CANBERRA, Jul 26 (NNN-AAP) – The number of Australians in hospital with coronavirus has reached the highest number, since the start of the pandemic.
According to data from the Department of Health, there were 5,433 COVID-19 cases in hospital yesterday, up from 5,001 a week earlier.
It marks a new high point for COVID-19 hospitalisations, beating the previous record of 5,390 in Jan.
It comes as Australia’s winter wave of COVID-19 infections is expected to peak in the coming weeks, increasing pressure on the hospital system.
Chris Moy, vice president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), described the figure as “massive,” calling for more government leadership on health measures, including mask mandates.
“The average public hospital has 600 to 700 beds, so we are talking eight major public hospitals,” he was quoted as saying, by the Guardian Australia today.
“The bottom line is on the ground, my colleagues are angry, desperate, fatigued and they have a terrible situation where there are not enough beds or nurses.”
Australia today reported more than 40,000 new COVID-19 cases and more than 90 deaths.
As of yesterday afternoon, a total of 9,139,047 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Australia, including 11,200 deaths, and approximately 377,550 active cases, according to the latest figures from Department of Health.
