The second half of the 2019–20 reporting period coincided with the beginning of the COVID–19 pandemic in Australia. The social restrictions and behaviour changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the number and type of fall hospitalisations and deaths. For example, in April 2020 in Victoria all types of emergency department presentations were 32% lower compared to the same month in 2019 (VISU 2020).
National data show that in April 2020 among people aged 65 and over there were 25% fewer fall hospitalisations than the same month the previous year. However, by June 2020, with the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions, hospital admissions for fall-related injuries had returned to pre-pandemic levels (Figure 16).
In the following chapter, the data for June are based on projected estimates, see technical notes for more details.