More than 250,000 patients with COVID-19 admitted to hospital last year
Over-65s made up more than 40% of all hospital admissions in 2021-22, report shows.
Patients admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 soared from barely 5000 in the first year of the pandemic to over a quarter of a million in 2022, latest data show.
The number of patients positive for COVID-19 surged between 2020-21 and 2021-22, from 4700 to 263,400, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Of those 263,400 patients with the virus, 3% required intensive care, 1.3% required ventilation and 2% of patients died in hospital.
About 19% of hospitalisations involving a COVID-19 diagnosis included one or more comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
