Fresh off the back of announcing 919 new cases of locally-acquired Covid-19 and two more deaths as a result of Greater Sydney’s months-long outbreak, Gladys Berejiklian urged the people of her state to turn their attention from the climbing infections to a different figure. “There is no doubt people would be alarmed by rising case numbers,” the Premier told reporters, after NSW had once again broken the record for the highest daily number ever recorded in Australia since the pandemic began.

“But it’s a mark of how vaccines work that the hospitalisation rate is relatively low.” Ms Berejiklian had a point — one that has been repeated by experts since Covid-19 landed in Australia and even the Prime Minister in recent weeks: that we, as a nation, need to stop chasing Covid-zero and turn our attention instead to the things we can control, like getting vaccinated and doing everything we can to keep people out of hospital.

But this came on a day when she, the Health Minister and the chief health officer were peppered with questions about reports that Sydney’s hospital system is about to buckle under the pressure. The number of people with Covid-19 in intensive care has jumped by 46 per cent in the past week — from 77 to 113 of the 645 cases currently receiving treatment in hospital. Gladys Berejiklian has urged NSW residents to turn their attention from the climbing infections to a different figure. Picture: Jenny Evans - Pool/Getty Images “It is not pleasing to see 98 of the people in ICU are not vaccinated,” a frustrated Dr Kerry Chant told reporters..

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