Australia reports record death toll in coronavirus outbreak

A vial labelled Pfizer COVID 19 vaccine is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2022. REUTERS Dado Ruvic

SYDNEY, Jan 28, Reuters -- Australia suffered its deadliest day of the COVID 19 pandemic on Friday, with nearly 100 deaths, but several large states said they expect hospital admissions to fall amid hopes that the latest wave of infections would subside.

During the past four weeks, infections exploded with around two million cases recorded, fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant. Australia had counted just 400,000 cases since the pandemic hit the country nearly two years ago.

The steady hospitalisation rates in recent days have raised hopes that worst could be over.

The situation generally is stable and we're expecting further falls in hospital cases, Queensland state Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said during a media briefing as hospital cases fell for the third day in the state to 818.

He warned the state's 5 million residents that the pandemic was not over. He said don't go out and celebrate yet, but the news at this stage is good.

The hospitalisations have remained steady at around 5,000 for the last few days, peaking at just under 5,400 on Tuesday.

New South Wales, the most populous state, showed that the number of people in intensive care units had been below the numbers predicted in a best-case scenario.

A total of 98 deaths were registered in Australia by late afternoon on Friday, exceeding the previous pandemic high of 87 two days ago. There were just over 40,000 new infections reported, the lowest daily tally in nearly a month.

The total COVID 19 deaths in the country have dropped to 3,500 since the outbreak began, which is a far lower than the numbers seen in many comparable countries.

Australia is one of the countries most heavily vaccinated against COVID 19 with more than 93% of its adult population double-dosed and about two-thirds of eligible Australians having received a booster dose, according to official data.

The TGA, the country's drug regulator, has expanded eligibility for boosters to 16 and 17-year-olds, joining the United States, Israel and Britain.