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ABC News
ABC News
Health
data journalist Catherine Hanrahan

COVID case infections in NSW and Victoria appear to be slowing, new data shows

The current wave of COVID in NSW and Victoria appears to be losing momentum, the latest data shows.

NSW Health recorded 27,750 cases in the week ending November 19, an 18 per cent increase on the week before.

Case numbers had increased by 53 per cent in the week ending November 12.

The slowing case numbers mirrored Victoria, where cases increased by 22 per cent in the week ending November 18, compared with a 62 per cent increase in the week before.

However, there was a 73 per cent increase in cases in Queensland in the latest reported week, compared with a 31 per cent increase in the week before.

Modelling by James Wood at the University of NSW predicted that the current wave would peak in the first week of December.

While the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron, which has caused large numbers of cases this year, is still responsible for nearly half the current cases, the BR.2 (15 per cent of cases) and BQ.1.1 (10 per cent) sub-variants are becoming more common.

Professor Wood noted the variant "soup" that was causing the current wave was encouraging.

"If you are infected with one of these new variants, you should also have strong protection to the rest of the soup," he said when the modelling was released on November 16.

The average number of people hospitalised with COVID in NSW in the week ending November 19 was 73, similar to the 75 the week before.

There are now 1,148 people in hospital with COVID, the highest since the end of September as the winter wave abated. 

Thirty-seven deaths were reported in the week ending November 19, up from 24 the week before.

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