Queensland has marked an increase in hospitalisations and 10,212 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours — which is down 1735 from yesterday.
Hospitalisations rose slightly to 878 today, up from 863 yesterday.
However Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard has said declining hospitalisation numbers on the Gold Coast indicate the region might have reached the “peak” of the current wave.
Brisbane had not hit their peak yet, he added. “This is the peak, it’s not the end,” he said.
“The end will not be for a number of weeks.”
He said hospitalisations were lower at this point than expected, which he attributed to behavioural changes in the public to avoid COVID-19.
“We were anticipating several thousand people in hospital,” he said.
There are 50 people in intensive care, of whom “no less than 40 per cent” are unvaccinated.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said 13 more deaths had also been reported, all of people over 70.
Of the 13 most recent deaths, four were in their 70s, seven in their 80s and two in their 90s.
Three were unvaccinated, one had received one jab, and nine were fully vaccinated, but none had received a booster.
Dr Gerrard also said the number of hospital staff and police officers in isolation had declined “slowly but steadily” in the past five days.
Queensland’s double-dose vaccination rate is at 89.16 per cent.
Ms Palaszczuk confirmed that booster eligibility was expanding from today, with the wait time after the second jab now reduced to three months.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has revealed some vaccination data as she urged parents to get their teens vaccinated ahead of the return to school.
She said while unvaccinated Queenslanders made up just eight per cent of the population, they constituted 21 per cent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.
Only five people who received a booster shot have so far died.
Ms D’Ath said she was “concerned” that only 66.61 per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds in Queensland were fully vaccinated.
Most vaccination clinics will be open on Australia Day in Queensland.
