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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Hannah Neale

Man in his 90s dies with COVID-19 in the ACT as hospitalisations decline

How do we manage flu season during the COVID-19 pandemic? | April 14, 2022 | ACM

A man in his 90s with COVID-19 has died in the ACT, health authorities said on Friday.

It was also revealed most people who died with virus in the ACT had not received three vaccinations.

There were 1041 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the territory in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, a slight drop on previous reporting period when 1265 new cases were reported.

Canberra hospitals were caring for 57 patients with COVID-19 at 8pm on Thursday night, including two people in intensive care. No one was receiving ventilation support.

The day before the ACT reported 61 people in hospital, three in intensive care with one ventilated. Intensive care unit admissions remain steady.

ACT Health announced the death of a man in his 80s with COVID-19 on Thursday. Forty-nine people have now died with COVID-19 in the territory since the start of the pandemic.

Forty-seven people died with COVID-19 in the week ending April 17, but only four of those had received three doses of a COVID vaccination.

Twenty-three people who died had received two doses of the vaccine, three had had one dose, while 16 of the people who died were unvaccinated.

"A COVID-19 related death is reported if the person dies with COVID-19, though it may not be the cause of death. Deaths under investigation by the coroner will not be reported until the findings have been issued," ACT Health said in its weekly epidemiological report.

The report also showed 36 per cent of COVID-19 hospitalisations were unvaccinated, 8 per cent had received one dose and 35 per cent had received two doses.

There were 140 people, or 20 per cent, admitted to hospital with COVID-19 who had received three doses of a vaccination. Most of this group of people were aged 65 and over.

"Hospitalisations continue to be consistently highest in the 65+ age group despite having the lowest case rates, highlighting the increased risk of severe disease in this older age group," the report said.

The report noted hospitalisation was defined as a person being admitted to an ACT hospital for any reason and did not differentiate between a person admitted for COVID-19 related reasons or for other reasons.

Whole genome sequencing, which is attempted on 3 per cent of positive PCR tests, did not find any recombinant variants of COVID-19 in the ACT.

Omicron sub-lineage BA.2 now makes up 88 per cent of sequenced cases in the ACT, while BA.1 makes up 8 per cent, a near reversal in the ratio since the end of February.

The Delta variant has not been detected in any sequenced samples since January.

The territory's pandemic case tally is now 97,825 cases.

The ACT now has 5676 active cases of coronavirus, up from 5489 reported in the previous period. Of the new cases, 609 were reported through PCR tests and 432 as a result of rapid tests.

Latest vaccination rates 

The first-dose vaccination rate for children aged five to 11 is at 80.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, fully vaccinated people aged over five make up 96.8 per cent of the ACT population. The percentages have decreased from 98.7 per cent due to a revision in ACT Health's population estimate. The proportion of people aged 16 and over who are triple-vaxxed rose to 74.8 per cent.

Quarantine rule for ACT close contacts to be dropped

Household contacts of COVID-19 cases in the ACT will no longer have to quarantine from mid-next week, after the territory's government confirmed it would follow the lead of neighbouring states.

But household contacts in the ACT will have to wait four days longer than contacts in NSW and Victoria to be released as the territory will wait until after the long weekend to implement the changes.

Canberrans will also need to wait until next week to find out how the changes will affect school students and staff.

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the ACT has risen by 1041 infections. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong
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