Experts have panned modelling predicting 200,000 Covid cases a day – but one argues it still gives Australians reasons to worry.
The modelling assumes “boosters alone will not be fast enough to halt the spread” of the Omicron variant, and forecasts up to 4000 hospitalisations per day.Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed“The chief medical officer and I just want to assure people that those sorts of numbers are not what we expect,” Mr Morrison said.
“None of these five assumptions represent the likely state of events, let alone all of them together, therefore presenting that scenario as the likely scenario that will occur is highly misleading,” he said. “The point it makes is that while we shouldn’t be getting so hung up on the worst case scenario, the best case scenario won’t be us being able to live carefree lives,” he said.
“The real issue is not the case numbers but the hospitalisation numbers,” said Prof Collignon, who also works as a Professor of Microbiology at Australian National University. Prof Thompson has a slightly different view. While he said hospitals may be able to handle the higher influx of patients, he also warned that could be at the cost of cancelling elective surgeries, which could include operations like cardiac surgery or elective cancer surgery.
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