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| Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records six deaths and 384 Covid-19 cases and NSW 14 new cases – latest news | |
| (32 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 |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 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”. | |
| I just wanted to pull out that last point. | |
| 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. | |
| 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: | |
| 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: | |
| 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. | |
| Interestingly, Sutton said that the Victorian government cannot legally prevent people who test positive to Covid-19 from going out in public to exercise. | |
| Sutton said people are “entitled to exercise, within their home and their garden, ideally”. | |
| People who test positive, or are in precautionary self-isolation, are told to “absolutely limit potential interaction with others”. | |
| I am not sure what that then means about the ability to impose that hard lockdown on the nine public housing towers, but I’m sure legal minds are already turned to the issue. | |
| The Victorian chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said the R-number in the Victorian outbreak “will be close to one if not below one” but he warned that a large outbreak could drive it up again. | The Victorian chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said the R-number in the Victorian outbreak “will be close to one if not below one” but he warned that a large outbreak could drive it up again. |
| The Australian Medical Association has called for a royal commission into the entirety of Victoria’s response to the outbreak. | The Australian Medical Association has called for a royal commission into the entirety of Victoria’s response to the outbreak. |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| He returned again to the issues reported in aged care in Melbourne. | He returned again to the issues reported in aged care in Melbourne. |
| Andrews was asked how some of these aged care facilities have been able to maintain their accreditation, if the care they provide is as substandard as he has described. | Andrews was asked how some of these aged care facilities have been able to maintain their accreditation, if the care they provide is as substandard as he has described. |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| He says that he is not the royal commissioner. | He says that he is not the royal commissioner. |
| Andrews repeated that it’s not possible, or even necessarily appropriate, to move all aged care residents into hospitals. | Andrews repeated that it’s not possible, or even necessarily appropriate, to move all aged care residents into hospitals. |
| Back to Victoria. | Back to Victoria. |
| There are now more than 700 active cases connected to aged care settings in Victoria, and fewer than 10 of those cases are linked to public sector aged care. Premier Daniel Andrews says public sector aged care – which is the part the state government manages – is less than 10% of the market. | There are now more than 700 active cases connected to aged care settings in Victoria, and fewer than 10 of those cases are linked to public sector aged care. Premier Daniel Andrews says public sector aged care – which is the part the state government manages – is less than 10% of the market. |
| Asked if these changes should have happened earlier, given the outbreaks at some aged care homes in Sydney during the first wave, Andrew said “I am not interested in any of those games”. | Asked if these changes should have happened earlier, given the outbreaks at some aged care homes in Sydney during the first wave, Andrew said “I am not interested in any of those games”. |
| He said he is not sure how many aged care residents will have to move, and is trying to get that information from the Commonwealth. | He said he is not sure how many aged care residents will have to move, and is trying to get that information from the Commonwealth. |
| Protesters have been fined for breaching public health orders. They lost a court bid to allow the protest to go ahead. | Protesters have been fined for breaching public health orders. They lost a court bid to allow the protest to go ahead. |
| We will go back to Victoria in a moment but, quickly, at least three people have been arrested by police at the Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney. | We will go back to Victoria in a moment but, quickly, at least three people have been arrested by police at the Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney. |
| Mikakos said: | Mikakos said: |
| There are 56,000 aged care beds in Victoria – so moving everyone is not a possibility. | There are 56,000 aged care beds in Victoria – so moving everyone is not a possibility. |
| Mikakos said she found the number of outbreaks in aged care in Melbourne “very distressing”. She appeared emotional while talking. | Mikakos said she found the number of outbreaks in aged care in Melbourne “very distressing”. She appeared emotional while talking. |
| She said there was a “distressing situation” in St Basil’s home for the aged last week, which she said was particularly “close to many members of the Greek community and I know they have been distressed to see the rising toll of deaths at that facility”. | She said there was a “distressing situation” in St Basil’s home for the aged last week, which she said was particularly “close to many members of the Greek community and I know they have been distressed to see the rising toll of deaths at that facility”. |
| Mikakos is obviously part of that community, and she seems to be feeling it too. | Mikakos is obviously part of that community, and she seems to be feeling it too. |
| The commonwealth stepped in to St Basil’s last week, with state government nurses from the Northern Hospital sent in. | The commonwealth stepped in to St Basil’s last week, with state government nurses from the Northern Hospital sent in. |
| That’s the reason for the elective surgery changes, she said. | That’s the reason for the elective surgery changes, she said. |
| All but one of the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne have tested negative to Covid-19, and that final test result is still pending, the health minister, Jenny Mikakos, has said. | All but one of the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne have tested negative to Covid-19, and that final test result is still pending, the health minister, Jenny Mikakos, has said. |