Covid: Hospitalised surpass 1,000

THERE are now 1,041 people requiring hospitalisation for covid-19 in New South Wales.

More than 11,000 are being cared for at home, in NSW Health accommodation, or hospitalised.

Of the people in hospital 173 people are in intensive care and 62 are requiring ventilation. There are 137 people in ICU who were unvaccinated, 29 had received one dose of the vaccine and only 7 had received both doses.

There have been four people die, a man in hos 50s, a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s; all were unvaccinated.

Of the people with the disease, 70 percent are under the age of 40.

There were 130,000 vaccinations administered in NSW yesterday, 50,000 were provided by NSW Health and the rest were accessed at pharmacies and GPs. People are encouraged to access the vaccine wherever it is available.

New cases in regional NSW:

• 22 Dubbo
• 15 Central Coast
• 12 Wollongong
• 10 Port Stephens
• 9 Bourke
• 9 Wilcannia (total of 97)
• 3 Shellharbour
• 3 Bathurst
• 3 Orange
• 3 Maitland
• 2 Shoalhaven
• 1 Bogan
• 1 Lake Macquarie
• 1 Newcastle

There are now 218 active cases in the Hunter New England Health district, 140 in the Illawarra area and 93 on the Central Coast.

Mental health – the shadow pandemic

LifeLine has the shadow pandemic of mental health is real and they have noted an increase of concern with children’s mental health being impacted.

There has been a 22 percent increase overall of calls to LifeLine, which they said is a silver lining that people are reaching out to get the help they need.

LifeLine has reported last year there was a 5 percent reduction in suicide and this year there has been no increase across all age groups; however they advised the pandemic is impacting everyone’s mental health and urged people not to suffer in silence and to reach out for help.

Their spokesperson said, “it’s ok not to be ok right now,” and talk about how you are going.

They stressed the state is taking steps to move out of lockdown and lifting lockdown would give a significant improvement for people’s mental health.

People are encouraged to contact:

• Lifeline: 13 11 14 (24 hours)
• Text service: 0477 131 114
• Kid’s helpline: 1800 551 800/a>