There were 8,937 new cases of the virus in Victoria on Saturday and more than 66,500 active cases of COVID-19.
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The number of people with COVID-19 in Victorian hospitals reached 837 on Saturday. Thirty-eight people were in intensive care and 10 were on ventilators.
Sutton said Victoria’s case numbers were likely at their peak for the third wave of Omicron and hospitalization numbers were expected to flatten out over the next week or two.
“[People in hospital with COVID] they are at very high levels (between 800 and 900), so this puts a huge strain on our healthcare system,” he said.
“But hospitalization numbers should also decrease as the number of cases drops.”
127 deaths from COVID were reported nationwide on Saturday, after 157 on Friday and 125 on Thursday.
Infectious disease expert Professor Paul Griffin said there were some promising early signs that Victoria’s infection rate would slow, but it was premature to declare the wave over.
“I think it’s too early to be sure we’ve passed the peak,” he told Nine’s Today programme.
“Thousands of people are still in hospital at the moment, and there are still a lot of health workers out.
“We have to remember that even after this peak passes, this virus is not going to go away. Hopefully, we will see sustained behavior change, things like wearing masks in high-risk places… and making sure that everyone stays up to date with their vaccinations.”
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