❓ The Minister for Health provides an update on WA's COVID-19 response, including case numbers, testing, the DETECT program, and future research funding. The Minister also discusses the easing of restrictions and the importance of social distancing and hygiene.
AnsweredQoN 290Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE — HEALTH SERVICES
290. Ms L.L. BAKER to the Minister for Health:
I am choking on Minties, not
coughing.
The SPEAKER : No Minties
preamble, please!
Ms L.L. BAKER : Can the
minister update the house on the government's response to COVID-19 by Western
Australia's health services and the actions that continue to be taken
to manage the confirmed cases of COVID-19?
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE — HEALTH SERVICES
290. Ms L.L. BAKER to the Minister for Health:
I am choking on Minties, not
coughing.
The SPEAKER : No Minties
preamble, please!
Ms L.L. BAKER : Can the
minister update the house on the government's response to COVID-19 by Western
Australia's health services and the actions that continue to be taken
to manage the confirmed cases of COVID-19?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question
and wish her all the best in her recovery!
We have had one new case today,
which means that our state's total now sits at 554. A female in her 30s
from the metropolitan area who was a close contact of a previously confirmed
case has tested positive. We continue to have only
seven active cases of COVID-19 remaining in Western Australia, one of which is
in regional Western Australia. More
than 97 per cent, or 538, of people who have contracted COVID-19 in Western Australia
have now recovered , with just one
person in hospital in an intensive care unit. Yesterday, 655 �people were
swabbed at our COVID clinics and many
more as part of our DETECT program and in our private pathology labs. To date,
we have conducted over 61 000 tests.
A total of 61 267 tests have been performed in WA, with 10 901 of those in
regional Western Australia. Yesterday,
I touched on the DETECT program—that is the McGowan government's
partnership with HBF and the resource industry, led by Mr Paul Everingham from
the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, with Mr John Van der Wielen from HBF
and chaired by WA's own Chief Scientist, Professor Peter Klinken. We
are in a unique time when we can really appreciate the important role that
health and medical research plays. As we work towards a COVID-safe economy,
testing people without symptoms in a strategic, targeted fashion can build
public confidence and encourage trade. But for such testing to be meaningful,
it needs to be undertaken in a systemic fashion and interpreted using science.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, led by Professor Brendan
Murphy, has made it clear that widespread asymptomatic testing is an important
part of understanding COVID-19 . However, it should be
carried out only on selected cohorts while carefully managing the resources as
part of each research study.
That leads me to inform members
that we have put on notice an amendment in the other place for the Western Australian
Future Fund Amendment (Future Health Research and Innovation Fund) Bill that is
currently before Parliament. We have committed to injecting into the first year's
funding out of the future health research and innovation fund some $6 million
into COVID-19 research and innovation. This is important. It is not only an
election commitment, but also, once passed, will significantly increase our
investment in medical research. We must get this bill passed. I thank the
member for Dawesville for his stated support for the bill, and we look forward
to its speedy passage in the other place so that we can enter this partnership
with HBF and the resource industry to vastly expanded the DETECT program and
asymptomatic testing.
We are all looking forward to
Monday when many of the restrictions that have been in place will be relaxed.
As I said before, with these relaxed
measures comes risk. We believe it is inevitable that some new cases of
coronavirus will bubble up throughout the community over the coming
months. The message is the same: please practice good social distancing and
good personal hygiene and download the COVIDSafe app. We want people to embrace
the easing of restrictions, which are the most progressive in the country. We
want our cafes and restaurants to open, our pubs open to serve beer and our
kids to start training for their upcoming sporting competitions. We want people
to embrace the new normal, and it is the new normal. However, we cannot allow
outbreaks to occur quickly, which is why
social distancing is more important than ever when easing these restrictions.
We do not know when a vaccine will be available, so we must learn to
live as safely as possible with COVID-19. Together, we will get through it.
and wish her all the best in her recovery!
We have had one new case today,
which means that our state's total now sits at 554. A female in her 30s
from the metropolitan area who was a close contact of a previously confirmed
case has tested positive. We continue to have only
seven active cases of COVID-19 remaining in Western Australia, one of which is
in regional Western Australia. More
than 97 per cent, or 538, of people who have contracted COVID-19 in Western Australia
have now recovered , with just one
person in hospital in an intensive care unit. Yesterday, 655 �people were
swabbed at our COVID clinics and many
more as part of our DETECT program and in our private pathology labs. To date,
we have conducted over 61 000 tests.
A total of 61 267 tests have been performed in WA, with 10 901 of those in
regional Western Australia. Yesterday,
I touched on the DETECT program—that is the McGowan government's
partnership with HBF and the resource industry, led by Mr Paul Everingham from
the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, with Mr John Van der Wielen from HBF
and chaired by WA's own Chief Scientist, Professor Peter Klinken. We
are in a unique time when we can really appreciate the important role that
health and medical research plays. As we work towards a COVID-safe economy,
testing people without symptoms in a strategic, targeted fashion can build
public confidence and encourage trade. But for such testing to be meaningful,
it needs to be undertaken in a systemic fashion and interpreted using science.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, led by Professor Brendan
Murphy, has made it clear that widespread asymptomatic testing is an important
part of understanding COVID-19 . However, it should be
carried out only on selected cohorts while carefully managing the resources as
part of each research study.
That leads me to inform members
that we have put on notice an amendment in the other place for the Western Australian
Future Fund Amendment (Future Health Research and Innovation Fund) Bill that is
currently before Parliament. We have committed to injecting into the first year's
funding out of the future health research and innovation fund some $6 million
into COVID-19 research and innovation. This is important. It is not only an
election commitment, but also, once passed, will significantly increase our
investment in medical research. We must get this bill passed. I thank the
member for Dawesville for his stated support for the bill, and we look forward
to its speedy passage in the other place so that we can enter this partnership
with HBF and the resource industry to vastly expanded the DETECT program and
asymptomatic testing.
We are all looking forward to
Monday when many of the restrictions that have been in place will be relaxed.
As I said before, with these relaxed
measures comes risk. We believe it is inevitable that some new cases of
coronavirus will bubble up throughout the community over the coming
months. The message is the same: please practice good social distancing and
good personal hygiene and download the COVIDSafe app. We want people to embrace
the easing of restrictions, which are the most progressive in the country. We
want our cafes and restaurants to open, our pubs open to serve beer and our
kids to start training for their upcoming sporting competitions. We want people
to embrace the new normal, and it is the new normal. However, we cannot allow
outbreaks to occur quickly, which is why
social distancing is more important than ever when easing these restrictions.
We do not know when a vaccine will be available, so we must learn to
live as safely as possible with COVID-19. Together, we will get through it.
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