A toddler has died from Covid-19 in Queensland.
The 23-month-old died at Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane on Sunday.
“Children’s Health Queensland can confirm that, sadly, a 23-month-old boy died of Covid-19 at Queensland Children’s Hospital on Sunday 24 July 2022,” a spokesperson said.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the boy’s family.”
The boy is the youngest person to die from Covid in Queensland and the 14th child under the age of nine to die from Covid in Australia.
The grim news came after state government modeling showed Covid hospitalizations are likely to peak at the end of August at around 1,660 cases.
“Hard work is underway to ensure our health system is ready for what lies ahead,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Tuesday.
“Preparations include bringing extra beds online and expanding our Queensland Ambulance Service co-ordination centre.
“We are moving more healthcare staff to the frontline and using virtual care models to reduce pressure on emergency services.”
Queensland Health said on Tuesday there were 8,612 new cases of Covid, while 21 people had died in the previous 24 hours of the reporting period.
The state currently has 66,569 active cases, including 31 people in the intensive care unit.
On Monday, 6,109 new cases were reported in the state.
The latest figures show 92.9% of Queenslanders over 16 have been fully vaccinated, while 94.4% have received their first dose.
Ms Palaszczuk has called on the public to “come together and fight back”.
“When we face the worst, Queenslanders always step up. It’s time to come back together and fight back – get vaccinated, wear a mask in crowds and indoors, and stay home if you’re sick . Thanks for looking after us, Queensland,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Thank you to all our healthcare staff who work hard to keep Queenslanders safe.”
More Australians are now in hospital with Covid-19 than ever before, according to Our World in Data.
The previous record for Covid hospitalizations in Australia, which stood at 5390 at the end of January, has now been surpassed, with 5429 Australians in hospital with the virus.
A total of 91 people have also died in Victoria, NSW and Queensland in the past 24 hours, with Australia’s death toll surpassing 11,000 over the weekend.
Infectious disease expert Dr Paul Griffin said that while our death rate at the moment is “alarming”, the restrictions that have been put in place over the past two years have worked to reduce the severity of the our winter wave.
“You have to remember that, cumulatively throughout the pandemic, we had great measures to keep the virus at bay until we had a lot of people vaccinated, and that has put it in a very good position,” he said.
Dr Griffin, along with other experts, is calling for restrictions to be introduced to curb the number of people ending up in hospital.
“We just have to get all these simple things that we’ve been talking about for so long to happen at a much higher rate,” he said.
Overnight, Victoria recorded 40 Covid deaths, NSW recorded 30 and Queensland recorded 21.
A total of 869 people in Victoria and 2,344 people in NSW are hospitalized with the virus.
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