Chief Health Officer Says The Spread Of Omicron Variant Is 'Necessary'

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard has said the escalation of Omicron case numbers throughout Queensland is ‘necessary’.

Today the state recorded a whopping 369 new Covid cases as fears for the spread of the Omicron virus only worsen.

This is the highest number of cases ever recorded in the state beating yesterday’s record of 186.

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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk addressed the rising numbers in a press conference this morning, assuring Queenslanders that the surge in numbers was expected and would likely get worse.

"I want stay safe over Christmas and New Year but we will see an escalation of cases like we're seeing in other states," she said at a media conference on the Gold Coast.

"But the good news is, at the present time there is only one person in hospital and they have other medical issues, even though they do have COVID.”

According to Premier Palaszczuk, the virus “is across Queensland” and we are going to need to learn to live with it.

“This virus is here. It is right throughout our community. We are living with this virus. This is the next stage of the pandemic," she said.

Ms Palaszczuk also emphasised that the unvaccinated are the most at risk as the virus plagues Queensland.

"Everyone wants to get on with their lives but we are going to see a big impact on those who are unvaccinated."

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said the latest strain of the virus (Omicron) is ‘extremely contagious’ and will need to continue spreading in order to reach the ‘endemic phase’.

"Not only is the spread of this virus inevitable, it is necessary. In order for us to go from the pandemic phase to an endemic phase, the virus has to be widespread,” he said.

"We all have to have immunity, you will all have to develop immunity and there's two ways you can do that: by being vaccinated or getting infected."

Mr Gerrard also clarified that mask wearing will not rid us of the virus but will give us better odds of slowing it down.

“We're not going to stop it,” he said.

"We're trying to slow it down a little bit to enable people to get third doses. We don't expect to stop it."

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