COVID-19 outbreak shows signs of slowing down in Australian states despite mounting death toll

SYDNEY, Jan. 28 -- The COVID-19 outbreak in Australia's worst-hit states shows signs of slowing down, although some states still recorded grim milestones of death rate, reported Xinhua.

The state of Queensland reported 9,974 new cases and 18 fatalities on Friday, making it the highest daily deaths since the pandemic began in the state. There are now 818 people being treated in hospitals, down from Thursday's tally of 829.

Queensland Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said the situation in most of Queensland is very stable and the state is expecting to see falls sometime in the next seven days, and Gold Coast, the most affected region, was already witnessing a decline in cases.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also agreed the current situation is better than the worst-case scenario suggested by a modelling that is used by the state government to predict the current wave.

"We were initially expecting 5,000 hospital beds across Queensland would be needed ... but what we are reporting at the moment is under 1,000. This is encouraging news," she said.

In the state of New South Wales (NSW), hospital admissions have also shown a decline over the past few days while intensive care patients remained below 200.

The state health department reported 13,333 new cases and 35 deaths on Friday. There are now 2,737 hospitalisations, and 189 people in intensive care.

NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said a decline in the daily cases was expected next week.

"They might not follow a lovely curve, and it may be a bit lumpy, but we do expect that in the coming week we will start to see some declines," she said.

Meanwhile, the state of Victoria recorded 12,755 new COVID-19 infections and a grim milestone of 39 deaths, the deadliest number the state has seen in the current outbreak.

State Health Minister Martin Foley said Victoria's outbreak "seems to have stabilised" and some of the state's paused hospital services would be restarted once it's safe to do so.

--BERNAMA