A top epidemiologist has called on Australia to bring back some of the country’s most hated Covid restrictions over fears about the severity of the new BA.2 sub-variant.
Professor Robert Booy said people should be wearing masks on public transport and in poorly ventilated spaces and be wary of spending time in large crowds.
The new BA.2 variant was even more transmissible than the BA.1 Omicron strain and ‘probably’ just as severe, the top doctor warned.
Prof. Booy also encouraged people to work from home where possible and for schools to keep children socially distanced and older students masked.
‘And if you are vulnerable, if you are a susceptible older person or immunosuppressed, take measures to keep yourself safe,’ he told Today Show host Karl Stefanovic on Thursday.
Professor Robert Booy (pictured) warned the new BA.2 variant was even more transmissible than the BA.1 Omicron strain and ‘probably’ just as severe
‘Obviously people are over it but we are still getting problems and the numbers will continue to go up because of BA.2,’ he said.
‘We have had more deaths this year in 2022 than in the whole of the previous two years. So we have to pay attention. We have to do clever things.’
The epidemiologist also called on the public to come forward for their booster with some in NSW and Victoria requiring a fourth shot as winter approaches.
Professor Nathan Bartlett, from the University of Newcastle’s School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, said in an opinion piece on Wednesday that the coming wave of the new Omicron BA2 variant means ‘the situation has changed again’.
Prof. Bartlett said a fourth shot will soon become necessary because third shot booster immunity is waning quickly.
‘It’s likely the coming surge means we’ll need a fourth Covid vaccine as we hit winter,’ Professor Bartlett wrote for The Conversation.
The ABC’s Dr Norman Swan on Wednesday said he didn’t foresee a fourth dose ‘for the general public’, but instead for ‘a wider group’ of vulnerable people such as over-65s and anyone with a suppressed immune system.
‘Pfizer say that they’ve developed an Omicron-specific vaccine which we were skeptical about… saying Omicron’s going to be over, well maybe Omicron’s not going to be over and therefore a fourth dose with an Omicron-specific vaccine might actually be quite handy this year,’ the top doctor said.
NSW Health announced 30,402 new cases on Wednesday – a significant surge given cases had been hovering about the 9,000 mark (pictured, pedestrians in Melbourne in March)
NSW Health announced 30,402 new cases on Wednesday – a significant surge given cases had been hovering about the 9,000 mark.
The state recorded 20,087 new infections on Thursday.
About 10,000 of those cases were positive rapid antigen tests from Sunday and Monday that were accidentally not included in the figures for those days due to a data processing error and instead included in Wednesday’s numbers.
However the remaining 20,000 still resembles the highest number of cases in NSW since January 23.
Victoria likewise reported 9,426 new cases on Wednesday – the highest figure for the state since February 4 – and an additional 9,752 on Thursday.
But it is almost impossible to get an accurate picture of BA.2’s spread because so many rapid tests are believed to be unreported.
The only objective, verifiable figures are the numbers of patients in hospital with Covid.
On Tuesday, that figure was 1,801 people Australia-wide; a total that has been relatively steady throughout March. On January 25, there were 5,390 people in hospital with the virus.
The BA.2 sub-variant is on the rise in Australia with experts predicting it will become the country’s dominant strain in coming months (pictured, pedestrians in Sydney in February)
The BA.2 sub-variant is on the rise in Australia, and NSW expects it to overtake the original Omicron strain and cases to more than double by the end of April.
Early estimates suggest BA.2 is 25 to 40 per cent more transmissible than Omicron (BA.1), and is already taking off in countries including Denmark, Sweden and the UK.
Experts expect BA.2 to become Australia’s dominant strain in the coming months.
Though the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is not yet recommending fourth doses for everyone, people who are severely immunocompromised in Australia are already getting them.
A vaccine specifically designed for Omicron would, in theory, provide better protection, but by then the sub-variant would already be dominant.
Cases are expected to double in NSW by the end of April as the BA.2 triggers new cases (pictured, masked pedestrians in front of the Sydney Opera House)
Professor Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist and biostatistician, said it was very likely all Australians would be at risk of catching BA.2 this year – especially given the return of people to schools, offices and public transport.
‘Everyone’s been exposed to Covid-19, full-stop, and unless you’re very careful you will be exposed again this year,’ Professor Esterman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘With face mask mandates being dropped, social distancing being removed, the chances are even higher.
‘Those things are put in place to dampen down transmissibility, that’s the whole point. When you remove them it’s just increasing transmission.
‘If you remove all of those protections, then your transmissibility almost gets back to the basic reduction number because we have very little immunity.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk