NSW residents are urged to wear masks if they develop symptoms as a new wave of infections sweeps through parts of Australia, according to News Corp Australia on January 9.
NSW has recorded its highest level of viral infection in a year, with more than 17% of PCR tests being positive.
Descendants of the Omicron subvariant eg5 and jn1 is fast becoming the dominant strain in NSW, with the number of cases continuing to rise.
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Although NSW Health has yet to release a two-week COVID report since New Year's Day, COVID activity has been on the rise since late December.
Jeremy McNaulty, executive director of Health Protection at NSW Health, was present at the launch on Tuesday, urging those with symptoms to wear a mask and isolate themselves if necessary.
"If you need to go out for a necessary reason, then wear a mask and don't visit other people, especially high-risk people," McNault said. ”
He added that people should avoid visiting nursing homes and care centers for people with disabilities, or coming into contact with any high-risk people.
The warning comes as the number of cases and hospitalisations in Victoria is also climbing rapidly.
News Corp Australia).
A new subvariant of the coronavirus JN1 has become the most prevalent strain of COVID globally and in Victoria.
with jn1 The number of cases associated with it is on the rise, and the World Health Organization has classified it as a "variant of concern" because it is "spreading rapidly" around the world.
The surge comes just after states have just experienced another wave of COVID linked to another variant, which experts call "wave after wave."
In Victoria alone, the seven-day average of hospitalisations due to the virus has risen to 377 in the past few weeks, up from an average of 326 in early December.
This follows the detection of a large number of cases in November, although these figures have not yet reached the peak levels seen during the pandemic in May and June last year, when the seven-day average number of hospitalizations was 488.
According to McNaulty, E.G5 currently accounts for about 40% of all cases in NSW, while JNThe proportion of 1 quickly rose to 35%.
The latter has been described as highly "contagious" and is currently affecting Australia and many parts of the world on a large scale.
News Corp Australia).
"These new variants are all derived from the Omicron mother strain of the new coronavirus," McNaulty said. ”
He said over the past three years of studying the coronavirus, NSW Health has noticed that new mutations are "bypassing" the immune system and vaccines against other strains.
"That's the behavior you're expected from COVID, and we know it's an unstable virus that mutates on a regular basis, and that's how it continues to infect people around the globe," he said. ”
Australians are reminded that symptoms can appear within 2 to 14 days of exposure to the virus, with common symptoms including a runny nose, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath and fever.
Although mandatory mask mandates ended in early 2022, Victoria is still urging at-risk people to wear masks in high-risk settings or when they feel any symptoms.
The health sector will continue to track and monitor surveillance indicators such as hospitalization rates and wastewater testing until the trend of transmission decreases.