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Victorian-era Health Minister Martin Foley rejected suggestions that Victoria is expected to follow New South Wales to ease some restrictions before the Covid outbreak appears to be under control, saying the easing of restrictions is not a sign of hope if the daily number of cases continues to rise to augment.
He also rejected a suggestion made by some federal politicians that Australia’s health care system was not under strain.
“I’m not sure 1,000 cases a day is a sign of hope,” Foley told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday.
“I am not sure that the hundreds and hundreds of people in a state of acute discomfort in an increasingly stressed hospital system, despite protests from federal ministers who frankly would not know what the state of the delivery of a only ward in a hospital [is a sign of hope].
“I’m pretty sure if you asked those ICU nurses in Sydney hospitals how they saw the situation, it wouldn’t be a rosy picture. We are not going to subject our health care system to that kind of stress and strain. “
Victoria recorded 64 new cases on Saturday, including 15 cases where the source of acquisition is unknown. Thirty-nine of the cases were isolated during their entire infectious period.
There are currently 42 people hospitalized with Covid in Victoria and eight in intensive care.
NSW has recorded 1,034 locally acquired cases and two deaths. There are 778 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in NSW.
From Friday, weddings can resume in Sydney with five guests, not counting the couple and the officiants. Weddings are only allowed in Melbourne in exceptional circumstances, such as end of life.
Foley said the hope offered to the Victorians was the prospect of coming out of lockdown with “manageable levels” of positive cases in the community, “levels that we know will allow us to tweak our settings.”
“If that is then backed up by high vaccinations, it gives us that prospect of hope. It gives us that prospect of getting out on the other side of it as soon as possible. “
Foley said Victoria would expect to receive her fair share of any new vaccine supply distributed by the federal government, saying “the thing holding us back is supply”.
“And if the Commonwealth has more supply, or if they talk to others about more supply, the sooner they share this with us, the sooner we will pass it on to the Victorians.”
He also rejected a suggestion that the Victorian government could provide financial support for GP clinics that are open on weekends to operate vaccination clinics, saying that funding for GP clinics through the rollout of the vaccine is a Commonwealth responsibility.
“When does the Commonwealth stop outsourcing its responsibilities to the state? ” he said.
Victoria’s Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said he remained concerned about the number of unrelated cases reported in the daily figures, but said 20 mysterious cases have been linked to known outbreaks in recent days, bringing the total to 41 out of 701 active. case.
Weimar said that the Shepparton epidemic was now under control, despite seven new cases reported today.
A fully vaccinated elderly social worker who lives in Shepparton but works in Echuca, and who tested positive for the virus on Friday, has since tested negative, Weimar said. He says it was not a false positive test, just a sign that vaccines may speed recovery from the virus. Anyone who was at any of the listed exhibition sites in Echuca is still required to test and isolate.
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Sources 2/ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/28/victorian-health-minister-says-nsws-1000-covid-cases-a-day-is-not-a-sign-of-hope The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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