The Gold Coast could be just days away from a Covid-19 peak warns the Chief Health Officer, as the state records 15,050 more infections overnight.
Ten further deaths were also reported in Saturday’s update, the youngest of which was a woman in her 40s.
854 people are receiving treatment in hospital, 52 of which are in intensive care and 18 are on ventilators.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard says the latest modelling shows the state on track to hit the peak of the Omicron outbreak soon.
“The model we have for Queensland is very similar to the modelling used for New South Wales,” Doctor Gerrard said on Saturday morning.
“And so we are still very confident in our modelling for what’s going to happen with Queensland.
“We’re about two weeks behind New South Wales in terms of the pandemic wave – that’s globally for Queensland.
“Although we expect the pandemic to affect different areas at different times.
“The Gold Coast for example is ahead of the rest of Queensland and it could be as early as the next few days – sometime this coming week – when the pandemic will peak on the Gold Coast.
“And then metropolitan Brisbane is likely to follow maybe a week or a few days after that.
“That is our currently projections.
“I remind everyone that we are talking about a peak. The peak is not the end. The peak is the high point of transmission, and the highpoint of admissions to hospital.
“What will then happen over the ensuing weeks is that the number of cases is likely to fall at the same rate as it has risen.
“Although the slight caveat on that is that with the opening of schools there’s likely to be some more transmission associated with the return of schools,” the Chief Health Officer said.
Today we have recorded 15,050 new COVID-19 cases.
Sadly, we have reported 10 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Full details ➡ https://t.co/MyDwPPAmSd pic.twitter.com/ebgC9Iqs7Y
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) January 22, 2022
It comes as the state welcomes back it’s first international flight since the rules on quarantine were lifted.
As long as international travellers are fully vaccinated and return a negative Rapid Antigen Test within 24 hours of touching down, they can come into Queensland without isolating.
Today, flights are only allowed to touch down in Brisbane, but other international airports, including the Gold Coast, will have flights touching down over the coming week.
Queensland’s Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says this is a light at the end of the tunnel for the struggling sector.
“We’ll see over the next week, flights into all of our international airports in Queensland.
“Receiving passengers and seeing them reuniting with family, getting back to their studies or getting back to work.
“And hopefully soon, we’ll see a lot more tourists,” Minister Hinchliffe said on Saturday morning.
Earlier article: Rules for international travellers ease for Qld, Australia
