week or two, and the peak in hospitalisation and intensive care is likely to be with us in October,” Berejiklian said.
NSW's Covid plan as 'peak in cases' loom
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly warned citizens the state’s Covid situation will get worse before it gets better.
Berejiklian is set to release modelling in the days ahead which will reveal just how dire the Covid crisis will be in October, which experts believe will be the toughest period since the pandemic began.
“All the modelling indicates to us that the peak is likely to be here in the next week or two, and the peak in hospitalisation and intensive care is likely to be with us in October,” Berejiklian said.
“I will present the modelling this week which will include not only what is foreshadowed to be a peak in cases but also the peak in hospitalisation, the peak in intensive care. They are relevant factors.”
Lockdown enters 11 weeks
Covid-weary Greater Sydney residents are waking to their 11th week in lockdown, as the current restrictions drag on.
The city first entered lockdown back in June.
Since then, it has been extended multiple times, with a string of new rules announced.
On Sunday, NSW recorded 1485 new cases and three deaths.
A woman in her 50s from western Sydney died at Blacktown Hospital; a woman in her 70s from southwestern Sydney died at Campbelltown Hospital; and a man in his 70s from southwestern Sydney died at Liverpool Hospital.
It was reported a baby and a child aged under 10 have been placed on ventilators in a Sydney intensive care unit as the number of Covid-infected children in NSW climbs to 2000.
The infant is believed to be one of the youngest children with Covid ever treated in an ICU in Australia.
Source: Read Full Article