Andrews says era of COVID ‘exceptionalism’ is over, as Sutton warns of new wave

Premier Daniel Andrews says the “era of COVID exceptionalism is over” after Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton warned that the state is at the beginning of a new COVID wave driven by two new Omicron subvariants.

There were 8537 COVID cases reported in Victoria this week, an increase of almost 25 per cent from the week before. There are now 172 people in hospital with the virus, compared to 143 people last week.

Sutton said the increase in cases and hospitalisations, combined with a rise in the PCR positivity rate and antiviral prescriptions, suggested a moderate increase in the number of COVID-19 infections in the community.

“These indicators show we are at the start of another COVID-19 wave,” he said.

Sutton said that Victoria’s wastewater surveillance and clinical genomic testing program was actively tracking emerging Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and XBB.

The subvariants are driving COVID waves overseas due to their ability to escape immunity from past infection, including the BA.5 subvariant, he said.

Asked about Sutton’s warning on Saturday, Andrews said it was time to “move beyond” the way COVID-19 had been tackled in the past.

“As the Chief Medical Officer Professor [Paul] Kelly has made it very clear, this era of COVID exceptionalism has to end, and it has,” he said.

“Victorians know what to do with this – they’ve done it and they’ve done it so well over these last three years.”

Andrews said that COVID-19 numbers would go up and down and it was for others to determine if it was the beginning of a wave.

“There will be fluctuations in case numbers … every government in the country has factored in that COVID will be with us in one form or another for quite a long time,” he said.

“But we are treating it in a different way now because you’ve got to move beyond this.”

Professor Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, agreed with the premier’s assessment, saying Victorians could choose to adjust their behaviour based on the latest numbers.

“The whole reason we’ve gone to weekly reporting is to keep a tab on it but not get too fixated week-to-week. It’s the longer-term trends we need to keep an eye on,” she said.

“OK it’s starting to tilt up again: should I be a bit more mindful? It might be adapting your barbecue from indoors to outdoors. Do you visit your grandma this week?

“Just using commonsense by managing your own risk. That’s the important thing, that’s why these public health messages are important.”

Bennett said the news from countries overseas experiencing infection waves from Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and XBB was relatively positive.

“France has been through a BQ.1 wave, they’ve actually come through it quite quickly,” she said.

“Same in Singapore, they had the XBB wave, but they look to be coming out the other side. Whilst they were worried and it continues to spread, the experience wasn’t quite as bad as they feared.”

Bennett said the recent run of colder weather in Melbourne may have had something to do with the increase in cases, as more people were spending time indoors.

That boded well with summer not far away, she said.

“We just have to find a way of listening to these messages to adjust our radar,” Bennett said.

“The numbers are actually quite low, particularly those who are in hospital, especially compared to the winter wave. Our numbers are still lower than they have been all year.”

Sutton said the continued growth in BQ.1 and XBB infections would see the new subvariants overtake BA.5 as the dominant COVID variant.

“Surveillance shows the presence of multiple Omicron subvariants in Victoria including rapid growth of BQ.1 and XBB in the past month, with a combined prevalence of approximately 10 per cent in wastewater and clinical samples,” he said.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.