New Modelling Suggests Australia Could Soon Have 200,000 Covid-19 Cases A Day

New modelling from The Doherty Institute has revealed Australia could soon be experiencing more than 200,000 cases of coronavirus every day.

Considering that represents a little less than 1 per cent of the country's population getting infected daily, that could be seriously alarming.

The modelling will be presented to the National Cabinet meeting today (December 22), which will see state and territory leaders address the growing concern about the Omicron variant.

There could be changes to mask wearing, particularly in indoor settings, and the vaccine booster program could be expanded to allow more people to get the jab quicker.

According to The Age, The Doherty Institute was working off the idea that without low-to-medium restrictions then the virus will be allowed to run rampant throughout the community.

If this were to happen, then the 200,000 to 250,000 cases a day could be a reality as early as late January or early February.

The Nine newspaper adds that booster shots will not be the silver bullet that will prevent people from becoming infected and instead we need things like masks, density limits and visitors at home to be addressed.

If the booster window is reduced from the current five months to three months then the forecast is still 190,000 cases a day, according to The Doherty Institute.

The Institute has been providing the federal government throughout the pandemic with modelling based off the restrictions at the time.

Having hundreds of thousands of cases every day would overwhelm the hospital system.

The modelling suggests there could be as many as 4,000 people needing to be admitted to hospital every day.

ICUs could be dealing with thousands of cases as well.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued calm about the threat of Omicron and suggested we won't be going back into a hard lockdown as a circuit breaker.

"We're not going back to lockdowns, we're not going back to shutting down people's lives," he said.

But he added that it was never going to be simple to come out of the pandemic.

"One of the key messages is, yes, we're going to need to continue to calibrate how we manage this virus and how we live with this virus in the face of Omicron," he said.

"There will be other variants beyond Omicron and we have to ensure, as a country, and as leaders around the country, we are putting in place measures that Australians can live with.

"What that means is we have to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility. That's how we live with this virus into the future.

"As a country, we've got to get past the heavy hand of government and we've got to treat Australians like adults."

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie