Western Australia has recorded 4535 new cases of COVID-19 overnight, with 80 people now in hospital and three in intensive care.

Of the new cases, 2440 were PCR tests and 2095 were self-reported RATs, bringing the total number of active cases in WA to 18,012.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson (above) said of the 80 people in hospital, 50 per cent were unvaccinated and those in ICU were not yet on ventilators.

“This is the start, we are on the curve upwards in terms of hospital numbers, but we won’t see them peak until about a week after cases peak,” she said.

“If the modelling is correct, we hope to be over the worst of it by the end of this month … we would hope the peak lasts no longer than a week.”

Ms Sanderson said she was concerned about an Omicron outbreak in the regional Pilbara town of Roebourne.

“It is a significant outbreak, and it is being managed appropriately with the Aboriginal Medical Service and the WA Country Health Service,” she said.

On Thursday, the ‘very high caseload settings’ took effect, allowing household close contacts to isolate for a static seven days from a positive test.

The previous rules required close household contacts to quarantine for seven days, from the time of their last contact, often meaning close contacts remained in quarantine for a further seven days after the positive case was released.

Tap PLAY below to hear Liam Bartlett discuss the hospitalisations.

Courtesy: WAtoday