Coronavirus: Victoria ’unlikely’ to reopen as planned; 350,000 new cases recorded worldwide in a single day
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says it’s “unlikely” the state will make a big step in easing restrictions as 14 new infections were reported.
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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says it’s “unlikely” the state will move completely to stage three of the government’s restriction-easing plan next weekend.
The state was scheduled to move to the next step on October 19 if the all-important 14-day virus average fell to below five cases.
Victoria recorded 14 new virus cases and no new deaths on Saturday, but the 14-day case average increased by 0.1 to 9.5. There were no COVID-19-related deaths recorded.
“I think it is unlikely we can take as big a step next Sunday as we would hope, but there will be steps taken,” Mr Andrews said.
“It is in no way warranted for people to be despondent or for people to lose any sense of hope, this strategy is working, but you have got to do it properly. We can’t have a situation where because we want it to be over, so we pretend that it is.”
The state government’s roadmap shows under stage three, Victorians would be able to leave home for any reason and they could travel beyond a 5km radius. Public gatherings would be increased to up to 10 people outdoors, retailers would re-open, and hospitality venues would be able to seat people indoors and outdoors.
Mr Andrews did not elaborate on which restrictions might be eased and what may remain in place.
The Doherty Research Institute said the chances of reaching an average five COVID-19 cases by mid-October were under 50 per cent.
Regional Victoria‘s 14-day average is 0.4.
The DHHS added more locations to its coronavirus exposure hotspot list overnight, with anyone who visited the Altona Beach foreshore and pier on October 2 between 1-5pm urged to get tested.
Anyone who attended Priceline, 1239 Nepean Highway, in Cheltenham on October 5 between 12.50-1.05pm and Ferguson Plarre, 1341 Dandenong Rd, at Chadstone on October 5-7 Oct between 5.30am-2.30pm should also get tested.
GLOBAL RECORD WITH HUGE DAILY RISE IN COVID CASES
The World Health Organization has announced a new daily record high in coronavirus cases confirmed worldwide, with more than 350,000 infections reported to the UN health agency on Friday.
The new daily high of 350,766 cases surpasses a record set earlier this week by nearly 12,000. That tally includes more than 109,000 cases from Europe alone.
WHO emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan acknowledged that even as COVID-19 continues to surge across the world, “there are no new answers.”
He said that although the agency wants countries to avoid the punishing lockdowns that have devastated economies, governments must ensure the most vulnerable people are protected and numerous measures must be taken.
“The majority of people in the world are still susceptible to this disease,” Dr Ryan warned. He said countries should focus not just on restrictive measures, but also on bolstering their surveillance systems, testing, contact tracing and ensuring populations are engaged.
As the virus continues to surge across Europe and elsewhere, Ryan acknowledged that restrictive measures might be warranted at some point. British scientists reported this week that the COVID-19 outbreak is doubling every few weeks, French hospitals are running out of ICU beds, Germany may enlist the army to help contain its outbreak and Spain declared a state of emergency in Madrid as coronavirus cases soar.
Dr Ryan said lockdowns “may be unavoidable where the disease has got out of control again, but we shouldn’t accept that in every country, the return of cases should be seen with an immediate return of the need for lockdown restrictions.”
Globally, more than 36 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported, including more than 1 million deaths.
Experts say the tally far underestimates the real number of cases and Ryan said on Monday that the WHO’s “best estimates” were that one in 10 people worldwide — or roughly 760 million people — may have been infected.
Meanwhile, the famous Broadway theatre district in New York will stay shut until at least May 2021.
‘THE BUDGET WE HAD TO HAVE’
Tuesday’s budget has been labelled “the budget that Australians needed”.
Speaking to the media following the government’s tax cuts bill passing in the Senate on Friday morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, “This was all in the Budget Speech on Tuesday night from the Treasurer, and it’s law on Friday. This is real change. This is a real budget that is going to have a real impact on Australians as we come out of this COVID-19 recession.”
“This is the Budget that Australians needed. This is the plan that Australians have needed. And this is the plan that has been legislated, made law in our Parliament, in three days,“ Mr Morrison said.
PM ‘OPEN’ TO BACKING RAPID COVID TESTS
On Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was “open” to backing 15-minute COVID-19 tests after it emerged that the US had awarded a Queensland company $42 million to fast-track their development.
The Courier Mail reported Ellume, a Brisbane-based diagnostics company, received $US34 million ($A42 million). The cash is part of the US National Institutes of Health initiative to accelerate clinical manufacturing and testing of COVID-19 tests.
Ellume’s technology would be used to create three COVID-19 antigen tests suited for at-home, point-of-care and laboratory settings each capable of delivering results in less than 15 minutes.
“To be the first Australian diagnostics company to have $US30m support from the US is a notable achievement for us and Queensland-based technology,” Dr Parsons said.
Mr Morrison was asked about the company’s developments on 2GB radio this morning and said the rapid tests were being considered but had to be approached carefully.
“The medical expert panel is looking at that and many other things. We’ve seen quite a lot of false dawns around the world on miracle tests that allow people to go and do whatever they like. But we’ve got to be very careful about this,” Mr Morrison said.
“If this is a viable proposition, our medical experts will of course look at it with all seriousness and pursue the ones we believe will make a big difference.
“We’re open to all of these things but we’ve got to be careful. You can’t have a drug or a test put out there in the community that gives people a false sense of security. So we’ll be careful about it but we’re very open to all of these things”.
Originally published as Coronavirus: Victoria ’unlikely’ to reopen as planned; 350,000 new cases recorded worldwide in a single day