Cash catapults researchers toward antiviral medication
A class of 12 students and and eight staff at Macleod Preschool have been asked isolate for two weeks after a teacher tested positive to coronavirus. It comes as four new cases were linked to an outbreak at a Melbourne hotel.
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A class of kindergarten students has been quarantined after the teacher was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
About 12 children at Macleod Preschool and eight staff have been asked isolate for two weeks and the building was closed for cleaning.
The teacher was among 10 new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria yesterday.
Four were linked to an outbreak at Melbourne hotel Rydges on Swanston and one was a worker at Embracia Aged Care in Reservoir.
The remaining cases were found through community testing.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, Annaliese van Diemen, said the kindergarten teacher had immediately gone for testing once she notice symptoms.
“We consider people to be infectious for two days prior to their symptom onset so that is why the kindergarten has been included as an exposure site,” she said.
“They attended (school) prior to being symptomatic.”
Quarantined travellers at Rydges on Swanston have been relocated as authorities probe the source of the outbreak.
The Department of Health of Human Services will also test all staff and residents at the aged care home while cleaning at the facility is underway.
New figures show Melbourne’s north and western suburbs received most of the state’s 10 new coronavirus cases.
Eight infections have been recorded across the region, including Hume with 3 and Banyule, Brimbank, Moreland, Wyndham and Darebin one each.
Monash, which had no known active cases for a week, had two new positive tests.
It cames as Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced new laws that would bring an extra 500 midwives and nurses into the state’s hospital system.
The Andrews Government will close a loophole in the system by requiring minimum staff numbers in these jobs are rounded up rather than down.
“These changes will help them devote more time to each patient and deliver high quality care in a safer environment,” she said.
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Melbourne scientists creating an antiviral medication to stop COVID-19 will share in $66 million of federal funds being announced in Victoria today.
Researchers from the Eliza and Walter Hall Institute will receive $1 million to continue investigating their proposed treatment, based on knowledge learned during the SARS epidemic.
The deadly coronavirus works like a burglar, by attacking the body while turning off alarms that would usually alert it to a dangerous intruder, according to institute researcher David Komander.
He said the ‘VirDUB’ antiviral his team was developing would stop the burglar by restarting the alarm system, allowing the body to fight the infection.
“It would be stopping it from replicating but also restarting the alarm system,” Prof Komander said.
“You could administer it through a pill, an inhaler. It’s similar to what you would take when you take over-the-counter antivirals.”
Prof Komander said rapid progress on the potential treatment had only been possible because of extensive work done in the attempt to find a treatment for the similar SARS virus.
“For any drug discovery project, timelines are usually given in years. I am very optimistic that we will see anti-virals for COVID-19 much, much earlier than that,” Prof Komander said.
Health Minister Greg Hunt will be at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute today to announce the funding round.
He said it was promising to see Australians working together to come up with possible treatments.
“There are currently no known antiviral therapies for COVID-19,” Mr Hunt said.
“Having effective antiviral therapies will be a game-changer for COVID-19, providing us with confidence that the disease can be managed.”
Money will also flow to researchers working on a vaccine for the virus, clinical trials for potential treatments and improving the health response for future pandemics.
VICTORIA BEGINS TO REOPEN
Bookings have flooded in for accommodation providers and popular holiday attractions as difficult lockdown restrictions were yesterday eased for businesses across the state.
In a positive sign of things to come, snow fell on some of Victoria’s ski resorts on the first day of winter and businesses reported interest in regional holidays.
It came as zoos and aquariums reopened and it was revealed Melbourne’s cultural institutions will reopen on June 27.
Big4 Holiday Parks chief executive Steven Wright said lifting limits on overnight stays had boosted hopes of a local tourism boom.
“Our sales for the week are up 75 per cent on last year and have been up since the announcement,” he said.
“To put it in context, we were down by a lot in April and May but this is a significant improvement and things are certainly a lot rosier than a few weeks ago.”
Mr Wright said places such as the Great Ocean Road, Bright and Inverloch were popular as Melburnians looked for getaways.
“Bookings are going into the July and September school holidays,” he said.
“Every reservation is great news for the employees, families and businesses of our regional towns.”
Australian Ski Areas Association chief Colin Hackworth said the state’s billion-dollar ski season would start on June 22.
Weather permitting, Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek will open that week.
“There is a lot of interest out there as resorts work to get up to full operational speed,” Mr Hackworth said.
“What people are going to need to do this year is plan and book as much of the holiday as possible … There will be capacity restraints.”
In Melbourne, a blast of wintry weather wasn’t enough to keep visitors from flocking to the reopened Melbourne Zoo and Melbourne Aquarium.
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Museum, IMAX, Scienceworks, Arts Centre and the State Library will all reopen in time for the winter school holidays on June 27.
Hotel cluster climbs to eight
HOTEL CLUSTER GROWS
Another COVID-19 patient has been linked to an outbreak at a city hotel, bringing the cluster to eight cases.
Four new cases were confirmed in Victoria yesterday.
They included one person linked to the Rydges on Swanston outbreak who is understood to be a close contact of a worker at the building.
Another case was a returned traveller, while two others were found via community testing. Last night there were six people in hospitals, just one in intensive care.
Professor Brett Sutton, the state’s Chief Health Officer, said Victoria was making “great progress” in stopping the spread of the virus.
“Thanks to Victorians playing their part, staying at home and getting tested we have made some great progress in slowing the spread of coronavirus,” he said.
“By doing the right thing, we can continue to keep one another safe.”
Victoria had last night recorded a total of 1653 COVID-19 cases.
Of those, there were 13 active cases in Melbourne’s CBD, 10 in the City of Casey and 10 people who are from interstate but are self-isolating in Victoria.