Coronavirus: Health chief backs data on ‘gold standard’ NSW

Federal Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy has described NSW as ‘the exemplar’ for coronavirus contact tracing.

Federal Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy in Canberra on Monday. Picture: Martin Ollman

Federal Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy has described NSW as “the exemplar” for coronavirus contact tracing, as Victoria faces pressure over failures that exacerbated the state’s second wave of the virus.

Analysis of data from the two states with the highest COVID-19 caseloads shows Victoria’s health department has been able to identify the source of infection for 78 per cent of the its almost 20,000 coronavirus cases, compared with a 90 per cent success rate in NSW from almost 4000 cases.

Premier Daniel Andrews defended his state’s record on Monday, arguing the size of the second wave — which was sparked by breaches in his government’s hotel quarantine program — had made the task for contact tracers in Victoria more difficult than that faced by interstate counterparts. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, meanwhile, said Victoria must work towards reaching the “gold standard” achieved by NSW in order to “move in a more confident way” than the Andrews government’s reopening road map.

Under that plan, Melburnians will be confined to their homes and living under curfew for at least the next seven weeks, and able to move out of stay-at-home lockdown by October 26 only if cases reach an average of fewer than five cases and a total of fewer than five cases with an unknown source in the preceding 14 days.

Victoria has had 19,574 cases of coronavirus. For 4369 or 22 per cent of cases, contact tracers have been unable to identify a source of infection.

In NSW, health authorities have been unable to find a source for 394 cases, or 10 per cent, of its total 3939 cases.

Professor Murphy, who oversaw Australia’s first wave of coronavirus as Australia’s chief medical officer, said NSW had a “proud history of many, many years of advanced investment in public health”.

“They’ve had good systems. They’ve had embedded public health units in all their local health districts. They’ve had very good outbreak response teams. They’ve got a large group of people. It’s not just about tracing. It’s about the outbreak response. It’s about the epidemiologist expertise,” Professor Murphy said.

“It’s about that clinical leadership, and I would agree with the PM that Victoria has invested hugely over the last few months with large numbers of people, very welcome to taking in advice and expertise … they are in a much stronger position now, and I hope they can feel confident … to take a somewhat less conservative approach to their restrictions.”

Top Victorian health bureaucrats warned in May 2019 that the state’s Department of Health and Human Services was the worst-resourced in Australia, and when the pandemic began in March, Victoria had just 14 contact tracers. A team including professional contact tracers, ADF personnel, medical professionals and students and corporate call centre staff now comprises more than 2500 people.

Following a series of spectacular contact-tracing failures — which included dozens of reports of people waiting more than a fortnight after exposure to coronavirus for a call from tracers, including a woman whose family was phoned a week after her death and more than a month after she had been infected — Victoria has implemented a series of improvements to its procedures.

This includes ADF personnel accompanying DHHS authorised officers to knock on the door of every Victorian who has tested positive or is a close contact and the establishment of six COVID regional response units.

Additional reporting: Yoni Bashan