“Masks are probably here to stay,” he said. “They’re a relatively low-impost intervention that we know reduces transmission by some amount,and so,at least until we’re in a situation where we’re very confident we’re not going to have a big surge of cases,the masks are going to hang around in these closed settings.”
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While public health and social measures continue to play an important role in the pandemic response,data from the National Interoperable Notifiable Disease Surveillance System shows vaccinations are having a large effect on the rate of deaths.
Last year,roughly one in every 31 patients with COVID-19 died,with 909 deaths from 28,428 cases or a case fatality rate of 3.2 per cent. This year to September 15,about one in every 234 patients died,with 229 deaths from 53,780 cases or a case fatality rate of 0.42 per cent.
That rate of deaths is comparable to the worst influenza season in the past few years. From January 1 to September 16,2017,about one in every 210 flu patients died. There were 959 deaths from 201,446 confirmed cases of the flu or a case fatality rate of 0.48 per cent over the period. The five-year average fatality rate for the flu from January 1 to September 16,2015 to 2019 was 0.34 per cent.
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But COVID-19 remains a serious illness and experts say hospitalisations from the disease will be higher than those from influenza. When those numbers would peak was unclear,Dr Lydeamore said,but they would continue to rise for some time.
“We can be pretty settled on the fact that in Victoria and NSW as well,the case numbers are going to continue around the level that they already are,and so that means the hospitalisations and things will continue on as well,” he said.
To date,47 per cent of the eligible population aged 16 and over have had both doses of a coronavirus vaccine. The NSW and Victorian governments have both begun to outline plans for easing restrictions once 70 and 80 per cent of the eligible populations in those states have been vaccinated. More than 1500 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across the country on Monday.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said both NSW and Victoria were taking “strong action” with reopening plans as vaccination rates rose.
“There’s more to be done,and I certainly don’t want to pre-empt the next month where the people of Sydney and NSW are in a real effort to continue to bring these cases down,” he said.
“In terms of Victoria,obviously,it’s a very cautious road map,and I know there will be differing views,but both states are taking measures that are very significant.”
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