Queensland Covid cases dip to 16,812 and nine deaths in drop from recent days The Sunshine State has recorded 16,812 new cases of Covid-19 and nine deaths There are now 850 people in hospital with Covid, with 48 of those in ICU By Michael Pickering For Daily Mail Australia Published: 00:31 GMT, 20 January 2022 | Updated: 00:31 GMT, 20 January 2022 Viewcomments Queensland has announced 16,812 new cases of Covid-19 and nine deaths. There are now 850 people in hospital, with 48 in ICU and 28 people needing ventilation. The new cases compared with 19,932 cases and 11 deaths recorded on Wednesday. Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard waned on Wednesday that while the state was approaching the peak of the current Omicron outbreak, hospitals and healthcare would be placed under strain in the immediate future. 'The next three weeks or so are going to be a very tough time for Queenslanders and also specifically for our health care workers in Queensland hospitals,' Dr Gerrard said. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also announced yesterday that from 1am this Saturday, fully vaccinated international travellers no longer have to do quarantine. The premier said the decision was made possible by the state's current vaccination rate of 91. 5 per cent of the population with one dose of a vaccine and 88.82 per cent who are double dosed. Travellers will need to do a RAT test within 24 hours of arrival and unvaccinated travellers will still need to do two weeks of quarantine. More to come Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility