A prominent epidemiologist says it is 'obvious' Australia is heading into its fifth wave of Covid.
Over the last week, 38,226 cases were reported across Australia, with an average of 5,461 cases per day.
While cases are spiking in almost every state and territory - including a 44 per cent spike in
Tasmania - the seven-day rolling average of 5,461 is well below the nation's peak of more than 100,000 cases in January 2022.
University of
South Australia Professor Adrian Esterman said it is already very clear a new wave is coming in South Australia, where infections are forecast to double in the next fortnight.
'It's pretty much clear now across the country we're going into a fifth Omicron wave,' he told the ABC.
'We've seen numbers going up now for three weeks in a row.'
It comes as health authorities are also reporting an increase in cases of influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
'It's a triple whammy at the moment,' he said.
Diagnosis rates of influenza are
100 times higher than they were last year, with more than 40,000 cases of laboratory-proven influenza so far in 2023.
