Highly infectious Omicron subvariants ‘driving new wave’
Pressure is mounting for a fourth dose of vaccine to be offered to all adults
A third Omicron wave is taking off in Australia driven by the highly infectious BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which are set to become dominant in a matter of weeks, experts say.
On Monday, nearly 30,000 COVID-19 infections were reported around the country, while hospitalisations had reached 3511 — the highest figure since February.
“We are seeing BA.4 and BA.5 really take off,” infectious diseases physician Associate Professor Paul Griffin, from the University of Queensland, told Australian Doctor.
The reported case numbers were just “scratching the surface”, he noted, as there was significant under-reporting linked to asymptomatic infections and compliance fatigue.
