Sydney: The Coronavirus case surged across Australia on Wednesday as an outbreak of the Omicron variant exploded, pushing Scott Morrison’s Prime Minister to schedule an emergency national cabinet meeting.
Surge has exceeded the testing station, pushing new vaccine mandates and causing at least one country to reduce elective operations.
New infections in Sydney and the surrounding parts of New South Wales state skyrocketed to more than 11,000, up from 6,000 a day before.
The country Victoria also reported a record of 3,700 cases, up more than 1,000 from the previous record on Tuesday.
Morrison said the nation’s leaders would meet before the schedule on Thursday.
“When Omicron continues to advance, we will see further pressure, but the state and region work very close to their plans to face those challenges,” Morrise told reporters.
He said he hoped the meeting would help provide a clearer definition of what was a close contact and test which should be used in different circumstances as the number of cases built.
Other countries also reported jumping numbers, with more than 1,500 new infections in Queensland, 1,400 in South Australia, 138 in the Australian capital area and 55 in Tasmania.
Queensland health officials said about 80% of cases were omicron variants.
South Australia announces it will put limits on elective surgery and mandate vaccine guides for frontline health care officers.
State Premier Steven Marshall said South Australia would no longer conduct a screening test for travel between countries because it did not have capacity.
“Omicron moves too fast,” Marshall said, added that resources need to be focused on improving “very close” in hospitalization.
More than three quarters of Australians are fully vaccinated, and how deadly the latest outbreak will be proven to still be seen.
Australia has so far avoided the worst pandemic damage, reported a total of 2,200 deaths of viruses among the population of 26 million.
On Wednesday, New South Wales – the most populous state of Australia – reported three new virus deaths and 625 hospitalizations, including 61 patients in intensive care.
Victoria reported four new deaths and 397 hospitalizations, including 62 in intensive care.
The test center cannot follow a surge in demand.
Thousands of people throughout New South Wales have been waiting for hours this week to be tested.
Some are the requested travelers having a negative PCR test before arriving at Queensland.
But under pressure to facilitate these requirements, Premier Queensland said on Wednesday it would receive an antigen test that was fast instead of PCR tests for travelers from the Interstate Hotspot from January 1.
The outbreak also contributed to the lack of blood donors and urgent donors to step to the top.
Testing and quarantine requirements requested by the plague, combined with the holiday season, is creating a “perfect storm” cancellation, said Red Cross Lifeblood Donor Center Network Stone.
“More than half of all promises are not attended, which means we need more donors to roll their sleeves and replace those who cannot contribute,” said Stone.