Qld records almost 5700 new COVID-19 cases

Marty Silk | January 4, 2022

Queensland has recorded almost 5700 COVID-19 cases as authorities warn of “hundreds of thousands” of new cases through January.

The 5699 new cases emerged after 33,312 tests in the 24 hours to 6.30am on Tuesday.

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said there are 11 people in ICU, up from 10 on Monday.

Two patients are also on ventilation, up from on on Monday, with about 170 being treated in hospital.

He said the number of cases are steadily rising with 23 per cent of Pathology Queensland’s tests being positive on Monday, however vaccination is holding the line.

“This is a clearly a contagious, very contagious virus, but the good news so far, the good news is that of all those cases, we still, as of last night, only had 11 patients in intensive care of whom two were on ventilators,” Dr Gerrard said on Tuesday morning.

“So this the disease that we are seeing at the moment, bears no resemblance to the disease that was being reported last year both in Australia and overseas because of vaccination, largely because of vaccination.”

Dr Gerrard warned that the number of cases could spike into the hundreds of thousands by the end of January.

“The numbers of cases we are expected to see through January, early February, will be very high. Certainly in the hundreds of thousands, if not more, very high,” he said.