Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reported 7588 new infections during her morning press conference in Brisbane’s south, a figure down from Monday’s tally of 8580 new cases. This continues a fall that began over the weekend, with infections again dropping to their lowest in almost a month. Hospitalisations have, however, risen – although Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard said a slight jump in numbers is always expected as testing increase on Mondays. “It’s better to look at a seven-day rolling average,” he said. “I think as the week progresses we’ll continue to see a fall.” There are currently 801 people being treated in the Queensland public hospital system, up from 744 in the previous 24 hours. Cases being treated in private hospitals has fallen from 77 to 67, according to the latest available figures. The number of people in intensive care has risen from 46 to 50, with 23 people ventilated. Dr Gerrard said it was quite likely that the rate of Covid transmission had passed its peak in south-east Queensland, meaning hospital numbers in Brisbane, Ipswich, and the Sunshine Coast should fall faster in the next seven days. Townsville is the next area of concern, Dr Gerrard said. Of the new deaths recorded on Tuesday, eight were in aged care. All were aged over 70 and none had received booster shots. It means the state’s total toll over the course of pandemic stands at 209, with all but seven of those fatalities coming in 2022.Dr Gerrard said 107 of these deaths have been in aged care. More to come
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