Coronavirus: Vic health minister quits over Hotel Quarantine fiasco, Scott Morrison to address UN over pandemic

Victoria’s health minister Jenny Mikakos has quit over the failure of the hotel quarantine scheme, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison prepares to turn up the heat on China over COVID-19. Ms Mikakos, who has been accused of incompetence during her role overseeing the state’s troubled response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was said to have been ‘thrown under the bus’ by Premier Daniel Andrews at the inquiry. During his evidence to the inquiry yesterday, Andrews said that Ms Mikakos headed up the program which is responsible for 99 per cent of the infections in Victoria’s second wave. Ms Mikakos has said she was sorry for what had happened in Victoria but didn’t believe she was responsible. “I am deeply sorry for the situation that Victorians find themselves in,” she said in her resignation statement. “In good conscience, I do not believe that my actions led to them. I thank Victorians for the privilege of serving them. I thank the Premier, my colleagues, my loyal staff, the Labor Party and the broader Labor movement for their support.” “I have never wanted to leave a job unfinished but in light of the Premier’s statement to the Board of Inquiry and the fact that there are elements in it that I strongly disagree with, I believe that I cannot continue to serve in his Cabinet,” she said in a statement this morning. “I have never shirked my responsibility for my department but it is not my responsibility alone. I am disappointed that my integrity has sought to be undermined.” Her move to step down comes a day after the end to the inquiry, that failed to discover who was behind the decision to contract private security guards to the hotel quarantine scheme. Mr Andrews told the Coate inquiry during his two-and-a-half hour grilling that he saw Ms Mikakos as“primarily responsible” for the hotel quarantine program. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and health unions had called for Ms Mikakos to be sacked or to resign over her role in the affair. The porous nature of the hotel quarantine scheme that failed to contain COVID-19 among returning international travellers led to Victoria’s second wave which has killed more than 750 people and smashed the state’s economy. Ms Mikakos was appointed Minister for the Coordination of Health and Human Services during the COVID-19 pandemic on Mr Andrews’ crisis council, while also being responsible for the state health portfolio. Ms Mikakos claimed she was unaware private security were employed as part of the program until two months after it began. That news came as NSW recorded just one new case of COVID-19 in the 24 hours — a returned traveller in hotel quarantine. PM TO FRONT UN OVER COVID Minister Scott Morrison is likely to further test relations with China when he speaks to the UN General Assembly later today. Mr Morrison will make a national statement to the UN in which he will argue the international body faces significant challenges in responding to the pandemic and to disputes over territory and maritime issues. The Australian reports, the Liberal Party leader will say that although the UN is “not perfect” it must “continue to deliver for us and all nations” over the next 75 years by serving member states’ interests. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is likely to further test relations with China when he speaks to the UN General Assembly later today. Mr Morrison will make a national statement to the UN in which he will argue the international body faces significant challenges in responding to the pandemic and to disputes over territory and maritime issues. The Australian reports, the Liberal Party leader will say that although the UN is “not perfect” it must “continue to deliver for us and all nations” over the next 75 years by serving member states’ interests. “The UN is its members, not its committees, processes, institutions or officials,” Mr Morrison will say. “Today there are 193 UN member states. With more voices and challenges comes complexity, negotiation, processes, bureaucracy that would test any organisation. “We want these multilateral institutions to continue to deliver for us and all nations. So we’re committed to ensuring they are fit for purpose, that they’re effective, that they’re open and transparent and, most importantly, that they are accountable to the sovereign states that form them.” Mr Morrison will argue that sovereignty does not mean “turning inwards” and will caution against a “retreat into the downward spiral of protectionism”. He will also continue to push the cause for a multilateral approach to “serve all countries rather than any single power”. Australia has previously raised the ire of China by demanding an independent review into the COVID-19 virus, which originated in Wuhan. That has impacted upon political and trade relations. He will also argue the UN needs to do all it can to understand COVID-19 as part of that international review. “Australia strongly advocated for this review. The virus has inflicted a calamity on our world and its peoples. We must do all we can to understand what happened, for no other purpose than to prevent it from happening again,” the Prime Minister will say. He will also issue a declaration that countries who develop a successful coronavirus vaccine “must share it”, declaring that “some might see short-term advantage or even profit” in refusing to do so. “I assure you to anyone who may think along those lines, humanity will have a very long memory and be a very, very severe judge … Australia’s pledge is clear: if we find the vaccine, we will share it. That’s the pledge we all must make.” UK VIRUS CASES SURGE The UK has reported 6,874 new cases of COVID-19 – a rise of 240 from Thursday. It is the highest daily number since the outbreak began. A further 34 people are reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 – a figure which does not include data from Scotland. It comes as the UK government’s advisers estimated the coronavirus ‘R number’ for the UK has risen again to be between 1.2 and 1.5. Last week, it was between 1.1 to 1.4 (from 1.0 and 1.2), according to science advisory body SAGE. Authorities now believe there is “widespread growth of the epidemic across the country”, with new infections rising by between 4 per cent and 8 per cent every day. There is even more sobering news out of Great Britain with the first COVID-19 vaccine unlikely to prevent people getting the disease. According to the science correspondent for The Times, the vaccine may only alleviate sufferers’ symptoms, scientists have told UK ministers. As of Friday, coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 7 million with nearly half of the country’s 50 states reporting rising numbers of new cases. In Canada, confirmed cases have also surged past 150,000. The milestone comes as health experts and political leaders sound the alarm over a second wave of the virus. “The numbers are clear — back on March 13th when we went into lockdown there were 47 new cases of COVID-19. Yesterday alone, we had well over 1,000,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a rare televised address. COVID-RIDDLED CARGO SHIP WILL BE EVACUATED A cargo ship off Western Australia’s Pilabara coast is set to be evacuated after two crew members tested positive to COVID-19. Health Minister Roger Cook said a “skeleton crew” would be left on the Patricia Oldendorff but the remaining of its 21 crew members were “likely” to be brought onshore. “An evacuation is the most likely outcome,” he said. “They’ll be isolated in (Port) Hedland, and possibly in a hotel there.” Mr Cook said the crew members would be kept quarantined in the Pilbara town unless there was a “clinical need” to bring them to Perth. “So now what we’ll probably have to do is go through and test all the other crew members to ensure that we understand any spread of the disease on board,” he said. Doctors and nurses were due to arrive at Port Headland on Friday afternoon to bolster medical staff who are already on the ground. “Potentially we’ll be sending security personnel up, we want to make sure that any security personnel we use have got training in infection control, understand their obligations and security in our quarantine facilities,” Mr Cook said. The Patricia Oldendorff was scheduled to dock in Port Hedland this week to pick up a shipment of manganese ore. Earlier this week the vessel’s master reported two of the 21 Filipino crew members on board were displaying flu-like symptoms. They tested positive to the deadly virus on Wednesday night after nurses wearing full personal protective equipment were transported to the ship by helicopter to take swabs. Both have since been isolated from other crew members. No new additional COVID-19 cases were recorded in WA. CASES STABILISE IN VICTORIA Victoria recorded 14 new coronavirus cases and a further eight deaths in the 24 hours to Friday, marking a continued stabilisation in the troubled state’s COVID-19 crisis. The low figures recorded across the week means metropolitan Melbourne’s crucial 14-day rolling average remains below 30, standing at 25.1. The rolling average for regional Victoria is just 0.8. Melbourne is scheduled to move into phase 2 of its road map to recovery plan from September 28, with further announcements scheduled for this Sunday. The promising drop in numbers comes as Premier Daniel Andrews appeared before the state’s inquiry into its botched hotel quarantine program. Meantime, four new cases of COVID were recorded in NSW after the state recorded no new cases on Thursday. Three of the four new cases are returned travellers in hotel quarantine. The fourth is a locally contracted case. The NSW government is asking anyone who attended Woolworths at Campbelltown Mall on Thursday, September 17 from 1.30pm to 2.30pm to come forward for testing. ‘MASK RESISTANT’ VIRUS STRAIN A new mutation of the COVID-19 virus is more contagious and could be resistant to hand washing and face masks, experts warn. In a paper published on Wednesday, US scientists claimed the new strain, known as the D614G mutation, “may have implications for our ability to control” the virus. “Wearing masks, washing our hands, all those things are barriers to transmissibility, or contagion, but as the virus becomes more contagious, it statistically is better at getting around those barriers,” David Morens, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told The Washington Post earlier this week. The new strain was discovered in Houston, Texas, where it accounts for 99.9 per cent of infection, and has higher loads of the virus – meaning it is considered more contagious. The paper, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, said that despite its increased contagiousness there was no evidence to suggest the new strain was more deadly. TGA APPROVES 15-MINUTE COVID TEST New coronavirus antigen tests could hold the key to reopening key sectors of Australia’s economy. The rapid tests, which detect the presence of virus protein, provide results within 15 to 30 minutes and are most effective at detecting the virus within the first five to seven days of infection. The Therapeutic Goods Administration approved the import of four of the kits earlier this week. “This test will be useful in settings where speed is paramount,” Life Bioscience director Mark Thacker told The Guardian. “If you can test someone quickly before they go on-site to their workplace, and can do that regularly, you may avoid the massive shutdowns of workplaces that we have seen in some industries.” Pantonic Health director Laura Panton, whose company has secured a supply of tests from the US, said interest is spreading across the sectors. EU WARNS PANDEMIC IS ‘WORSENING’ The European Union has raised the alarm saying the epidemic is worse now than at the March peak in several member countries, as governments in Europe and beyond reimpose drastic restrictions. It comes as the number of coronavirus infections passed the 32 million mark on Wednesday (local time), according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, as countries including Britain and France reported record case numbers. France hit a staggering 16,000 new cases in one day and Britain remains on the brink of a serious outbreak, sending the country into another lockdown that is expected to last through Christmas. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides warned that in “some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March.” “This is a real cause for concern,” she said, urging new measures to head off a second wave of the virus, which has killed at least 978,448 people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China late last year. The death rate has not returned to the levels seen earlier this year, but cases of new infections are soaring once again in many areas of the bloc. In a statement, the EU’s Stockholm-based disease control agency pointed to Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Malta as countries of particularly “high concern.” The seven have “an increased proportion of hospitalised and severe cases” among older people and “increasing or high death notification rates are already observed … or may be observed soon,” said the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC). Other countries such as France and Britain have observed rising infection rates primarily among younger people, who are less at risk of developing severe symptoms. But these too are on a worrying path as older people are increasingly infected, the ECDC said.