Critically ill hotel guest Stephen Evans, whose application for quarantine exemption has been rejected three times by NSW Health, told A Current Affair “every minute” of the day he’s afraid of “catching something” from the other potentially COVID-19 positive guests at Sydney’s Merchant Hotel.
Security guards were also filmed in the segment apparently asleep on the job, with NSW Police confirming in a statement those guards had since been “terminated” for their “inappropriate behaviour”.
MORE: Follow the latest coronavirus news
Australia has recorded a total 9788 cases of COVID-19, with 3967 in Victoria, 3301 in New South Wales, 1071 in Queensland, 443 in South Australia, 635 in Western Australia, 228 in Tasmania, 113 in the Australian Capital Territory and 30 in the Northern Territory.
Follow our live coverage below:
Live Updates
Speaking on ABC Radio Melbourne's Drive program, Victoria's chief health officer has said a national "elimination" strategy for COVID-19 isn't off the table – especially if cases continue to climb in NSW.
Professor Brett Sutton said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) had done "some really detailed thinking" about elimination, but politicians will be the ones to make the call.
"It's certainly for politicians to consider because it has profound implications for tourism, for travel and for how you manage locking your country down, because elimination requires that you don't have any virus introduced through any mechanism," Prof Sutton explained.
Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton says an "elimination" is not off the table. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
It would see the nation adopting a similar method to New Zealand's approach toward coronavirus, with Prof Sutton saying stricter locked-down borders would be part of the plan.
"So that's for Home Affairs, border security and our tourism and education industries to particularly consider the economic and social implications," he said.
Prof Sutton said elimination could be one of the "least harmful" pathways to combatting COVID-19, "especially if we see significant transmission that occurs now in New South Wales".
"I absolutely hope it doesn't – but if we see this kind of see-sawing of having to manage really substantial outbreaks we'll all reflect on the fact that it's going to be really, really hard to sustain this seesawing (with), as you know, pretty damaging economically, socially, psychologically shut downs and if there is an alternative that is less harmful," he said.
"Moronic" pub patrons in New South Wales are being blamed for a new COVID-19 crackdown after a string of new clusters was linked to pubs, clubs and casinos.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to announce the changes on Tuesday with heavy fines and tougher regulations on the collection of contact details and the size of groups.
"Moronic" pub patrons are being blamed for a new COVID-19 crackdown. Picture: Daily Telegraph/Gaye Gerard
The size of groups bookings will be slashed from 20 to just 10 under the changes, while larger venues will be limited to just 300 patrons.
But in a move that is set to anger some in the industry the Star Casino, which was fined $5000 over coronavirus safety measures will not be affected.
The crackdown follows the Crossroads Hotel outbreak in Sydney’s southwest which is linked to 21 confirmed coronavirus cases and forced dozens of patrons into quarantine, including a federal Labor MP.
It also follows shocking images of patrons breaching social distancing laws when lining up to enter premises at the Golden Sheaf Hotel in Sydney’s Double Bay.
With virus cases in NSW beginning to climb, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has called for the whole state to be locked down.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant today revealed more venues where positive COVID-19 cases have visited in late June and early July, as the number of infections linked to Sydney's Crossroads Hotel increase.
Now, Cannon-Brookes has tweeted that a return to lockdown for the state could be "inevitable", arguing it'll be "less sucky" if we shut down now instead of waiting for infections to spike or the economy to take a greater hit.
"Yes – this sucks," he wrote in a thread on Twitter.
"Locking down before 25 cases/day will mean far less time (in lockdown) than 200/day like VIC. And there's less than a week between 25 & 200."
Cannon-Brookes said a 40 per cent reduction in cases was reported for every day the state was locked down sooner rather than later, and pointed out it would have the "lowest overall economic cost".
"It should be clear – Australia's physical border is a huge advantage here. Our island helps a lot!" he wrote.
"I'm saying does a rolling suppression strategy (with no lasting immunity & long term health effects) have more economic cost over a year than a hard lockdown strategy?"
The Sydney hotels where returned overseas travellers are completing their 14 days of mandatory quarantine have been slammed by guests for a slew of "embarrassing failures", citing "filthy" conditions and an "inconsistent" attitude from health authorities toward personal protective equipment (PPE).
Critically ill hotel guest Stephen Evans, whose application for quarantine exemption has been rejected three times by NSW Health, told A Current Affair "every minute" of the day he's afraid of "catching something" from the other potentially COVID-19 positive guests at Sydney's Merchant Hotel.
Security guards filmed in some of Sydney's quarantine hotels. Picture: Supplied
Mr Evans claimed his hotel room was "filthy", which another guest also claimed, adding nursing staff at the hotel had an "inconsistent approach" to wearing PPE.
"I think there's definitely a risk of spreading the disease within the hotel and potentially within the nursing staff," Katherine van Ekert said.
Security guards were also filmed in the segment asleep on the job, with NSW Police confirming in a statement those guards had since been "terminated" for their "inappropriate behaviour".
https://news.google.com/__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?oc=5
2020-07-13 14:32:09Z
52780917068056
Bagikan Berita Ini
