COVID hospital case peak may have passed, Sutton tells MPs

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Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton believes the number of Victorians in hospital with COVID-19 may have already peaked, bettering caseload modelling by half in the weeks after a statewide “code brown” was declared.

Professor Sutton faced testy questioning from the new pandemic declaration accountability and oversight committee on Monday when explaining the way binding orders relating to the pandemic are now made.

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton fronts the newly established parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

The committee was established late last year under the terms of pandemic-specific legislation that passed in November after significant controversy and daily protests.

Professor Sutton has previously said he believes the state has passed the peak of new COVID-19 infections, with 10,053 confirmed on Monday, but hospitalisations were still expected to grow by 100 a day before reaching 2500.

“I think we’re likely to be at the peak now. I think we’re unlikely to go above 1500 hospitalisations and I think it’s probably already peaked. I think that peak will look bumpy, it’ll be a plateau, it’ll have up and down days, but it won’t significantly increase from the position we’re in right now,” he said.

There were 1229 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria on January 17, then 1206 on January 20. On Monday, there were 873 people in hospital. The code brown was declared on January 18 over fears the hospital system could buckle under pressure from the Omicron wave.

The new legislation transferred the power to make rules during a pandemic from the chief health officer to the health minister of the day.

Professor Sutton, who provides health advice to help form the basis of Health Minister Martin Foley’s decisions, said he had advised Mr Foley he had no view on whether it was safe for crowd capacity at the Australian Open to be lifted from 65 to 80 per cent in time for the tennis finals.

“I had a request for a public health view and I provided no recommendation for or against. I said it was primarily a matter really of social licence and social considerations as a really significant public event,” he said.

The capacity decision was announced by Major Events Minister Martin Pakula on Friday.

Bickering occasionally broke out between MPs on the committee at Monday’s public hearing, with Liberal member for Rowville Kim Wells questioning why Professor Sutton appeared by video rather than in person.

The committee can recommend both houses of Parliament revoke or amend a pandemic order if it does not appear to be within the powers of the legislation, or if it is incompatible with the human rights charter.

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