Australia news LIVE NSW records 124 new local COVID-19 cases Victoria records 26 new cases
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An aged care facility in Melbourne’s west was on high alert this afternoon after a resident returned from hospital with a potential COVID infection.
But staff and residents of Mecwacare John Atchison Centre in Hoppers Crossing are breathing a sigh of relief tonight, as the Department of Health has just confirmed the resident has tested negative.
A Mecwacare spokeswoman said earlier this afternoon that the resident was transferred home from hospital on Thursday morning, and was identified as potentially having COVID.
Residents and staff were immediately placed into isolation, and the facility was deep-cleaned as a precaution.
“We are extremely disappointed that this transfer occurred from the hospital,†the spokeswoman said this afternoon.
“We were advised after the resident was admitted that there was a risk.â€
The hospital was confirmed as Werribee Mercy Hospital, which advised it was “not currently managing any positive COVID riskâ€.
The Mecwacare spokeswoman confirmed the resident returned a negative COVID test result late on Thursday evening.
Beijing will refuse to cooperate with a second World Health Organisation investigation into the origins of coronavirus following an admission from the UN body that it was premature to rule out the virus had leaked from a lab.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has proposed a second study.
Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China’s National Health Commission, speaks at a press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Thursday.Credit:AP
At a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “completely shocked†by the idea.
“We can’t possibly accept such a plan for investigating the origins,†Zeng said.
Tedros said the first investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year had been hampered by a lack of raw data on when the virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and conceded it had been premature of the investigating team to rule out the possibility that it leaked from a lab, namely the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
But Zeng refused the assertion: “I could feel that this plan revealed a lack of respect for common sense and an arrogant attitude towards science.â€
Read the full story here.
A worker at a hospital in Melbourne’s south-east has tested positive for COVID-19, but they are not believed to have interacted with patients during their infectious period.
A spokesman for Monash Health, which runs Casey Hospital in Berwick, said the worker tested positive on Tuesday after they were exposed to COVID in the community.
Casey Hospital in Melbourne’s south-east.Credit:Michael Clayton-Jones
They worked one shift during their infectious period, but Monash believed the worker didn’t have any interaction with patients.
“They are not in a patient-facing role,†the Monash spokesman said.
“We have furloughed 41 employees as a precaution and are awaiting their test results as per Department of Health exposure guidelines.â€
The spokesman said the worker wore appropriate PPE throughout their shift, and took a COVID test as soon as they experienced symptoms.
Their infection is linked to the current Victorian outbreak. Monash Health south-east unit director Professor Rhonda Stuart said it was supporting employees who were close contacts of the positive case and now self-isolating.
“We want to ensure that all employees at Casey Hospital, irrespective of whether they are close contacts, are kept informed throughout the outbreak,†Prof. Stuart said.
“This includes communication about possible exposure areas and reassurance of the steps being taken to manage and contain any areas of risk, while undertaking contact tracing.â€
NSW health authorities have identified a number of new COVID-19 exposure sites, including Paddy’s Market in Haymarket, which has been declared a casual contact site.
The following locations are new close contact sites, meaning anyone who attended them during the specified timeframes must immediately get tested for COVID-19 and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result:
NSW Health also listed additional exposure times for some existing casual contact locations: Woolworths at Fairfield Heights and Bonnyrigg, the Glenrose Village Shopping Centre in Belrose, and Freshness 4 Less and Aldi in Fairfield.
Anyone who visited a casual contact site has to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Authorities also identified an additional nine casual contact locations including, Paddy’s Market in Haymarket on Wednesday, July 14 and Thursday, July 15, a Commonwealth Bank and a Choice Pharmacy.
The full list of exposure sites is here.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told Triple J’s Hack program that the COVID-19 vaccination rollout is two months behind where the government hoped it would be and he’s “not happy†with current levels of vaccination.
He told host Ange McCormack just now that he’s been “very frank†about problems in the vaccination program but “we’ve turned those aroundâ€.
Not for the first time, he points out that AstraZeneca is “the workhorse vaccine for people in the United Kingdomâ€.
But ATAGI, Australia’s expert advisory group on vaccines, has said Pfizer should be the preferred vaccine for under-60s.
At a press conference earlier in Canberra today Mr Morrison said he took responsibility for the vaccination program and for its challenges.
“I’m certainly sorry that we haven’t been able to achieve the marks that we hoped for at the beginning of this year. Of course I am.
“Obviously some things [are] within our control, some things ... are not,†he told reporters at The Lodge in Canberra.
Australia and New Zealand have pulled out of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup over safety concerns, in a move expected to torpedo the showpiece international event.
On the same day league officials expressed a desire for the code to become an Olympic event in time for the Brisbane 2032 Games, the Australian Rugby League Commission and the New Zealand Rugby League informed the International Rugby League (IRL) and Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) organisers of their stance.
The Kangaroos and Kiwis have boycotted the World Cup.Credit:Getty
In a joint statement, the ARLC and NZRL said the decision to withdraw from the World Cup came after considering the risk of COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom, the worsening environment in Australia and the time a majority of NRL players will spend away from home under strict biosecurity conditions prior to the World Cup.
The ARLC and NZRL resolved that, in the present environment, the risks to athletes and officials travelling to the UK to participate in the tournament this year are too great, and it is unable to endorse Australia and New Zealand’s participation.
ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys said player wellbeing and safety must come first.
Read the full story here.
In case you missed it earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed a fast-tracked plan for pharmacies to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations, distributing AstraZeneca doses from mid-August and the Moderna vaccine from September.
He said at today’s COVID-19 update at The Lodge in Canberra that this would deliver further “horsepower†to the vaccine rollout.
The Prime Minister and senior ministers had come under increasing pressure to apologise for the slow vaccine rollout, and Mr Morrison’s mea culpa followed an apology earlier on Thursday from dumped cabinet minister Darren Chester.
Mr Chester said in a social media post that if it helped people to hear it he was “sorry†the rollout had taken longer than expected.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid, who represents doctors, outlined several risks with pharmacy vaccinations but stopped short of calling for the government to reverse its decision as the highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant spreads in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
He said GPs were better at managing rare reactions such as anaphylaxis and suggested some pharmacies in areas where the coronavirus is circulating may struggle to make their stores COVID-safe.
Dr Khorshid also argued that GPs would do a better job of informing patients about the risks and benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to six deaths out of 6.1 million doses.
“That’s not a straightforward conversation, and in our view that’s best done by a GP,†he said.
Read the full story here.
A week is a long time in a pandemic. Six months feels very nearly like a lifetime.
This video by Tom Compagnoni examines the mixed messages of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s suggestion in February that “our aim is to offer all Australians the opportunity to be vaccinated by Octoberâ€.
Today, the PM said the s-word after days of pressure from commentators: he was “certainly sorry that we haven’t been able to achieve the marks we had hoped for at the beginning of this yearâ€.
And you can visit our vaccine tracker here.
The US military’s top officer has offered a glum assessment of the security situation in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban had seized “strategic momentum†over Afghan military forces who were falling back to protect important cities, including the capital Kabul.
The comments by General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed mounting reports from the ground in Afghanistan. But his sober, almost clinical, account of recent Taliban gains hammered home the point.
“There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover or the possibility of any number of other scenarios,†Milley said. “I don’t think the end game is yet written.â€
The Taliban have taken control of more than 210 of Afghanistan’s roughly 420 districts in recent months, Milley told reporters at a Pentagon news conference. They are also pressuring half of the country’s 34 provincial centres and are aiming to isolate Kabul and other major cities, he said.
Read the full article here.
The New York Times
A residential aged care facility west of Melbourne is on high alert, after a resident came back from hospital potentially infected with coronavirus.
The Mecwacare John Atchison Centre in Hoppers Crossing was notified on Thursday morning that a resident who’d come back from hospital might have COVID-19.
The centre was waiting on Thursday afternoon to get the resident’s COVID test result back.
A spokeswoman for Mecwacare said residents and staff were immediately placed into isolation as a precaution, and staff were wearing full PPE.
“As a precaution, we also completed a deep clean of the entire home today,†the spokeswoman said.
“We are extremely disappointed that this transfer occurred from the hospital. We were advised after the resident was admitted that there was a risk.â€
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