Prime Minister Scott Morrison has issued a media release about yesterday’s meeting of the National Cabinet to discuss their response to COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, approaches to test, trace isolate and quarantine including the use of rapid antigen tests (RATs), and the vaccine rollout and booster programme.
The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, provided an update on the spread of the Omicron variant. Omicron case numbers continue to increase in Australia and globally. Omicron continues to show greater infectivity than the Delta variant, but with much less severity in terms of hospitalisations, ICU and ventilated patients.
His report said that since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 1,514,560 confirmed cases in Australia and 2,841 people have died.
Globally there have been over 333.4 million cases and sadly over 5.5 million deaths, with 3,281,678 new cases and 9,162 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. Professor Kelly said the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge in many countries around the world.
Vaccination rates
In the previous seven days, more than 1.9 million vaccines have been administered in Australia. More than 95.2 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over have now had a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 99 per cent of over 50-year-olds and more than 99 per cent of over 70-year-olds.
More than 92.7 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over are now fully vaccinated including more than 97.5 per cent of over 50-year-olds and more than 99 per cent of Australians over 70 years of age.
Over 5.7 million booster doses have been administered to over 28 per cent of Australians. More than 53 per cent of Australians aged 70 years of age and over have had a booster in the last 10 weeks since the booster program commenced.
More than 21 per cent of 5-11-year-olds have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the first 11 days of the children vaccination program.
COVID-19 Treatments
National Cabinet received an update from Adjunct Professor John Skerritt of the Therapeutic Goods Administration on approvals for the first oral treatments for COVID-19 in Australia, Lagevrio® (molnupiravir) and Paxlovid® (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir).
Lagevrio and Paxlovid are oral anti-viral treatments that have been found to be effective in treating people with mild to moderate COVID-19 who have a high risk of progressing to severe disease, reducing admissions to hospital and ICU and potential death.
The National Cabinet report said that the Commonwealth Government has secured access to 300,000 treatment courses of Lagevrio® and 500,000 courses of Paxlovid® for supply throughout the course of 2022, with the first deliveries of both medicines anticipated over the coming weeks. These oral antiviral treatments need a prescription and are taken every 12 hours for five days. They are designed to interfere with the virus’ ability to multiply.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has further granted provisional approval of Novavax for its COVID-19 vaccine, NUVAXOVID for primary course vaccinations. This is the first protein COVID-19 vaccine to receive regulatory approval in Australia. The Commonwealth Government has ordered 51 million doses of the Novavax vaccine which will be available as a primary course vaccine, with supplies available in coming weeks following deliveries and further batch testing.
AHPPC Updated Advice on Use of Rapid Antigen Tests
National Cabinet agreed to the new AHPPC guidance on Rapid Antigen Testing for Current High Community Prevalence Environment. Rapid antigen tests are an important diagnostic tool to manage impacts on health system capacity, public health and safety, protect vulnerable Australians and minimise disruptions to daily life.
Rapid Antigen Tests are to be used for three purposes:
1.As a diagnostic test as an alternative to PCR for those at high risk of having COVID-19
2.To manage outbreaks
3.To help early indication of cases in high risk settings
Use of RATs to detect cases in high-risk settings is recommended in residential aged and disability care settings where there is high community prevalence, healthcare settings managing very high-risk patients (e.g. transplant ward, hematology unit, oncology ward, renal dialysis units) and other critical services (e.g. other parts of health care and emergency services). Rapid Antigen Tests are not routinely recommended to detect cases early for other industries, businesses and organisations.
National Cabinet will meet again next week on Thursday 27 January 2022.
Recent stories, information and updates regarding COVID-19
Eighteen schools in the Northern Rivers division of Richmond have received $25,000 each as part of the federal government’s School Upgrade Fund, Labor Member for Richmond Justine Elliot said last week. COVID-19 reversed earlier trends toward longer life expectancies. During the pandemic, life expectancies globally dropped by 1.6 years according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal. Let’s not forget that Covid-19 is still a big issue in our community with 31,935 cases reported across Australia in the last week – an average of 4,562 cases per day. The Global Carbon Budget is about to be refreshed, giving the world a critical insight into how efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are (or are not) progressing. Masks will no longer be mandatory on public transport from tomorrow, Wednesday 21 September. SW Police are urging festival-goers at this weekend’s music festival to celebrate in a safe and responsible manner, whilst also being aware of COVID-Safety measures. The Northern NSW Local Health District reports that to 4pm yesterday, Sunday May 22, there were 40 COVID-19 positive patients in hospital in Northern NSW, with one of these in ICU. The AEC says that voters who have recently tested positive for COVID-19 will be able to phone in their vote in the federal election. The Northern NSW Local Health District says that to 4pm yesterday, 15 May, 384 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the District, including 82 positive PCR tests and 302 positive rapid antigen tests. Volunteering Australia says volleys are the backbone of the country in times of crisis and emergency.
Fresh air federal funds for Northern Rivers schools in need
COVID-19 pandemic has cut life expectancy globally
COVID-19 update for New South Wales
Five graphs you need to see before the Global Carbon Budget...
Public transport mask mandate to end
NSW Police: be COVID-vigilant at Splendour in the Grass
COVID-19 update for the NNSWLHD – May 23
AEC says COVID voters can phone from home
COVID-19 update: May 16
It’s National Volunteer Week
