Good afternoon. My name is Professor Michael Kidd, Deputy
Chief Medical Officer here at the Department of Health in Canberra.
Here's the national COVID-19 update with figures as of noon today.
In the past 24 hours, 246 people have been diagnosed as new cases of
COVID-19 in Australia. This is slightly up from 228 people
yesterday, but we are continuing to see a sustained
reduction in daily numbers of cases in Victoria.
24,236 people
have now been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive in Australia.
Nearly 18,000 people are reported to have recovered from COVID-19.
But tragically we've had another 13
deaths reported in the past 24 hours. All in Victoria. This brings a number of
people who have lost their lives to COVID-19
in our country to 463. This is a terrible time for those who
have lost loved ones and my thoughts are with the families
and friends of the deceased. Over the past 24 hours, 240 of the new
cases were in Victoria. Five cases have been reported in New
South Wales, two of these are overseas acquired and
those people are in hotel quarantine and the other three cases are locally
acquired and there's one new case reported in Queensland which is
currently under investigation. Clearly contact
tracing of all these cases remains absolutely essential.
We must ensure that every new case of COVID-19 is being followed up
every day and I acknowledge the work of our colleagues in Victoria in particular
in ensuring and making sure that this happens.
Nationwide there are now 642 people with COVID-19 reported as being in hospital.
Among those in hospital there are now 51 people in intensive care units,
which is one less than this time yesterday and 33 people
are reported to be on ventilators. Over 5.5 million COVID-19 tests have now
been carried out in Australia. A reminder - if you have symptoms, no
matter how mild, please get tested and then isolate at
home while you wait for your results. We continue to see people with mild
symptoms attending work and then later being diagnosed with
COVID-19. Which of course puts other people at risk
of infection. We must all remain vigilant wherever we are in the country.
We're continuing to closely follow the COVID-19 vaccine developments in
Australia and around the world. Yesterday the Prime Minister announced
the signing of a Letter of Intent with UK-based drug company AstraZeneca
to supply the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine candidate
to Australia. Under this signed agreement, should trials prove effective
successful and safe Australia will manufacture and supply this vaccine.
the Prime Minister has also released Australia's COVID-19 vaccine and
treatment strategy. Developed under the guidance of an
advisory group of medical and industry experts chaired by Dr
Brendan Murphy. And they are providing advice to the
Australian Government on the purchasing and manufacturing
of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Clearly we welcome any developments
towards a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19. In the past week the
World Health Organisation has reported that there are 29 vaccines in clinical
evaluation, 138 vaccines in pre-clinical evaluation.
The Australian Government continues to monitor all vaccine candidates
in clinical trials. We continue to follow our rigorous regulatory procedures in
Australia to ensure vaccine candidates are effective
and safe for use. Thank you very much. I'm happy to take any questions.
Reporter: Professor Kidd, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
conducted just 63 unannounced visits to aged care home since March.
Is that a sufficient level of regulatory oversight given we are in the
midst of a pandemic?
So thank you.
So for those who can't hear the question. The questions about
the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission which has conducted 63, I'm
told, assessments and visits of residential
aged care facilities across the country between March and now and
a question about whether that's an adequate number of
assessments. Clearly the work of the Safety and Quality
Commission on Aged Care is absolutely essential and
I understand there is a rolling process of accreditation
visits, to ensure that each of the facilities
is meeting the requirements under the legislation and ensuring
the safety and well-being of the residents of
each of those facilities. I can't comment on the
actual schedule because I'm not across that or
planned future numbers of visits.
Reporter: To further the broader point then maybe how can the
Commonwealth and health officials such as yourself be confident that aged
care homes are prepared when there is such a low number of unannounced,
so they can’t prepare for the visit, happening during a pandemic.
Would you like to see or are you considering further measures
to make sure aged care is prepared?
Thank you. So the question is following up
would we like to see further measures to ensure that aged care is prepared
during the pandemic and I think it's really important to understand that
under the establishment by the Australian Government
and the state of Victoria of the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre.
The aged care response centre has overview
of all of the residential aged care facilities
in Victoria which have reported outbreaks. There is a case manager
for each of those facilities, working with the staff
of those facilities to ensure the response
and to ensure the well-being and the safety of the residents
of all of those facilities. So there are a number of ways that we're ensuring
that residential aged care is providing safe support for their
residents.
Can we go to the phones to Josh?
Reporter: Thank you, Professor. I wanted to ask about AstraZeneca.
It has been reported internationally that the company is asking for
indemnification from potential vaccine side-effects in the countries it
is making agreements in. I wanted to ask you if AstraZeneca has asked
Australia to agree to or if we have agreed to similar conditions around
indemnification? Would we agree to conditions like this?
Thanks josh. So the question is about
whether AstraZeneca has been asking for indemnification
of their product and whether that's been part of the agreement with
Australia. I'm sorry Josh, I haven't seen the Letter of Intent,
which has been signed. So I'm not able to
provide any advice on its content.
Reporter: On another issue if I may.
Yea, sure go ahead.
Reporter: Today New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian,
described that only one hotel quarantine security guard has contracted
COVID as a, quote: miracle. Obviously it’s good news, but are you concerned
that our last line of defence is perhaps miracles? That we just hope for
the best? That it does not spread beyond this one incident?
So the question is about the one incident of the hotel quarantine
security person contracting COVID-19
in New South Wales. Clearly a hotel quarantine
in seven of the eight states and territories around Australia has been
incredibly effective in preventing COVID-19 from coming into the
Australian community. Thousands of Australians have returned
to the country and have been in hotel quarantine. There have been very
significant number of people who have been infected with COVID-19
and have been detected while in quarantine and so we've
prevented those people from transmitting COVID-19
to other people around the country. It's absolutely essential that we have
very rigorous infection control procedures, support and supervision of
the staff who are working in those quarantine hotels. Clearly we
have the inquiry underway in Victoria and there'll be
very important learnings and lessons I'm sure coming out of
that inquiry which will be headed and picked up by
the states and territories right around the country.
Anna?
Reporter: Thank you, Professor. If you can bear with me, there are two questions from me, please.
Great can you ask them one at a time? Thank you.
Reporter: There are about 19,000 Australians who want to
return from overseas. What is the AHPPC’s advice on whether those
caps on international arrivals could be lifted to allow more of them to
come home?
Thank you. So the question is around the Australians overseas
who are wanting to come home and where the AHPPC has provided advice
on caps on quarantine. So the AHPPC hasn't been providing advice
on the caps. These are determinations which are being made
by each of the states and territories based on what
I understand they feel is safe numbers of people
able to come into the country and be monitored and supported
in hotel quarantine. So we do have reduced numbers at the moment.
Clearly with the outbreaks in Victoria, we saw
Melbourne stopping receiving people into hotel quarantine and that obviously
had a significant impact and has created a backlog of
people overseas, but we are aware that there are many
Australians of course who do wish to come back to the country
to return to their families.
Second question Anna.
Reporter: Thank you. Qantas has today said it can’t see international
travel resuming until midway through next year. What do you make of
[indistinct] and how important will a vaccine be to that actually
happening?
Thank you so
the question is about QANTAS announcing they can't see
international travel resuming until at least sometime next
year and whether this is linked to the vaccines.
Look, clearly we can't predict what's going to happen with COVID-19
over the months or indeed over the years ahead
Anna. We just have to continue to plan and prepare as well as we can.
We don't know when international travel is going to be possible for people from
Australia. We don't know when a vaccine is going to be available
which is safe and effective and able to be
distributed very widely across the country. So
we just have to wait and see what happens over time. Which of course is
incredibly difficult for everybody including for industries
like QANTAS.
Final question.
Reporter: So National Cabinet meeting tomorrow I understand
there will be receiving advice based on what has been learned from
Victorian aged care. What other issues has the AHPPC prepared advice on?
So the question is what advice is going forward to
the National Cabinet meeting tomorrow. I'm sorry I'm not able to
preempt what's going to be on the agenda for the National Cabinet
tomorrow. That's up to the Prime Minister and the premiers.
Thank you everybody and thank you to our interpreters thank you.