Daily blog, April 15: North West coast to undergo testing blitz as state reaches 169 cases of COVID-19

An additional four cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the state’s north-west as a testing blitz of the area begins.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The state has 165 infections
• What went wrong in the North West?
• More than 100 people fined for flouting lockdown laws
• IVF clinics in the state have been shut down
• Politician slammed for staying at East Coast shack

READ: Everything we know on every case of COVID-19 in Tasmania

Have questions about business and retail, finishing school or how your movements are restricted?

8pm: FOUR NEW CASES BRINGS TOTAL TO 169

AN additional four coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Tasmania since 6pm last night.

Director of Public Health, Dr Mark Veitch, said all of the new cases were from the north-west.

This brings the state’s tally to 169.

Two of the cases are women and two are men.

One is in their 40s, two are in their 50s and one is in their 80s.

Further details to come.

The situation with coronavirus is changing regularly. People can stay up to date by visiting the Department of Health coronavirus website www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au or the Australian Government Department of Health website at www.health.gov.au

3pm: IGNORANT KEYBOARD WARRIORS SLAMMED

IGNORANT “keyboard warriors” have been told to back off their attacks on the state’s healthcare workers.

Premier Peter Gutwein and Health Minister Sarah Courtney said they were appalled at reports of health workers being vilified online during the coronavirus pandemic.

The nurses union says the problem is real, but the hate is being far outweighed by messages of support from the public.

Baseless rumours relating to the spread of the virus in the community were repeated on Wednesday by Commonwealth chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy.

He later retracted his claim that an “illegal dinner party” held by medical staff was associated with an outbreak of the disease at the north-west.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

1.30pm: SHOCKING FOOTAGE OF WET MARKET RE-OPEN

LIVE crayfish are being sold in wet markets in Wuhan – the epicentre of the coronavirus – days after reopening to the public.

After months of strict lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19, Chinese media shows residents returning to normal life, with 90 per cent of stalls operating at Baishazhou Agricultural Products Market.

Among the footage of residents conversing, live crayfish and crabs are shown squirming in baskets. However, selling live wild animals and livestock is now banned.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

11.30am: TESTING BLITZ IN VIRUS OUTBREAK EPICENTRE

THE North West coast will undergo a testing blitz as keyboard warriors and Facebook experts come under fire.

Premier Peter Gutwein in his daily update to the public said the blitz on the North West coast will expand to anyone with COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms – but those affected must contact the public hotline [phone]).

Mr Gutwein also took aim at “keyboard warriors” on Facebook who he says have unfairly taken aim at health care workers in the North West, after an outbreak was declared last week.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

11am: REWATCH THE PREMIER’S DAILY UPDATE

10am: ‘FALSE’: WHAT WORLD GOT WRONG ABOUT VIRUS

THE editor of a prestigious British medical journal has slammed the “dangerously false” information that initially circulated about coronavirus, warning it is a more serious disease than previously thought.

The Lancet editor Richard Horton has been an outspoken critic of the UK government’s failure to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic despite warnings in late January about the new disease emerging from Wuhan.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

9am: PREMIER’S PRESS CONFERENCE HAS BEEN DELAYED

PREMIER Peter Gutwein’s daily update has been delayed. It will now take place at 11am. Stay tuned with the Mercury.

8am: PM’S PLEA TO SCHOOLS AS TRUMP CUTS WHO OFF

DONALD Trump will suspend all US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with the US President claiming it had covered up the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak in China before it spread around the world.

Mr Trump told a press conference he was instructing his administration to halt funding while “a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organisation’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

7am: CHINA MUST PAY FOR COVID-19, SAYS FORMER LIBERAL LEADER

FORMER Liberal leader Alexander Downer says China’s coronavirus cover up must be stopped with an urgent independent investigation.

In an extraordinary hard line stance, Mr Downer has demanded western countries “ram home” to China that it was losing its “prestige” because of the coronavirus.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

6am: WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE NORTH WEST?

TASMANIANS need answers over how the North West Regional Hospital became the state’s coronavirus infection hot spot if they are to regain confidence in their health system, Greens MHA and epidemiologist Rosalie Woodruff says.

Eighty of Tasmania’s 165 cases of coronavirus are linked to the NWRH.

The NWRH and the private hospital next door were both closed on Monday.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

9pm, yesterday: STATE’S CORONAVIRUS TALLY CLIMBS TO 165

Tasmania has confirmed 15 new cases of coronavirus since 6pm Monday.

Deputy Director of Public Health Dr Scott McKeown said the latest diagnoses brought the state’s tally to 165.

“14 cases are known to be from the North-West of the state and one is still under investigation,” he said.

“Seven of the cases are female, eight are male; their ages range from the 30s to 90s.”

The situation with coronavirus is changing regularly. People can stay up to date by visiting the Department of Health coronavirus website www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au or the Australian Government Department of Health website at www.health.gov.au

5.45pm, yesterday: SIXTH DEATH FROM CORONAVIRUS IN TASMANIA

Tasmania has recorded its sixth death from coronavirus.

The 91-year-old woman died at the Mersey Community Hospital, where she was being cared for, Premier Peter Gutwein confirmed with “great sadness”.

“On behalf of the Tasmanian Government, I extend my deepest condolences to the woman’s family, friends and loved ones,” he said.

“It is again a tragic and stark reminder that this virus can be deadly.

“It has taken lives, and it will take more lives yet.”

Mr Gutwein said we must do absolutely everything we can to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“I again call on the community – every family, every person in Tasmania – to keep doing the right thing. Please: stay home and save lives,” he said.