Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd has confirmed Victoria is in the grip of a “secondary very significant surge” in coronavirus infections and admitted authorities “don’t know what will happen” in terms of whether school holiday travellers will lead to more outbreaks elsewhere.
Speaking to A Current Affair on Monday night, Professor Kidd said: “We don’t know if there may have been any risk of transmission of people who have been holidaying in NSW from Victoria.”
RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates
RELATED: What will happen to your school holiday plans
He said it’s too early to tell if any cases could be detected in NSW from school holiday travellers and declined to refer to Victoria’s outbreak as a “second wave” of the pandemic.
Host Tracy Grimshaw asked him if the country should “brace ourselves over the next two weeks” to see if Victorians from lockdown areas travelled in the school holidays, potentially leading to virus outbreaks elsewhere.
“We don’t know what will happen,” Prof Kidd replied.
“We have certainly seen, over the last few days, some people who travelled from Victoria from lockdown areas into NSW and of course, now we have the lockdown coming into place tomorrow (Tuesday) night,” he said.
“But again, that message, it only takes one person with the infection to spread to many other people. Please, if you have symptoms, stay at home and arrange to get tested.”
It came after Victoria recorded 127 new cases overnight, marking a record spike.
There were 13 other cases announced in New South Wales and Western Australia however all were returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
RELATED: Victorians to be sent to hotel quarantine in Qld
Asked by Grimshaw if Victoria’s 127 new cases on Monday meant the start of a second wave of the virus, Professor Kidd said it was a “secondary significant surge in infections.”
“Whether you use the term second wave, I am not sure the term is being bandied around very widely to describe lots of things, but certainly we are seeing a second resurgence occurring in Victoria and it is very concerning.
“When we talk about the second wave, and often it is used in the context of the Spanish flu pandemic, what happened was the infection spread right across the country and resulted in even greater numbers of cases and greater numbers of fatalities than occurred in the first wave,” he said.
“That is not what we are seeing at the moment in Melbourne, we’re seeing an outbreak that is at the moment confined to the city of Melbourne, particularly in those lockdown areas, and we have a very rigorous response underway.”
Prof Kidd also conceded those to test positive for COVID-19 in Melbourne’s nine locked down public housing towers may not be able to follow the government’s isolation advice.
Grimshaw asked whether the 53 people who by Monday had tested positive in the North Melbourne and Flemington estates are being isolated from their family members or flatmates.
“Or is it being accepted that if there are three people living in a unit and one is infected, the other two are going to get it?” Grimshaw asked.
“Because they are very small units, it is hard to physically distance.”
Prof Kidd said he wasn’t aware of the exact circumstances “in each of the units where people are being diagnosed” but the normal health advice is that someone in a household who tests positive for COVID-19 is to isolate themselves from others.
The advice from the federal health department for those living with other people while in isolation includes “staying alone in your own room”, “using a different bathroom, if possible” and “avoiding shared areas”.
Household items should not be shared and isolated people should not be in the same room as others.
“If you share your home with others, you should limit your contact with them,” the department states.
However, Prof Kidd told Grimshaw: “As you point out, in very small apartments, especially if they are crowded, this may not be possible.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiqgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS93b3JsZC9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy9hdXN0cmFsaWEvY29yb25hdmlydXMtdmljdG9yaWEtc2Vjb25kYXJ5LXNpZ25pZmljYW50LXN1cmdlLWluLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWluZmVjdGlvbnMvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83N2NmYTc5MTk5MjU4MWI1MDMwYjdhYzczYWYxZTk0NNIBqgFodHRwczovL2FtcC5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS93b3JsZC9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy9hdXN0cmFsaWEvY29yb25hdmlydXMtdmljdG9yaWEtc2Vjb25kYXJ5LXNpZ25pZmljYW50LXN1cmdlLWluLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWluZmVjdGlvbnMvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83N2NmYTc5MTk5MjU4MWI1MDMwYjdhYzczYWYxZTk0NA?oc=5
2020-07-06 15:59:04Z
52780899588900
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Coronavirus Australia: ‘Secondary significant surge’ in Vic infections - NEWS.com.au"
Post a Comment