Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard says Omicron is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in Queensland.Credit:Dan Peled/Getty Images

Ms Palaszczuk also announced former Metro North health boss Shaun Drummond had been lured back from the consultancy sector to take on a newly created role of chief operating officer.

“I believe it’s going to give that extra firepower to (Queensland) Health,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The funding injection came only days after Treasurer Cameron Dick delivered improved budgetary figures in the Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Review. The health budget is $22.2 billion.

“It’s because of our strong health response that we have such a strong economy,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“Strong and healthy Queenslanders make for a strong and healthy economy,so it stands to reason that we should return some of those dividends to keeping Queenslanders healthy.”

A number of recent cases of COVID-19 involvedworkers in the health system,affecting Princess Alexandra Hospital and North West Private Hospital in Brisbane,Toowoomba Hospital,and Blue Care Homefield Aged Care Facility in Mackay.

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said vaccination mandates would help reduce the risk of the emerging Omicron variant spreading through the system.

“It is inevitable that people in the healthcare setting will develop infections,and that is going to happen more and more in the coming weeks and months,” Dr Gerrard said.

“Now all of our healthcare workers are vaccinated,and all of our healthcare workers wear masks when they’re in a clinical environment,so the risk to patients is minimised,but it does emphasise the need for all of us to get vaccinated.”

The Queensland Audit Office recently warned thathealth workers faced burn out if they were not able to take holidays,describing their “unsustainably high”.

License this article

Coronavirus pandemic