Covid hospital numbers rise in WA

WA Health reported 8499 new infections overnight, taking the total number of active cases to 46,697 — down from 48,049 the previous days.There are now 259 people with Covid-19 in hospital — up from 242 the previous day — with nine of them in intensive care, which is up from six on Tuesday.A man aged in his 80s died overnight, while four historical deaths have also been reported to WA Health.They are a woman aged in her 90s, a woman and man both aged in their 80s, and a woman aged in her 50s.“Due to patient confidentiality, no further information will be released by the department on these deaths,” a statement read.Among the new cases, 3566 were confirmed via a PCR test, while 4933 came from self-reported positive rapid antigen tests.A total of 16,546 PCR tests were conducted on Tuesday.WA now has a third dose vaccination rate of 76.3 per cent among people aged 16 and over.