Across NSW, more than 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 94.6 per cent have received two doses to Tuesday 29 March 2022.
The total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 17,475,809, with 5,013,427 doses administered by NSW Health to 8pm last night and 12,462,382 administered by the GP network, pharmacies and other providers to 11.59pm on Tuesday 29 March 2022.
NSW Health encourages everyone who is eligible to receive a vaccination or their booster dose to book into a NSW Health vaccination clinic or another provider without delay through the COVID-19 vaccine clinic finder.
Sadly, NSW Health is today reporting the deaths of 17 people with COVID-19 – ten men and seven women.
Two people were aged in their 70s, eight people were aged in their 80s, six people were aged in their 90s, and one person was aged 100. Older age is a significant risk factor for serious illness and death for COVID-19, particularly when combined with significant underlying health conditions.
Five of the people who died had received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, nine people had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and three people were not vaccinated.
Two people were from south western Sydney, two people were from Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, two people were from southern Sydney, two people were from Sydney’s south, two people were from Sydney’s Inner West, one person was from northern Sydney, one person was from Sydney’s north west, one person was from western Sydney, one person was from the Northern Beaches, one person was from the Newcastle area, one person was from the Maitland area and one person was from the Northern Rivers.
NSW Health expresses its sincere condolences to their loved ones.
COVID-19 related deaths are notified to NSW Health from a range of sources, including public and private hospitals, aged care facilities, and the Coroner.
For patients cared for by NSW Health in public hospitals, deaths in people with an active COVID-19 infection are usually automatically flagged and reported to the NSW Ministry of Health.
From 1 January 2020 to 23 March 2022, there were 2,044 COVID-related deaths reported by NSW Health, with most of these deaths occurring during the Delta and Omicron waves.
To ensure NSW COVID-19 mortality data is as robust as possible, NSW Health has been cross-checking these deaths with all those identified in death certificates by the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) during this period.
Analysis of this data has found an additional 331 COVID-19 related deaths from January 2020 to March 2022, which showed that the certifying doctor identified COVID-19 as a contributing factor or cause of death.
More than 270 (82 per cent) of the deaths identified in the RBDM data were found to have occurred from 1 January 2022, during the peak of the first Omicron wave. Fifty-eight deaths occurred during 2021 largely coinciding with the peak of the Delta wave, and three deaths occurred in 2020, when the original strain of the virus was circulating.
The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic is now 2,431.
The NSW Health report into the analysis of the RBDM data is available at COVID-19 surveillance reports.
There are currently 1,326 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, including 39 people in intensive care, 16 of whom require ventilation.
There were 22,107 positive test results notified in the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday – including 13,309 positive rapid antigen tests (RATs) and 8,798 positive PCR tests. The 8,798 positive PCR results were returned from a total of 50,969 PCR tests.
There has now been a total of 689,476 positive RATs recorded since reporting began on 13 January 2022.
Following further investigation, 29 COVID-19 cases detected by PCR tests have been excluded and 905 cases previously reported as RAT-positive have been confirmed as PCR-positive cases, bringing the total number of cases detected by PCR tests in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,127,960.
Everyone is urged to take simple precautions to protect each other from COVID-19, such as:
*to 11:59pm 29 March 2022
*notified from 8pm 29 March to 8pm 30 March 2022.
Video of today’s COVID-19 update.