Key Points
- Health experts are calling for employers to allow staff to work from home "if feasible".
- Over the last seven days, 550,000 Australians have had their fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose.
The "real number" of COVID-19 cases in Australia is likely to be double the 300,000 recorded in the past week, officials said.
Health experts are calling for employers to allow staff to work from home "if feasible", while more than 5,000 people are in hospital in Australia with COVID-19 as the country deals with a "very, very significant" third Omicron wave.
Health Minister Mark Butler told reporters that he and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly were confident the true number of cases was "more than double" the numbers reported by the states and territories over the last seven days.
Mr Butler said: “We are seeing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Australians infected every single week in this wave."
Professor Kelly told Australians to do what they can to limit the virus's spread in response to new COVID-19 subvariants.
He said the challenge of new Omicron subvariants circulating in the community "poses a significant new threat".
"The reason for that is because it's much more infectious than earlier variants," he said.
"We need to do that collectively to slow the spread of the virus as well as to protect the vulnerable and to protect our health system."
'The third dose rate just isn’t shifting fast enough'
Medical authorities have also continued to encourage a take-up of booster vaccine doses for those eligible to update their vaccination status.
Over the last seven days, 550,000 Australians have had their fourth dose — with most of those over the age of 50.
But Mr Butler added that only about 50,000 people had taken up a third dose over the same time period, with up to five million Australians eligible.
He said the third dose rate “isn’t shifting fast enough".
"I strongly urge people who are eligible for a third dose but have not yet had it to go out and get that booster," he said.
There are currently around 5,200 Australians with COVID-19 in hospital.
COVID-19 vaccine for under fives clears hurdle
Mr Butler also revealed a .
But he stressed that this remained only the "first step" in the process of approving the product that has only commenced usage in the United States in recent weeks.
The vaccines must now be considered by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation before children could access them.
"There is no action yet that can be taken by parents or should be taken to seek to make an appointment or otherwise," he said.
"There are still a number of steps yet that need to be secured before we are in a position to make available this vaccine."
He also said the global supply of this specific vaccine remained "very limited" with his department in active negotiations with Moderna to secure doses.
"I want to stress again that there is very limited supply of this Moderna product which is a different product to the product made available to other age cohorts."
