Another 13 people in Queensland have died from COVID and 8,580 new cases have been recorded, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.
There are now 745 people in hospital with the virus and 41 of those patients are in intensive care units.
Two of the people who died were aged in their 60s, four were in their 70s, three were in their 80s, three were in their 90s and one person was aged 105.
Ms Palaszczuk said there was a decline in hospitalisations for the Gold Coast, Logan, Ipswich and Brisbane south regions.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said five of the people who died in the latest reporting period were unvaccinated and none had received a booster shot.
Dr Gerrard said, encouragingly, there had been been a significant drop in the number of hospitalisations in the past day.
“So we've gone from 833 to 745 — of course we shouldn't be paying too much attention to a single day, but that is a very substantial decline, so it's hard not to feel that that's a real phenomenon that we're observing," he said.
Dr Gerrard said one of the new cases had tested positive for a new sub-variant of the Omicron strain but said this was not too concerning.
"What we know about this strain of virus is it does appear to be a bit more contagious," he said.
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said the deaths again exemplified the importance of a third COVID-19 vaccine dose.
"Five of the 13 [deaths] were unvaccinated — now this makes up 38 per cent of the deaths we're reporting today are unvaccinated people, even though they only make up 8 per cent of the population here in Queensland.
"So please, it is not too late to get your first dose of vaccine, there is plenty available, plenty of places to go to get vaccinated, I encourage people to come forward."
Plan for schools
Ms Palaszczuk also confirmed masks would be mandatory for high school students and encouraged for students from Year 3 when classes resume on February 7.
She said students could remove masks when seated and teachers could remove their masks when teaching.
Ms Palaszczuk said a number of rapid antigen tests would be provided to schools, but only for teachers or students with symptoms.
"There is no health advice by the Chief Health Officer or by AHPCC that staff or students need regular testing," she said.
"On top of that, many parents have raised with me concerns about how they would administer these tests to their children."
Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace outlined the back-to-school plan and urged parents to stay up to date with the latest information.
"We are suspending things like school camps, excursions, large assemblies and large gatherings in schools for the first four weeks — we don't want to have unnecessary movement," Ms Grace said.
"We don't want to have unnecessary people coming on to school sites.
"And for all students in our early childhood development programs in our centres, parents can escort them, and of course, kindergarten, prep, and year one.
"From year two upwards, we are asking parents, please acknowledge what the school puts in place about drop-off zones, and limit your presence on school sites.
"For the first four weeks we will monitor this and we will review it regularly."
