Deadliest day of pandemic in Australia

Australia suffered its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday with nearly 100 deaths, but several large states said they expect hospital admissions to fall amid hopes that the latest wave of infections would begin to subside.

Iran PressAsia: The previous one-day high was on 21 January, when 88 deaths were recorded.

Fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, infections exploded during the past four weeks, with around two million cases recorded. Up until then, Australia had counted just 400,000 cases since the pandemic first hit the country nearly two years ago. 

While overall cases are plateauing, the country’s chief nursing and midwifery officer, Prof Alison McMillan, said death rates were set to remain high for some time.

“As we have seen during the two years of the pandemic, the number of deaths associated with those cases stay higher for a longer period,” the country’s chief nursing and midwifery officer, Prof Alison McMillan said on Friday, adding: “There is a delay in the number of deaths, sadly, we have seen quite a number of deaths.”

207

Read more:

Sydney gears up for New Year's Eve celebrations despite record Omicron surge

Australia urgently tests arrivals as COVID detected amid Omicron concerns