Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

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The walls are closing in at work. Either I test positive in the next few days or I'm the asymptomatic spreader somehow not triggering the Panbio kits to give me a result...
 
So 3 months after other states (NSW launched in October) WA is finally adding proof of vaccination to their check in app:

WA announces launch of ServiceWA app​

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson has provided some more information on the launch of a new app, for people to show their vaccination status.

"It will change the way people connect and access services through the state government," she says.

"The ServiceWA app is free, convenient and secure mobile application.

"It allows West Australians to show proof of vaccination, check-in with SafeWA at businesses and venues and to access their G2G passes for interstate travel all in one convenient place."

She says it will include information on how to prepare household for COVID-19 and where to get information about financial assistance.
 
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WA reports 4 cases yesterday (1 is a contact of a returned traveller, 1 related to a truck driver, 2 related to another truck driver)
 
As the article in post # 32,480 details - tens of thousands of tests were being flown around Australia when NSW daily PCR tests were approaching 100,000/day. When testing hit over 160,000 then there were an additional (at least) 60,000 tests flown interstate each day.

I did not note down the dates of the media briefings where the PCR processing wihtin State figures were revealed, but as seen in above posts - at least last week's Qld revelation has been confirmed by somebody else.

You may remember that when there was the Delta outbreak in the Hunter that there were articles about the test result delays due to most of the privately run taken tests being driven to Sydney once a day, then flown to either WA, SA, Victoria or Queensland which was why the results were then around 5 or 6 days after the tests. Brad Hazzard, when asked if he thought this was acceptable replied along the lines - Well this is a pandemic and the system is working.

Similarly it was revealed that the testing in Far Western NSW was seeing results taking up to 7 days because of inter-state processing, the tests being driven once per day (overnight) to Sydney and the courier only working Monday to Friday. Once this was leaked - things changed (slightly) - subsequently prioritised and processed in Sydney with 7 day driving of the tests. Delays decreased but still several days.
Lynda2475 said:
Please provide a source for this? NSW Healthy run pathology labs have published a capacity, but bulk of testing has been done by private pathology labs including histopath, Douglas Hanly Moir, Forcyte (known issues), Laverty (tardy from the start) etc

Also capacity varies depending on the prevailing positivity rate and whether or not samples can be processed in batches or need to be run separately.
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Yes, stated capacity MAY vary - as disclosed by several private companies in NSW last week where they mentioned they had been 'batch testing' when infection rates were low as it saved them time (& money as they receive around $85 per test regardless of whether they process them individually or 3, 4 or 9 at a time). If one of the batch tested positive then they would re-test each one individually - thus taking two testing cycles to get the results.

The stated daily processing capacity of 63,000 PCR tests within NSW was revealed back when batch testing was widespread and the positivity rate at less than 0.5% vs between 24% to 36% (today's figure of 25,870 / 74,325 PCR tests processed = 36%).

So, indeed NSW's current daily processing capacity may well be significantly below 63,000 due to batching no longer being profitable nor timely. Which could be why the time delays still persist from a number of providers despite daily processing numbers today being less than half those of mid to late December.

NSW Public capacity (page last updated Nov 2020):

Together, NSW Health Pathology’s laboratories can run more than 15,000 tests per day, which is a significant contribution to the total tests carried out across the state.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) - NSW Health Pathology - diagnostic COVID-19 testing

NSW Health Pathology is part of the international response to COVID-19.
www.health.nsw.gov.au www.health.nsw.gov.au

Or around 9% when the daily tests were running at 160k+/day. Currently around 15% of daily tests processed over the last week if 100% of public capacity processing used.
Lynda2475 said:
Again provide a legitimate source?

Qld has one of the lowest testing rates so I call BS especially since they weren't even able to provide testing facilities in their own state in many popular holiday areas on weekends and public holidays over Christmas. Qld has never tested anywhere near 60k people a day, even though the demand was there for holidays makers during the 2 weeks that the 5th day from entry PCR test was a thing.
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At a media briefing in May 2021 Brad Hazzard was asked to confirm whether it was true that the NSW Govt had not increased processing capacity since April 2020. His answer 'Yes'.

The next question was what is the total daily testing capacity across public & private facilties in NSW? Brad Hazzard deferred to Kerry Chant who said it was about 63,000 a day.

Brad Hazzard then ended the briefing.

The figure of 60,000 for both public & private PCR test processing within Queensland was answered by AP at a media briefing early last week when she responded to a question on whether Qld was at risk of running out of processing capacity and delays blowing out like in NSW & Vic.
www.brisbanetimes.com.au

‘In for a long wait’: Fewer tests being done as queues grow, tensions rise

Private providers have negotiated to open six more sites in south-east Queensland, but most will close after lunch every day.
www.brisbanetimes.com.au www.brisbanetimes.com.au
The other contributing factor, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said, was that private pathologists had changed their process from batch testing to individual testing, which had reduced their capacity by 50 per cent.

“We have the capacity to do 60,000 [tests] a day comfortably if we have all the staff on board and if we’ve got all the private pathologists operating at full capacity as well,” Ms D’Ath said.

That Qld did not/could not organise sufficient testing sites/capacity worked in NSW's favour as it meant there was more excess capacity for processing NSW PCR tests at various private pathology labs (I am led to believe, but have not separately confirmed, that no NSW tests are being process in Qld Public pathology labs.

Currently WA is the major destination for NSW's PCR inter-state test processing after a much reduced Queensland allocation.

If the reduction in private pathology processing capacity quoted by the Qld Health Minister applies equally to NSW then NSW's total current PCR processing capacity (assuming that Public labs did not batch test) would be 39,000 per day in total (15K + 0.5 x 48K).
 
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SA (30,388 active – 4500 public hospital beds, 161 public/private ICU beds)
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused - announced 28/12

2/1 2298 positives, 21k tests, 82 hospital, 7 ICU
3/1 2552 positives, 19k tests, 94 hospital, 9 ICU
4/1 3246 positives, 20k tests, 102 hospital, 12 ICU
5/1 3493 positives, 21k tests, 125 hospital, 12 ICU
6/1 3070 positives, 21k tests, 123 hospital, 12 ICU
7/1 3707 positives, 20k tests, 144 hospital, 16 ICU
8/1 4274 positives, 24k tests, 164 hospital, 16 ICU
9/1 4506 positives, 23k tests, 176 hospital, 18 ICU
10/1 4024 positives, 21k tests, 188 hospital, 21 ICU
11/1 2921 positives, 18k tests, 211 hospital, 22 ICU

ACT (6302 active – 1200 public hospital beds, 37 public/private ICU beds)
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused at 1 hospital - announced 7/1

2/1 506 positives, 3.6k tests, 9 hospital, 1 ICU
3/1 514 positives, 3.5k tests, 11 hospital, 2 ICU
4/1 926 positives, 4.3k tests, 13 hospital, 1 ICU
5/1 810 positives, 3.4k tests, 16 hospital, 1 ICU
6/1 992 positives, 3.3k tests, 20 hospital, 2 ICU
7/1 1246 positives, 4.5k tests, 24 hospital, 3 ICU
8/1 1305 positives, 4.3k tests, 24 hospital, 5 ICU
9/1 1039 positives, 3.1k tests, 27 hospital, 4 ICU
10/1 938 positives, 5.2k tests, 25 hospital, 4 ICU
11/1 1508 positives, 5.9k tests, 28 hospital, 4 ICU

NT (2600 active – 1000 public hospital beds, 20 public/private ICU beds)

2/1 95 positives, 1.9k tests, 26 hospital
3/1 58 positives, 2.1k tests, 21 hospital
4/1 75 positives, 1.8k tests, 24 hospital
5/1 117 positives, 2.1k tests, 21 hospital, 1 ICU
6/1 256 positives, 2.5k tests, 23 hospital, 2 ICU
7/1 412 positives, 2.8k tests, 19 hospital, 2 ICU
8/1 594 positives, 3.0k tests, 17 hospital, 1 ICU
9/1 481 positives, 2.5k tests, 24 hospital, 1 ICU
10/1 403 positives, 2.5k tests, 26 hospital, 1/2 ICU
11/1 594 positives, 2.2k tests, 32 hospital, 1 ICU

WA (100 active – 5900 public hospital beds, 179 public/private ICU bed)

2/1 1 local positive, 2.9k tests
3/1 2 local positives, 3.4k tests
4/1 0 local positives, 4.4k tests
5/1 5 local positives, 6.1k tests
6/1 1 local positive, 6.4k tests
7/1 0 local positives, 4.6k tests
8/1 1 local positive, 4.8k tests
9/1 1 local positive, 3.4k tests
10/1 3 local positives, 6.1k tests
11/1 4 local positives (Delta backpacker 23), 4.6k tests - as per oz_mark
 
RAM said:
When testing hit over 160,000 then there were an additional (at least) 60,000 tests flown interstate each day.
Click to expand...
An assumption on your part, not a published fact, assumes nothing was done to increase any capacity and absolutely says nothing about Queensland doing lions share. Nice try.
 
ABC Covid Blog report the below:

You record a positive RAT in NSW. What happens next?​

Dr Amith Shetty, the clinical director of COVID care in the community in NSW, provided some information about how the system is designed to work. He says:
  • You register your positive RAT result and then complete a survey-based assessment
  • The majority of people will belong in the low-risk group
  • The system is designed to recognise those at higher risk of developing serious disease or those who in need of earlier treatment so they don't end up in ICU
  • Process is two surveys – the first through the Service NSW app and the second is then sent out through NSW Health
  • You'll get a notification that you've tested positive and you'll get an isolation notice
  • People likely to need additional help including: Those with conditions affecting the heart, lungs and immune system, especially people with active cancer or undergoing chemotherapy, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will be connected to their regular health services
  • You will only be contacted by NSW Health who escalate this process and the phoneline process for people who cannot access it digitally
  • Information will be provided solely to GPs
  • Most people will be able to treat the symptoms at home themselves with the resources provided on the health website, including in multiple languages
  • If your condition changes suddenly and you develop serious symptoms including chest pain for more than 10 minutes, breathlessness that stops you getting out of bed or going to the bathroom, fainting episodes, these are symptoms where you would call 000
"It's all about us being prepared, vaccinated or not. We could all potentially get COVID, but if you have had two vaccine doses and the booster, your chances of ending up in hospital are extremely unlikely. COVID is here, something that is becoming more common and we need to make sure that our services are available to the people who need it most. You should use the app to get your rapid service test, and complete the survey to the best of your knowledge and ensure that your contact details are correct so that New South Wales Health can connect with you if you belong and at higher risk category," Dr Shetty says.

The bolded bit seems somewhat non sensical to me why not inform the positive person directly (and cc their GP if they wish for that to be the case)? Many don't have a regular GP but might be higher risk for being over weight, so they will be subjected to the stress of trying to find a GP whilst in ISO when they have self reported, seems like a revenue raising scheme for GPs. First and foremost the responsibility is to provide information re the affected person directly to that person, not introduce a 3rd party.
 
Lynda2475 said:
ABC Covid Blog report the below:

You record a positive RAT in NSW. What happens next?​

Dr Amith Shetty, the clinical director of COVID care in the community in NSW, provided some information about how the system is designed to work. He says:
  • You register your positive RAT result and then complete a survey-based assessment
  • The majority of people will belong in the low-risk group
  • The system is designed to recognise those at higher risk of developing serious disease or those who in need of earlier treatment so they don't end up in ICU
  • Process is two surveys – the first through the Service NSW app and the second is then sent out through NSW Health
  • You'll get a notification that you've tested positive and you'll get an isolation notice
  • People likely to need additional help including: Those with conditions affecting the heart, lungs and immune system, especially people with active cancer or undergoing chemotherapy, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will be connected to their regular health services
  • You will only be contacted by NSW Health who escalate this process and the phoneline process for people who cannot access it digitally
  • Information will be provided solely to GPs
  • Most people will be able to treat the symptoms at home themselves with the resources provided on the health website, including in multiple languages
  • If your condition changes suddenly and you develop serious symptoms including chest pain for more than 10 minutes, breathlessness that stops you getting out of bed or going to the bathroom, fainting episodes, these are symptoms where you would call 000
"It's all about us being prepared, vaccinated or not. We could all potentially get COVID, but if you have had two vaccine doses and the booster, your chances of ending up in hospital are extremely unlikely. COVID is here, something that is becoming more common and we need to make sure that our services are available to the people who need it most. You should use the app to get your rapid service test, and complete the survey to the best of your knowledge and ensure that your contact details are correct so that New South Wales Health can connect with you if you belong and at higher risk category," Dr Shetty says.

The bolded bit seems somewhat non sensical to me why not inform the positive person directly (and cc their GP if they wish for that to be the case)? Many don't have a regular GP but might be higher risk for being over weight, so they will be subjected to the stress of trying to find a GP whilst in ISO when they have self reported, seems like a revenue raising scheme for GPs. First and foremost the responsibility is to provide information re the affected person directly to that person, not introduce a 3rd party.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure the patient gets informed too and that the wording means won't be provided to contacts and existing specialists.
I registered mstrandye3 and received an email saying didn't need extra care
It is helpful for a GP to know if a patient is being provided extra monitoring or if eligible for prophylactic treatments. I doubt extra revenue would even cross the mind of most GPs in this situation. Concern for their patient would of course
 

Reporting of positive RAT results is mandatory from January 1, Perrottet says​

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking in Sydney.

He says that from 9am AEDT, the function to report a positive RAT result has been live in the Service NSW app.

He says it will be mandatory to report positive results since January 1, and a $1,000 fine may apply for failing to do so.

"This health order has been signed off this morning and in terms of enforcement, if someone fails to register a positive rapid antigen test, there will be a $1000 fine and there will be a grace period, I spoke to the Police Commissioner this morning, Karen Webb, and enforcement of the this fine will come in in one week's time, from the 19th of January."

He says it is simple to do so and will only take a couple of minutes. He says there will also be a function to report any other underlying conditions or pregnancy.
 
Entirely unenforceable though, because unless the RAT was provided by a government test centre, they have no way of knowing if you have purchased or used a RAT.
 
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NSW (333,235 active – 21,000 public hospital beds, 884 public/private ICU beds)
[previous peak hospital/ICU: 1268/242 - September 2021]
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused - announced 7/1

5/1 35,054 positives, 108k tests, 1491 hospital, 119 ICU
6/1 34,994 positives, 111k tests, 1609 hospital, 131 ICU
7/1 38,625 positives, 112k tests, 1738 hospital, 134 ICU
8/1 45,098 positives, 116k tests, 1795 hospital, 145 ICU
9/1 30,062 positives, 98k tests, 1927 hospital, 151 ICU
10/1 20,293 positives, 84k tests, 2030 hospital, 159 ICU
11/1 25,870 positives, 71k tests, 2186 hospital, 170 ICU
12/1 34,759 positives, 134k tests, 2242 hospital, 175 ICU

Victoria (209,715 active – 15,000 public hospital beds, 476 public/private ICU beds)
[previous peak hospital/ICU: 851/163 - October 2021]
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused - announced 6/1

5/1 17,636 positives, 59k tests, 591 hospital, 53 ICU active, 53 ICU cleared
6/1 21,997 positives, 64k tests, 631 hospital, 51 ICU active, 49 ICU cleared
7/1 21,728 positives, 68k tests, 644 hospital, 58 ICU active, 48 ICU cleared
8/1 24,928 PCR+, 89k tests, 5923/26,428 RAT+, 731* hospital, 109* ICU active + cleared
9/1 22,104 PCR+, 83k tests, 22,051 RAT+, 752 hospital, 104 ICU
10/1 17,618 PCR+, 78k tests, 17,190 RAT+, 818 hospital, 118 ICU
11/1 19,491 PCR+, 59k tests, 18,503 RAT+, 861 hospital, 117 ICU
12/1 21,693 PCR+, 61k tests, 18,434 RAT+, 946 hospital, 112 ICU

Qld (130,947 active – 13,000 public hospital beds, 408 public/private ICU beds)
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused - announced 8/1

5/1 6781 positives, 29k tests, 265 hospital, 10 ICU
6/1 10,332 positives, 34k tests, 284 hospital, 12 ICU
7/1 10,953 positives, 36k tests, 313 hospital, 14 ICU
8/1 11,174 positives, 33k tests, 349 hospital, 17 ICU
9/1 13,680 PCR+, 37k tests, 4320 RAT+, 380 hospital, 23 ICU
10/1 5867 PCR+, 21k tests, 3714 RAT+, 419 hospital, 21 ICU (*some non-reporting labs)
11/1 16,380 PCR+, 50k tests, 4186 RAT+, 502 hospital, 27 ICU (*includes non-reporting)
12/1 18,084 PCR+, 57k tests, 3985 RAT+, 525 hospital, 30 ICU
 
SA (30,388 active 11/1 – 4500 public hospital beds, 161 public/private ICU beds)
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused - announced 28/12

5/1 3493 positives, 21k tests, 125 hospital, 12 ICU
6/1 3070 positives, 21k tests, 123 hospital, 12 ICU
7/1 3707 positives, 20k tests, 144 hospital, 16 ICU
8/1 4274 positives, 24k tests, 164 hospital, 16 ICU
9/1 4506 positives, 23k tests, 176 hospital, 18 ICU
10/1 4024 positives, 21k tests, 188 hospital, 21 ICU
11/1 2921 positives, 18k tests, 211 hospital, 22 ICU
12/1 2978 PCR+, 737 RAT+, 190 hospital, 27 ICU

Tasmania (8764 active – 1500 public hospital beds, 38 public/private ICU beds)

5/1 867 positives, 2.4k tests, 0/5 hospital
6/1 751 positives, 2.9k tests, 1/5 hospital
7/1 1489 positives, 5.2k tests, 3/8 hospital
8/1 1051 PCR+, 4.4k tests, 1172 RAT+, 4/10 hospital
9/1 598 PCR+, 3.2k tests, 808 RAT+, 4/15 hospital
10/1 397 PCR+, 2.2k tests, 821 RAT+, 11/17 hospital
11/1 364 PCR+, 2.3k tests, 1015 RAT+, 7/18 hospital
12/1 736 PCR+, 2.6k tests, 847 RAT+, 8/22 hospital

ACT (5601 active – 1200 public hospital beds, 37 public/private ICU beds)
Certain elective surgery suspended/paused at 1 hospital - announced 7/1

5/1 810 positives, 3.4k tests, 16 hospital, 1 ICU
6/1 992 positives, 3.3k tests, 20 hospital, 2 ICU
7/1 1246 positives, 4.5k tests, 24 hospital, 3 ICU
8/1 1305 positives, 4.3k tests, 24 hospital, 5 ICU
9/1 1039 positives, 3.1k tests, 27 hospital, 4 ICU
10/1 938 positives, 5.2k tests, 25 hospital, 4 ICU
11/1 1508 positives, 5.9k tests, 28 hospital, 4 ICU
12/1 1078 positives, 3.6k tests, 23 hospital, 3 ICU
 
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