Australia's Omicron wave continues to claim lives across the country, with New South Wales reporting 32 new COVID-19 related deaths, Victoria 19, Queensland 13, and South Australia one on Saturday.
NSW also announced 8,183 further cases of the virus, and that there was 1,650 people in hospital, including 104 in ICU.
The number of hospitalisations in the state fell below 2,000 earlier this week for the first time since January.
Victoria, meanwhile, reported 7,224 new cases on Saturday. The health department said there were 487 patients hospitalised with COVID-19, including 79 in ICU and 20 on ventilators.
With COVID-19 hospitalisations having halved in the past three weeks, the state government on Friday announced the unprecedented code brown pandemic alert issued for the health system would lift.
The alert was issued last month as hospitals and health services came under increasing pressure due to the Omicron wave, and saw urgent services further cut back and staff leave postponed.
The measure has been in place for just more than three weeks and will be lifted at midday on Monday.
Queensland announced Saturday it had recorded 13 further COVID-related deaths, including six in aged care.
Six of the deaths were unvaccinated and four had received a booster.
The state reported 3,660 new cases of the virus, but Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said it was likely “a bit of an underestimate” because of “some slight data problems”.
He said additional cases would be reported in the next 24-hour reporting period.
The number of people in hospital continues to "improve significantly", he said, dropping down to 508. There are 49 people with the virus in ICU.
South Australia reported one new death on Saturday – a woman in her 90s - and 1,372 new infections.
People are seen walking through Darling Harbour, Sydney Source: AAP
SA Health said there were 213 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 17 in intensive care where four are on ventilated.
It comes after some local virus restrictions were eased on Friday.
Family gatherings increased from a maximum of 10 to 50 people while fitness venues are now allowed to have one person to every four square metres, an increase from one person to every seven square metres.
The government has also relaxed the rules for outdoor hospitality venues, allowing them to operate at 75 per cent capacity, up from 50 per cent.
The ACT announced 428 new cases on Saturday, and that there were 51 patients in hospital.
That includes three in intensive care and one on a ventilator.
AMA launches hospital campaign
The Australian Medical Association, meanwhile, has made a bid to put hospital funding on the federal election agenda.
Launching the campaign in Perth on Saturday, AMA president Omar Khorshid said public hospitals were in "logjam", with exhausted staff, long surgery waitlists, and emergency departments struggling to meet demand.
He said the campaign was "unashamedly political" and aimed to build a grassroots movement to press major parties into promising more health dollars ahead of the federal election.
"We are calling for all Australians to think about their health, think about the fact they may need a public hospital one day, they may need elective surgery, they may need to turn up to the emergency department," Dr Khorshid told reporters.
It comes as the Commonwealth extends its pandemic emergency measures until 17 April.
Emergency requirements will continue, including restrictions on outbound travel for unvaccinated Australians and restrictions on cruise ships entering the country.
Other measures include implementing restrictions to protect remote communities in the Northern Territory and preventing price gouging of rapid antigen tests.
With AAP.
