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Coronavirus updates LIVE: Victoria records 51 new COVID-19 cases as Queensland Premier lashes Scott Morrison for border intervention; Australian death toll jumps to 788 - The Sydney Morning Herald

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Department heads knew about problems with Victoria's hotel quarantine early on

By Tammy Mills

Problems with the hotel quarantine in Victoria were being raised with the head of the Department of Health and Human Services from early in the program's inception.

And it wasn't uncommon for the reports commissioned to reach the desk of the Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos, an inquiry into Victorian hotel quarantine has heard.

Professor Euan Wallace, the chief executive officer of Safer Care Victoria. 

Professor Euan Wallace, the chief executive officer of Safer Care Victoria. 

The inquiry into the scheme is hearing today from Professor Euan Wallace, the chief executive of Safer Care Victoria, an agency that was called in by Health Department Secretary Kym Peake to investigate serious incidents that occurred in quarantine in April.

Safer Care's reviews, finished on June 10 and June 17, found staff who were selected to work in quarantine were assigned roles that they didn't have the skills or experience for. It also found there was limited or no formal training of staff, there was little continuity of staff rostered at hotels and under-developed or no procedures to tell staff about the use of personal protective equipment or how to escalate problems.

"There was a reported lack of understanding among frontline staff in relation to decision-making hierarchies in complex and unprecedented situations," the report found.

Professor Wallace said the reports would have gone back to Ms Peake and it was not "uncommon for the minister to receive a report, but it wouldn't be a necessity for the report to go to the minister."

"Are you aware whether either of these reviews were send to Minister Mikakos?" Counsel assisting the inquiry Ben Ihle asked.

"I'm not aware," Professor Wallace replied.

The two reviews were into a suspected suicide of a man quarantined in the Pan Pacific in April and the other, a delay in moving a sick detainee to hospital that worsened their condition.

Both identified wider problems occurring in the program.

The program quarantined international arrivals for two weeks in Melbourne hotels from March 29 to prevent the risk of COVID-19 spreading in the community.

It was suspended in July after international arrivals were suspended from landing in Victoria in an effort to stem the second wave of COVID-19, which was caused by outbreaks in hotel quarantine.

Professor Wallace told the inquiry issues were raised as the review team discovered them with Operation Soteria, the taskforce formed to run the program.

This included confusion on the ground about who was actually in charge of hotel quarantine and concerns that only two welfare checks of detainees over their 14 day quarantine was insufficient.

Professor Wallace emailed the department's deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck on May 1: "The reviews are throwing up a number of issues, not wholly unexpectedly, including the fundamental question regarding overall responsibility."

Professor Wallace said staff at the hotels were telling the review team they were uncertain about to go to when there were problems.

He said the issues his team identified were raised with the emergency operations centre.

"Many of them had already been solved or had solutions in flight, and some of them hadn't," he said.
Professor Wallace was seconded to the Health Department from July to act as a deputy secretary of case contact and outbreak management for COVID-19.

"You don't see that in any way compromised the independence of the Safer Care processes in conducting the reviews of the two incidents?" counsel assisting the inquiry Ben Ihle said.

"Not compromised at all," Professor Wallace replied.

"The reviews were undertaken by our review teams and overseen by the director, and I didn't influence the content of the reviews at the end of the day."

Professor Wallace's evidence has finished. Health Department Commander Murray Smith is now giving evidence, and Ms Skilbeck is also listed to appear.

What would you do without a curfew?

The topic of the curfew dominated the daily press conference with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

During a back and forth with reporters Mr Andrews made the argument that because there are only four reasons to leave home it was unlikely the removing the curfew would make a large difference to Melburnians.

We would like to hear from readers how removing the curfew would affect you and why.
Tell us about your situation using the form below.

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Greg Hunt: Victorian targets may be unachievable, vaccine being scrutinised by expert panel

By Liam Mannix

Federal health minister Greg Hunt spoke to the media at 1pm. Here's a recap of what he had to say:

On Victoria's road map targets:

“Some of these targets may be unachievable for many years. Some of Australia’s and the world’s great epidemiologists, are raising questions about the achievability.

“One thing we don’t want to do is affect the mental health of Australians. We can save lives and protect lives. We have to safeguard the health, but also the mental health of all Australians.”

On the AstraZeneca vaccine trial pause

“The best advice AstraZeneca has... is at this stage, the illness although neurological in nature, is undiagnosed in terms of its specific form. And nor is the source known.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“Two months ago, there was another event where the trial was paused. Someone had an adverse event. It turned out it was entirely unrelated to the trial.

“[AstraZeneca's] medical expert panel will now consider the patient’s case. This is part of the highest and most rigorous safety oversight programs imaginable."

Recapping: Palaszczuk accuses PM of making 'co-ordinated attack' against Queensland

By Liam Mannix

Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington asked Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to order an urgent review of the case and consider letting the woman attend the funeral on Thursday afternoon.

Ms Frecklington tabled a letter in Parliament from Ms Caisip to Ms Palaszczuk.

“My dad is dead and you made me fight to see him but it was too late,” the letter read.

“Now you won’t let me go to the funeral or see my devastated 11-year-old sister.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during Question Time on Thursday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during Question Time on Thursday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison phoned Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday morning and asked her to overturn the decision not to allow Ms Caisip to attend the funeral.

He said the situation was heartbreaking.

"It's not about borders, it's not about federation, it's not about politicians or elections," he told Ray Hadley on 4BC radio.

"Surely, just this once, this can be done ... there has been no COVID cases in the ACT for more than 60 days. I just hope they let Sarah go to the funeral."

The Prime Minister, whose own father died in January, became emotional as he spoke of the family's situation.

"It was Father's Day on the weekend and I'm just thinking of Sarah, who had to go through that day in a hotel in isolation and there she is today," Mr Morrison said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Prime Minister Scott MorrisonCredit:Alex Ellinghausen

A frustrated Ms Palaszczuk accused the Prime Minister’s office of ordering a “co-ordinated attack” against her government.

"I will not be bullied, nor will I be intimidated by the Prime Minister of this country, who contacted me this morning and to whom I made it very clear to the fact that this is not my decision and that I would pass the information on to the Chief Health Officer," she said.

A tense press conference

By Liam Mannix

The Age's photographer Eddie Jim was at today's news conference with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Here is a couple of beautiful photos he captured.

Daniel Andrews

Daniel Andrews Credit:Eddie Jim.

Victorian Attorney General Jill Hennessy.

Victorian Attorney General Jill Hennessy.Credit:Eddie Jim

Columbia space shuttle disaster and Deepwater Horizon oil spill investigative methods used in hotel quarantine program

Back to the ongoing inquiry into Victoria's hotel quarantine program, where Tammy Mills reports the investigators used the same method as the investigations into the Columbia space shuttle disaster and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Health Department called in Safer Care Victoria, the lead agency for healthcare safety, to review a suspected suicide of a detainee and a delay in hospital treatment for another quarantined returned traveller.

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana.

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana.Credit:Reuters

Safer Care chief executive Professor Euan Wallace said his team of clinicians used the same tools to identify potential contributors that were used to investigate two major international incidents. One was the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster in which seven American astronauts were killed when the space shuttle disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere. The other was the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which occurred when the oil drilling rig exploded and sank, killing 11 workers.

Professor Wallace said the 'AcciMap' tool helped to identify potential elements that might contribute to an incident.

He said the method they used was not to identify a cause, but to put together complex contributing factors.

"Not that they caused it, but it made it possible. And if you correct these contributing factors or those factors that may have contributed, then you make the event much less possible to happen in the future," he told the inquiry.

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Hunt: Victoria's targets may not be achievable

Federal health minister Greg Hunt has said he has been told AstraZeneca's trial-pause should not hold up producing the vaccine for Australia.

The company paused its phase 3 trial of its COVID-19 vaccine yesterday, after a person suffered a serious adverse effect. It is not yet clear what the injury was, nor whether it was caused by the vaccine.

Minister Hunt also said Victoria’s reopening targets may not be achievable.

“Some of these targets may be unachievable for many years. Some of Australia’s, and the world’s great epidemiologists, are raising questions about the achievability,” he said on Thursday.

“One thing we don’t want to do is affect the mental health of Australians. We can save lives and protect lives. We have to safeguard the health, but also the mental health of all Australians.”

More to come.

How Melbourne and regional Victoria's case numbers are tracking against reopening targets

By Craig Butt

Metropolitan Melbourne's 14-day average for new coronavirus cases has dropped to 70.1, Premier Daniel Andrews has said.

Under the state's government roadmap, the Melbourne region will be able to move to its next step of reopening on September 28 if the 14-day average for new cases is between 30 and 50.

You can see how the metropolitan Melbourne 14-day average is tracking against the target on the graph below:

The 14-day average for regional Victoria is 4.5, Mr Andrews said.

For regional Victoria, the target is a 14-day average of fewer than five cases, as well as no new mystery cases over the same period.

In the two weeks to September 6, there were a total of 11 such mystery cases in regional Victoria, along with a total of 186 in the metropolitan Melbourne region.

You can see how the 14-day average for regional Victoria is tracking against its target on the graph below:

For more information on the 14-day average and how the interpret these charts, check out this article.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt speaking live

Federal health minister Greg Hunt is addressing the media now, watch his news conference live below:

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2020-09-10 04:27:00Z
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