Queensland Health Officials say we are in the grip of a second wave of the Omicron strain, as the state recorded 9730 new cases and three more deaths.
Due to this, there is no plan to change any vaccine mandates or quarantine measures that are currently in place.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath says the second Omicron wave is likely to peak in April.
“This wave has probably come sooner than we were expecting,”
“We haven’t hit winter yet so we’re conscious of that.” Minister D’Ath says.
The Health Minister confirmed they do not want to remove any mandates or restriction measures yet, only to have to reinstate them as the wave worsens.
“That would be a lot more damaging to businesses, to the economy and to people’s confidence in the decisions we are making,”
“We think at the moment we are best to just see how this progresses and we will review this in April as we come off this wave.” Minister D’Ath confirmed.
The State has seen cases spike 54% in just two weeks, while 1 in 50 school-aged children have tested positive in the past week alone.
Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said getting vaccinated, or getting your booster is of high priority.
“Importantly so far, we have not seen any increases in hospitalisations and that is because the vaccines are very effective,” Dr Gerrard said.
“I remind everybody the most important thing to do of course is to get yourself and your children vaccinated.”
Parents of school-aged children are being urged to get them vaccinated during the school holidays.
The State will also look at establishing vaccination clinics on school grounds in the first few weeks of the next school term.
“We do need to do this because we do need to lift the vaccination rates for our young children,” Minister D’Ath said.
“We want to make it as available as we can for parents.”
