COVID-19: Australia’s top doctor’s border plea; Moderna vaccine gets emergency approval in US
Dr Paul Kelly hopes states will have a “proportionate” response to borders as a NSW COVID-19 cluster grows. The US has given emergency approval to another vaccine.
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Australia’s Acting Chief Medical Officer hopes the states and territories will have a “proportionate” response to their borders with NSW as a Sydney COVID-19 cluster grows.
Dr Paul Kelly said the federal government had labelled Sydney’s northern beaches, where the virus cluster is growing, a hotspot and welcomed other states’ moves to do the same.
He reiterated states and territories had jurisdiction over their borders but hoped their responses would be “proportionate” as Christmas nears.
“They are the elected governments of those states and they need to make the decisions about safety for their own states by themselves. I would hope they will make that a proportionate thing in the lead-up to Christmas,” Dr Kelly said.
It comes as another 23 new coronavirus cases have been diagnosed in NSW, with tough new restrictions to be imposed on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Ten of the new cases were reported on Friday but included in Saturday’s numbers. There are now 38 cases linked to the cluster.
The figures came as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian pleaded with other states not to close their borders.
“We ask all state leaders to consider their decision making and to consider … the Christmas period,” she said.
“We ask people to be measured in their response.”
She agreed with other leaders for declaring the northern beaches a hotspot, saying she “would have done the same”.
“It is a hot spot. Given the number of cases and the fact those cases are likely to be maintained,” Ms Berejiklian said.
The Premier said there is no evidence yet that the virus has spread from the northern beaches, but we can expect similar case numbers to be repeated over the next 24 hours.
Restrictions will also be enforced in the northern beaches, similar to the strict lockdown experienced in March.
“We want to ensure people can have a better Christmas than what otherwise would occur,” she said.
From 5pm on Saturday, people on the northern beaches will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons, such as to purchase groceries, exercise, to seek medical care or visit an isolated friend or relative.
Restrictions will be in place until midnight Wednesday.
“For the rest of Sydney, can people please abandon non essential activity. We don’t want the virus spreading from the northern beaches,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Of the new cases, 21 are linked to the Avalon RSL cluster but the source of the other two remain unknown, but are understood to be residents of the area.
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said people should maintain isolation.
She also noted that the outbreak is relatively new given samples were taken from the northern beaches on December 11, which returned a negative result.
Contact tracers are now racing to determine where the 23 new cases have been.
The news comes as restaurants and bars on Sydney’s coronavirus-gripped northern beaches have begun voluntarily closing their doors as authorities attempt to stem a rapidly growing cluster.
Hundreds of northern beaches residents have also been advised to self isolate after a COVID-19 case visited an Avalon gym.
“NSW Health is calling on several hundred people who attended Avalon gym Anytime Fitness to take urgent action, get tested and isolate immediately until further advice is provided by NSW Health,” the health department said.
“A known case of COVID-19 attended Anytime Fitness on Avalon Parade in Avalon over several days while infectious.
“A number of people who attended this gym will be identified as close contacts and will be required to isolate for 14 days.”
US AUTHORISES MODERNA AS SECOND COVID-19 VACCINE
The United States on Friday (local time) authorised Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for six million doses of a second vaccine to soon begin shipping across the hardest-hit country in the world.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Stephen Hahn said: “With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic.” “Congratulations, the Moderna vaccine is now available!” tweeted President Donald Trump.
The US is the first nation to authorise the two-dose regimen from Moderna, now the second vaccine to be deployed in a Western country after the first, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved by Britain on December 2, followed by several other countries including the US last week. Less-vetted shots have also been rolled out in China and Russia.
Meharry Medical College President James Hildreth, who was part of a panel of experts convened by the FDA to discuss approval matters, said Thursday it was a “remarkable achievement” to have developed and authorised the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines within the space of a year.
Together, they offer a glimmer of light at the end of the pandemic’s long tunnel.
The United States alone has seen more than 310,000 people die from coronavirus infections and is in the midst of a brutal winter surge, with nearly 115,000 people hospitalised, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Millions of doses will now start shipping out as early as this weekend from cold-storage sites outside Memphis and Louisville, overseen by logistics firm McKesson.
From there they will be delivered to sites around the country via partnerships with FedEx and UPS.
STATES MULL TOUGHER BORDER RESTRICTIONS AS NSW CLUSTER GROWS
Queensland may declare suburbs outside the Sydney’s northern beaches region as hot spots based on where the latest new NSW coronavirus cases are located.
Education Minister Grace Grace said Queensland Health would be examining the latest NSW cases to determine if more suburbs need to be locked out of the sunshine state.
She said the state had recorded no new cases on Saturday, despite a woman in her 50s from the Northern Beaches region returning a positive test in Queensland on Friday.
“I know that Sydney is very concerned and they’re a bit anxious about it and that makes Queensland concerned and anxious,” Ms Grace told reporters.
“I think at the moment the hot spots obviously will remain the hot spots, and closed as they were yesterday.
“Whether that needs to be extended, I think depends on where those new cases have come from.”
Queensland on Thursday declared the northern beaches region a hot spot, forcing any Queenslander who has been there in the past week to isolate at home.
Anyone who arrives in Queensland after 1am on Saturday from the Northern Beaches has to quarantine for 14 days at their own expense.
Ms Grace said Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young would be consulting her NSW counterpart Dr Kerry Chant on the latest cases.
Meantime, Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley warned that Victoria could tighten restrictions on travellers from NSW if virus cases continue to grow.
Mr Foley reiterated that there was now a permit system in place for NSW travellers, or those travelling through NSW, who are coming into Victoria. Those coming from the northern beaches or other exposure sites have been told not to travel to Victoria, and if they do, they will be transferred to hotel quarantine for 14 days.
Anyone travelling from the Greater Sydney region is encouraged to get a COVID-19 test and self-quarantine until they receive a result.
But Mr Foley warned that tougher border measures could be on the cards if the situation in NSW worsens.
“There is significant risk that COVID-19 has seeded across the greater Sydney area. If that is the case, and I stress that is an if, then we will have no choice but to declare all of Sydney a red zone,” Mr Foley said.
He added: “Those tougher measures will be on the basis of the public health advice. We are working very closely with our New South Wales and interstate colleagues, literally an hour by hour monitoring of the situation and when the public health advice changes to take further action, we won’t hesitate to do so,” Mr Foley said.
AUSTRALIAN GP CLINICS FACE VACCINE STORAGE STRUGGLE
Most Australian GP clinics will not be able to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Australian Medical Association.
The nation’s peak medical body says this is due to difficulties in storing the treatment that is due to be approved in Australia early next year.
The Pfizer vaccine needs to be transported in ultra-low-temperature “dry shippers”, which carry about 975 doses, and ideally stored in refrigerators that can reach at least minus 70C.
While such technology is available at hospitals, it is unlikely to be at GP clinics.
If the special freezers aren’t available the vaccine can be stored in the dry shippers for up to 15 days, but once the box is opened problems start to emerge.
The doses need to be moved to an ultra-low-temperature freezer within 90 seconds once removed from the dry shipper, and can only be stored for up to five days at ordinary fridge temperature. The storage box can also not be shut again.
This means that all 975 doses would have to be administered in any given location within the space of five days, The Australian reports.
“It’s just not going to be feasible to roll out the Pfizer vaccine in small general practice from what we understand at this stage because of the cold storage requirements and the size of the batches,” said AMA president Omar Korshid, according to The Australian. “Every time you open the dry-ice box the temperature starts to drop straight away the moment it’s opened.
“We do see a role for GPs but it will need to be GPs that work in places that are just physically large enough to deal with the size.”
FLIGHT MEMBER WITH COVID-LIKE SYMPTOMS RELEASED FROM QUARANTINE
A United Airlines crew member was able to leave hotel quarantine in Sydney despite displaying COVID-19-like symptoms.
The female flight attendant, who landed in Sydney on Monday, was reportedly released with 24 hours after lobbying by an airline executive, Nine Newspapers reports.
It’s understood NSW Health quarantine teams wanted her to remain in isolation and give her a second COVID-19 test.
A United Airlines spokesman told Nine Newspapers the crew member had taken a voluntary test which returned a negative result and was “medically cleared by MedAire and the NSW Health department”.
She then travelled back to the US as a passenger.
TRUMP WISHES MACRON ‘SPEEDY RECOVERY’
US President Donald Trump has spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron to wish him a quick recovery from the coronavirus, the White House says
In the conversation, which the White House said took place Thursday (local time), Mr Trump “wished President Macron a speedy recovery and quick return to his full duties,” spokesman Judd Deere said.
“President Trump also extended his best wishes for a Merry Christmas to President Macron, his family, and the People of France,” the statement said.
Earlier, Macron said in a video message that he was experiencing several COVID-19 symptoms including “tiredness, headaches, dry cough,” and that his activity was “slowed down.”
Along with Macron, Trump is among a group of several world leaders to have been infected with the novel coronavirus. In his case, he required three days of hospitalisation and supplemental oxygen to breathe at the start of October
On Friday, local time, French President Emmanuel Macron was working in self-isolation from an official residence outside Paris after he tested positive for COVID-19.
The announcement that Macron was infected with the virus up-ended political schedules in France and across Europe, with EU leaders and French officials he had met in the last days cancelling events and rushing into self-isolation.
Mr Macron late Thursday left the Elysee Palace in Paris for the presidential residence of La Lanterne in Versailles outside the city, a presidential official said.
“He will be able to both self-isolate and continue to work,” said the official, who asked not to be named. His wife Brigitte, who has tested negative, will remain at the Elysee.
On Friday, local time, it was reported that Slovak PM Igor Matovic had tested positive for COVID-19. He attended the same Brussels summit as Mr Macron and a slew of other EU leaders.
Other leaders and officials self-isolating who met with Mr Macron this week are European Council chief Charles Michel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.
Mr Sanchez has tested negative but will work remotely from quarantine.
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