An outbreak in a cancer ward at Canberra Hospital has contributed to a dramatic rise in COVID hospitalisations, as Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has warned the ACT is experiencing another wave of infections.
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There were a record 119 patients in territory hospitals with COVID-19 on Sunday night, marking the fourth day in a row where the record has been broken.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 rose significantly over the weekend, with a jump of 20 patients over just three days.
The BA.5 Omicron subvariant is expected to drive an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations over the coming weeks, as Ms Stephen-Smith said modelling had indicated the ACT was experiencing another wave of infections.
"We are seeing those case numbers starting to increase and we expect that is potentially the start of another wave of COVID-19 through this winter period into July and potentially into early August," she said.
"We are conscious of that and we are keeping a close eye on the case numbers to see if that trajectory is going to be maintained."
Canberra Hospital is currently dealing with an outbreak in a cancer ward, which has caused the rise of patients in hospital with COVID. Ms Stephen-Smith said the outbreak was a "significant cause of concern" and it was being treated very seriously.
She said the spike in hospital transmission was due to a range of reasons including people being admitted for COVID, patients being admitted for another reason and being diagnosed with COVID and patients transmitting the virus to other patients.
She also said the virus had been transmitted by hospital visitors and she urged people to take precautions when visiting health facilities.
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But there are no plans to reimpose tighter restrictions on hospital visitors. At present, a patient can have two visitors a day.
"Assume you have COVID when you're going to these facilities, wear a mask, make sure you're looking after your hand hygiene and keeping your physical distance from others to the greatest extent you possibly can," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"We are certainly seeing the transmission of COVID-19 occasionally within our facilities, generally from visitors so it is really important if you are going to visit people in these facilities that you actually make sure that you do a rapid antigen testing before you go and take all the appropriate precautions."
Health authorities are concerned about the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, which is expected to become the dominant strain across Australia over the coming weeks.
The subvariant accounted for more than 20 per cent of sequenced cases in Canberra last week, ACT Health's latest epidemiological report showed.
"It is predicted that the proportion of the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron cases will increase significantly across Australia in coming weeks and is expected to be associated with increased numbers," the report said.
Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found the BA.5 subvariant was more transmissible as it was more likely to evade vaccines and previous infections than other strains. But vaccines still helped to protect against severe disease.
There are now more than 1000 people in the ACT who have reported having COVID more than once.
Canberra hospitals are facing extraordinary pressures at the moment. A spike of patients, both with COVID and other illnesses, has caused bed blocks in local hospitals.
Health authorities expect hospitals will remain under immense strain for the rest of winter.
There were 927 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the ACT in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday.
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