Health authorities say they’re confident in the Victorian Government’s ability to handle a fresh outbreak of coronavirus in the state.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd says the strategy of suppression adopted by Victoria is working, and that occasional outbreaks of COVID-19 are an expected part of it’s strategy.
Professor Kidd gave a press conference in Canberra.
0:00 Opening remarks
1:36 Effect of increased testing in Melbourne
2:38 Remarks on COVIDSafe app
3:47 Remarks on personal responsibility to reduce spread of COVID-19
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:
5:40 Some states are threatening to slap an extra 10 days in quarantine if people refuse testing, should that be the national standard?
6:17 I just wanted to ask you about the saliva test that Victoria is rolling out from the Doherty institute. How does that differ from the testing mechanisms we have, and is that something you are assuming will be rolled out across the country, will be used more broadly than just Victoria?
7:37 Do the saliva test results come back just as quickly, as it is easy to process the data? And is there a limit on how many saliva tests we can do? We need a certain amount of equipment or chemicals to do the test or will be a transition into doing that?
8:22 Does the outbreak in Victoria, presumably it doesn’t constitute a so-called second wave of infections, but can you give us an idea of what that would look like in an Australian context, particularly a second wave which could meaningfully derail the plan states opening of the economy?
9:14 What does a second wave look like in an Australian context? Just so we can gauge the scale?
Read more here:
Coronavirus Australia news: Victoria heads towards peak in cases as Melbourne hotspots drive infections — as it happened
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