A software issue error has caused a massive spike in Queensland's COVID-19 case numbers, which include infections dating back to last month.
The state recorded 18,678 new cases on Saturday, but Queensland Health said those include infections from as far back as June 10.
That means the case numbers in recent weeks have been higher than those reported in daily totals, which have been between 8,000 and 9,000 in recent days.
Out of the 18,678 cases, 4,713 were from the latest reporting period.
A department spokesperson told the ABC that the administrative error was due to a backlog of data being loaded into the system, with dates ranging from June 10 to July 23.
The spokesperson said that while some PCR tests were not tallied, patients were informed of their positive result.
Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said the issue was with a number of private laboratories catching up and reporting.
"As part of their normal process, treating doctors were notified, the patients were notified. This is just an issue with some of the pipeline of IT systems talking to each other.
"I think it's more of a software issue that we're working through with providers."
Hospitalisations drop
There are 30 people with COVID-19 in intensive care units and 861 in hospitals, down from 906 on Friday.
It is the fifth day in a row that hospitalisations dropped.
Dr Aitken said it was unclear whether the peak had been reached.
"I think it's too early to say. 'Cautiously optimistic' would be the phrase I'd use at the moment," he said.
"We've had a couple of days in a row where we've had numbers drop and, hopefully, that means people are doing all those things we've talked about."
Dr Aitken said it was reassuring that booster numbers had increased.
"We know that, since the announcement of access to booster doses, there had been a three-to-four times increase in booster dose uptake," he said.
"People are doing those things and, hopefully, we're starting to now see a change in the numbers as a result."
