Redlands COVID cases near 17,000 as modelling predicts grim outlook for hospitalisations during Omicron wave

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk released the latest modelling on Tuesday as she announced that the state government would scale up its response by bringing more beds online at the state's hospitals.

Redlands cases for the entire pandemic have climbed to 16,881, which is an increase of more than 1300 on the figures Queensland Health reported for the city just 10 days ago.

The department released a statement on Tuesday night saying that a 23-month-old child had died from coronavirus at the Queensland Children's Hospital in Brisbane on Sunday.

The announcement came just hours before updated COVID figures were released showing the state had recorded a further 8209 infections and 19 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the community could help flatten the curve by following health advice, including using masks and taking care around vulnerable people.

"The public health measures we had in place earlier in the pandemic were all designed to get us to the point where people had the chance to get vaccinated," he said.

"Now that everyone has had the chance to get vaccinated, we have a different set of responses and measures.

"You can see the effectiveness of vaccination in the hospitalisation rate. While we are seeing a large number of cases, the number of hospitalisations as a proportion of those cases is much smaller than earlier variants.

"The number of those hospitalisations who are needing ICU care is lower and the number of fatal cases as a proportion of total cases is also lower."

Mr Miles said the government's strategy earlier in the pandemic was to suppress the virus until everyone had the chance to get vaccinated.

Queensland Health data shows almost 93 per cent of the state is fully vaccinated, while 94.4 per cent have had one dose.

Hospitals are implementing surge plans amid the latest wave, while the Premier announced earlier this week that more health staff were being moved onto the front line.

"There is no doubt that with this number of cases in hospital as well as the number of health workers who are off sick is having an impact on our hospitals," Mr Miles said.

"I understand hospitals are accessing private hospital beds and they are rescheduling planned care where it is safe to do so."

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