30 July 2021
The Metro North Hospital and Health Service has tested about a third of the population of Greater Brisbane and quarantined enough people to fill Brisbane Showgrounds four times over since the pandemic started.
Raw numbers reveal the scale of the Metro North’s COVID-19 response.
Since the Australia’s first case was confirmed on 25 January 2020, Queensland has recorded 1,793 cases. Of these, 608 have been recorded in the Metro North region, including 579 recovered and 12 currently active*.
“Almost 80 per cent our cases have been acquired overseas, with a large portion of those detected in quarantine, and this is reflective in the Metro North region,” Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said.
“And a significant amount of our locally-acquired cases were safely isolating while they were infectious, instead of risking the health of others in the community, which is a fantastic result.”
Sadly, the virus has claimed the lives of seven Queenslanders, including three in Metro North. Dr Young said the responsible actions of Queenslanders undoubtedly prevented more tragedies.
Metro North Health Chief Executive Jackie Hanson said she had been impressed by the community’s responsiveness to get tested.
“Our fever clinics have seen huge demand in 2021, most noticeably during spikes of COVID-19 in the community, so it’s been great to see the public’s commitment to getting tested during these times,” Ms Hanson said.
“Our hardworking frontline staff have reported politeness from the community when visiting our testing clinics, even during peak periods, which is always appreciated.”
Dr Young said Queensland’s vaccine roll-out had progressed well given the nation’s issues sourcing supplies.
As of 29 July 2021, Metro North HHS has administered 202,576 COVID-19 vaccinations, including 167,855 Pfizer doses and 34,721 AstraZeneca doses.
Ms Hanson said Metro North had the highest vaccination numbers in the state.
“To date, we’ve administered more than 200,000 vaccines across our hospitals and community clinics,” Ms Hanson said.
“We’ve been pleased with staff vaccination rates and public demand to be protected against COVID-19 and look forward to continuing the roll-out in our area as more stocks become available.”
As of 29 July 2021, Metro North HHS has:
- Completed 859,973 tests on 465,328 people (including public and private facilities)
- Had 95,681 people receive a quarantine notice
- 256 females and 350 males tests positive to COVID-19
- Age breakdown of COVID-19 cases:
- 25 aged 0-9
- 24 aged 10-19
- 142 aged 20-29
- 119 aged 30-39
- 102 aged 40-49
- 68 aged 50-59
- 77 aged 60-69
- 46 aged 70-79
- 3 aged 80-89
*Data caveat on active cases: active cases may be reported by Hospital and Health Service of treatment, or by a patient’s usual place of residence. Therefore, some active cases may be reported as active in a particular HHS but may not be reported in that HHS’s case total.