15 February 2021
Dear colleagues,
Even with steady numbers of testing at our COVID-19 Fever Clinics and a comprehensive testing strategy of guests in Quarantine, Queensland recorded no new cases today.
Today I’d like to particularly acknowledge those in our Public Health Unit who spent the weekend contact tracing some of the 1500 people connected to exposure sites at Melbourne Airport after the announcement on Friday. Their work was extended last night when the identified start date for declared Greater Melbourne COVID-19 hotspots were extended to apply from 7 February (forward from 9 February).
With last night’s amendment to the identified start date to declared Greater Melbourne COVID-19 hotspots, staff that have travelled to Greater Melbourne between 7 and 9 February should get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result. If you have been to an exposure site, you should get tested immediately, isolate for 14 days and please call 13HEALTH. The exposure sites were updated yesterday afternoon.
On Sunday, Australia suspended its quarantine-free travel arrangement with New Zealand following the detection of COVID-19 in a couple and their daughter in Auckland over the weekend. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly announced that all flights originating in New Zealand will be classified as Red Zone flights for an initial period of 72 hours from 12.01 am, this started today (Monday 15 February). This new rule will remain in place for the next three days before the situation is reassessed.
Excitingly, the first shipment of Pfizer vaccines arrived in Australia this morning. The 142,000 doses will now be subject to quality assurance to make sure the sub-zero temperatures the vaccines need to be stored at were maintained during the flight and that there has been no damage.
I hope you all have a good week!
Regards,
Dr Liz Rushbrook
Metro North Incident Controller
Metro North HHS – overview of cases*
|
HHS |
Patients being managed by HHS | FEVER Clinics | |||||||
| Total In-patients |
Virtual Ward / HITH / or similar |
Deaths ** |
Total cases managed by HHS (including recovered) *** |
# of clinics |
Presentations |
||||
| ICU Pts | |||||||||
|
ICU-NOT Ventilated |
ICU-Ventilated |
Last 24 hrs |
TOTAL^ |
||||||
| MN TOTAL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 431 | 3 | 281 | 140,831 |
*With effect 15 February 2021, 1000
**Metro North has three recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North.