Good afternoon everyone. I'm providing the daily update from New South Wales Health.
There remain four confirmed cases, so we have no new cases reported in New South Wales.
Two patients are now well and were discharged on the 29th of January and the other two
remain clinically stable. The close contacts of the cases have been monitored by
public health units and no cases have been identified amongst those close contacts. We've
got twenty cases currently under investigation, and as I discussed yesterday, that's actually
a positive sign that our numbers are increasing cause at the moment we want to increase testing
and to make sure that we identify every possible case at this current time. There's eleven
men nine women and the age range is from five to seventy four years and as our usual procedure
all of those individuals will be in isolation whilst we are awaiting test results. I'm pleased
to announce we've got testing up and running in two of our sites both at Westmead and our
Randwick facility and that will also make sure our test results are more quickly provided
to patients to, in most cases as we've seen, exclude infection. That's all I've got
for the update, but, certainly wanted to provide the opportunity for questions. I should say
that all of the thirteen tests that were done last night were all negative and hence the
no further confirmed cases today.
So firstly those cases their symptoms have resolved completely
so no symptoms and we've also as an added precaution undertaken testing to confirm that
there is no virus detectable in any samples taken from those individuals.
So the treatment is supportive
there is no specific treatment for Coronavirus if they've got a concurrent
infection such as influenza we can use anti-virals or they develop a bacterial co-infections
we can treat that, but there is no therapy that is routinely given for the Novel Coronavirus.
No they've acquired the virus, they've got better they got immune they can go forth and
they're not infectious, they don't present a risk to anyone else.
Sorry I don't have
those details at hand, we'll certainly follow up after this case with the Commonwealth.
I'm happy to provide that to you after the press conference, as I've got the ages of
the four, but I'm not sure which one were the two, so we're happy to provide that. In
broad terms I think we've been saying yes we will be able to provide that to you.
So as I've reported the numbers jumped yesterday I think from memory it was around sixteen
cases under investigation yesterday's press conference, today I'm saying twenty today,
so that reflects an increase in testing, partly it reflects the broadening definition to focus
on the Hubei Province rather than just Wuhan and that's in recognition of transmission
a little bit more widespread than Wuhan City itself. And also our recognition that the
disease can present in a mild form, so to ensure we really understand that we are picking
up the cases here and as we try and learn as an international community more and more
about this virus it is important that we have widened our case definition and are testing
a broader range of people presenting with symptoms.
I would not be surprised if we identified
further cases and to some extent that is a positive message because it means we're got
our surveillance system up, we're testing people, we're asking people to come forward
and I want to acknowledge the fact that we have had so many people come forward for testing.
So I would say I wouldn't be concerned if I found another case, I think it reflects
the veracity of our screening processes.
I haven't personally had any feedback provided
to me about the response to that, but I think as the Minister has said the community has
been very responsive to the health messages and I also acknowledge the key role of the
media getting those messages out and I understand that as we're monitoring this situation closely
in Australia and drawing on best expert advice that that advice has changed over that period
and our understanding has changed and it's likely that it will continue to change, but
I do also want to say and echo some of the statement I made yesterday which is I'm still
concerned about the misinformation on social media platforms and would urge your listeners
to ensure that they seek reliable sources of truth. Our website has got lots of information,
we have got videos and fact sheets in translated versions, so my message is seek out reliable
sources and keep yourself informed. Thank you.