Australia is set to face the dual threat of a fresh Omicron wave and the first major surge of flu cases since the pandemic began.
That’s the assessment of the country’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly, who said winter would bring fresh challenges to Australia’s COVID-19 response.
While Omicron cases have begun to plateau in several jurisdictions, Professor Kelly on Wednesday told a COVID-19 committee hearing that new outbreaks were likely to hit during the colder months.
“There will be another wave of Omicron, most likely in the winter,” he said.
“Every June since 2020 there has been a wave of COVID in Australia and other southern hemisphere countries.”
Professor Kelly said the coming winter would also bring with it the additional risk of rising flu cases.
Instances of the flu have largely fallen in Australia since 2020 in the wake of the pandemic, following lockdown measures being enacted during traditional flu seasons in populous states.
However, the chief medical officer said a spike in the flu should be anticipated in 2022.
“There was not a winter surge of the flu last year, and flu in the northern hemisphere is still less than usual, but the flu has not disappeared from the world,” Prof Kelly said.
“With two years of no flu, we will probably have (a flu season) and we are prepared for all eventualities.”
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Prof Kelly said the rollout of flu vaccines would run alongside the rollout of the COVID-19 booster shots in coming months.
The latest figures have revealed almost 8.2 million people have received their COVID-19 booster shot, or about two-thirds of those who are eligible.
However, Wednesday’s COVID-19 Senate hearing was told just 66 per cent of fully vaccinated aged care residents had received their booster dose.
It comes despite vaccination teams visiting 99 per cent of all aged care facilities to offer the booster.
The head of the country’s vaccine rollout, Lieutenant-General John Frewen, said teams would be conducting second visits of facilities to vaccinate more aged care residents.
Meanwhile, the medical regulator has issued new guidelines for people conducting rapid antigen tests.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has advised people not to eat, drink, smoke or chew gum for 10 to 30 minutes before they undergo rapid tests, in order to avoid the possibility of a false result.
There were a further 70 COVID-19 deaths reported on Tuesday, with 27 of those reported in NSW, 25 from Victoria, 16 in Queensland and one in both South Australia and the Northern Territory respectively.
Another 40,090 virus cases were reported nationwide, with Victoria having 14,553, NSW having 11,807 and Queensland detecting 9630 infections.
There were a further 1723 cases in South Australia, 1133 in the Northern Territory, 666 in Tasmania, 549 in the ACT and 29 in Western Australia.
