There’s been a significant spike in COVID-19 cases in Queensland today, with 8,881 new infections recorded.
That’s up from 6,206 new cases across the state yesterday.
There’s also been a rise in the number of COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours, with nine deaths recorded today, compared to two yesterday.
It takes the total number of active cases across Queensland at the moment to 43,669.
There are currently 252 people being treated for the virus in hospital, with nine of those in intensive care.
Speaking to reporters for the first time in several weeks, Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard confirmed there’s been a 15 per cent jump in cases in Queensland over the past week.
He also revealed that the new Omicron variant BA.2 is now the dominant strain in Queensland and across the country, with more than half of the new cases here the new variant.
“Prior to March, there had only been a small number of cases of BA.2 in Queensland, but in the last two weeks, we have seen 58% of the viruses sequenced in Queensland identified as BA.2,” Dr Gerrard said.
“It is likely that this virus will be practically the only strain of the virus we see in Queensland and the rest of Australia in the coming weeks, so I think it will be by far and away the dominant strain of the virus in Australia within weeks.”
Despite the spike in cases due to the new variant, Dr Gerrard reassured Queenslanders that additional restrictions are not on the cards.
“I will only undertake that if it is clear there is an immediate threat to the safety of Queenslanders,” he said.
“But at present, there are no plans to reintroduce any public health measures.”
Today’s virus figures are the highest we have seen since February 2.
Today we have recorded 8,881 new COVID-19 cases.
Sadly, 9 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.
Full details ➡ https://t.co/2vvTmli7qN pic.twitter.com/LGQZqx8mU4
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) March 22, 2022
