The figure is barely a fraction of death totals recorded in similar countries around the world.
As new Omicron sub-variants drive rising infections and states observe steadily increasing hospitalisations, Australia will report its 10,000th death from COVID-19 early next week.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said this was a “typical pattern” for infections, noting older people and people with underlying health conditions had always been considered an at-risk group. This disparity between deaths and ICU admissions is mostly due to high numbers of deaths in aged care, after the removal of strict lockdown restrictions.
Paul Sadler, the interim chief executive of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, said the booster program was in progress and working well overall. While aged care workers must be vaccinated, with the easing of restrictions on facilities allowing visitors, aged care remains vulnerable to virus outbreaks.
“What we are going to see coming up this winter is the impact of both COVID and influenza causing excess mortality,” he said. Unlike in previous waves of the virus, Australia now has a suite of treatments for COVID-19. While antivirals once had to be administered in hospital, the federal government has purchased 1.3 million doses of two COVID-19 oral antivirals.Credit:However, uptake of the drugs has been low.