New Covid-19 cases in the state almost doubled in a single day with more than 10,300 infections and another fatality with the virus.

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said health workers were preparing for a “major emergency” over the next couple of weeks which would involve cancellation of elective surgery and more concentration on treating Covid patients.

“The fact that it’s very infectious means we’re going to see a very large number of people in the next two to three weeks getting infected, and also impacting on our hospitals,” he said.

“To all my colleagues, we are going to be stepping up to a very major emergency in the coming two or three weeks.”

“We are very good at stepping up to an emergency, which is what we are about to see.”

Dr Gerrard said that while severe illness and admissions to intensive care would stabilise, the huge number of people infected with the virus mean there would be a spike in those needed some form of hospital care.

He said this would require a reallocation of staff from surgical wards to Covid wards in the state’s public hospitals.

He said it would be necessary to start pulling back on elective surgery to cope with Covid hospitalisations.

“That’s inevitable, I think we’ve all expected that,” he said.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath also revealed difficulties with the promised supply of rapid antigen tests to Queensland, saying while the state had been promised 500,000 kits immediately only 150,000 of these had been supplied so far.

She said the one death recorded overnight was of an 80-year-old man who passed away on December 27 but it had only just been confirmed as due to Covid.

D’Ath welcomed Wednesday’s national cabinet decision to not require a PCR lab test for confirmation of a rapid home test positive result.

“The only people coming forward to get tested right now at our clinics should be people who have symptoms who have not been able to get access to a rapid antigen test,” she said.

Household contacts of positive cases who require a day six test and cant get a rapid kit also qualify for PCR testing, she said.

The new cases emerged after 34,832 tests in the 24 hours to 6.30am on Thursday, taking the total number of active cases to 42,250.

Twelve people are in intensive care, including two on ventilators, while 284 patients are being treated with the virus in hospital.

The surge in new cases, which follows the 6871 reported on Wednesday, comes as testing capacity is being pushed to the brink and authorities warn many undetected infections are likely to be circulating in the state.

The unexpected closure of private PCR testing hubs due to staffing issues related to virus cases and close contact isolation rules, and a slow down in analysis speed due to the high demand is weighing on capacity.

Gerrard said the official number of new cases was likely to be a “gross underestimate”.

“As we know, many patients are doing their own testing, their own RAT testing at home,” he said.

“So patients will have very mild illness and not recognise they have Covid-19 and some patients won’t quite be able to access testing.”

Authorities say 17,000 cases in Queensland are in home quarantine while more still are self-isolating as close contacts of known cases.

There are also 89 active COVID-19 outbreaks in private aged care facilities in Queensland with 25 involving COVID-positive residents, according to the federal Department of Health.

High infection rates and quarantine rules are causing staffing shortages in hospitals, residential aged and disability care facilities, prisons and the police force.

Many hotels and resorts have also had to close or partially shut down due to a lack of staff, while many other private sector businesses are struggling to fill shifts.

-with AAP