Almost 20,000 Covid cases in 24 hours

NSW recorded 9656 infections in the 24 hours to 4pm on Monday, an increase of 1933 from the day before.Victoria reported 10,184 new cases, an increase of 2075.After five Covid-related deaths in each of the last two days, NSW recorded 23 more deaths on Tuesday.Victoria recorded 12 deaths after reporting one death on Monday.Victoria saw a slight increase in its hospitalisations, while that number fell in NSW.South Australia has detected its first cases of new Omicron subvariants, sparking concern more people could be reinfected with the virus.SA Health confirmed international travellers were identified to have carried the BA. 4 and BA. 5 strains into the state. The two positive cases were previously reported as part of SA’s daily Covid-19 numbers. “Of samples reported last week, one case of BA. 4 and one case of BA. 5 has been identified, both in international travellers,” a SA Health spokesperson said. “While this is the first time BA. 4 and BA. 5 have been detected in South Australia, with international borders now open, it is not unexpected to see new variants in our state and across Australia. “These variants have also recently been detected interstate.”Public health officer Nicola Spurrier said authorities were watching the case numbers in South Africa and there was so far no indication the strains were more infectious or severe than other variants. “It’s too early to tell but it’s inevitable that we would get these variants here,” Professor Spurrier told ABC Radio. “Covid is a nasty infection … and you can get quite sick and people have said the fatigue and brain fog afterwards can be quite debilitating.”Genome sequencing by SA Health is only undertaken on a small sample of positives tests in the state with the results taking days to be reported.The latest genome sampling found BA. 2 remained the most prominent variant circulating in the state, with about 93.8 per cent of samples taken being that strain.The World Health Organisation has currently dubbed the new strains “variants of interest”, not “variants of concern”.Both BA. 4 and BA. 5 strains have been detected in Victoria and NSW. As seen in the past, new sub variants are likely to result in increasing Covid-19 infections and people being reinfected.