- The official death toll for COVID-19 worldwide is about to reach 6 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
- Experts believe this is an underestimate, especially due to undertesting and underreporting in developing countries. Tikki Pang, Visiting Professor of Global Health from the National University of Singapore, said that "the actual excess mortality is around 21 million".
- In Western Australia parents and carers are no longer required to automatically quarantine when their child is identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 case.
- The rest of the household, including siblings, can continue to go to work or school, while monitoring for symptoms.
- People who are hospitalised in Western Australia can now have one visitor at a time during designated visiting hours.
- Different visitors can be accommodated in the same day at different times, with the limit of one person for every two-hour visiting period. There are exceptions for those that are considered .
- Victorian Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and Digital Economy Jaala Pulford has put out a call for 1,500 volunteers to donate blood for a new study into the effectiveness of vaccines and long-term effects of COVID-19. Any Victorian who is due to receive their third dose is eligible.
- South Australia reported an unusually high number of deaths, 23. According to SA Health they have occurred "between 31 December 2021 and 3 March 2022 and include the latest monthly data release from Births, Deaths and Marriages."
COVID-19 Australian Stats
New South Wales reported 1,066 patients hospitalised with 43 in intensive care. There were 5 deaths, and 9,017 new cases of COVID-19.
In Victoria, 227 people are in hospital with 29 in ICU and 7 on ventilators. There were 2 deaths and 5,645 new infections.
Tasmania has recorded no deaths with 784 new COVID-19 cases. There are 21 people with COVID-19 in hospital, with nine being treated specifically for COVID-19 symptoms and 5 requiring intensive care.
In Queensland, there were 3,677 new COVID-19 cases and one death. 267 people are hospitalised with COVID-19, with 20 patients in ICU.
In the ACT 39 people are now in hospital with COVID-19, 2 of them requiring intensive care, with 553 new infections reported.
In Western Australia there were 2,365 new cases of COVID-19 with 36 people currently in hospital. One person died with COVID-19.
In the Northern Territory there were 235 new cases of COVID-19 and one death. 47 people are now in hospital with 3 patients in ICU.
In South Australia 106 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19 and 15 of them are in ICU, 2 are ventilated. There were 23 deaths and 1,577 new cases.
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