The state recorded 34,994 and six deaths on Thursday, including the young ACT man who died at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst.“He had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had no known underlying health conditions,” NSW Health said in a statement.“NSW Health expresses its sincere condolences to their loved ones.”A further four men and one woman aged in their 60s, 80s and 90s also died from the virus overnight.There are now 1609 people in hospital with Covid, 131 of which are in intensive care and 38 on ventilators.Hospitalisations have increased by 118 from 1491 patients on Wednesday and ICU presentations have increased by 12.At the peak of the Delta variant outbreak on September 21, 1266 people were hospitalised, with 244 patients in intensive care and 118 people on ventilators.Almost one in three people whose tests were processed in the latest reporting period tested positive to Covid-19.The positivity rate, from the 111,231 PCR tests processed in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, was 31.46 per cent.Victoria broke its daily record on Thursday with 21,997 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths as people swamp testing centres and queue for vaccinations.There are 631 people in hospital with the virus and 100 in intensive care units, including 22 on ventilators, according to the state’s health department.That is an increase up from 591 Covid patients in hospital the previous day.Testing capacity in NSW remains under enormous pressure with authorities urging only people with symptoms to get a PCR test or those who live in a household with a confirmed case.Concession card holders will be able to access up to ten rapid antigen tests over a three-month period for free, with costs split between the Commonwealth and the states.It is understood Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, teaming up with Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein, pushed for the distribution system to be much simpler than what Prime Minister Scott Morrison had originally proposed.“If you are symptomatic or a close contact and you are a concession card holder … do not go to the pharmacy. Go to the testing centre. We don’t want people who are symptomatic or who are close contacts and may be carrying the virus going into pharmacies,” he said.The concessional free tests are being provided to those who have a Commonwealth seniors health card, a healthcare card, a low income card, a pension concession card, DVA Gold card or a DVA white card.This will be put in place in the next fortnight.NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said cases would continue to skyrocket but health officials expected a “sharp decline” once the outbreak passed its peak.Mr Perrottet said the next few weeks would be challenging, with cases expected to climb even higher and the health system already under strain.“We do expect to see a sharp escalation, a continued escalation in case numbers. But the experience around the world with Omicron is that it is then followed by a sharp decline,” he told reporters after the case numbers were released.“And we also know that Omicron is much less severe than the Delta variant and previous variants.”
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