NSW has recorded a drop in Covid-related hospitalisations on Thursday for the first time since mid-December.
There are 2781 people in the state’s hospitals with coronavirus, with 212 of those in intensive care, down from 2863 and 217 respectively on Wednesday.
There are 82 fewer people in hospital on Thursday than the day before, while ICU presentations have fallen by five.
Hospitalisations had risen each day since December 18, when there were 206 people in hospital with the virus and the Omicron wave was taking hold.
Premier Dominic Perrottet and health authorities have said their modelling forecasts the outbreak to peak in the third or fourth week of this month before infections begin to drop in February.
NSW recorded 30,825 new Covid cases and the deaths of 25 people with the virus on Thursday.
Health officials said 13,178 of the new infections were detected on rapid antigen tests and 17,647 were found through PCR testing.
As of Thursday, 95.3 per cent of people in NSW aged over 16 have had one dose of a Covid vaccine, 93.8 per cent have had two and 29 per cent have received a booster.
NSW hospitals and the people who work in them have been under immense pressure during the Omicron wave, which boiled over during a protest at Westmead Hospital on Wednesday.
About 60 distressed ICU nurses rallied outside the major tertiary hospital in western Sydney to call for change axjmtzywnd to speak out about the “dangerous and chaotic” condition the wards have fallen into.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he had been talking with union representatives from the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association.
“I have been listening to their concerns and we are certainly considering some of the operational challenges they have inside, and certainly they have been compounded by the pandemic,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Mr Perrottet has repeatedly insisted the healthcare system is coping even if it is under strain.
Asked about medical workers’ concerns on Thursday, Mr Perrottet said hospitals had enough space but acknowledged their staff were under pressure.
“Because many of our staff are obviously furloughed … and that’s putting increasing pressure on the system,” he told Sunrise on Thursday.
“When I look at the hospitalisations, ICU capacity, that’s going quite well. It’s just the pressure on our nurses and our doctors that’s putting the system under pressure.”
It’s a similar story in Victoria, where Premier Daniel Andrews has called the strain on his state’s health system “unavoidable”.
Victoria recorded 21,966 new Covid cases and 15 deaths on Thursday.
There are 1206 people in Victorian hospitals, with 122 in intensive care, including 40 on a ventilator.
