Sadly, 29 people have died with COVID-19 in New South Wales, as the state recorded a drop in hospitalisations.
However, there was another spike in daily cases, with 21,030 new infections reported overnight. There are currently 2794 people in hospital; of those, 175 are in intensive care.
Premier Dominic Perrottet announced restrictions on hospitality venues and mandatory mask wearing originally set to expire on January 27 would be extended until late February. Masks will be mandatory indoors except for residences, while density limits of and bans on singing and dancing will continue to be enforced. Density limits of two square metres in hospitality venues, bans on singing and dancing and mask mandates indoors will also apply as people are encouraged to keep working from home and mingling is not recommended.
Despite restrictions, people are still set to gather across the state today at beaches, in parties, events as well as protests for Australia Day as the government expresses fears for another spike in cases.
Meanwhile, sport and Major Events Minister Martin Pakula announced today Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton had agreed to increase the ticketed capacity at the Australian Open tennis tournament after it was halved to 50 per cent earlier this month.
Unfortunately, the state recorded another death milestone with 35 fatalities and 13,507 new cases of COVID-19 today with 1089 Victorians in hospital and 113 patients in ICU. Moreover, elective surgery will remain postponed but there is pressure from the public for it to resume as cases drop. Health Minister Martin Foley said yesterday now was not the time to lift the Code Brown.
“We are very conscious of the impact that the deferral of elective surgery has on everyone on a waiting list but we do not believe at this point in time the system is in a position to restart elective surgery,” he said.
Queensland has recorded another nine deaths from COVID-19 and confirmed 13,551 new cases.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said there was a slight drop in hospitalisations over the past 24 hours, mostly on the Gold Coast, with 889 people currently in hospital, including 47 patients who are in intensive care. Fifteen people are on ventilators.
“We expect that drop to continue,” he said referring to the new cases.
