ACT records 975 new COVID-19 infections; 30 per cent of pandemic-deaths unvaxxed despite Territory's high coverage

The ACT has recorded 975 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8 pm last night as new figures released by ACT Health show 32 per cent of the Territory’s COVID-19 deaths were unvaccinated, despite the ACT’s world-leading vaccination rates.

According to the health directorate’s most recent epidemiological report, which covers the period up to Sunday 1 May, and so excludes the most recent three deaths, 17 of the 52 people who had died with COVID-19 up to that point were unvaccinated, showing them to be disproportionately represented in the death figures.

Eight of the people who died had received three doses of vaccine, 24 had received two doses of vaccine and three people had received one dose of a vaccine.

This is despite the fact that 97.1 per cent of the Territory’s five-plus population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 75.5 per cent of the 16-plus population has received a booster.

For the week (Monday 25 April to Sunday 1 May), 6504 COVID-19 cases were recorded, and the rolling mean remained stable at 800 to 900 cases a day. Reported case numbers also remained stable across most age groups with the only notable increase recorded in the 12 to 17 age group.

The test positivity rate for PCR tests also remained stable over the week, sitting between 23 to 24 per cent. The number of PCR tests overall declined.

24 per cent of everyone admitted to hospital since the pandemic began (190 people) had received three doses of the vaccine, 35 per cent or 277 people, had received two, five per cent (39 people) had received one and 36 per cent, or 293 people were unvaccinated. The vaccination status of one per cent (six people) of all admissions to hospital was unknown.

There were 33 new hospital admissions in the reporting period, compared to 38 in the previous week although this figure had been initially reported as 27 due to a data lag. Two people were admitted to the ICU.

Since 1 January 2022, approximately 70 per cent of cases with a known vaccination status admitted to ICU had fewer than 3 doses of vaccine at the time of their admission and a quarter of cases were unvaccinated at the time of their admission.

According to the weekly epidemiological report, “hospitalisations continue to be consistently highest in the 65-plus age group despite having the lowest case rates, highlighting the increased risk of severe disease, including hospitalisation, in this older age group.

“There appears to be an increase in the hospitalised case rate for the 18 to 39 age group since last week, which we will continue to monitor to see if this is a true trend.”

During the reporting period, there were 15 ACT Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) with active outbreaks with 60 new cases in residents and 23 disability support providers were affected by COVID-19 exposures during the reporting period.

The new 975 (553 PCR, 422 RAT) cases reported overnight take the total active caseload to 5,939 (3,114 PCR, 2,825 RAT).

Since the pandemic began, there have been 110,846(68,894 PCR and 41,952 RAT) infections recorded in the ACT.

There are 55 people in hospital with the virus. 4 people require intensive care, but no one is being ventilated.

The ACT recorded 1053 COVID-19 cases yesterday, and 66 people were in hospital.

Vaccination statistics are not updated on weekends.

Interstate, NSW has reported 19 deaths overnight and 11,671 new cases of COVID-19.

Victoria has reported nine deaths overnight and an additional 9,365 cases of COVID-19.