On Monday, the Australian state of New South Wales reported over 6,000 new COVID-19 cases and verified its first fatality from the omicron strain.
A guy in his 80s who was infected at an elderly care home in western Sydney was identified as the fatal case. He was properly immunized, yet he suffered from underlying health issues.
The country’s most populated state, New South Wales, recorded 6,324 new cases on Monday, down 70 from the previous day’s high. There were 524 patients in hospitals, with 55 of them in critical condition.
New laws went into effect in New South Wales on Monday, requiring “check-ins” using QR codes in hospitality venues and limiting the number of people per 2 square meters (22 square feet) in pubs and restaurants.
Because of personnel shortages, state health minister Brad Hazzard said the state government is contemplating eliminating the need for health workers to isolate after being exposed to COVID-19.
On Monday, the state of Victoria recorded 1,999 new cases, including three fatalities.
Victoria has proceeded to random genome testing for the omicron variant to better understand its spread, according to state COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar.
Meanwhile, a Sydney laboratory that previously said that 400 persons who had negative COVID-19 test results had in reality tested positive has now stated that over 1,000 more people obtained premature negative findings.
995 persons who were tested on December 23 and 24 had prematurely negative findings, according to SydPath, which is situated at Sydney’s St. Vincent Hospital.
The pathology agency said in a statement Monday that “their real outcome has not yet been ascertained.” According to the report, all of the persons who have been affected have been assured that they would receive their accurate test results by Monday night.
“We truly regret this error and recognize the considerable impact it has had on individuals affected,” the statement stated.
The lab blamed the false negatives on human error, claiming that the testing equipment had been put under a lot of stress.
“SydPath has implemented steps to guarantee that this does not happen again,” it stated.
