Virus toll climbs by 106 over weekend

| June 19, 2022

Australia’s coronavirus-related death toll continues to rise, with more than 100 fatalities announced over the weekend including 48 in Victoria.

More than 47,000 new infections have also been recorded since Thursday.

There are presently more than 212,000 active COVID-19 cases across the country, with nearly 2900 patients in hospital care.

Reporting of the latest pandemic data follows the federal government signing off on an extra $760 million to help states and territories fight the virus.

The existing commonwealth-states funding deal was set to expire in September but was extended on Friday by three months.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the pandemic “clearly isn’t over yet and it would be very brave to suggest that you can make that projection”.

Meanwhile, a new study points to ongoing brain fog and memory loss in long COVID patients with no improvement even after a year.

The Adapting to Pandemic Threats (ADAPT) research reveals nine in 10 long COVID sufferers were not taken to hospital when they originally caught the virus.

Experts say there is a “common misconception” that only people who have felt the full force of the virus develop long COVID.

St Vincent’s Hospital’s Professor Bruce Brew believes it may take another year to see an improvement in long COVID patients.

“The impact of long COVID on some is significant,” he said.

“I had one patient, a businessman who had to sell his business because he could no longer focus on contracts and negotiations during meetings.”

Steven Faux, who runs the long COVID clinic at St Vincent’s, is seeing up to 10 new patients each week, with many younger people finding it difficult to continue working.

“We’re seeing people with slow thought processes and confusion which is very similar to a traumatic brain injury,” he said

Further information will be presented at the 8th National Brain Injury Conference at the University of Sydney which opens on Tuesday.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 6348 cases, seven deaths, 1406 in hospital, 50 in ICUs

Victoria: 5472 cases, 19 deaths, 422 in hospital, 27 in ICUs

ACT: 809 cases, no deaths, 90 in hospital, two in ICUs

Queensland: 2959 cases, no deaths, 444 in hospital, seven in ICUs

WA: 3896 cases, 14 deaths, 280 in hospital, 14 in ICUs

Northern Territory: 181 cases, no deaths, 17 in hospital, none in ICUs

SA: 1910 cases, two deaths, 217 in hospital, 10 in ICUs

Tasmania: 609 cases, no deaths, 29 in hospital, one in ICU.