New South Wales Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant asked people who test positive for Covid-19 to wear masks in supermarkets during a press conference on Thursday morning.
COVID-19 numbers have reached a ‘peak’ in NSW over the past two weeks, with health authorities suggesting this could surpass the numbers as the emerging JN.1 variant causes a surge in infections.
Nearly 18 per cent of PCR tests this week were positive, according to the latest NSW health data.
Indicators suggest activity is above the 2023 winter peak, with Greater Sydney approaching December 2022 levels.
New South Wales Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant asked people who test positive for Covid-19 to wear masks in supermarkets during a press conference on Thursday morning.
Jeremy McAnulty from NSW Health explained that JN.1, like other variants, is more resistant to prior immunity or vaccination.
“We know there are a lot of people getting COVID right now,” Dr. McAnulty told reporters on Tuesday.
‘We haven’t seen that high level for a year.’
However, the share of infected people who become seriously ill remains approximately the same.
Testing by NSW Health showed the proportion of JN.1 cases rose sharply from late November and increased until December.
It now makes up more than a third of the state’s cases.
The number of people presenting to emergency departments in NSW each week with COVID-19 has risen to around 1400 people, with around 400 admitted to hospital.
Victorian health officials warned about the increased cases of JN.1, saying it had quickly become the most common subvariant in wastewater samples.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus in Victoria has risen to 377 in seven days.
JN.1 has quickly become one of the most prevalent COVID-19 variants in the country
Queensland Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said rather than a single spike in infections, the coexistence of two subvariants appears to have caused overlapping waves for the state.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Queensland began rising in mid-October, initially driven by the XBB.1.5 subvariant, with JN.1 emerging in early December and becoming dominant since.
“While previous waves of COVID-19 peaked at around six weeks, the current wave remains strong at 12 weeks,” Dr Gerrard said.
WA Health said the state’s current surge peaked in mid-to-late December and is now gradually subsiding.
The JN.1 variant is most likely trailing the wave and is currently the most common subvariant found in wastewater, a spokesperson said.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler described the summer surge as part of a “regular cycle” of waves caused by new Omicron subvariants.
“For a few years now, the Omicron variant of COVID has been the dominant variant worldwide,” he said on Tuesday.
“But we have seen subvariant after subvariant emerge, with new waves emerging every four to six months.
“This actually doesn’t seem to be any different from the waves we saw throughout 2023.”
Mr Butler said the timing of the emergence of the new JN.1 variant and its emergence over the festive period likely contributed to its rapid prevalence.
“It’s not surprising really, given the extent to which people gather over the Christmas and New Year period,” he said.
‘Hospital admissions have increased and there has also been a reasonable increase in infections in aged care facilities, which we are also monitoring closely.’
The impact on the hospital system and fatalities remains significantly lower than the same period last year, Mr Butler noted.
Health authorities urged the public to stay up to date on their booster vaccinations.
Only about four million booster vaccinations were administered in 2023, with rates much higher among older Australians.