Australia recorded on Wednesday a new daily record of more than 50,000 COVID-19 cases. Hospital admissions continue to rise.
This is the first time that daily COVID-19 case numbers have exceeded 50,000 in Australia.
The most populous state, New South Wales, recorded 35,000 new infections on Wednesday. Neighboring Victoria reported 17,636 new cases. Most are caused by the omicron variant.
Health authorities believe that case numbers will continue to increase in the weeks to come and will plateau in February. In Queensland, health officials warned that infections would surge "certainly into the hundreds of thousands." Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in most of the cases, symptoms were mild, and people were recovering "very, very quickly."
Testing clinics have been unable to cope with the huge demand for screening, and rapid antigen tests are in short supply.
Hospitalizations are increasing in parts of Australia, but officials believe most patients in intensive care units have the delta variant.
Susan Pearce, deputy secretary of the New South Wales health department, says demands on the hospital system will grow.
"We expect for the next several weeks that we will see that pressure. We also expect, though, that once it starts to decline, it will likely decline quite quickly. But we have got some challenging weeks ahead of us. Everything that can be done to support our staff will be done as we work through this. What we have demonstrated during the course of this pandemic now for two years is that our health system is capable of almost anything," Pearce said.
Despite the surge, theaters in Sydney and Melbourne are declaring "on with the show" and reopening. An international cricket match between Australia and England in Sydney attracted thousands of spectators.
In total, about 550,000 COVID-19 infections have been diagnosed in Australia since the pandemic began. 2,282 people have died.
Australia's political leaders have said that the country's best defense against rising coronavirus cases is high vaccination levels. More than 91% of the population over age 16 is fully inoculated.