14,020 new Covid cases, two deaths; rapid test supply crisis leaves Victorians stranded
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to rule out whether extra restrictions may be needed to curb Victoria’s rising Covid case numbers.
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Acting Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to rule out whether extra restrictions may be needed to curb Victoria’s rising Covid numbers.
The state recorded 14,020 new Covid infections, an increase of more than 5000 in 24 hours.
But despite the surging infections, hospitalisations have remained relatively stable.
“We’ll continue to look at if there are any other common sense measures that can be taken,” Ms Allan said on Tuesday.
Ms Allan said any restriction changes were a matter for the Health Minister (Martin Foley) to “consider as we monitor very closely what’s going on in the Victorian community at the moment”.
About one in four Victorians are now returning a positive PCR test result, with “far more” Covid-19 cases expected to be circulating undetected in the community.
Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said while it wasn’t possible to say how many Victorians may unknowingly be harbouring the virus, there was “significant exposure” around the community.
“We all need to be aware that Omicron is sweeping through our community now in a way that we have not seen in the last two years,” Mr Weimar said.
“This is not moving like Delta, this is not moving like Alpha ... let alone the original variants we were dealing with 18 months ago. This is a very different beast. It’s moving very quickly.
“We would expect there to be far more positive cases out in the community, either people who have not yet come forward to get tested, or those who just can’t get into the testing system in a way that they think is acceptable.”
RAPID TEST SUPPLY CRUNCH
Dozens of PCR testing sites have closed their doors as Victoria’s Covid testing crisis worsens.
Four private pathology clinics shut down 54 testing sites from Tuesday.
Melbourne Pathology, 4Cyte, Australian Clinical Labs and Dorevitch took the extreme move and will remain closed for at least the remainder of the week to process a backlog of tests.
Larger testing centres delivered by the Department of Health remain open, but Covid testing at several Melbourne sites reached capacity on Tuesday, minutes after opening, with people turned away as lines snaked around city blocks.
The Melbourne Town Hall testing site reached capacity before 9.30am as queues wound their way around several streets.
Several other inner-city sites were also overwhelmed with demand and announced they had temporarily shut due to being over capacity on Wednesday morning.
These included Albert Park, Bourke St, Southbank, South Melbourne, Parkville, Collingwood and St Kilda East according to the state government booking website.
Only people with Covid symptoms or who have tested positive on a rapid antigen test should be queuing for a PCR swab.
But rapid antigen tests are also in short supply, with a map revealing the state’s dire shortage.
Find a RAT, developed by Matt Hayward from software agency PipeLabs, allows people to access data on which chemists and supermarkets in their local areas have stock available.
The website’s data is crowdsourced from user reports, who are able to mark a store green for “in stock”, orange for “low stock”, or red for “no stock”.
Melbourne is revealed as a sea of red, with the sought-after test kits available in just a handful of locations.
‘ABSENCE OF NATIONAL LEADERSHIP’
Ms Allan revealed Victoria would happily engage in conversations to scrap GST from rapid tests in a bid to make them more affordable.
Chemist Warehouse made headlines on Monday after director Mario Tascone publicly called on Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to remove the tax on the product.
Chemist Warehouse Director Mario Tascone told 2GB radio on Monday the demand for RATs was “unprecedented”, and likened the demand to panic buying at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic with hand sanitiser, toilet paper and masks.
He said they had stock coming in every day, but dropping the GST would help those struggling to pay for them.
But Ms Allan slammed the commonwealth for creating the problem by failing to implement a national rollout of rapid antigen tests.
“We’re having a look at that, and we are happy to have a look at that,” she said.
“But really, let’s see that for what it is. This is a secondary issue that’s been put out there by the federal government in absence of national leadership on the main issue of rapid antigen tests, and that is the supply.”
Ms Allan said the national cabinet agenda was still yet to be released to the states ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.
She said the Victorian government would raise issues around the availability of rapid tests and ongoing supply of vaccines for both adults and kids.
“Those will be issues that will no doubt be discussed,” she added.
Premier Daniel Andrews will again briefly return from his leave to attend Wednesday’s meeting, but it remains unclear when he will return to the top job on a full-time basis.
“I’ll leave that for the Premier to comment on,” Ms Allan said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the basic rights of every Victorian weren’t being met, as the state’s testing crisis continues to worsen.
Ms Crozier said the lives and livelihoods of Victorians are now at risk, hitting out at the state government for failing to prepare and mismanaging the healthcare network.
“Victoria is in a state of chaos at present,” she said.
“It is a system in crisis. It’s absolutely chaotic.”
Ms Crozier said while Victorians were being turned away from testing clinics before they even opened, New South Wales was able to deliver almost double the amount of daily tests.
“Images of desperate Victorians being turned away from emergency departments and testing centres is deeply distressing,” she said.
“It should not be happening. The virus was first detected in Australia nearly two years ago and yet here we are.
“Daniel Andrews’ mismanagement is making it impossible for Victorians to rebuild, recover and get on with their lives.
“The Christmas and New Year holidays come at the same time every year yet the Andrews government failed to prepare. How is this possible? ”
COVID CASES HIGHEST EVER
Victoria’s 14,020 new Covid infections are the state’s highest number since the beginning of the pandemic.
It brings the total number of active cases across Victoria to 48,297.
But despite the surging infections, hospitalisations have remained relatively stable.
There are 516 people in hospital with the virus, including 56 active cases in ICU and 24 on a ventilator.
A further 52 people — who are no longer infectious with Covid-19 — remain in ICU.
More than 60,000 PCR tests were carried out in the past 24 hours, while 192 jabs were administered at state-run vaccine hubs.
RAPID TEST SUPPLY CRISIS
Six days after Victorians were promised rapid antigen tests would be the gear-change needed to live with Covid, a crippling shortage of kits is stopping people from working, visiting family and even knowing if they are infectious.
State Health Minister Martin Foley and Covid commander Jeroen Weimar on Monday both apologised for the delays, saying hundreds of thousands of their order for 34 million were expected in “coming days”.
But as PCR testing responses blow out, the pair refused to put a timeline on when RATs would be freely available, or how they would be rolled out until they had been delivered.
Instead, Mr Foley opted to trade barbs with Scott Morrison, who has again rejected pressure to make the tests widely available for Australians, saying people who had symptoms or were close contacts could get one free at testing sites.
The federal government also signalled it would support the GST being scrapped on RATs – a move that needs approval from the states – as concerns grow about affordability.
“We are at another stage of this pandemic now where we just can’t go round and make everything free,” the Prime Minister said. “We have to live with this virus.”
Mr Foley on Monday accused Mr Morrison of buck passing.
“The states clearly have a view that freely available rapid antigen testing, as part of our ongoing response to Omicron, forms part of what should be a national response,” he said. “In lieu of that national response, the states have to fill the void.”
The first RATs ordered before Christmas are expected to arrive this week, with “several hundreds of thousands” due next week.
Mr Foley said he wanted to see the tests arrive “on the tarmac” but was working to roll out the initial order to vulnerable Victorians.
“We apologise for the delays on the one hand and unavailability of rapid antigen testing in the wider community,” he said.
“I would also apologise to those Victorians who are waiting (for PCR results).”
Victorian Pharmacy Guild president Anthony Tassone said a “perfect storm” was fuelling the shortage of RATs, with supply unable to keep up following the relaxation of testing for interstate travel, and the changed definition of close contacts.
Mr Tassone said the five public holidays since Christmas had delayed deliveries already ordered by pharmacies, while some that did not place big orders weeks ago were now counting the cost.
Elizabeth Pharmacy in Melbourne’s CBD was so well-stocked on Monday it had no purchase limits.
The nation’s consumer watchdog is monitoring the cost of rapid antigen tests following reports $15 tests were being sold for just under $100.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned against price gouging, saying the ACCC could act against businesses breaking the law.
Concessional access for people including pensioners is expected to be finalised this week under a 50/50 split between the commonwealth, states and territories.
The move to RATs was intended to ease pressure on overwhelmed testing centres. However, next-day results have gone from nine out of 10 to just a third due to Victoria’s high positivity rate.
Mechanic Oliver Trajkovski, of Sunshine, said he visited 20 pharmacies in Melbourne’s west before driving into the CBD.
“All of the western suburbs I’ve done. No joke. Nothing,” he said.
Woolworths employee Leila Beffar said when she passed an open pharmacy selling the tests she thought it wise to stock up.
“I work for Woolies and we’ve been out of stock for like a few weeks now,” Ms Beffar said.
“Why not (buy them)? We can just have them at home, just in case, if something happens.”
The commonwealth is also in the process of securing $370m worth of tests to boost its 10 million test stockpile acquired for aged care and vulnerable groups.
KIDS’ JAB BOOKINGS DELAYED
Jab bookings for children aged five to 11 have been delayed in the Victorian system after service provider Microsoft advised the state government of a tech issue.
Children aged five to 11 will be able to receive the vaccine from January 10 under Australia’s Covid vaccination program.
The Victorian state system was originally due to open for bookings on Wednesday morning but it’s now expected to open on Thursday morning following an IT issue.
The chief health officer highlighted the problem in his Covid update on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately due to an issue with the booking system, bookings for the 5 to 11 age group are not able to open tomorrow for state-run vaccination centres,” Brett Sutton said.
“Microsoft are working to implement a solution as fast as possible.
“Online and hotline bookings for this age group will be available later this week.”
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Martin Foley said Microsoft told the government they believed they needed 24 hours to fix the issue.
“We were expecting to open the booking system this morning, we’re now expecting to open it tomorrow morning,” she said.
“There’s absolutely no delay to actual vaccinations, just a delay in being able to book in the system.
“People can also obviously continue to book at the moment via GPs and pharmacies.”
The Pfizer Covid vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 is a smaller dose of vaccine created specifically for the age group.
Research shows the Pfizer vaccine is up to 91 per cent effective in children.
CASES STRAIN HEALTH SYSTEM
Health services in Melbourne’s west on Monday begged people with mild Covid symptoms to stop visiting emergency departments that were under “extreme pressure”.
Hospitals are still bracing for a surge in admissions from soaring Covid cases.
In a social media post, management of three Melbourne hospitals on Monday urged people with mild Covid to stop attending their facilities.
Western Health tweeted its emergency departments at Sunshine, Footscray and Williamstown were “currently under extreme pressure”.
“Those with mild Covid symptoms seeking PCR or rapid tests should NOT ATTEND,” it said.
It comes as sequencing of NSW’s sickest Covid patients found that 74 per cent had the Delta strain despite Omicron rapidly becoming dominant.
Victorian Covid cases surged overnight on Sunday, with the daily case record broken again after 8577 new cases and three deaths were announced. There are 46 active cases in intensive care, 24 of which require ventilators, while hospitalisations have risen from 472 to 491.
Health Minister Martin Foley said the state was still expecting surging cases to put greater pressure on hospitals.
“If you work on the basis that we’re a week or two behind where NSW are, we can’t rule out that we will continue to see an increase of Covid being managed at home in the community, an increase in hospitalisation, an increase in ICU and an increase in ventilators,” he said.
“These are not good prospects to be looking at over the course of the coming month.
“There is every indication that Omicron is not as virulent as Delta … But that is more than outweighed by the prospects of it being so contagious.”
In the lead-up to the Delta wave, officials estimated the state could handle about 1500-2000 Covid hospital admissions.
“We are … preparing for further hospitalisation and further measures to manage what we can see to be increasing demand,” Mr Foley said.
He said he had recently visited The Alfred hospital and saw an entire floor of intensive-care Covid patients who had not been fully vaccinated.
Parents wanting to book vaccine appointments for their children aged 5 to 11 will also have to wait a little longer after Microsoft experienced issues updating the website for state-run clinics.
The problem is not expected to delay the January 10 start date for the rollout, with hopes the issues will be resolved by Tuesday.
In NSW, an ICU analysis since December 16 found Delta, and not Omicron, was driving admissions.
— Additional reporting by Angira Bharadwaj
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