Brad Hazzard, the New South Wales health minister says that the end of daily media conferences by the state will allow authorities to address the Covid pandemic. The state broke yet another daily record for Covid-19 deaths and set a troubling new death toll.
On Saturday, the state reported 1,599 new cases and eight additional deaths. This includes a man in his late 30s and another man in his 40s who both succumbed at home. This year's outbreak has claimed 170 lives.
Hazzard, however, spent most of his second daily press conference (the last before the NSW government abandons them) defending their decision to end the practice.
He stated that although the conference itself was over in an hour, the preparations for the conference were often four to six hours long.
He stated that it was vital that the health department has clear air and not prepare for the press conferences. That daily videos that are released online were sufficient to update the number and causes of death and that there was no need to fear that a press conference might be called.
He said that we are moving up in numbers and that we need to be able to focus with clarity of mind on what we need.
No one suggests that the premier, me or any other ministers are not available. This is likely 500-something press conferences that I have held in the past 20 months. It would be the same with the premier.
It was stated that, if nothing is new on that day except the numbers then we can return to [video updates].
Hazzard answered a question about the deaths at home caused by the outbreak. He said that they were not in touch with NSW Health in many cases. As many as 15 people may have died in their homes.
Many people who die at home have not been brought to the attention NSW Health and their GPs. There is certainly a lot of pressure in Sydney, especially in the west and south-west.
This disease is bringing out some of the inequalities in our community. In some households, it can be very large where only one or two people work. There is often a reluctance to tell us that someone is not well because they want to continue earning income.
To those people, I can only say that the federal government as well as the state governments have taken economic measures. There is lots of support available for you. But the most important thing to do is to live. Do not hesitate to reach out to our health system for assistance... please, please do not take the chance of dying.
Jeremy McAnulty (deputy chief health officer) said that 13 more cases had been reported in the west, with 10 in Broken Hill, and three in Wilcannia. There are 149 cases in the far West, with 116 in Wilcannia as well as 32 in Broken Hill.
15 cases of new infections were reported in the Australian Capital Territory. 14 of these were associated with known outbreaks. Nine of the nine cases were kept in quarantine for their entire infectious period. Six others were kept in quarantine during part of their infectious periods.
Authorities were notified Saturday morning of a positive case concerning a detainee, who was recently transferred to ACTs prison, Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Andrew Barr, the chief minister of ACT, stated that the territory continues to lead the nation in vaccination. 95% of people over 60 have received one dose. 50% of those between 25 and 29 have received two doses, and 30% have received one dose for those 16-19.
Barr stated that this gives us great confidence in our vaccine program's ability to exceed national targets.
The shortage of vaccines is what has been holding back the territory.
