COVID-19 Australia: More India rescue flights expected as first departure date confirmed
The number of expected rescue flights from India has increased after National Cabinet met, with Scott Morrison confirming when the first will depart.
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The first rescue flight from COVID-ravaged India will depart on May 15, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed.
The repatriation flight is expected to leave India on the same day the travel ban is lifted. Passengers will be taken to the Northern Territory, where they will isolate at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
Two more federal government-organised rescue flight are also expected to run in May, and the most vulnearable Australians stranded in India will be prioritised.
“Those charter flights will, of course, be focused on bringing those Australian citizens, residents and families who have been registered with our high commission and consular offices within India. And it will also be targeted on those 900 most vulnerable of the group,” Mr Morrison said.
The announcement came after the PM met with state and territory leaders at National Cabinet.
Mr Morrison said he believed six flights in total would run this month after NSW, Victoria and Queensland said they would allow travellers returning from India into their hotel quarantine system, with South Australia also considering doing so. But it was unclear who would take carriage of the remaining three flights.
Mr Morrison said planes would carry about 150 passengers.
He could not guarantee the 900 vulnerable Australians would return on the six flights.
“You have family members, I need to stress, and vulnerable persons as well, and it’s not our practice to split up families,” Mr Morrison said.
Commercial flights between India and Australia were not expected to resume on May 15.
NSW RACING TO FIND MISSING LINK
NSW health authorities are racing to find the missing link between a returned traveller in hotel quarantine and its latest COVID-19 community outbreak.
An eastern suburbs man in his 50s tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. His wife also tested positive on Thursday, leading the NSW government to announce a reintroduction of temporary COVID-19 restrictions.
The community case was confirmed as linked to a man in hotel quarantine who had returned from the US via genomic testing, however the two have never come into contact and there is no known common link.
Experts say the next 72 hours will be crucial in tracing down the link.
The outbreak is the fourth hotel quarantine breach seen in NSW since March.
The NSW outbreak and ongoing hotel quarantine issues are expected to dominate the meeting, along with Australian citizens currently stranded in Australia as part of the federal government’s travel ban. The cabinet is also expected to receive updates on vaccine rollout schedules, international passenger caps, and other high-risk countries including India.
Overnight, Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who is presently in London, said Australia would lift the ban on Indian arrivals and heavy fines on May 15.
Senator Payne, who on Wednesday had discussions with her Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said “we fully expect it (the ban) not to be extended beyond that date, and we intend for facilitated flights to resume beyond.’’
Trade Minister Dan Tehan told ABC Radio this morning that the federal government was still considering how it will repatriate Australians stranded in the country.
“They will be assisted flights. We have to go through the planning,” Mr Tehan said.
“We’ll be doing what we can, especially to get those most vulnerable passengers, repatriated back to Australia.”
JAB POTENTIALLY LINK TO MORE CLOTTING CASES
The AstraZeneca vaccine is being blamed for five new blood clot cases that include a 66-year-old Townsville man currently in ICU and an elderly Tasmanian man in hospital.
The blood clots have been assessed as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) and are likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the TGA’s weekly safety report states.
The five reported cases include a 74-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman in Victoria and a 64-year-old woman from Western Australia and increased the total number Australian TTS cases, following an AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, to 11 out of some 1.4 million administered doses.
The TGA said it is also actively investigating a further three possible cases but tests “did not consistently indicate TTS and platelet counts were higher” than the accepted threshold.
“The TGA is working with state and territory health departments to obtain further test results and information about medical history to inform further assessment,” the statement said.
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young revealed the 66-year-old Townsville man’s condition has been directly linked to being vaccinated against COVID-19 in a press conference on Thursday.
“The TGA, I understand, will announce later today a case of thrombosis following an AstraZeneca vaccination in a 66-year-old gentleman in Townsville,” she said.
“He has been admitted to the ICU.
“TGA has confirmed that his illness is a direct result of the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
A statement from the Tasmanian Department of Health has said their 70-year-old patient is in a stable condition in hospital.
“The patient, a 70-year old man, reported symptoms 7 days after receiving the vaccine. He is currently in hospital receiving treatment and remains in a stable condition,” the statement read.
“Information about the case was notified to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for assessment, including to determine whether the case is linked to vaccination.
“The TGA has today confirmed that this case (together with 4 cases from other states) has been assessed as TTS, likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.”
Dr Young said the Queensland patient had received an initial AstraZeneca jab on March 30 and soon afterwards had a reaction which worsened over time.
“He received the first dose of the vaccine, on the 30th of March, subsequently developed some abdominal pain and presented to the Townsville Hospital, where he was admitted and tested,” Dr Young said.
“It‘s now been confirmed that he is most likely developed that syndrome.”
The incident should not deter people from being vaccinated against COVID-19, said Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.
“Vaccine confidence is really important. We want as many Australians and Queenslanders to get vaccinated,” she said.
“We know that is really important to protect our community … and we will continue to act on the advice of the TGA.”
The news comes as Queensland tightens its borders with NSW following two locally acquired coronavirus cases in Sydney.
Anyone arriving from NSW who has been to one of 19 ‘hot spot’ venues will be sent to hotel quarantine from early Friday morning.
Ms D’Ath said from 1am Friday, anyone arriving in Queensland who had been to any of the 19 venues in NSW, where the two positive cases had visited, will spend two weeks in hotel quarantine.
She said police would vet arrivals and it was a “reasonable” and “proportionate” measure.
“Anyone who identifies as having gone to those venues will quarantine for 14 days,” Ms D’Ath told reporters.
NZ-NSW TRAVEL BUBBLE ON HOLD AMID FRESH CASE
New Zealand will pause quarantine free travel between NSW after two new cases in Sydney.
Flights from NSW were paused from 11.59pm tonight for 48 hours.
“We do acknowledge this has the potential to disrupt people’s travel,” New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.
“This isn’t a decision we take lightly.”
It come after NSW Health officials said they know how a Sydney man became infected with coronavirus after his wife tested positive to the virus as well.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said “health detectives” had managed to trace the source of the man’s infection.
Genome analysis revealed the likely source of the man’s infection was a person who arrived from the US and attended special health accommodation after testing positive upon arrival in Australia.
But it’s still not clear how the virus managed to spread from that person to the eastern suburbs man who was confirmed positive on Wednesday.
“We can’t find any direct link between our (cases),” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said.
“So what we’re concerned about is that there is another person that is yet to be identified that infected our case.”
Ms Berejiklian also announced new restrictions for the Greater Sydney area that will come into force from 5pm on Thursday and remain in place until 11.59pm on Sunday.
No more than 20 people will be allowed inside a private residence, and there will be no singing and dancing in indoor venues, including places of worship and entertainment venues.
Weddings will be exempt, but it’s recommended only 20 people should be on the dancefloor at any one time.
“In relation to mask-wearing, mask-wearing at indoor places will be compulsory for the next three days. Public transport, if you go to the supermarket, any indoor event, will require compulsory mask wearing in addition to hospitality workers. And people serving you,” she said.
‘F-CK RISK’: HOTEL QUARANTINE OFFICER STOOD DOWN AMID ALLEGATIONS
A former Victorian chief infection officer claimed Australia had “become obsessed with risk” less than a year before being appointed to manage the state’s failed hotel quarantine program.
Matiu Bush, who the general manager of infection control at the agency overseeing the state’s hotel quarantine program throughout the height of the pandemic, created the “f.ckrisk” hashtag on social media, telling an interviewer in 2019 the movement “highlights that in healthcare we have become obsessed with risk, and in doing so, stifled creativity.”
“We found this often when people wanted to donate equipment to us … When someone said ‘I have a scooter or an electric wheelchair or a whole lot of supplies, dressing supplies’, and hospitals said ‘Don’t touch it’, infection control risk, etc. Even though the evidence actually says an unopened packet of equipment in a house is no risk, Mr Bush, who at the time managed the community organisation One Good Street, said.
While working for the government, Mr Bush was reported to the authorities on at least two occasions for refusing mandatory COVID-19 testing requests from the Defence Force and breaching infection control protocols, according to The Australian.
On Wednesday, the government announced Mr Bush had been stood down on full pay while a review is carried out.
Meanwhile, a former frontline worker in the same hotel quarantine system has blown the lid on an environment of “hostile and intimidating” behaviour.
“In all my working life, I have never been met with this kind of behaviour or had to write such an email. It makes me sad that I have to do it now,” the woman wrote in an incident report on April 22, The Australian reports.
“I believe that it is not healthy or fair for me to remain in that toxic and hostile environment,” the report continued.
The woman alleged the behaviour began after she refused to sign a letter that she believed covered up safety breaches by a supervisor.
Earlier in the week, it was also revealed a manager and the head of infection control at the Novotel Melbourne Central were fired after 51 incidents were reported regarding their conduct, and a further 15 complaints were made amid fears their behaviour could have sparked another outbreak.
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