Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denied taking a “let it rip” approach to the coronavirus but he admitted the Omicron strain had spread faster than expected.
the planning for the latest wave with a “let it rip” approach that failed to deliver enough vaccines and rapid antigen tests.
While NSW has 2,030 people in hospital with COVID and Victoria has another 818, the Prime Minister said half of those hospitalised were admitted for “other reasons” than the virus. “Has it spread faster than you expected?” the journalist asked. “You just said it’s not as bad – has it spread faster?” “That is new for us but that is the reality – it’s a reality of living with COVID. We will have cases and when you have such a transmissible virus they will spread quickly and the case numbers will go up,” he said.“Our approach nationally has been to suppress the virus to make sure that our healthcare system is coping, and it is coping.”
OzSage, a group of experts including epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre and economist Richard Holden, both from the University of New South Wales, called on Monday for a “course correction” in government policy to slow the spread of the new strain.