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Qld records three deaths, 17,445 new cases

Laine ClarkAAP
Qld Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard says the number of cases in hospital is 'creeping up'.
Camera IconQld Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard says the number of cases in hospital is 'creeping up'. Credit: AAP

Three people have died from COVID-19 in Queensland, with the state recording another 17,455 new cases as the number of people in hospital continues to "creep up".

But chief health officer John Gerrard is confident the state's health care system can handle the rising case numbers despite conceding some south-east Queensland hospitals are "under pressure".

Queensland's COVID-19 death toll has reached 29 after a person in their 60s, another in their 80s and a 103-year-old became the latest fatalities.

Two had a single dose and the other was double jabbed but all had underlying medical conditions.

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The new cases recorded included results from 4,615 rapid antigen tests, with a total of 42,420 tests in a 24 hour period.

There are 203,657 active cases in Queensland.

Dr Gerrard said there are 670 people in hospital across the state - up from 649 on Saturday - with 49 in intensive care, an increase of three in the past 24 hours.

Sixteen people are on ventilators.

"This (state's hospital numbers) continues to creep up from yesterday," Dr Gerrard said.

He said he felt for south-east Queensland hospitals dealing with case surges and staff shortages with the majority of the state's ICU patients - "about 20-odd" - on the Gold Coast.

Overall 2,643 Queensland health staff have COVID-19 with 2,835 in quarantine.

"The biggest pressure at the moment is at the Gold Coast and the south Brisbane hospitals," Dr Gerrard said.

"There is no doubt they are under pressure and my thoughts are with the staff at those hospitals looking after significant numbers of patients.

"(But) we have the capacity for looking after patients in the thousands. Our modelling suggests with assistance of private hospitals we will be able to absorb the load."

The latest case figures come after the government dropped all domestic border controls from 1am on Saturday.

Police road border checkpoints were dismantled by Sunday morning with interstate travellers no longer having to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

The government initially planned to ease restrictions when 90 per cent of eligible Queenslanders had received two doses.

Queensland's latest figures show 91.59 per cent have had one jab and 88.71 per cent have received two.

Dr Gerrard advised the government to make the move with the Omicron variant already widespread in the community and the state set to hit the 90 per cent target in the coming days.

International travel restrictions will remain until Queensland hits 90 per cent.

While confident the state's hospitals could cope, Dr Gerrard has urged Queenslanders with mild COVID-19 symptoms not to dial triple zero, in order to ease pressure on the ambulance service.

"We have had a lot of calls...for very minor aspects...people even calling the ambulance centres asking where to get a RAT test," Dr Gerrard said.

He said emergency calls should only be made if people had difficulty breathing, significant chest pain or were coughing up blood.

Meanwhile, Queensland received 148,000 RATs on Saturday.

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