Watch live: Victorian Premier fronts parliamentary inquiry
Premier Daniel Andrews is speaking at a public accounts and estimates committee where he will be quizzed about his government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. You can watch his evidence live, below.
Victoria has recorded 19 deaths for the second consecutive day and 331 new coronavirus cases.
Latest updates
'We just want the truth': Opposition leader tells Andrews to be open, honest
Victoria's Liberal Opposition Leader, Michael O'Brien, hopes the Premier tells the truth when he fronts today's public accounts and estimates committee.
"It's not about point scoring, we just want the truth," Mr O'Brien told radio station 3AW a short time ago.
"We want him to tell us who was responsible for the decision to put untrained bureaucrats and unprofessional private security guards in charge of hotel quarantine, instead of using the police or the ADF like every other state did.
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien.Credit:Darrian Traynor
"We are only in this mess today because of hotel quarantine and Andrews and his government need to be accountable."
The Health Minister Jenny Mikakos and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton are also due to give evidence this morning.
Victoria records 19 deaths, 331 new COVID-19 cases
Victoria has recorded 19 coronavirus-related deaths for the second consecutive day and 331 new cases.
Again, today's figures were released via Twitter.
There are hopes the state's coronavirus case numbers are finally stabilising after a month of rapid escalation, but Victorians have been warned to brace for further deaths.
Alpacas provide new hope for cure
Now to some positive news. On several acres of rolling green pasture in Bairnsdale, about 280 kilometres east of Melbourne in Victoria's East Gippsland region, there is a very special herd of alpacas: in their veins flow tiny fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Australian scientists are attempting to extract and purify these unique virus-busting antibodies and turn them into a treatment for the disease. If the research goes well, they could later be injected into or inhaled by patients – a potent preventative, or even a cure.
The alpacas in Bairnsdale.Credit:Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, are covered in sharp spike-proteins that are used to enter human cells. The top part of the Y on an antibody sticks to that spike, gumming up the spike – like chewing gum on a shoe – so that it can't stick to the cell.
Camelids, a species that includes alpacas, llamas and camels, produce two types of antibodies, one similar to human antibodies and the other dramatically smaller, called a nanobody.
Sharks make them too, but they are slightly harder to work with than alpacas.
"No one really knows why camelids make them," says Associate Professor Wai-Hong Tham of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. "But they are really special."
Get those nanobodies out of llamas and into humans, and you could have a potent COVID-buster.
That will take some time. Scientists also need to find ways of making the nanobodies look like human cells, so our immune system does not attack them too. Therapies using cloned human antibodies are likely to be available much sooner.
Read more from our science reporter Liam Mannix, here.
The coronavirus is new, but your immune system might still recognise it
Eight months ago, the new coronavirus was unknown. But to some of our immune cells, the virus was already something of a familiar foe, The New York Times reports today.
A flurry of recent studies has revealed that a large proportion of the population — 20 per cent to 50 per cent of people in some places — might harbour immunity assassins called T cells that recognise the new coronavirus despite having never encountered it before.
These T cells, which lurked in the bloodstreams of people long before the pandemic began, are most likely stragglers from past scuffles with other, related coronaviruses. It's a case of family resemblance: in the eyes of the immune system, germs with common roots can look alike, such that when a cousin comes to call, the body may already have an inkling of its intentions.
This electron microscope image shows a human T cell, in blue, under attack by HIV, in yellow. (Colours have been added for clarity.)Credit:NIH/AP
The presence of these T cells has intrigued experts, who said it was too soon to tell whether the cells would play a helpful, harmful or entirely negligible role in the world's fight against the current coronavirus. But should these so-called cross-reactive T cells exert even a modest influence on the body's immune response to the new coronavirus, they might make the disease milder — and perhaps partly explain why some people who catch the germ become very sick, while others are dealt only a glancing blow.
In theory, cross-reactive T cells can "protect almost like a vaccine," said Smita Iyer, an immunologist at the University of California, who is studying immune responses to the new coronavirus in primates.
Cross-reactive T cells alone probably would not be enough to completely stave off infection or disease. But they might alleviate symptoms of the coronavirus in people who happen to carry these cells, or extend the protection provided by a vaccine.
"That would be awesome," Iyer said.
In the latest episode of our Please Explain podcast, senior culture writer Nathanael Cooper is joined by national science reporter Liam Mannix to discuss the international progress in creating a COVID-19 vaccine.
Deaths likely to rise in Victoria despite fall in cases
Data journalist and my fellow blogger, Craig Butt, has looked at the latest COVID-19 hospitalisation figures and explains why Victorians should brace for more coronavirus deaths this week.
"Just as we saw cases peak last week, it will be this week we will probably see the peak in daily deaths," says Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett.
"The consequences of the previous infection hike is playing out in terms of the daily death counts."
The time lag between people contracting coronavirus and ending up in hospital can be seen in data from the first-wave infection peak earlier this year.
This graph plots three pieces of information side by side: the number of new cases each day, the total number of people in hospital because of coronavirus each day, and the total number of people in intensive care.
The first wave's worst day for new case numbers was March 28, when 111 cases were confirmed.
From that day onwards the number of new cases each day started to dip, but the number of people in hospital continued to climb and reached a peak of 50 almost two weeks later on April 9. The number of people in intensive care hit a high of 18 a week later on April 15.
Victoria's second wave of cases has differed from the first, with a much higher proportion of elderly people infected, in part due to outbreaks at aged care facilities, which has led to more hospitalisations and deaths.
Here is the same graph from above, only instead of showing the first wave it shows the second wave so far.
Federal officials shielded from Ruby Princess inquiry
Government accountability appears to be the running theme this morning, with our chief political correspondent David Crowe reporting that the Morrison government has been accused of failing to co-operate with a probe into the Ruby Princess cruise ship debacle.
The NSW Ruby Princess inquiry will have to report without being able to question two federal officers who helped clear the ship to disembark 2700 passengers in Sydney in March.
The Ruby Princess cruise ship departs Port Kembla on April 22.Credit:Anna Warr
Commissioner Bret Walker has issued a legal summons to hear testimony from one of the officials, a Department of Agriculture worker who granted permission for the ship to enter port, but was rebuffed again on Monday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised to co-operate with the inquiry on April 21 and insisted on Monday he had done so, but he did not explain why the two officials should not appear to give evidence.
Asked why he did not encourage the two officials to come forward and speak to the special commission, Mr Morrison said the government continued to help the inquiry.
"I said we would co-operate with the inquiry as we have with other inquiries, and that’s exactly what we’ve done," he said.
More than 1000 cases of COVID-19 are estimated to have come from the Ruby Princess passengers who disembarked in Sydney on March 19, four days after Mr Morrison said ships would only put passengers ashore "directly under the command" of the Australian Border Force.
The Herald's view: Action needed now to keep COVID-19 out of aged care
Let's take a look at The Sydney Morning Herald's editorial, which notes that failures in our aged care system appear to rival the problems experienced by hotel quarantine in Victoria or with the docking of the Ruby Princess in NSW:
The systems that let people down need to be corrected immediately.
The failures are all the more painful because Australia had so much warning both from the appalling death toll in aged care centres in Europe and North America in March and April, and then from the cases in the Newmarch House aged care facility and the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Sydney in April and May. Yet governments, and here the primary responsibility lies at the federal level, have been complacent.
Liz Lane talks to her mother through a fence at Sydney's Newmarch House nursing home.
The National Council of Chief Medical Officers devoted scant attention to the sector.
The commission heard that Health Minister Greg Hunt said on June 29, after the start of the Melbourne outbreak, that the sector was “very well prepared”. With hindsight, it’s patently obvious that this was not the case.
View from The Age: Holding the government to account is as important as ever
With Premier Daniel Andrews set to be quizzed over his government's response to the pandemic within the hour, let's take a look at today's editorial in The Age:
As governments play such a comprehensive role in directing and managing the disruption, many people's frustration is being directed at perceived mistakes and shortcomings of the COVID-19 response – the hotel quarantine debacle being the most obvious.
But is this time for such criticism? There is a sincere belief from some that, to use Daniel Andrews' bushfire analogy, when the fire is burning, the focus should be on extinguishing the blaze, and not attacking those fighting the fire. Is the scrutiny of the government too harsh?
Premier Daniel Andrews at his COVID-19 briefing on Monday.Credit:Joe Armao
The Age does not underestimate the Herculean task before Mr Andrews and his team. We support the Premier when he thanks the many thousands of people working round the clock and, at times, putting their lives at risk, to combat the latest surge in cases and care for those afflicted by the virus.
But The Age also takes very seriously its role in ensuring transparency and accountability, no matter what the circumstance. By declaring a state of disaster, the state government has sought far stronger and broader powers to enforce its authority. And by limiting the time Parliament sits, it has also severely curtailed the ability of the opposition to hold the government to account.
That leaves most public accountability for when Mr Andrews, and often Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and various ministers, front up each day to face the media. To his credit, Mr Andrews makes a point of responding to every question put to him. But there are some significant shortcomings.
Aged care: 'Different states doing things differently'
By Mary Ward
The National Seniors association has called for consistency in Australia's response to aged care outbreaks across the country, after federal agencies were accused of being inadequately prepared for coronavirus to hit facilities at the aged care royal commission on Monday.
Ian Henschke, chief advocate at National Seniors Australia, told Ben Fordham on Sydney radio station 2GB this morning he believed it was unfair that someone who lived in South Australia would be immediately transferred to hospital, whereas Victorian and NSW aged care residents had spent weeks in locked-down facilities with the virus.
Outside St Basil's aged care home, the site of one of Victoria's deadliest coronavirus outbreaks. Credit:Scott McNaughton
"You've got different states doing things differently, and if the Commonwealth is providing the funding that needs to be sorted out," he said.
Mr Henschke said it would be up to the public to push for change, as previous inquiries into the aged care sector had produced little action.
"The royal commission is going to come back with findings, and we as a community have to ask if we are going to have ... those put in a corner and gather dust," he said.
There are currently 1765 active COVID-19 cases linked to aged care facilities in Victoria.
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2020-08-10 23:08:00Z
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