SYDNEY, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 hospital admissions have shown signs of a stabilizing outbreak in Australia's two worst-hit states, despite hundreds of school staff testing positive.
The state of New South Wales (NSW) recorded 10,698 new coronavirus cases and 31 deaths on Friday. Compared to the state's COVID-19 figures last week, hospitalizations went down by around 200 to 2,494.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the decline was "pleasing" and the number of patients in the intensive care unit also remained at a "more constant level."
"We expect that to be a little bit slower in declining because a number of the patients have got longer length of stays in ICU when they are ventilated, but we will see that number come down as well," Chant said.
Meanwhile, as 86 percent of school children in the state were back in classrooms this week, more than 2,400 students and 600 staff from hundreds of schools have tested positive, NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said on Friday.
Mitchell said it was a "marked difference" to the situation last year as face-to-face classes were able to continue this time while those affected were required to isolate at home.
"We have been able to manage those staffing absentee rates with the programs that we have in place," she said.
She encouraged parents to keep an eye for information from schools regarding Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs), as a twice-weekly testing schedule was put in place for the first four weeks of this term.
In the neighboring state of Victoria, elective surgery is set to resume 50 percent of normal levels from Feb. 7, as local COVID-19 figures also showed a downward trend.
Victoria reported 11,240 new COVID-19 cases and 36 deaths on Friday. There are 707 people in hospitals with the virus, down from 752 on Thursday. The number of people being treated in intensive care also dropped to 79 from 82.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said if the COVID-19 figures in the state continued to trend downwards in the coming days, he would consider resuming more elective surgery services.
"We are now in a position ... to cautiously and carefully turn that system on next week," he said. ■