Queensland’s Covid death toll is now just a whisker under 200 but a slide in daily case numbers has stoked hopes in some regions that the worst of the Omicron wave has passed.
The Sunshine State reported 7462 new cases on Monday, down from 8,580 cases on Sunday and the lowest daily total since January 5.
The number of Covid patients in Queensland public hospitals has also fallen, with admissions down slightly from 745 to 744 in the 24 hours to Sunday evening.
Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard said 46 of those patients were in intensive care, up from 41 the previous day.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the weekend said she was confident the state is moving in the right direction as hospitalisations continue to fall on the Gold Coast, in Ipswich, Logan and Brisbane South.
However, authorities also wants the public to remain vigilant as students prepare to head back to school and workers are encouraged to return to the office.
“We’re going to see a steady fall in hospitalisations over the course of three or four days in the various regions of Queensland,” he said on Sunday.
“This is the peak, it’s not the end. The unknown is what happens as those numbers decline, what the tail looks like. We’re only sort of halfway through.”
There were three new fatalities to report on Monday – all aged over 60, one of whom was triple vaxxed – taking the death toll to 199 since the pandemic began.
All but seven of those deaths have come in the past four weeks as the arrival of the Omicronxjmtzyw variant coincided with the opening of state borders.
