State reports 4,249 new Covid cases as concerns mount about rising infections in remote Indigenous communities
Queensland’s chief health officer has said “all of us are going to be exposed” to Covid-19 in the coming weeks, as concerns mount about increasing case numbers in the state’s remote Indigenous communities.
Health officials said there was one confirmed case on Palm Island, though local reports suggest there are at least six more. Only 44% of people on Palm Island have received two doses of a Covid vaccine and health teams will go door to door later this week in an attempt to lift the rate.The state also reported a suspected Covid death, the first of the new outbreak and only the eighth in Queensland since the onset of the pandemic.
“The Omicron strain is so different. The modelling is very difficult to interpret. All I can say is that we can expect very large numbers of cases and in the majority of cases, the vast majority of cases, the symptoms will be mild. So clearly the vaccine is working.”“It’s going to spread there as it has elsewhere,” he said.“I’ve been out checking on everyone … getting out there and just allaying some fears that might be growing in the community,” he said.
“What we’re doing is telling people to go and get vaccinated. We have … given every Queenslander in this state the opportunity to get vaccinated,” she said.