New vaccine warning as virus cases surge – Chronicle

A coronavirus vaccine could still be many months away and there needs to be preparations for an Australia that does not have a vaccine, the nation’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer says.
Dr Nick Coatsworth said while an “immense amount of human capital” was being poured into developing a COVID-19 treatment, it could still be some way off despite one potential vaccine from the University of Queensland recently entering human trials.
“I think there needs to be some degree of preparation for an Australia that doesn’t have a vaccine. We hope to come as soon as possible but it may not come for many months,” Dr Coatsworth said.
“In that sort of situation, it is the case that movement restriction and decreasing mixing of individuals is one of the main weapons that we have against COVID-19.”
Dr Coatsworth said he did not believe that Australia would experience “several months or years where we have lockdown after lockdown.”
I don’t think that is necessarily going to be the case at all. The focus is to get this particularly significant outbreak under control in Victoria and then go back to what we do best, which is contacting, tracing and eliminating small outbreaks.”
Victoria tody recorded 273 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.
He also said it was “critically important” that anyone who visited the Crossroads Hotel southwest Sydney suburb of Casula between July 3 and July self-isolated until 14 days after their visit, and were tested for COVID-19.
“Furthermore, if you were at that particular pub between the July 3 and July 10, you are strongly encouraged to get tested, regardless of your symptoms. This is because that venue is currently the hub of the public health investigation into the small cluster in southwest Sydney emanating from the Crossroads Hotel,” he said.
Dr Coatsworth said only one COVID-19 case in Victoria had been identified through the Federal Government’s coronavirus tracing app, COVIDSafe, who was then found to not be a significant contact.
He conceded that while 6.5 million people had downloaded the app that did not mean they were actively using it.
But it was still an important weapon in Australia’s battle against the coronavirus, Dr Coatsworth said.
“I would suggest to you that if you’re a supporter of mask use you must also be a supporter of downloading and activating the app,” he said.
CASES IN VICTORIA SURGE
Victoria has confirmed 273 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s number of active cases to 1484, and its total number of cases to 3799.
A man in his 70s has died in hospital, bringing the state’s death toll to 24.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews described it as “a dangerous time”.
Mr Andrews said prep to Year 10 students in metro Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will return to remote and flexible learning from July 20.
“I want to thank every single Victorian for taking these rules seriously, for taking the circumstances that we face seriously,” he said.
“There is simply no alternative but to go to this footing,” he said.
“We can’t have the best part of 700,000 students as well as parents moving to and from school, moving around the community, as if there wasn’t a stay-at-home order, as if there wasn’t a lockdown, that will put at direct risk us achieving our aim and that, of course, is to drive the numbers down at the end of the six-week period and get to a position where we will have control and where we can begin a very cautious program of easing.”
It comes as eight staff members at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne tested positive for coronavirus.
A statement released by the hospital this morning confirmed five of the cases are not linked and are believed to have contracted the disease through community transmission.
The other three were identified through contract tracing.
Alfred Health said that currently no patients have contracted COVID-19 within the hospital.
ADELAIDE VACCINE TO TARGET HOT SPOTS
Residents living in coronavirus hot spots in Melbourne may be targeted for human trials of an Australian vaccine in a plan being drawn up by an Adelaide scientist.
A COVID-19 vaccine developed by Flinders University professor Nikolai Petrovsky is the first Australian candidate to enter phase 1 human trials, The Australian reports.
Professor Petrovsky wants to conduct the next phase of human trials in Victorian outbreak hot spots.
“What we’re proposing is that if a vaccine is available that has passed initial safety and immunogenicity preliminary testing criteria in humans, that vaccine could be used in the context of a localised outbreak to see whether that breaks the cycle of virus transmission and actually brings the outbreak to a stop,” Professor Petrovsky, the founder of the South Australian biotech Vaxine, said.
“As soon as the phase 1 safety data is available there is no reason that our vaccine could not be used in an experimental setting by Victoria in just such a manner.”
TRUMP WEARS FACE MASK FOR FIRST TIME
US President Donald Trump has donned a face mask in public for the first time as coronavirus cases continue to surge across the US.
In a dramatic shift from his past refusal to wear a face covering, Mr Trump wore a face mask during a visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, where he met with recuperating military personnel.
Mr Trump has previously said the wearing of masks causes people to touch their face too much and so is not helpful.
The US President told Fox News on Thursday that he would wear a face mask during the trip to the hospital in Bethseda, Maryland
BOLLYWOOD LEGEND AND SON TEST POSITIVE
It comes as Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan revealed he tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to hospital on Saturday (local time) in his hometown of Mumbai, he said on Twitter, calling for those close to him to get tested.
“I have tested COVID positive shifted to Hospital,” the 77-year-old wrote, saying his family and staff had already been tested and were awaiting their results.
“All that have been in proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!” he added.
The actor’s son, Abhishek, later tweeted he had also tested positive.
AMERICA’S VIRUS CRISIS WORSENS
Florida has set a one-week record for the number of COVID-19-related deaths in the state. America remains in crisis as the country continues to struggle to contain the virus.
Donald Trump postponed a planned rally in New Hampshire citing concerns around Tropical Storm Fay, but reports suggested the US President’s team was wary of any virus spread after cases surged in Oklahoma following a Trump rally there in recent weeks.
In Florida, deaths continued to rise, bringing the total for the week to 496 or an average of nearly 71 per day, a record for the state.
Rapid case increases and hospitalisations have made Arizona one of the worst hot spots in the US for coronavirus.
In Arizona, intensive care beds were at 90 per cent capacity as the number of coronavirus cases in the state surged by 150 per cent.
The disease is widespread in the state, and health officials caution people to stay home unless necessary to leave – and to wear masks in public, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported on Saturday (local time).
On Friday (local time), the US recorded 63,643 new coronavirus cases, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
And 774 people died of COVID-19 in the country in the past 24 hours, the Baltimore-based university said.
The worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic, the US has recorded a total of 133,969 deaths out of 3.18 million cases.
Thursday saw a record surge in cases, with 65,551 new infections. Experts fear there will soon be a spike in deaths.
In recent days, Texas and Florida reported record numbers of virus deaths.
“As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don’t think you can say we’re doing great,” top infectious disease official Dr Anthony Fauci said.
Mr Trump hit out at the respected scientist, telling Fox News: “Dr Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.”
COVID DRUG NOT A ‘SILVER BULLET’
Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, has said a new treatment option that has been approved to be used to treat COVID-19 was not a “silver bullet”.
Dr Coastworth said the Therapeutic Goods Administration granted provisional approval for the antiviral drug Remdesivir to be used among adults and adolescent patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms in hospital.
“It stops the virus from multiplying further in the body,” he said.
‘The important thing to note is none

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