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| Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records six deaths and 384 Covid-19 cases and NSW 14 new cases – latest news | Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records six deaths and 384 Covid-19 cases and NSW 14 new cases – latest news |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| State suspends non-urgent elective surgery as Covid-19 cases in nursing homes rises, while NSW announces 14 new cases. Follow live updates | State suspends non-urgent elective surgery as Covid-19 cases in nursing homes rises, while NSW announces 14 new cases. Follow live updates |
| Hunt was asked about his own experience with private aged care facilities in Victoria, as his father lived in one. | |
| A reporter asked another question, but Hunt repeated: | |
| Hunt said the key concerns are making sure staffing is covered, if aged care workers need to self-isolate, and to ensure that residents who need to be moved to a hospital can be moved. | |
| He said he had received a “concerning report” of aged care providers being turned away when they tried to move residents into hospital – and he again says that’s a state decision. | |
| Asked if the federal government has dropped the ball on managing the aged care outbreak, given the earlier experience with Newmarch House in Sydney, Hunt said it was “exactly the opposite”. | |
| It’s precisely because of the experience we’ve had that we’re able to set up an aged care response centre. | |
| Australia’s chief nursing and midwifery officer, Alison McMillan, said she worked in St Basil’s Home for the Aged, the site of the biggest aged care outbreak in Melbourne at the moment, and one which has been identified as having had significant failures. | |
| She urged nurses not to be afraid of working in aged care settings. | |
| She added: | |
| Hunt said the federal government will send an Australian Medical Assistance Teams (Ausmat team) into Victoria to help manage the outbreak, and would also request staff come in from interstate. | |
| Hunt said the Australian government was also allocating a further five million masks from the national medical supply to the aged care sector in Melbourne, and would also provide 500,000 face shields – the first time that level of PPE has been provided to the aged care sector. | |
| Hunt said the aged care outbreaks are, like the rest of the second wave in Melbourne, “a consequence of major outbreak at hotel quarantine”. | |
| Hunt said the biggest challenge in aged care is that, if one staff tests positive, a “significant number of staff, or all staff, may need to isolate”. | |
| Hunt said there are now 1,463 ADF members working in Victoria, particularly in contact tracing. He implies that Victoria’s contact tracing team had not been meeting the national standard of contacting every active case, every day. | |
| Hunt is now giving the “context” of the Victorian outbreak. | |
| You may have noticed that, just as Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said he was not interested in blaming anyone for failures in aged care but did repeatedly say it was a commonwealth responsibility, Greg Hunt is staring by outlining all the ways in which it’s Victoria’s fault. | |
| It is perhaps an example of collegiality that they’re both doing it. | |
| Hunt is giving some global context on coronavirus numbers, against which backdrop the outbreak in Melbourne can’t help but look better. | |
| Globally, he says, there have been one million new cases recorded in four days, bringing the total number of cases globally to 16.4m, with 651,000 deaths. | |
| Victoria is the eighth state. | |
| The federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking in Melbourne about the response to the outbreaks in aged care. | The federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking in Melbourne about the response to the outbreaks in aged care. |
| He begins by thanking again “our extraordinary nursing staff, our medical staff, our aged care staff, for their commitment to managing the outbreak in Victoria. Their actions have saved lives and protected lives”. | |
| NSW police are holding a press conference about the Black Lives Matter rally, or “unauthorised public assembly” as they put it, at 2pm. | NSW police are holding a press conference about the Black Lives Matter rally, or “unauthorised public assembly” as they put it, at 2pm. |
| In other Sydney news: | In other Sydney news: |
| Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay Jr, says the family will present a petition to parliament at 3pm today after a protest was broken up by police earlier. | Leetona Dungay, the mother of David Dungay Jr, says the family will present a petition to parliament at 3pm today after a protest was broken up by police earlier. |
| Dungay, whose son died in Long Bail Jail in 2015, had offered to call the protest off if the NSW government ordered an investigation by Worksafe or the DPP into his death. | Dungay, whose son died in Long Bail Jail in 2015, had offered to call the protest off if the NSW government ordered an investigation by Worksafe or the DPP into his death. |
| Dungay family member Lizzie Jarrett said that no people had been arrested – contrary to media reports – only fined. | Dungay family member Lizzie Jarrett said that no people had been arrested – contrary to media reports – only fined. |
| Leetona Dungay said: | Leetona Dungay said: |
| Jarrett said there were more police than protestors, and police issued move on orders and fines, but did not arrest anybody to her knowledge. | Jarrett said there were more police than protestors, and police issued move on orders and fines, but did not arrest anybody to her knowledge. |
| The Australian Capital Territory is not adding to those growing case numbers. It has recorded no new cases of coronavirus again, and now only has one active case. | The Australian Capital Territory is not adding to those growing case numbers. It has recorded no new cases of coronavirus again, and now only has one active case. |
| Despite this good record, the ACT’s chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, has urged Canberrans to “remain vigilant”. | Despite this good record, the ACT’s chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, has urged Canberrans to “remain vigilant”. |
| I just wanted to pull out that last point. | I just wanted to pull out that last point. |
| Australia only reached 10,000 coronavirus cases on 13 July. | Australia only reached 10,000 coronavirus cases on 13 July. |
| Today, just 15 days later, Victoria alone is at 9,049 cases – some 5,082 more than on 13 July – and the national total is expected to top 15,000 when today’s numbers are added in. | Today, just 15 days later, Victoria alone is at 9,049 cases – some 5,082 more than on 13 July – and the national total is expected to top 15,000 when today’s numbers are added in. |
| Sutton was then grilled on delays in people being contacted by the contact tracing teams. He says people may have missed a call or visit from contact tracers for “a number of reasons” including phone numbers being transcribed incorrectly, people not answering the phone, or not being home when the ADF come knocking. | Sutton was then grilled on delays in people being contacted by the contact tracing teams. He says people may have missed a call or visit from contact tracers for “a number of reasons” including phone numbers being transcribed incorrectly, people not answering the phone, or not being home when the ADF come knocking. |
| Sutton: | Sutton: |
| In response to criticisms that close contacts, including workplaces, were not being notified, sometimes for days, and that sometimes individuals were taking on the job of directly contacting people themselves, Sutton said: | In response to criticisms that close contacts, including workplaces, were not being notified, sometimes for days, and that sometimes individuals were taking on the job of directly contacting people themselves, Sutton said: |
| He added: | He added: |
| Sutton also dismissed criticism that some people who had been identified as close contacts, and were in self-isolation, had not been able to get a test. Sutton said they only tested close contacts if they showed symptoms, because he said that if a close contact got tested soon after their exposure, when they had no symptoms, it could create a false sense of confidence. | Sutton also dismissed criticism that some people who had been identified as close contacts, and were in self-isolation, had not been able to get a test. Sutton said they only tested close contacts if they showed symptoms, because he said that if a close contact got tested soon after their exposure, when they had no symptoms, it could create a false sense of confidence. |