AUSTRALIA | As of 30 January 2025, Australia faced 750 active COVID-19 cases across 122 residential aged care homes.
The past week brought 47 new outbreaks and 637 new cases among residents and staff, alongside six resident deaths.
In the past two and half years twice as many elderly Australians in residential care have died from COVID than at the peak of the pandemic, though the virus's impact on mortality has dramatically decreased over time.
Experts put the blame at poor vacination rates and vaccination coverage data shows that there is room for improvement. While 70 percent of aged care residents have received a COVID-19 booster in the past year, only 42 percent of residents over 75 have had a booster in the last six months. Recent vaccination rates have softened, with 11,175 residents vaccinated in the past month, down from nearly 13,000 in the previous period.
While COVID-19 caused 33 percent of aged care deaths in 2020, this fell to 3.3 percent in 2022 and now sits at just 1.8 percent in early 2025. Since Omicron emerged in December 2021, there have been 192,381 deaths in aged care from all causes, with COVID-19 accounting for 3.3 percent of these deaths.
Looking at historical trends, aged care mortality rates stayed below expected levels throughout 2020 and remained within normal range during 2021. However, the first half of 2022 saw mortality rates exceed expected ranges, with later 2022 data still being finalised.
Local healthcare providers, including GPs, pharmacists and Aboriginal health services, continue working with aged care homes to maintain vaccination programmes. However, the current data suggests a need for a renewed focus on booster coverage, particularly among the most vulnerable residents over 75.
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