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Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has given an update on active coronavirus cases and testing numbers and also warned people in south-western Sydney to follow restrictions this weekend.
If you missed it, here are the main takeaways.
Let’s get into the numbers first
Mr Kelly said there were “438 newly confirmed cases in the last 24 hours”.
This brings Australia’s overall total to 11,000 COVID-19 cases since infections started last year.
Only 10 of the new 438 aren’t in Victoria.
Eight are in New South Wales and 2 are in Western Australia.
“In WA, these are cases in quarantine from overseas travel,” Mr Kelly said.
There were also three deaths reported overnight, all people over the age of 70, he said.
That brings Australia’s total death toll to 116.
Mr Kelly said it “brings to mind that this is not just numbers, these are real people with families and friends.”
As for active cases, the Acting Chief Medical Officer said there are over 2,500.
He said cases diagnosed in the last few weeks showed an increase in hospitalisation, “126 cases in hospital, 32 in intensive care”.
As of today, over 3.3 million tests for coronavirus have taken place “since the beginning,” and “over 60,000 tests today”.
Mr Kelly believed this must be close to a record in terms of testing.
“These are large numbers today, that is disturbing, but we do have good indications that those mobility restrictions and movement restrictions around Melbourne, in particular, are working and people are taking notice.”
Mr Kelly said the Victorian Government has mandated masks to be compulsory in aged care facilities in the state and that the Commonwealth has supplied 7 million masks “in the last few days”.
He was asked about the reproduction rate in Victoria but said he will make an announcement on that tomorrow.
Is the virus changing?
Mr Kelly said simply, “yes, it has been changing”.
He said the virus has “changed molecularly” but in “very small changes since it was discovered in Wuhan in December”.
Mr Kelly warned that coronavirus “does tend to become more transmittable”, and that this is a “very infectious virus”.
“It’s the reason we want to limit people mixing,” he said.
‘We have seen what happened in Melbourne’
Mr Kelly has warned people in south-west Sydney to not break social-distancing restrictions this weekend.
“This is a very dangerous time,” he said.
“The virus is circulating in Victoria, we have seen what happened in Melbourne, we do not want to see that happening in other parts of Australia, and in this case especially south-western Sydney.”
“If you are sick, please stay at home unless you are going to [medical care], and we would encourage you to come forward for a test.
“This is a situation with a highly infectious disease which can cause serious illness, especially in elderly people but not only elderly people, sometimes that illness can last for months.”
Should pubs remain open?
Mr Kelly pointed out that not only does alcohol “decrease our ability to follow instructions,” it also allows large numbers of people to gather.
Referring to the Crossroads Hotel situation in Casula, he said people in Queensland and a truck driver in South Australia who were at the pub, have come forward.
All have tested negative to the virus.
“We know that people have come back and forth from Melbourne, many different parts of Sydney, and beyond Sydney to the north and to the south,” Mr Kelly said.
“So this demonstrates why large groups of people coming together can quickly make this amplification of the virus throughout society.”
What about the borders?
Mr Kelly mentioned the Government was working on “making it as safe as possible” for people to cross borders.
“Those conversations are continuing, and we will be discussing that in detail over the coming days,” he said.
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