AS COVID HOSPITAL CASES INCREASE, AUSTRALIANS ARE RECOMMENDED TO WORK FROM HOME.

As the number of patients in hospitals with COVID-19 approaches record levels, Australians have been warned to work from home and wear masks indoors.

The BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants are causing the third wave of coronavirus in the nation, and earlier this month, access to second booster shots was expanded to address the recent spike in cases.

Tuesday saw an increase in daily cases to 50,248—the highest number in two months.

With COVID-19, there are currently 5,239 Australians in hospitals, slightly shy of the record 5,390 patients counted in January.

Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, said on ABC Radio on Wednesday that "we need to do certain things differently, at least for a short period of time" because the number of hospital admissions is about to reach an all-time high.

"We know that one of the most important factors in preventing what we refer to as macro spreading is working from home."

However, in a later press conference, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remarked that some people were simply unable to work from home. He said that this was a problem between employers and their employees.

According to Albanese, "businesses will continue to make those judgments." the Sydney Morning Herald. "They must be produced with safety in mind. But we also need to acknowledge that certain people can't work remotely. It's important to strike the correct balance. We can accomplish that, I'm sure, if some common sense is used.

Australia began easing up on its strict coronavirus health regulations toward the end of last year, after the majority of the population had received all available vaccinations. However, the high transmissibility of the Omicron variants has put Australia's strategy of "living with the virus" to the test.