Just 2% of COVID-19 patients in Australia admitted to ICUs, data reveals

Only 149 people have been admitted to intensive care units in Australia since the outbreak began here on 14 March – but people aged over 60 made up 69% of admissions, according to the first national snapshot of COVID-19 patients requiring ICU.

The data – collected from 76 ICUs as part of the Monash University-led SPRINT-SARI Australia study, a hospital-based surveillance database providing real-time tracking and reporting of Intensive Care Units – found 41% of those admitted were in the 70-79 age group (the average age was 65 years).

Men were also twice as likely to be admitted to ICU than women (67% versus 31%).

Interestingly, only 85 of the 149 admissions had tested positive for COVID-19 – 18 were strongly suspected but returned a negative swab test, while 46 with suspected COVID-19 were still awaiting test results.

But of the 85 confirmed COVID‐19 patients, two-thirds (57 out of 85) also required invasive ventilation at some stage of their stay.

12 (14%) died, 31 (36%) were discharged home, three (3%) were transferred to another hospital/facility, 20 (23%) remained in hospital ward care and 19 (22%) in ongoing ICU care – with 20% still in the ICU at the 40-day mark.

An indication of COVID-19’s long recovery time.