Sydney: The growing pressure on the Australian health system on Wednesday as the Covid-19 case number only reached a record for the third consecutive day, organizing hospitals and testing facilities flooded.
Nearly 53,000 new cases reported across New South Wales and Victoria, Australian populated countries, both of them recorded a new one-day high and exceeded Tuesday’s national calculation of around 47,800.
The people who were hospitalized in both countries rose 10% the previous day, because the authorities warned the numbers would increase further for the next few weeks.
“We have several weeks that are challenging in front of us,” Deputy South Wales Health Secretary Susan Pearce told reporters.
Scott Morrison’s Prime Minister, under increased pressure through the delay in testing and lack of stock, will be seen taking steps to spread the crisis when he met the leaders of the state and regions later on.
The rapid surge in the case in recent weeks, driven by the Omicron variant, has caused a long line at the public-funded PCR testing facility.
It encourages the authorities to ask people to only seek public testing if they show symptoms, which in turn cause a shortage of a quick antigen test, which can be used at home but must be bought personally.
Morrison, who must mention the federal selection before May, has ruled out subsidizing the majority of testing kits at home, citing high roles for “personal responsibilities”.
New South Wales officials said they had bought millions of fast antigen tests and pressed the federal government for an agreement to subsidize them.
Victoria has ordered 10 million additional tests, with the first batch because it arrives in the next few days.
Elsewhere in Australia, Tasmania reported 867 new cases, while other countries would report their number later on.
The country has recorded more than 600,000 cases and 2,290 deaths since the pandemic began, with more than half infection reported for the past two weeks.