Omicron peak still ‘weeks away’, AMA warns

Sam McKeith | January 9, 2022

Extra support is needed to bolster Australia’s healthcare system as it struggles to cope with COVID-19 amid skyrocketing Omicron cases, the Australian Medical Association warns.

AMA president Omar Khorshid said with more people than ever before in hospital due to COVID-19 the system was “leaning on individuals … without providing the necessary support”.

“So elective surgery now ceased along east coast … thousands of HCWs (healthcare workers) not at work… more in hospital with COVID than ever before and peak Omicron is weeks away? This is our health system ‘coping’,” Mr Khorshid wrote on Twitter.

He said GPs and private doctors “need help to help the rest of us”, and called for restored telehealth access, more rapid antigen tests, and funding to help doctors cope with COVID-19 demand.

Mr Khorshid said “proper investment” was needed in public hospitals so they could deal with surges in demand.

The plea comes as virus numbers climb across the country after some states started recording positive RAT results alongside PCR results as part of daily case numbers.

On Saturday, Victoria recorded the biggest spike, registering 51,356 infections, more than double Friday’s number, with more than half (26,428) the new cases revealed using RATs.

However some of the infections confirmed by RAT were up to six days old.

NSW meanwhile posted another 45,098 cases from PCR tests while acknowledging the case numbers were likely an underestimate.

Infections also rose in South Australia, which recorded 4274 new COVID-19 cases amid a 20 per cent rise in testing.

One new case was SA Premier Steven Marshall’s daughter, sending the state leader into a seven-day isolation after he was declared a close contact.

Queensland reported 11,174 cases and announced the suspension of non-urgent elective surgeries for eight weeks.

In Tasmania there were 2223 new cases, 800 higher than the previous reporting period.

The Northern Territory reported a record 594 infections while cases also spiked in the ACT, with 1305 new cases, surpassing a thousand cases for the second time.

The ACT government announced people who test positive to COVID-19 with a RAT will no longer need a PCR test, bringing the territory in line with other jurisdictions.

Twenty-five people died across Australia from COVID-19 in the latest reporting period, while those newly diagnosed with the virus included former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Turnbull’s announcement followed federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s positive diagnosis on Friday.

As the situation worsens, the federal government said workers who test positive to COVID-19 via RAT can from Monday access pandemic leave disaster payments of up to $750.

The move follows concerns of RAT shortages and retail mark-ups of more than 20 per cent over the supply price as demand for the home-testing kits escalates.