Professor Michael Kidd, Deputy Chief Medical Officer here at the Department
of Health in Canberra. This is the national update with figures
as at noon today. In the past 24 hours 226 people
have been diagnosed as new cases of COVID-19 in Australia.
This is down from 289 people yesterday. We're seeing the continuing signs of a
sustained reduction in daily numbers of cases in Victoria.
Tragically though we've seen another 17 new deaths
reported in the past 24 hours all in Victoria.
This brings a number of people who've died from COVID-19 in our country
to 438. Our thoughts are with those who've lost their lives
and with their family members and their loved ones.
Despite the fall in the number of cases the high daily number of deaths
continues and the deaths that we've seen today
continue to reflect the high levels of community transmission
that we were seeing just two weeks ago. Over the past 24 hours 222
of the 226 new cases were in Victoria. There were three new cases reported in
New South Wales, one of those was overseas acquired and
the person is in hotel quarantine and two locally acquired and we've seen
one new case in Western Australia, again overseas acquired and that person
is in hotel quarantine. In Victoria we're continuing to see a
decline in daily figures which is very encouraging
and a huge credit to the people of the state. We all recognise though that there
is still a long way to go. In New South Wales today has not just
been a good day but again reflects the positive trend
and also reinforces that there is still a way to go
to drive down and keep down community transmission
in that state. These outcomes reinforce for all of us
the importance of getting tested if you have any symptoms
no matter how mild. Of continuing to follow the physical
distancing measures in your state and territory
and the guidance on mask wearing. It also reinforces the continuing focus on
contact tracing, making sure we're following up every new
case every day. 23,773 people
have now been diagnosed with COVID-19 in
Australia. There have been 2,076 people diagnosed over the past seven
days. And while nearly 15,000 people have
recovered from COVID-19 in our country we still
have over 7,500 active cases, reflecting the
very high numbers we saw over recent weeks. Nationwide there are
now 682 people with COVID-19 in public and private
hospitals. This is an additional four people hospitalised since this time
yesterday. Among those in hospital there are 52
people in intensive care units, which is one more person in ICU than
yesterday and 37 people are reported to be on
ventilators. Over 5.3 million COVID-19 tests have
now been carried out in Australia and we thank everybody who has been
attending for testing. Normally this is the peak time of the
year for seasonal influenza and yesterday we heard New South Wales
Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant advise people that if you think you have
the flu - you probably have COVID-19, so please get tested. I want to back up
those comments. We're seeing very few cases of influenza
in Australia. Thankfully between January and June of this year there have
only been 36 reported deaths from influenza in Australia.
Compared to 430 reported deaths for the same time last
year. In part the low number of people with
influenza is due to the record number of people
who have been immunised against influenza this year, with 18 million
doses of seasonal influenza vaccines secured
and distributed to the people of Australia. This compares
to just over 13 million doses last year. In part the low transmission
of influenza is also due to the physical distancing measures
which have been in place since the start of the pandemic.
So thank you to everyone in Australia for your contribution to the control of
influenza this year. We feared a double whammy of COVID-19
and influenza and we have avoided this so far this
winter. A reminder though that if you have
symptoms of fever or aches and pains or cough or sore throat it is unlikely
to be influenza it is more likely to be COVID-19.
So please if you have symptoms no matter how mild
arrange to get tested. I also wish to focus on the importance of continuing to
receive healthcare for all our care needs. While much of our focus
remains on COVID-19 it is absolutely essential
that we continue to focus on all the other health care issues
that affect the people of Australia. As a General Practitioner I remain very
concerned about reports of some people delaying
presentation for new health problems, especially among
those who are living under the restrictions
in Victoria. Our Australian attitude of 'she'll be right'
doesn't apply to your health or to the health of your loved ones.
With the disruption in our lives caused by the pandemic
it's still essential that we continue to seek advice and attention
for our health care concerns. If you have a worrying new symptom,
please reach out to your GP, arrange a consultation to ensure
either that it is not something serious or that further investigation
is required. This also includes the need for people with chronic health
conditions to continue to attend their appointments
either in face-to-face or by telehealth and to continue to have
their regular blood tests, continue to take their prescribed
medications, continue to see their nursing and allied health professionals
who are helping to keep them well and helping to prevent their health
conditions from getting worse and causing more serious problems down
the track. And it also includes people with mental
health concerns and this especially applies in Victoria.
Please if you have an existing mental health care concern,
please use telehealth to reach out to your GP or to your therapist
and arrange your continuing care. Our three National Cancer Screening Programs
are for bowel cancer cervical cancer and cervical cancer
but sorry bowel cancer, cervical cancer and breast cancer and can
detect changes before cancer occurs or detect these cancers earlier
than if you were waiting to see symptoms. Screening doesn't
take long and it can save lives. So if you receive an invitation to participate
in the breast cancer, bowel cancer or cervical cancer screening
please make an appointment. The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in the
National Cervical Cancer Screening Programs have continued
to operate throughout the pandemic. The processing for bowel cancer
screening kits has actually shown an increase
during the pandemic. For the National Cervical Cancer Screening Programs while
we saw a reduction in testing in mid-March to April, this has since
increased but we still have many people who are not attending appointments.
Breastscreen Australia services were paused during
April but have since reopened in many parts of the country.
So please if you have an appointment for breast screening please arrange to get
that done as well. Thank you everyone I'm happy to take any
questions.
Reporter: I'm just wondering whether you may have seen overnight
emerged some amazing pictures out of Wuhan in China of a mass
pool party with people with no mask, no social distancing. Wonder
if you have any observations on that given the restrictions we have to live under?
Yes, so the question.
I'm not sure if everyone can hear but the question is about
images overnight of a massive pool party
in Wuhan in China and our response to seeing those images. I think it's
quite remarkable that compared to eight months ago and we see
these images, we all have a visceral reaction to it of seeing very large
numbers of people coming together, very large numbers of
people crowded in a single space and people not
adhering to physical distancing. So it is quite alarming.
I'm not sure what the the figures are in in Wuhan in China at the moment
for community transmission but we do know for example in Hong Kong
that there is further community transmission outbreaks
occurring. So I think it's alarming any time we see large
groups of people, very large groups of people coming together in such a manner.
Reporter: Professor, the case numbers in Victoria have gone down,
the lowest in a month, so there's a bit of a degree of optimism there today.
Do you think that's justified?
Thank you, so the question is
is optimism justified with the fall in the figures that we've seen in
Victoria now at their lowest level in a month. I think it's very encouraging
obviously we have seen numbers going up and down
over over recent weeks so but by and large what we are seeing is a
continuing downward trend in the numbers in Victoria. So as I
say it is very encouraging. I think it's a great credit
to the people of Victoria, but we need to continue watching the
figures over the coming days and obviously people need to
still be adhering to the restrictions and getting tested as required.
Reporter: Given the number of active cases in aged care settings
and Victoria, can you put any figure on the amount of people that
might be expected to die in coming weeks?
So the question is given the the number of figures that we're seeing in aged
care in Victoria, can we put a number on the expected number of
people who may lose their lives to COVID-19 over the coming weeks. The
answer is we can't. Fortunately what we are seeing is a
dramatic reduction in community transmission
in Victoria from that very high peak of the 700's that we were seeing just a few
weeks ago. And so we hope that we'll continue
to see that continuing low level, lowering
levels of community transmission in Victoria. But unfortunately the
tragedy of COVID-19 is that when you do have high levels
of community transmission, you do get deaths occurring and the deaths of
course follow one to two weeks after the high numbers
that we've seen. So, certainly I hope that we see a decline
in the number of deaths over the coming week or two, but we can't
make accurate predictions there. We do have on
the phone Donna.
Reporter: Thanks very much. Just a question about the issues
of staffing of aged care in Victoria. Why didn't the Federal Health Department
take action months ago after seeing how the workforces of Newmarch
House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge were wiped out in New South Wales?
So not sure if everyone can hear the question, but the question is
about the workforce in aged care in Victoria and why action
was not taken much sooner following what we saw with the
workforce's in the nursing homes which were affected in
New South Wales. So in fact there has been surge
workforce of course provided to support the work in Victoria. As we've
seen the outbreak increasing initially and and then
during the peak with large numbers of Defence Force
personnel who've been deployed to support the responses in
Victoria. With significant numbers of nurses and aged care workers coming in
from other states, with people being redeployed from work in other settings,
from other aged care facilities and from private hospitals
and elsewhere. It is absolutely essential that we have
a full complement of our workforce in each of the aged care facilities which
is affected by COVID-19. So that we can ensure that
the people in those facilities are receiving
the care that they need. Of course
maintaining and ensuring the workforce has been a core focus of the Victorian
Aged Care Response Centre, which has now been functioning for three
weeks and we're seeing the results of the coordinated
partnership efforts of the of the centre over
the last week or so. We have Tamsen on the phone
Reporter: Hi Professor, thanks for taking my question. I was just wondering
before you said that there was about 15,000 Australians who have now
recovered from coronavirus. Given that we have seen lots more people go
through this, are we doing any research in terms of the longer term impacts
on their health and what is that showing?
So the question is
about the long-term impacts on the health of people who have now
recovered from COVID-19 and what research is underway. So the
answer is yes of course research is continuing into
all aspects of COVID-19 both here in Australia and also
overseas. And as we've seen with increasing numbers of people being
infected with COVID-19 and then recovering from the acute infection,
we've seen increasing numbers of people who've had
very significant residual health effects following on from their initial
infection. And this doesn't just include those who've been gravely unwell
and have been in intensive care units and on ventilators. That also
includes some of the people who haven't become that unwell while they
were acutely unwell with COVID-19 but is
still having residual problems afterwards. So, yes
there is continuing work underway and particularly looking
at what are going to be the long-term
health care needs of many of the people who have recovered
from COVID-19. Including rehabilitation needs and
the especially the needs of allied health providers
are supporting people in their ongoing recovery.
Matt is also on the phone.
Reporter: Hi Professor Kidd. Thank you for taking my question.
I actually have two questions, they're a bit divergent but I might not get
another chance so I apologise for throwing both of them at the same time.
Okay do you want to ask one of the time Matt?
Reporter: First, just following on from what Dana was asking about staffing
in aged care facilities, last night's Four Corners showed that there
were significant concerns getting a new workforce into some of the
aged care facilities in Melbourne. Given what we have seen in Sydney
earlier on in this crisis with Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson
Lodge, and now concerns that there have been a number of cases or
potential cases in a Queensland aged care facility, what guarantee can
you give the Australian community that those workforce issues
have been addressed? And my second and slightly
different question, there is a parliamentary committee that's
holding a hearing on site in the remote part of the Pilbara early next
month with Indigenous traditional owners. There's going to be
people travelling there from Canberra, Queensland and the Northern
Territory. They are going to take a test for Coronavirus on arrival but is
there still going to be a risk that they could still be bringing
COVID-19 into that vulnerable community?
Thank you so the first question was
about ensuring the workforce for residential aged
care moving ahead and particularly
if and when we see further outbreaks occurring. So there is
continuing work underway Matt, to ensure that we have
surge workforce capacity available and available in each of the states and
territories. It is really important, as you've all said, that we continue to
learn the lessons of what's been happening with COVID-19
and continue to apply those lessons as we continue to live with the
pandemic. The second question was about a group
that will be visiting the Pilbara in remote areas
in Western Australia and concerns about a potential transmission
of COVID-19 into that area. Clearly that group will be working
with the authorities, the health authorities in Western Australia to
make sure that any visit is going to be safe. That any risk to
local Aboriginal people is going to be no risk at all. That
the people are being protected. We've been very successful in Australia to
date in keeping COVID-19 out of remote
communities and particularly out of remote indigenous communities
and it is absolutely essential that that continues into the future.
We have one last question.
Reporter: I was just wondering if you know about the possible incident
of a security guard at hotel quarantine in Sydney and whether you
were alarmed by that?
Thank you so question about whether I know about a
possible hotel security guard being infected in Sydney. I don't
have any details about that but I'm sure that our colleagues in New South Wales
health will be right onto that.
Reporter: Yeah, so [indistinct] wondering as we wait for a vaccination,
what's the best people can do? Is it social distancing and if you're
immune system [indistinct] as a GP?
So as a GP what can people do while
we're waiting for a vaccine to come along for COVID-19.
Look we need to continue doing all the things that we
have been doing. We're learning to live with COVID-19. We're learning
all the measures that we need to take to protect ourselves, our families
and each other but at the same time we need to be
continuing as I've said in addressing all of our healthcare concerns.
So I'm very concerned as a GP to make sure that people
are addressing all their health care concerns and making sure
that nothing is being missed out. One of the consequences we've seen of past
pandemics, is if people do neglect other aspects of
their health care you can actually get worse long-term
effects coming from that than you than you get
from the infectious agent itself. So it really underscores the importance
of care. Thank you everybody and thank you to our
interpreters. Thank you.