So here we are, it’s been something like five months since my last published post and a lot has happened since then. We’re now behind six months of news coverage, I’ve been keeping track of things but I’ve got to admit this is hardly an up to date diary. Also as I became busier with work and a few other matters, I have to admit, even keeping track of developments trailed off. When I get caught up, I’m bound to not really to have managed to have kept track of all major events.
There was also a change in circumstances, Europe opened back up, cases also went up but not at the previous rate deaths. Delta was a major game changer in terms of the spread and getting past measures that previously proved effective here in Australia. But that was more than six months ago and a new dominant strain hasn’t emerged at least not in my news coverage. Okay scratch that because since writing that last sentence Omnicrom is now very well known.
While there is a measure of success in places like the UK and so many have been vaccinated across the globe the challenge to vaccinate the whole world and mitigate new variants coming to pass remains ever present. Anti-vaxxers are coming to the fore, winter looms for the northern hemisphere and my home state is about to open up its borders having mitigated the spread of COVID for close to two years? Again that last sentence written over a month ago.
People seem ready to take a hit for life to go back to normal.
What will happen next?
I don’t know but I know on some level I will be writing about COVID for at least the next year but hopefully with less regularity.
I doubt I will get up to writing about August 2021 before Christmas has come and gone which will seem weird but I am committed to my path.
Again – scrap that.
I have thought about maybe doing posts clearly demarcated from COVID and not COVID but there is two problems with that. Probably then nobody would read the COVID posts and fair enough. And Two, it’s all part of it. I wore masks to the Brisbane International Film Festival for example. The dramatic events of March 2020 have given way to normalcy. This diary is no longer an average joe’s memory of historical events but rather a linking to news articles that covered said events and yet that became the Diary a long time ago and for a time capsule of how it felt to be observing the world as it went through this. Well like I said – I am committed.
June 14, 2021
As the G7 summit wrapped up in St Ives there was concern the town would see a spike in COVID cases. Two police officers and one protester at an Extinction Rebellion Camp had got it. The camp had liaised with police to meet every standard prescribed for a COVID safe event which I always find interesting as a term to use when discussing a mass gathering.
Five local venues closed their doors as a precaution.
In the United Kingdom I was relieved to hear that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would hold off on coming out of lockdown for another four weeks.
England was due to move to stage four of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown on 21 June, when venues and events would be allowed to operate without capacity limits and the cap on guests at weddings would be lifted. That meant limits would remain for sport clubs, cinemas and pubs and nightclubs would remain closed. Not nearly enough of a measure from where I was sitting but one that was none the less unexpected and welcomed by me.
It also meant people would be limited to six people or two households at a gathering.
Interestingly NHS England data showed on 6 June around a third of all hospital admissions were aged 55 or over, compared to a little over 70% on 6 March, and more than 80% on 6 December.
The UK government was also sending additional testing, tracing, isolation support and measures to maximise vaccine uptake in Birmingham, Blackpool, Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Liverpool City Region and Warrington.
The four weeks could allow for up to 10 million more second vaccine doses to be distributed according Health Minister Edward Argar.
June 15, 2021
Following a second clotting death in Australia involving the AstraZeneca there was talk of reviewing the age limit for the vaccine.
As of last week with three and a half million doses of the vaccine dispensed in Australia, there had been 35 definite cases of clotting and 13 probable ones. Out of those fifteen were still in hospital and one in Intensive Care.
The World Health Organisation reported in Australia there had been 30,262 confirmed cases of COVID with a daily increase of 14.
There had been 910 deaths in the country from COVID. One in the year so far on April 14th.
The European Union were not even putting in further orders for AstraZeneca.
Tuesday there was some good news in my household – my wife got the Pfizer vaccine. She had made a booking and went to a vaccine site at the Prince Charles Hospital for people in her age group.
This was a welcome development.
As I lamented the failure to vaccinate our more vulnerable I was happy my wife now had received a dose and of Pfizer.
Having gotten the AstraZeneca I had expected my wife to have to wait many more months until the end of the year to get her first dose.
As a husband you prefer your wife to be more protected than yourself and now she was.
In not so good news she was advised she wouldn’t automatically get a follow-up dose in three weeks time.
She had to make the booking herself and she was advised the efficacy would still be there if it took up to nine weeks. She made a booking for as soon as she could.
June 09
Wednesday and news in Australia must seem comical to overseas readers but here we go.
A couple left Melbourne on the 1st of June when it was in lockdown. They travelled through rural New South Wales and arrived in Queensland and Goondiwindi June 5th. After three days out in the community of the Sunshine Coast and one of them tested positive to COVID.
Questions were raised given their route away from the coast and the fact that when they left Melbourne it was in lockdown but it could be that the couple were re-locating for work which would have granted them exemption as well other approved reasons.
That would have to be established.
Also being established was more testing hours at the Sunshine Coast and more vaccine doses being delivered to the area too.
Speaking of locked down Melbourne restrictions were being lifted in the southern capital come Friday.
Now the limit you could travel was 25 kilometres – up from 10. There were no home gatherings allowed but students were going back to learning at school.
From Friday will be required indoors only and many businesses can re-open but with limited capacities.
One new local case reported overnight, over 1,200 remained isolating from the rest of Melbournians.
June 10
Thursday and the male partner of the couple from Melbourne had tested positive. The parents they had stayed with had tested negative as residents came out in droves to get tested across the Sunshine Coast.
Nine thousand and eight hundred tests had been carried out the day before.
Authorities were hopeful the pair had been near the end of their transmissible cycle. Hospitals and aged care facilities did not go into lockdown.
The couple had relocated to Queensland for the man’s work and a requirement from his new employer was for him and his wife to get tested so he would have COVID clearance to start work. That is when the positive tests for her came back.
As some restrictions were due to be lifted in Melbourne the next day, authorities changed their minds about mask wearing only indoors. Now masks would remain mandatory both outside and inside.
A 52 year old woman died from blood clotting in the brain after receiving a AstraZeneca. Two deaths having resulted from 3.6 million vaccines.
That actually meant in Australia there was so far a one in a 1.8 million chance of dying from blood clotting after having AstraZeneca.
But it also led to another unlikely statistic.
Two Australians had now died in 2021 from blood clotting following getting an AstraZeneca jab.
Only on Australian had died from COVID in 2021 so far.
However 909 had died in 2020 and I wondered of those 909 how many would take the AstraZeneca vaccine if they were still alive to have that opporunity?
June 11
Dr Sanjaya Senanayake was on the Channel Nine Australia’s morning show Today to discuss the COVID variants and their new names and how they compared to each other.
I was resistant to the renaming since it when someone mentioned Brazilian, UK and Indian strains I had a fairly good understanding of what that meant.
Alpha strain? Which one is that?
Of course in recent weeks all the talk is about the Delta strain so it’s easier to remember which one that is.
Still Dr Senanayake broke it down, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Kappa,
Both Delta and Kappa strains had originated in India but it was the Delta strain that was now most dominant in the UK and 50 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha strain.
The Alpha strain was the UK strain or in the UK what was known as the Kent strain.
The Infectious Disease Expert advised in the program the original Wuhan strain infected at a rate of 2.5 people, the Alpha or UK strain at 3.75 and now the Delta or Indian strain 5.5 people.
He advised UK data showed out of 12,000 Brits who got infected with the Delta variant only 1 per cent went to hospital but even more interestingly only 2 per cent of those 12,000 had been fully vaccinated He didn’t mention how many had received one jab but those kind of statistics suggested while the Delta variant or Indian strain was able to spread more quickly it was not necessarily more deadly than previous strains.
He advised research in the UK suggested risk of symptamatic disease was reduced by 60 per cent from two doses of AstraZeneca and 88 per cent from two doses Pfizer and that was before you looked at hospitalisations and deaths.
June 12
Saturday and a mass vaccination hub in Sunshine Coast aimed to 1,000 vaccine doses dispensed in a day given the recent scare from the relocating Melbourne couple.
No community cases were recorded in Queensland that day.
At the same time any Australians who had been fully vaccinated could now get a digital certificate of their full vaccination status through the federal government’s Medicare account.
For most that meant linking a Medicare account to the federal government’s myGov account and then downloading from there using a smartphone app.
For those who could not get the certificate online or via an app, their immunisation history could be requested from the vaccine provider or the Australian Immunisation Register.
For those unable to find the certificate online or via the app, an immunisation history statement can be requested from your vaccine provider or the Australian Immunisation Register.
The certificate will still be available for those who have opted out of My Health Record, as the Australian Immunisation Register is a separate database.
Talk turned to how such proof could be used down the line as a “vaccine passport” and not just for international travel but entry to public venues and the like – such arrangements had been made overseas already.
It was reported by Channel Nine News that from mid-July over 300 GPs across Australia would be able to dispense PFizer vaccines. That was expected to increase to 600 by the end of the month.
The Therapeutic Goods Administrator advised Pfizer doses could now be stored in a normal fridge for 31 days which would help a great deal in terms of logistics.
On the 13th of June 2021 the World Health Organisation reported there had been 175,349,190 confirmed cases globally with a daily increase of 398,721.
There had been 3,795,727 deaths worldwide with a daily increase of 10,250.
As of the 4th of July, 2021 there had been 2,988,941,529 vaccine doses dispensed across the globe.
In Papua New Guinea there had been 16,727 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 45. There had been 165 deaths reported.
It appeared the recent wave of cases that started to rise in early March, 2021 was coming down in the country.
By the 24th of June, 2021 there will have been a measly 51,170 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Australia there had been 30,237 confirmed cases with a daily increase of eight. There had been 910 deaths.
By the 27th of June there would have been 7,500,700 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Malawi there had been 34,485 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 15. There had been 1,159 deaths with a daily increase of one.
As of the 4th of July, 2021 there had been 492,390 vaccine doses dispensed in the small landlocked Africa nation of 18.63 million people.
In Nepal there had been 608,472 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 1,694. There had been 8,412 deahts with a daily increase of 46.
There had been 3,232,604 vaccine doses dispensed in the country with 28.61 million people.
In Malaysia there had been 652,204 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 5,793. There had been 3,844 deaths with a daily increase of 76.
By the 24th of June there will have been 6,823,104 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Canada there had been 1,399,716 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 1,442. There had been 25,886 deaths with a daily increase of 13.
By the 1st of July, 2021 38,068,118 vaccine doses will have been dispensed in the country of 37.59 million people.
In Peru there had been 1,998,056 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 2,799.
The next day the country would reach the milestone of two million cases with 2,001,059.
There had been 188,100 deaths with a daily increase of 253.
Per capita Peru had the worst COVID death toll in the world.
As of the 1st of July there will have been 7,569,763 vaccine doses dispensed in the country of 32.51 million people.
In the United Kingdom there had been 4,558,498 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 7,550. There had been 127,896 deaths with a daily increase of twelve.
Cases of COVID were on the rise in the country.
By the 27th of June there will have been 77,038,257 vaccine doses dispensed in the island nation.
In India there had been 29,439,989 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 80,834. There had been 370,384 deaths with a daily increase of 3,303.
6,148 deaths had been reported on the 10th of June, 2021. A new daily record.
By the 27th of June, 2021 there will have been 323,663,297 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In the United States of America there had been 33,120,623 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 12,354. There had been 594,272 deaths with a daily increase of 394.
By the 1st of July there will have been 330,160,573 vaccine doses dispensed in the country of 328.2 million people.
394 daily deaths in America. Remember when that was shocking and now we think what an improvement such numbers it’s not even news.
But each of one of those 3,795,727 deaths matters and my heart goes out to the people who know those who are no longer with us.
Hopefully we’re getting there. I know it doesn’t feel like it sometimes but hopefully it is true and I choose to hope.
The day before 24,265 tests had been conducted in Victoria and in state-run sites there had been 17,719 vaccine doses administered.
That added to a total of 550,000 tests conducted in the state since the current outbreak had started two weeks earlier.
Two of the cases at Arcare were a 79 year old resident and an agency nurse who last worked a shift on Saturday. Everybody who worked a shift at Arcare on Saturday were being required to get tested and quarantine for 14 days.
One of the new cases was a cleaner at a construction site which had been listed as a contact stie, he along with 200 others had gotten tested as a result with him the testing positive.
For the lockdown the Victorian government announced a $30 million pakcage. 4.5 million for emergency food relief, grants for food hubs, income support of $800 per person to be administered through the Red Cross and $12 million for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
In Queensland 63,272 vaccine doses had been dispensed in the past week with 17,032 of those over the weekend.
The state’s Health Minister Yvette D’Ath advised Queensland was getting 50,000 Pfizer doses now per week from the federal government allowing certainty with supply and distribution amongst community vaccine hubs.
AstraZeneca was left to be delivered by GPs to those 50 and over.
After the media beat-up from the previous week Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk aged 50 years and over advised she had received the Pfizer vaccine.
She advised she would have gotten the AstraZeneca jab but they were recommended to be taken twelve weeks apart and the Pfizer jab three weeks.
Premier Palaszczuk advised with a possible trip to meet the Olympic committee in Tokyo along iwth the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and the Australian Prime Minister for a Brisbane bid to host the games in 2032.
Dr Jeanette Young who was in late 50s but technically a health care worker had received AstraZeneca following health care workers getting Pfizer jabs as part of the 1A roll out.
So not only was Premier Palaszczuk getting the vaccine at a time that the popularity of the AstraZeneca vaccine was waning but she was doing it in order to be able to take an overseas trip as thousands of Australians struggled to travel internationally for work or seeing dying loved ones for example. It certainly was not a good look but a lot of that came down to timing.
No biggie, other Premiers weren’t rushing out, perhaps to not be seen to be using the privilege of their position but Premier Berejiklian was again showing confidence in a vaccine and as a leader taking care of her health so she could do her job.
Now a mere month later Premier Palaszczuk getting a Pfizer jab got some people’s knickers in a twist. I wasn’t one of them but once again timing is a delicate thing and simply put it wasn’t a good look.
As part of the 1B cohort the Premier and Chief Health Officer could have received their first dose in late March reported The Daily Mail.
In mid-April she got the flu jab and had to delay two weeks then got a tetanus shot after her dog bit her during a playfight.
Where she had previously selflessly wanted to wait her turn, whether her trip to Tokyo would ensure million of dollars in work and economic prosperity for the people of her state, if she did end up going. It didn’t matter. It just wasn’t a good look. Maybe two weeks earlier wouldn’t have mattered. But in politics timing is everything.
The Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese was all for purpose built quarantine facilities in the country having included funding for it in last month’s budget reply speech.
There had been no breakouts from the Howard Springs Facility so far, there had been 21 or 22 from hotel quarantine in the past year.
Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles says there is just one purpose-built facility in Australia, Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, which unsurprisingly has no COVID-19 breakouts, while there has been 21 or 22 from hotels over the past year.
In good news Australia hit five million vaccine doses administered.
It had taken us 47 days to reach our first one million jabs, now 1 million had been dispensed in just the past nine days.
National Vaccine Operational Coordinator Commordore Eric Young advised 811,980 Pfizer doses would arrive onshore in the next couple of days and 230,000 AstraZeneca doses produced locally by CSL Limited would be batch released too.
The Royal Australian Navy officer advised the biggest week yet of the vaccine rollout would take place with 1.1 million doses distributed across two and a half thousand locations in Australia including an additional 100,000 vaccine doses for Victoria where Melbourne remained in lockdown.
Wednesday and six new confirmed cases in Melbourne led the lockdown to be extended in the Victorian capital for another seven days while some restrictions were lowered in regional Victoria.
This was the first time a snap lockdown in Australia had been extended.
There were some changes, from Friday people could travel up to 10 kilometres (up from five) from home and senior (Year 11 and 12) students were to return to school to learn too.
Certain labour jobs like landscaping or painting were also allowed.
There would be no ring of steel around the capital but restrictions would be different outside of Melbourne. To ensure people were staying put there would be roving mobile patrols from police and in open regional businesses would have to check ids of people entering. Hmmmm.
Across the state it would now be mandatory to sign in when entering any business using a QR Code including supermarktets which until recently had been a recommendation.
Regionally all students could return to school, there was no limit on where or why you could go except for travel to Melbourne – you need a permitted reason for that and restrictions applied to you while you were there.
Still outside of Melbourne you could have no visitors to your home beyond intimate partner or single bubble exceptions.
Outdoors gatherings could number ten, beauty and tattoo parlous could resume with mask on and religious gatherings could have up to people as could funerals. Weddings were limited to 10 people.
Outdoor pools, drive-ins, outdoor entertainment venues were capped at a certain capacity or no more than 50 people.
209 million dollars was going to support Victorian businesses.
Ms Scott was happy for 16-39 year olds to attend but advised they would not have priority.
“I’m over having the COVID test. It would be nice to actually have the needle done and not have to be panicky every time we cough or something. I was only actually unwell just last week … and it made me worried because I’m with people who don’t have very good immunity. Someone’s got to take my shift and the families of the people we’re caring for, they get worried that we’ve been around their loved one and they haven’t been done… It’s hard,” said disability support worker Gabrielle Bright.
Two cases of the new Delta strain B1617.2 which had been discovered in India and was also now making its presence known in northern England were announced in the cluster of Melbourne cases.
On Sunday, June 6, 2021 Sunday the World Health Organisation reported there had been 172,677,879 confirmed cases globally with a daily increase of 394,544.
There had been 3,721,209 deaths worldwide with a daily increase of 9,483.
In Papua New Guinea there had been 16,374 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 47. There had been 164 deaths. As of the 6th of June, 2021 there had been 38,176 vaccine doses administered in the country.
In Australia there had been 30,158 confirmed cases with a daily increase of eight. There had been 910 deaths. As of the 6th of June, 2021 there had been 5,931,245 vaccine doses administered in the country of 25.36 million people.
In Malta there had been 30,568 confirmed cases with a daily increase of nine. There had been 419 deaths. By the 12th of June, 2021 there had been 557,758 vaccine doses administered in the island nation that has a population 441,543 people.
In Venezuela there had been 239,252 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 1,239. There had been 2,698 deaths with a daily increase of nine. By the 17th of June, 2021 there will have been 1,302,992 vaccine doses administered in the country of 28.52 million people.
In Tunisia there had been 353,782 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 1,479. There had been 12,948 deaths with a daily increase of 46. By the 19th of June, 2021 there wil have been 1,554,145 vaccine doses administered in the African country of 11.69 milion people.
In Malaysia there had been 610,574 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 7,452. There had been 3,291 deaths with a daily increase of 109.
As of the 6th of June, 2021 there had been 3,330,436 vaccine doses administered in the country with a population of 31.95 million people.
In Canada there had been 1,389,508 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 2,063. There had been 25,679 deaths with a daily increase of 35.
By the 17th of June there will have been 30,885,092 vaccine doses administered in a country of 37.59 million people.
In the United Kingdom there had been 4,511,673 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 5,651. There had been 127,836 deaths with a daily increase of 13.
June 2nd no new deaths had been recorded in the country.
July 31, 2020 had been the last day no new daily deaths had been recorded in the country.
On the 17th of June, 2021 there had been 71,672,208 vaccine doses administered in the country of 66.65 million people.
In India there had been 28,809,339 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 114,460.
There had been 346,759 deaths with a daily increase of 2,677.
By the 14th of June, 2021 there would have been 261,740,273 vaccine doses administered in the country.
In the United States of America there had been 33,015,604 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 17,729. There had been 591,276 deaths with a daily increase of 583. New daily cases were getting back to the same level as May 2020.
By the 17th of June, 2021 there will have been 317,983,185 vaccine doses administered in the country of 328.2 million people.
Now for a good news story, ABC News interviewed President of the Sikh Volunteers Australia, Jaswinder Singh, whose organisation helped out during the terrible bushfires of 2019-20 and the Melbourne lockdown last year. They were back providing food to people during this lockdown.
“I have lost my father in India. [I] was not able to attend the funeral because of the lockdown restriction. A lot of other community members I have seen in the same boat. Times are hard but only by giving in to others the support and encouragement gives hope for everyone.”
Monday, a new week and there were 11 new cases in locked down Melbourne.
There was an indication in the news coverage that the lockdown would be extended.
Raising concerns was three new cases linked to aged care where cases had led to most of Australia’s deaths from COVID in 2020, in particular in Victoria during their series of lockdowns.
One was a Arcare Aged Care Worker and the son of the worker.
The other a 99 year old! Arcare Aged Care female resident who was asymptomatic but had been transferred to hospital. She had previously received her first doze of a COVID vaccine.
Also positive was an unvaccinated Arcare worker who had also worked at a Blue Cross Nursing home last week as well.
Up until Thursday staff in aged care were allowed to work across facilities until the lockdown took effect.
All remaining Arcare staff and residents were now going to be offered the Pfizer vaccine even though AstraZeneca was seen as the primary one to dispense to over 50 year olds.
The unvaccinated staff member had been on leave three weeks earlier when some residents had been vaccinated and left over doses were given to staff it was reported by Channel 9.
655 aged care residents died in Victoria last year from COVID last year. So far there have only been 910 deaths from COVID in Australia so far.
Both the Blue Cross residency and the Arcare residency were now in lockdown with a staff member of the Blue Cross facility having tested positive.
Pfizer doses were rushed to the Arcare facility the same day to offer to staff and residents either their first or second doses of the vaccine
It turned out one of the protestors in Melbourne over the weekend who breathed on media and was carted off by Police worked in aged care.
The situation amplified the fact that now in the fourth month of vaccines rolling out in Australia we still didn’t have all aged care residents and those with disabilities and attending staff vaccinated.
Partly that was because the vaccine was not mandatory for either those vulnerble citizens or those who took care of them.
Part of it was because it was complicated to deliver the vaccine to them.
Part of it was supply had been slow and state and federal authorities had chosen to race to get the vaccine out to as many of the general public that they could.
It did mean though that those who are often forgotten because they don’t have as loud a voice were being left behind in this race.
There was talk of maybe making COVID vaccinations mandatory for Aged Care Staff and as the ABC reported there was precedent of making those who worked in hotel quarantine get vaccinated in order to work.
June 01
Tuesday.
Close to 42,699 Victorians got tested in the past 24 hours as the cluster of cases grew to 54 iwth three new cases.
There were thankfully no new cases in aged care.
Meanwhile there was concern over how the virus was currently spreading. One of the day’s four new cases in VIctoria was thorugh fleeting contact and one new cases had never been to any of the contract tracing sites.
Speaking of the contract tracing sites there were plenty of them in Melbourne.
The state’s mass vaccination sites were going to “roll-out the red carpet” to aged care workers.
It was known that nine per cent of them had been fully vaccinated so far while on the job!
But the full numbers from them attending their own GP, etc was unknown.
On the ABC’s 7:30 program Professor Katy Eager from the University of Wollongong told that aged care workers were to their own devices to get vaccinated leaving them out of 1A frontline workers cohort.
Walk ins were to have a priority lane and go the front of the queue to get vaccinated from the 2nd of June through to Sunday the 6th at ten mass vaccination sites across Victoria, four in Melbourne and the rest in towns like Ballarat, Bendigo, Wodonga and Traralgon.
The Victorian government was also setting up nine disability vaccination centres for those with disabilities to get vaccinated.
It was reported just 335 people with disabilities in residential care out of 22,000 had been fully vaccinated.
Channel 9 News reported that 38,912 , 86% of aged are residents in Victoria have received one vaccine dose. Around half at 25,319 had received one dose.
In Australia 72,707 aged care workers have had either one or two jabs out of a workforce totalling 366,00.
The Victorian government wouldn’t be drawn on whether the lockdown would be exended or if there would be one set of rules for Regional Victoria and one for the capital Melbourne.
The World Health Organisation also announced they would now call strains after the Greek alphabet rather than from the country it originated from.
A sentiment I understand but one that I think will just cause confusion at a time when clarity is required. The B.1.1.7 mutation we knew as the UK strain would now be referred to as the Alpha variant, the B.1.315 mutation we know as the South African strain would now be referred to as the Beta variant, the P.1 mutation we knew as the Brazilian variant would now be referred to as the Gamma variant and the B.1.617.2 mutation known as the Indian variant would now be referred to as the Delta variant.
We’ll see how that works out.
The ABC aslo reported on the lockdown in Malaysia, only essential businesses were open, schools had moved to online learning and people could only move in a ten kilometre radius from their home. Of note you could exercise by jogging but not cycling. Malaysia’s hospitals were filling up.Ministers and Deputy Ministers were giving up their salary for three months to fund government health initiative. projects. There was also a 12.5 billion stimulus package.
A exhibition building in Kuala Lumpur had been converted into a mass vaccination site. mass immunisation centre.
On the 1st of June, 2021 the World Health Organisation reported in Malaysia there had been 572,357 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 6,824. There had been 2,796 deaths with a daily increase of 67.
The country had reached a new daily record of confirmed cases May 30 with 9,020.
On June 3rd, 126 daily deaths would be a new daily record in that figure.
Friday and the Federal government was copping heat for what was happening in Victoria.
There were four new cases in Melbourne taking the current Whittlesea cluster and 15,000 close contacts identified. It was also pointed out that some of these venues had more people reported at them then QR code recording had indicated. Sadly this meant people were either failing or choosing not to log in when they arrived at the venues and this complicated contract tracing now.
Wage subsidies were being looked at for affected businesses but nothing definitive was offerred yet.
Some of these cases had been symptomatic for days before getting tested in what cold and flu season.
People were definitely getting tested now, a new record of 47,462 tests had been carried out in one day as well as a new state record 17,223 vaccinations in one day.
While the federal government had sent 160 Australian Defence Force members to Victoria to assist they were copping heat for their primary responsibility in the vacccine roll out.
As Australia reached 4,031,539 vaccine doses administered (close to two months after we initially planned to hit that number), half a million Australians having been fully vaccinated and a record 124,000 jabs in a day the media reported on the fact that those in aged care and disability were not yet all vaccinated.
Ten million doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer had been delivered in the country.
A quarter of those were being held in reserve for second doses and the rest had been distrubuted to the states according to Health Minister Greg Hunt.
Yet only 6,000 out of 26,000 Australians who lived in disability care had received a vaccine.
As Pfizer was made available to more people in Australia there was also going to be less than 200,000 doses of the vaccine in June than there had been in May.
True story.
Meanwhile my older sister who lived in disability care and was under 50 well she wasn’t vaccinated. Her story one of thousands in this country.
Then there was the fact that there were aged care homes staff and residents yet to receive one jab.
At the five minute mark of the below report you will see a little bit covered about Sikh Volunteers Australia who are delivering food to the needy during lockdown when demand increases. Good people doing good deeds. Legends!
The lockdown in Victoria prompted more people to get vaccinated in Queensland with the daily dose up by 7,000 in the past 24 hours including Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.
So what was the total, well that was hard to get from official sources but COVIDLIVE.COM.AU reported 771,016 vaccine doses had been administered in the state with 88,774 Queenslanders apparently fully vaccinated. The population of Queensland was 5,185 million.
And as Channel 7 News reported only 25 Queenslanders who lived in disability residential care had been vaccinated.
Twenty five.
That wasn’t even one a day for how long we had been vaccinating in the state.
That wasn’t…
That was…
That…
Th..
….
That wasn’t good enough. Not one little bit.
Not now.
Not ever.
May 29
Saturday and there were five new cases in lockdown Victoria.
There was also protest against the lockdown in Melbourne but the police were ready for them.
Fourteen people were arrested and 55 were fined.
May 30
On the 30th of May, 2021 the World Health Organisation reported there had been 169,631,767 confirmed cases globally with a daily increase of 480,388.
There had been 3,646,501 deaths worldwide with a daily increase of 11,838.
In Papua New Guinea there had been 15,901 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 53. There had been 162 deaths.
By June 6, 2021 there will have been 38,176 vaccine doses administered in the country.
A small drop in the ocean for a country with a population of 8.776 million people.
News in Australia had switched to the crisis in India, then the Victorian lockdown but the country of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels still needed us.
In Australia there had been 30,083 confirmed cases with a daily increase of ten. There had been 910 deaths.
By the 6th of June, 2021 there will have been 5,203,977 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
in Kenya there had been 170,485 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 444. There had been 3,141 deaths with a daily increase of 17. The country was coming down from a recent wave.
By the 9th of June, 2021 there will have been 1,030,445 vaccine doses dispensed in the country. Kenya had a population of 52.57 million people.
In Malaysia there had been 558,534 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 9,020. The highest daily increase of cases in the country ever. There had been 2,650 deaths with a daily increase of 98.
On June the 3rd, 126 deaths reported in one day would set a new daily record for that statistic.
By the 6th of June, 2021 there will have been 3,330,436 vaccine doses dispensed in the country. Malaysia had a population of 31.95 million people.
In Canada there had been 1,374,275 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 3,202. There had been 25,440 deaths with a daily increase of 29.
By the 3rd of June there will have been 25,226,671 vaccine doses dispensed in Canada which had a population of 37.59 million people.
In the United Kingdom there had been 4,480,949 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 3,240. There had been 127,775 deaths with a daily increase of seven. On June 2nd no deaths from COVID would be recorded for that day.
By the 7th of June, 2021 there will have been 68,381,870 vaccine doses dispensed in the country with a population 66.65 milion people.
In Russia there had been 5,063,442 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 9,694. There had been 121,162 deaths with a daily increase of 355.
By the 8th of June, 2021 there will have been 30,708,050 vaccine doses administered in the country with a population of 144.4 million people.
In Turkey there had been 5,235,978 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 7,656. There had been 47,271 deaths with a daily increase of 137.
By the 8th of June, 2021 there will have been 30,857,320 vaccine doses administered in the country of over 84 million people.
In India there had been 27,894,800 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 165,553!
There had been 325,972 deaths recorded with a daily increase of 3,460.
By the 7th of June, 2021 there will have been 238,840,635 vaccine doses administered in the country.
In the United States of America there had been 32,916,501 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 25,091. The kind of daily increases that had been seen during a downturn of COVID in May 2020.
There had been 588,292 deaths with a daily increase of 743.
By the 3rd of June, 2021 there will have been 301,161,088 vaccine doses administered in the country of 328.2 million people.
There were 11 new cases overnight in Victoria prompted the state to go into a seven day lockdown.
A cluster linked to the Wollett man who had quaratined in South Australia and then tested postive now stood at 26 cases out of 34 active ones in Victoria.
There were five reasons why people could leave home during the lockdown.
Shopping for food, travel to work, medical care and caregiving, exercise around your local area for two hours AND… getting vaccinated.
At the same time the state government announced from tomorrow anyone over 40 would be elligble to get vaccinated leading the VIctorian vaccine hotline to crash due to the flurry of calls. 77,000 calls were received in a 15 minute window.
With 40-49s able to apply to get vaccinated, half the population of Victoria could arrange to get vaccinted.
Meanwhile those with disabilities and some in aged care remained unvaccinated.
Maybe a cheap shot at the federal government as he as state leader carried out what would be an unpopular action.
On Tuesday the Victorian government at state facilities had dispensed 16,000 vaccinations and on Wednesday they had carried out 12,677. Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton advised Victoria could do 30,000 a day and with proper supply they could reach 100,000 a day.
Channel 9 News reported that 9 aged care facilities in the state had yet to receive one single dose in the fourth month of the vaccine roll-out in Australia. Dr Norman Swan speaking on the ABC’s 7:30 program said it was 29 aged care facilities.
Schools would switch to remote learning while childcare and kindergartens remained open.
Restaurants and cafes were back to only take-away.
Public gatherings were out as were private gatherings but intimate partners could see each other and singles could have one visitor. Shopping and exercise should be within a five kilometre radius of home.
Only 10 people were permitted at funerals and weddings were only allowed under exception circumstances.
40,411 tests had been carried out in the past 24 hours and there were 21 new testing sites set up with over 200 operating across the state as queues backed up into the night and people had to be turned away.
The Acting Premier advised there were 150 exposure sites to be listed and there had been 10,000 close contacts following contract tracing.
From 1am tomorrow Queensland would be shut to Victorians.
From 4pm today anybody entering New South Wales from Victoria had to observe the same lockdown rules while staying in New South Wales.
South Australia had closed the border to their Eastern neighbour at 6pm Wednesday night.
The only people allowed into SA from the affected area from that point on are essential travellers and returning South Australians, who will need to quarantine for 14 days.
People are unable to enter Tasmania if they have been in Victoria in the past 14 days.
Western Australia had closed the border to Victoria too.
From midnight Thursday travellers from Victoria will be banned from entering the Australian Capital Territory unless they have an exemption.
ACT residents who leave Victoria to come home after that time can enter but must follow stay at home requirements until the 3rd of June when the lockdown was scheduled to end in Victoria.
On the other side fo the world and a Wednesday, Dominic Cummings the former Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of Great Britain Boris Johnson gave testimony at a parliamentary inquiry about the handling of the COVID pandemic.
What was said in those seven hours if proven true was pretty damning.
What was claimed or confirmed Cummings mostly related to behind closed door meetings and briefings where debate can be debated and remarks can be flip.
But still…
Johnson compared COVID to swine flu and suggested he be injected live on television with it to prove it wasn’t dangerous.
Was distracted about developments in Italy with his divorce and announcement of his partner’s pregnancy.
A senior civil servant likened COVID-19 to chicken pox and floated mass infection parties to build herd immunity.
Johnson quipped COVID was only killing over 80s.
Expressed regret over the first lockdown and said he would rather see the bodies pile in their thousands than order a second lockdown.
When asked if Johnson was fit to hold office, the man who was a key part of the team that saw him win power replied “No.”
Cummings was even harder on Health Secretary Matt Hancock who he said had told cabinet members that people being transferred from hospitals to nursing home were being tested prior to being transported but it didn’t happen.
Cummings advised the Prime Minister to get rid of Hancock otherwise we are going to kill people but he didn’t. Perhaps for political reasons.
In his testimony Cummings relayed two central points about the government initial plan – that herd immunity through spread was a key strategy and that the British public wouldn’t stand for lockdowns.
Cummings left government last year during a power struggle and also created controversy around himself when he seemingly broke lockdown rules last year when travelling from London to northern England while he had COVID!
What I find remarkable in this day and age with the news is how we just don’t know the answer for things for certain.
From my limited perspective some of the actions taken by the UK government suggest a lack of awareness of the threat during this and later periods.
A priority on the economy over lives.
Herd immunity was even evoked by Johnson in some early press conferences. In comparison to other European countries the UK moved slower and less stridently on a consistent basis.
What Cummings has testified might be irrelevant, there is enough in confirmed actions to question.
The World Health Organisation reported on the 27th of May, 2021 in the United Kingdom there have been 4,470,301 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 2,987.
There had been 127,748 deaths with a daily increase of nine.
As of 25 May 2021, the World Health Organisation reported a total of 1,545,967,545 vaccine doses have been administered around the world. The global population was 7.674 billion people.
The second repatriation out of India following the lifting of the travel ban of May 15 touched down in Darwin.
All 165 scheduled passengers had passed their tests and were able to fly back.
The testing company previously used by Qantas had been replaced after more than a dozen of the passengers from the previous flight who had tested positive had subsequently tested negative They were now being prirotised for getting a return flgiht.
There were eight repatriation flights scheduled for the following fortnight.
Tuesday and there is an increasing outbreak of cases in Melbourne who had suffered the most in 2020 with lockdowns, case numbers and aged care deaths.
There were five new daily cases and genomic testing linked it to the man who had done time in hotel quarantine in Adelaide and then become positive in Melbourne.
New restrictions or old restrictions returned to the Victorian capital.
Masks were to be worn inside, there was a limit of five people at home gatherings and public gatherings were restricted to 30 people.
New Zealand hit pause on the travel button with Victoria.
China released a video for their vaccine roll-out and announced an intention to administer up to 20 million doses a day.
A report from the ABC showed people were not going back to the office full time.
The ABC took stats from Australia Talks data that showed those working from home full time had shifted from four per cent to 25 per cent during the height of the pandemic here and was now currently at 12 per cent.
It appeared going forward a lot of people were keen to have a mix of working from home and in the office. Cutting out their commute saved them money and time and they found they were connected and present with their families.
Of course this was dependent on what your home life was, what your set-up at home was and what you did for a living.
I personally loved going into the office.
However I was certain the genie was out of the bottle and the stats reflected this.
Those who did 0 hours working from home had shifted from 49 per cent pre-pandemic to now 37 per cent.
May 26
Wednesday and the COVID cluster in Melbourne grew to 15 people with six new cases in the community.
‘And as you can imagine, a shopping centre could have captured a broader group of people.’
The government to the north of Victoria was falling over itself to not close to their neighbour but yeah but nah but yeah but nah but.
Those who had been in Greater Melbourne or Bendigo since May 12 were advised to not visit residential aged care or health care facilities unless it was to seek treatment or for compassionate reasons.
People who had been in Melbourne’s far north well limit your attendance at locations at pubs, and clubs, and gyms and
Yeah large family gatherings
But you know you can still see your family and
Look avoid crowded indoor settings
But you know we won’t make you quarantine at home like those mongrel Queenslanders!
But you know… speaking of your house… do you like your house yeah… houses are great!
I mean if you like your house so much that you spend the new few days there then that’s probably for the best.
And if you got out and you can go out but like when you’re out………………….
Don’t go anywhere where there’s like ooooohh…lots of people
Or old people
Or sick people
Or people with disabilities
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand if you do….
Like could you wear a mask?
Nobdoy else will be wearing a mask and we’re certainly not going to mandate you wear a mask
Just like we’re not going to make you quarantine
Because there is no need to do any of that and we wouldn’t do that to you!
But if you could kind of do all of that then that’s probably for the best but we’re not going to do that because we’re not like the Queensland and WA governments.
On Tuesday there had been 16,698 tests carried out in the state.
The same day 13,200 vaccine doses were dispensed by New South Wales Health.
So far in NSW, 1,142,002 doses had been dispensed, 371,117 by NSW Health and 770,885 by GPs and the Commonwealth.
NSW Health was stepping ahead of the national rollout getting over 40s to regsiter interest getting Pfizer jabs at their Sydney Olympic Park clinic.
There was still work to be done in Phase 1A and 1B which included front line health care workers, those who worked in quarantine or border control and their household contacts, thsoe with underlying health conditions aor disability.
Then there were the over 50s to get AstraZeneca.
The 40-49s who had registered for Pfizer were starting to get contacted.
In the wake of my sister and her husband finally getting the jab it was timely to think of where vaccinations were in the UK.
More than 37 million Britons had received at least one vaccine dose.
The initial roll-out targeted 32 million people who were either aged over 50, or residents and workers in aged care, or frontline health care workers, or those with underlying health problems and unpaid carers.
People who fell under those categories had accounted for 99% of all COVID deaths in the UK and the government had aimed to have offered anyone in that group at least their first jab by the 15th of April.
Now the rollout had expanded to get 21 million Britons aged 20 to 49 years old to receive their first jab by mid-July.
The thirty seven million equated to 70% of the adult population.
More than 21 million had their second dose.
There was a move to crank up second doses to over 50s in the wake of the new Indian variant.
In mid-march 500,000 first doses were administered per day.
Now first doses averaged 190,000 per day and 340,000 second doses were being administered on average.
A jab manufactured by US firm Novavax will be made in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England, while another by French company Valneva will be made in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland.
On Friday here in Australia there was plenty of COVID news to cover.
Some continued coverage in the need to get more people with disabilities vaccinated.
There was talk of putting blood clot cases into perspective from COVID restrictions.
There was talk of the need to get overseas students able to study at Universities in Australia.
Gauri Gupta, sister of Govind Kant’s who passed away in India, spoke to 7:30 about her loss.
There was talk of getting MRNA production up in Australia in the next two years with the federal government putting a callout for companies to make applications.
Recently a 53 year old South Australian man received a jab on the 4th of May and ended up in hospital May 18 with severe abdominal pain.
There was also the 18 year old nurse in Queensland, a 57 year old woman in and a 79 year old man both from Victoria.
Over 230 volunteers were allowed back into the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne including ‘The Splint Ladies‘ who have each been volunteering at the hosptial for three decades.
It was also reported that earlier in the week the Chinese made COVID vaccine Sinopharm was dispensed in the Solomon Islands making it the first Pacific Islander nation to receive the vaccine. Australia had also pledged to deliver 60,000 doses of AstraZeneca to the islands.
India appeared to be coming off the peak of its largest and most devasting wave. The virus was spreading more rurally sadly in the country which would have consequences since there were less resources in those places.
In neighbouring Nepal it was reported 50 per cent of COVID tests returned positive on a daily basis, sometimes higher. The number of hospitalisations had increased and beds and oxygen were in short supply.
Following a petition that I coincidentally signed urging the Australian government to help, they announced seven million dollars of support would be sent.
The World Health Organisation reported on the 21st of May, 2021 in Nepal there had been 488,645 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 8,227. There had been 5,847 deaths with a daily increase of 190.
But for some none of that was the big news of the day.
Oh no.
The big news for them was that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had not yet had her COVID vaccine.
And neither had the Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young.
With so much coverage about blood clots people argued leaders taking the jab could build confidence.
They argued this struck the wrong tone, gave the wrong message.
Dr Young as a health care professional was waiting to get Pfizer and the Premier merely said she was waiting to do it after her flu shot which she had not yet had – halfway through Autumn.
At work we had taken our flu shots in early April but another school of thought was workplaces should hold off giving flu shots so early in the season.
In the past 24 hours in Australia 92,000 doses had been administered in the country.
The next day there was continued back and forth reported between Premier Palaszczuk and Prime Minister Morrison about the potential Wellcamp Airport quarantine facility. No real movement there.
On the ABC their program The Vaccine covered the latest on the vaccine roll-out in Australia and the latest news coming out of India.
Health Minister Greg Hunt’s words at a press conference were covered as unhelpful as the main vaccine on offer in Australia remained the AstraZeneca vaccine which had links to very rare cases of blood clotting.
You could argue it was simply acknowledge the fact that some people were going to hold out for Pfizer regardless of their age but there was a need to encourage people to get vaccinated as soon as they could.
Also has history had shown, we couldn’t assume that vaccine doses would arrive as we hoped they would at the end of the year in the quantities expected. There was a winter to contend with in between too.
Casey Briggs reported there had been 3.47 million vaccine doses dispensed in the country with over 100,000 doses dispensed.
The seven day average was just under 70,000 a day.
it was also reported cases were back on the rise in Brazil and surging in many South East Asian nations like Thailand and Malaysia.
Physician and journalist Dr Norman Swan on the program spoke about vaccine hesitancy and the roll-out in Australia in general.
He advised waiting for Pfizer a choice someone could make but that given the leaks from hotel quarantine already and the rising number of infectious cases now was not the time to wait to get vaccinated.
The latest 617 Indian variant 617 was almost 40 more infectious than the British variant.
The R number is the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to on average.
The original Wuhan variant that swept the world had an R number of of 2.4
The UK strain that originated in Kent had an R number of 4.5.
It was estimated the Indian variant’s R number was at least 6 maybe even as high as 8 and could prove a little vaccine resistant.
He also reminded that risk of death from COVID goes up and the risk of blood clotting from AstraZeneca goes down.
He also spoke of how initial clinical trials presented the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine with an efficacy rate of 62 per cent.
SInce those trials, AstraZeneca was been dispensed twelve weeks apart with better results and both AstraZeneca and Pfizer seemed to give almost 100 per cent chance of avoiding hospitalisation from COVID. The current efficacy rate in the real world from infection was about 85 per cent with AstraZeneca and 95 per cent with Pfizer. A significantly smaller gap.
Infectious disesases expert Associate Professor Sanajaya Senanayake from Australian National University also joined the program.
Which I understood what I meant but at the same time the number of vaccines being dispensed was being reported and also the reality of the statistical likelihood was also being covered but of course fear doesn’t make you act sensibly.
There was so much talk about the need for more marketing, the fear of blood clots and while I understand all of that is relevant.
I have to say the most important thing was getting our most vulnerable and our most keen vaccinated. That came down to logistics and that came down to organising.
My older sister in disability care had still not been vaccinated.
Our aged care residents and staff had still not all been vaccinated.
Plenty of young people were keen do the smart thing and get vaccinated.
Worry about them.
They don’t need an ad to convince them and they know what’s at stake.
Sunday and on the 23rd of May, 2021 the World Health Organisation reported there had been 166054891 confirmed cases globally with a daily increase of 590064.
There had been 3564623 deaths worldwide with a daily increase of 11865.
In the Solomons Islands there had been 23 cases recorded and zero deaths. As of the 13th of May it was reported 11,536 vaccine doses had been administered.
In Papua New Guinea there had been 15,187 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 54.
There had been 156 deaths with a daily increase of two.
More had to be done.
There had been 13 new daily deaths recorded on the 20th of May, a record for the country.
More had to be done.
As of the 13th of May there had been 11,537 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Australia there had been 30,004 confirmed cases with a daily increase four. There had been 910 deaths.
As of the 27th of April, there had been 3,089,183 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Nepal there had been 505,643 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 8,591. There had been 6,153 deaths with a daily increase of 129.
By the 29th of May there would have been 2,802,596 vaccine doses administered in the country with a population of 28.61 million people.
In Malaysia there had been 505,115 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 6,320. There had been 2,199 deaths with a daily increase of 50.
As of the 16th of May, there had been 1,914,554 vaccine doses administered in the country with a 31.95 million people.
In Canada there had been 1,352,121 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 4,676. There had been 25162 deaths with a daily increase of 51.
The country had reached the milestone of 25,000 dead from COVID on the 20th of May with 25,018 and a daily increase of 35.
The country was coming off its most recent and largest wave of COVID with the percentage of its population much higher than it had been only a few weeks earlier.
By the 27th of May there would be 22,622,529 vaccine doses dispensed in Canada which had a population of 37.59 million people.
In the United Kingdom there had been 4,460,450 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 2,523. There had been 127,716 deaths with a daily increase of six.
By the 31st of May the UK had dispensed 64,923,228 vaccine doses amongst a population of 66.65 million people.
In France there had been 5,497,073 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 11,821. There had been 107,732 deaths with a daily increase of 75.
By the 29th of May there would have been 36,487,886 vaccine doses dispensed in a country with 67.06 million people.
In India there had been 26,530,132 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 240,842. There had been 209,266 deaths with a daily increase of 3,741.
The next day India would reach the milestone of over 300,000 COVID deaths with 303,720 and a daily increase of 4,454.
While the country was coming down from its most devastating wave with reported case numbers there had been 4,529 deaths reported four days earlier on the 19th of May. The highest number of daily deaths from COVID in the country ever.
By the end of the month on the 31st of May, there would have been 218,358,591 vaccine doses dispensed in India.
In Brazil there had been 15,970,949 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 76,855. There had been 446,309 deaths with a daily increase of 2,215.
In Brazil the highest number of daily deaths had been 4,249 reported on the 10th of April, 2021.
By the 27th of May there would have been 60,017,445 vaccine doses dispensed in a country with 211 million people.
In the United States of America there had been 32,762,914 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 27,921. There had been 583,696 deaths with a daily increase of 743.
By the 27th of May there would been 294,270,594 vaccine doses dispensed in a country with 328.2 million people.
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 