Is Australia In The Throes Of A COVID Reinfection Wave?

An impending surge of Covid reinfections across Australia in the lead-up to winter is already here according to health experts.

Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of South Australia, Adrian Esterman, warns reinfections are on the rise as peoples natural immunity begins to wane.

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“Increasing case numbers will inevitably result in increasing hospitalisations and more people with long-Covid. This is real and happening now,” Professor Esterman, tweeted last Friday.

While, Professor Catherine Bennett, Chair in Epidemiology at Deakin University, says “it’s a really difficult time to assess what’s really going on".

"There’s also the likelihood that case numbers are being undercounted because “we’re probably not fastidious in getting tested,” she conceded.

It comes as data from 2 May, reports Australia’s average daily infection rate is the second highest in the world for countries with a population greater than 1 million, after New Zealand (1,566 cases per million).

Meanwhile, Covid cases and hospitalisations across Australia and New Zealand look like this:

Western Australia 

• New cases: 12,390
• Covid-related deaths: 6
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 286 / 8  

Northern Territory 

• New cases: 344
• Covid-related deaths: 0
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 34 / 0

Australian Capital Territory 

• New cases: 987   
• Covid-related deaths:  
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 73 / 5 

Queensland 

• New cases: 6,566
• Covid-related deaths: 3
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 456 / 14

New South Wales 

• New cases: 10,321
• Covid-related deaths: 17
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 1,538 / 55

Victoria 

• New cases: 12,722
• Covid-related deaths: 18 
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 519 / 34

South Australia 

• New cases: 3,683
• Covid-related deaths: 3
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 222 / 6

Tasmania 

• New cases: 1,021
• Covid-related deaths: 1
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 40 / 1

New Zealand 

• New cases: 9,173
• Covid-related deaths: 14
• Hospital and ICU admissions: 385 / 13

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