Test, trace, maintain social distance, and keep travel bans and quarantines in place. These measures will help Australia keep the coronavirus in check as we gradually emerge from lockdown hibernation.
The government doesn’t know how many people have died of COVID-19, in part because it didn’t require nursing homes to report cases to the CDC. In some states, over half of deaths are in nursing homes.
The government plans to monitor sewage for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. And while this holds promise to tracking future local outbreaks, there are also some sticky ethical questions to consider.
As New Zealand prepares to ease its lockdown from April 28, new COVID-19 clusters are likely to emerge – but a combination of testing and contact tracing should be able to stamp out major outbreaks.
Don’t just tell us how many new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, tell us how many people you tested as well. That helps us to know if things are getting better or worse.
COVID-19 is creating overwhelming needs for intensive care and testing facilities. An Australian team is developing purpose-built units that can be shipped and erected quickly, easily and cheaply.
A group of population experts have called on governments in Latin American and the Caribbean to urgently ramp up testing for COVID-19 before it’s too late.
A four-year-old female Malayan tiger has tested positive for COVID-19, with six other tigers and lions showing symptoms. It’s the first known case of a ‘wild’ animal catching the disease.
Western Australia is expanding its coronavirus testing criteria from today. So who can get tested in that state, and in other states and territories across Australia?
A test that detects antibodies against the coronavirus behind COVID-19 would reveal those people who have already encountered the virus - and therefore who might be ok to resume normal life.
While testing is central to the fight against COVID-19, there are a myriad of factors to consider, especially by African countries, when taking decisions to curtail the spread of the disease.
The federal government has expanded the testing criteria beyond just returned travellers and those in contact with an infected person. But the new guidelines don’t go far enough.
Tourism is vital to NZ and small economies in the Pacific. But as the Samoa Tourism Authority’s CEO says, “we can always get money back, but once there’s a loss of life you’ll never have that back”.
Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital and Consultant Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity