Covid slightly up, 635 on the QE

WA Health is reporting a total of 12,383 new cases in the past week to 4pm yesterday 8 December 2022.

As of 4pm yesterday, there were 7,146 active cases in Western Australia.

As at 4pm yesterday, there were a total of 216 people with COVID-19 in hospital, with 7 in ICU.

635 COVID-19 cases diagnosed onboard the Queen Elizabeth cruise vessel are included in cases reported on Monday 5 December.

Sadly, this week’s report to 4pm yesterday includes 26 deaths, dating back to 18 July 2022, which were reported to WA Health in the last week, aged from 59 to 98 years.

Total PCR tests for the timeframe were 9,801.

Total positive PCR tests for the timeframe were 2,550. Total positive rapid antigen tests (RATs) in this period were 9,833.

WA has recorded 1,233,271 cases since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

And here’s the Surveillance Summary for the week ending 4 December.

Surveillance summary

This week, case numbers increased by 7% compared to the previous week. Cases diagnosed by PCR increased by 2% and by RAT increased by 8%.

Reinfections comprised 20% of total cases this week, compared with 18% last week.

There was a 6% increase in PCR tests conducted compared to the previous week, with a 7-day average test positive rate for PCR tests of 21.4%.

The moving seven-day average case rates per 100,000 population increased in the Metropolitan, Midwest, Pilbara and South West regions. The seven-day average case rate for the Perth metropolitan area (70 cases/100,000 population) was approximately 93% higher than the Western Australia Country Health Service (WACHS) regions combined (36 cases/100,000 population).

The highest seven-day average age-specific rates were in the 50 – 69 years age group (77 cases/100,000 population), with the lowest rates in the 0 – 9 years age group (29 cases/100,000 population).

Nationally, the moving seven-day average case rates increased across all jurisdictions, with Tasmania having the highest rate (92 cases/100,000 population) and Queensland the lowest rate (28 cases/100,000 population).

The 7-day average of hospitalised cases decreased by 1% from 190 last week to 188 this week.

Intensive care unit cases decreased from 9 in the last reporting week to 5 this week. New hospital admissions related to COVID-19 increased by 28% from 69 last week to 88 this week, and direct intensive care unit admissions decreased from 5 last week to 1 this week.

Deaths decreased by 12% this reporting week with 15 deaths compared to 17 last week.

This week, 302 cases were reported in the Aboriginal population, an 18% increase compared to last week. Case rates in the Aboriginal population were lower compared to the non-Aboriginal population, with the 7-day average rate ratio sitting at 0.63 this reporting week. No deaths were reported in the Aboriginal population this week.

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