The state posted 2501 new Covid-19 cases on Monday and hit its highest daily number of infections in the pandemic so far on Sunday, 2566 new cases.But Premier Dominic Perrottet called for calm, saying Monday’s ICU presentation was a “very important” indicator vaccines were working against the Omicron Covid-19 variant. “We have 33 people who are in ICU and 26 of those 33 are unvaccinated,” he told reporters on Monday morning.“The evidence is clear. The numbers do not lie. Getting vaccinated protects you and your family and that has been a key success for our state in being able to open up.”When questioned about growing calls to mandate masks and tighten Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Perrottet said the state needed to learn to live alongside the virus. “We are taking a balanced and proportionate response that is completely focused on keeping people safe, while at the same time opening up our economy and ensuring that people are able to work and provide for their families,” he said. “There will always be new variants of this virus. The pandemic is not going away. We need to learn to live alongside it.”There are 261 people in NSW hospitals with the virus.It comes as NSW’s Health Minister refused to publicly release recent University of NSW research suggesting the state could see a possible surge of up to 25,000 cases per day by the end of January.Brad Hazzard made the comment last week and was again quizzed about the modelling on Sunday. “Modelling is only as good as the inputs that you have,” Mr Hazzard told reporters.“I think it is considered to be excellent modelling but it is also modelling that has a lot of qualifications around it.“It adds to our sense of heightened alertness but it isn’t definitive, it is not locked in.“Besides learning to never say never in this job, the other thing as there is always an epidemiologist with a different view.“So I think it is not really appropriate, particularly as it’s a cabinet document, to release that at this point.“We’re seeing about 2500 a day, so hopefully we don‘t get to 25,000 (a day).”Victoria records 1302 new Covid-19 cases Victoria meanwhile recorded 1302 new Covid-19 cases as more infections linked to the variant of concern are identified. There are 406 people in Victorian hospital with the virus, 81 in intensive care and 43 on a ventilator.There are now two dozen cases of the Omicron variant in Victoria, with health authorities saying the strain’s rapid transmission rate is concerning.Deputy chief medical officer Sonya Bennett said there was still a lot of uncertainty around the severity of the variant but it had become clear it was highly transmissible, with a doubling time of around two days.“And if we see high numbers, that sheer number of cases is a cause for concern,” Dr Bennett said on Sunday.But Victoria’s acting premier James Merlino said the critical issue was hospitalisations and ICU beds, not case numbers.“That’s the critical thing that we look at every single day but obviously we’ve got a new variant and it is likely to become the dominant variant across the globe,” Mr Merlino said.“We’re seeing a big increase in NSW so it’s something that we are learning more about every day in terms of its impact and the effectiveness of vaccines.”
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