Australia's COVID numbers surge amid Djokovic fallout

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia saw another day of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on Thursday amid fears that changes to testing requirements could mask the full scale of the outbreak.

The country reported 72,000 cases, up from 64,000 a day earlier, while hospitalizations jumped to 3,267 from 2,990 and patients in intensive care rose to 208 from 196.

Victoria state recorded six deaths and 21,997 new cases, the biggest daily jump in cases since the pandemic began.

Queensland reported more than 10,000 cases as health officials warned that many more undetected cases were likely spreading in the community.

New South Wales saw 34,994 new cases, slightly down from the record number of 35,054 on Wednesday. A double-vaccinated man in his 20s was among six deaths reported Thursday in Australia’s most populous state.

The case numbers do not necessarily reflect the true spread of the virus as they only count the number of recorded cases.

At a news conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended a new policy that Australians no longer need to take a PCR test to confirm a positive rapid antigen test. The change was made in a national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders on Wednesday.

“Case numbers are less of an issue,” Morrison said. “It is connecting to care that is the issue, and the Commonwealth provides telehealth support to people to be able to do that and get advice on how they can manage their infection at home and, should matters escalate, to seek further assistance.”

Health Minister Martin Foley said people are required to report positive rapid antigen test results to the Department of Health. Any person who has received a positive result on a rapid antigen test will be treated as a probable case and will have to isolate.

Because most...