Hospitals and Healthcare

Infectious diseases experts are warning that almost all available antiviral medications are increasingly ineffective against the “soup” of Omicron descendants now circulating in Australia.

The BA.2 virus -- a subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant -- isn't just spreading faster than its distant cousin, it may also cause more severe disease and appears capable of thwarting some of the key weapons we have against Covid-19, new research suggests.

For months the NSW government assured the public that its hospitals were coping through the pandemic. But frontline staff are now speaking out about the barely controlled chaos behind the scenes. Reporter Mayeta Clark investigates what really happened during Omicron's peak.

The pathway for foreign doctors to practise in New Zealand is neither easy nor very fair, meaning an over-stretched health system is missing out on valuable expertise.

Some aged care residents have been forced to go without showers and meals and their wounds undressed as Victoria’s nursing homes face unprecedented staff absenteeism due to the Omicron outbreak.

A public health expert explains emergency measures recently brought in to manage the impact of Omicron on our stressed health system.

The last Omicron wave affected younger people. But the new BA.5 variant is seeing case numbers in older age groups higher than ever before – just as hospitals are under the most pressure.

Many healthcare workers are afraid of speaking to the media, but they are also desperate for the public to know what's been happening in our hospitals. As the Omicron wave peaked in Sydney last month, Background Briefing was following them. These are their stories — in their words — about what they saw.

Cases of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 are now in Australia. While there’s no evidence it causes more severe disease than the original Omicron, early research suggests it’s more transmissible.

The Premier’s statements that the public hospital system has capacity and is coping have offended many frontline healthcare workers whose sacrifices have, and continue to be, been immense.

Inside the Luminis Health Doctors Community Hospital in Lanham, Md., there are more covid-19 patients than at any other point in the pandemic. Doctors, nurses and hospital administrators are all being pushed to the brink.

COVID-19 is in the community and if you haven’t already caught it, the likelihood is you or someone close to you will. Here is some practical advice to help you prepare.

I am a specialist doctor, triple vaxxed, healthy, in my early 30s – but my “personal responsibility” hasn’t protected me from COVID.

We are not where we thought we might be a year ago, but there is still reason for hope.