❓ The Minister for Health provides an update on the government's COVID-19 response, including expanded testing criteria, contact tracing, isolation measures, PPE procurement, and the release of a COVID-19 case heat map.
AnsweredQoN 216Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS — TESTING REGIMES —
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
216. Mrs J.M.C. STOJKOVSKI to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the government's response to the impact of
COVID-19. Can the minister update the house on the work being undertaken to
slow the spread of COVID-19 and any updates to the testing regime?
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
216. Mrs J.M.C. STOJKOVSKI to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the government's response to the impact of
COVID-19. Can the minister update the house on the work being undertaken to
slow the spread of COVID-19 and any updates to the testing regime?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. We are making some great
strides with our testing regimes and I am really pleased to make an
announcement today. Our strategy on COVID-19 is based around three important
things: we need to test, trace and isolate.
Obviously, we have been doing some great work with tracing. Our contact tracing
team has done an exceptional job and continues to identify the source of
nearly every patient's COVID-19 infection. Isolation has been an important part of what we are doing, because we
know that nearly all our COVID-19 infections have come from overseas
travellers. The capacity to isolate them as they come into the state is an
important element of making sure that we put downward pressure on the spread of
the disease. The leadership provided by the Premier in relation to that has
been key to making sure that, as a nation, we really do step up to the plate
around our quarantine arrangements. That is why we have seen these low numbers
in our overall testing regime and why we are now in a position to move to the
next step.
Starting from tomorrow, we will be significantly expanding
the cohort of patients who will be able to be tested in our COVID clinics. This is all around the three key themes of finding
new cases, protecting our vulnerable populations and ensuring that we
are tracking the movements of this virus as it makes its way through the
community. This broadened regime will see members of the public being tested if
they present with a fever and an acute respiratory infection—for
example, shortness of breath, a cough or a sore throat—regardless of
whether they have been overseas or in contact with a known case. Of course, we
will continue with our regime for healthcare workers and WA police officers and
anyone in a high-risk setting, such as aged-care facilities or remote
communities, who will be tested if they have any one of the symptoms—that
is, either a fever or an acute respiratory infection. It will give us the flexibility we need to test those in
vulnerable settings and increase our line of sight of COVID across the state .
We are doing everything we can to prepare our system and hospitals to care for
those who need it. We also want to ensure that our frontline healthcare staff
have the PPE and the protection that they need to care for their patients.
The ongoing laboratory
testing that we are doing to make sure we can look after our healthcare workers
is important , as is, as I said before, the opportunity to procure more
PPE to protect them on the front line.
Today we released a heat
map, which is a graphical representation of COVID-19 case data. The values are
represented in colours to give viewers a quick impression of the
location of cases in Western Australia. This map, which has been developed by
the Department of Health, highlights confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the
state. The map displays both regional and
metropolitan activity by local government authority. Importantly, only Western Australian cases will be displayed on the
maps. We will exclude the number of cases from cruise ships and other non-WA
cases . Cruise ships continue to be a significant challenge to us in
relation to the number of cases we are dealing with, but the Department of
Health is up to the challenge to look after these souls. We wish them all the
very best. We have a number of them in
intensive care units now and, on behalf of the government and, I am sure,
everyone in Parliament , we wish them all the very best for their speedy
recovery on their COVID-19 journey.
strides with our testing regimes and I am really pleased to make an
announcement today. Our strategy on COVID-19 is based around three important
things: we need to test, trace and isolate.
Obviously, we have been doing some great work with tracing. Our contact tracing
team has done an exceptional job and continues to identify the source of
nearly every patient's COVID-19 infection. Isolation has been an important part of what we are doing, because we
know that nearly all our COVID-19 infections have come from overseas
travellers. The capacity to isolate them as they come into the state is an
important element of making sure that we put downward pressure on the spread of
the disease. The leadership provided by the Premier in relation to that has
been key to making sure that, as a nation, we really do step up to the plate
around our quarantine arrangements. That is why we have seen these low numbers
in our overall testing regime and why we are now in a position to move to the
next step.
Starting from tomorrow, we will be significantly expanding
the cohort of patients who will be able to be tested in our COVID clinics. This is all around the three key themes of finding
new cases, protecting our vulnerable populations and ensuring that we
are tracking the movements of this virus as it makes its way through the
community. This broadened regime will see members of the public being tested if
they present with a fever and an acute respiratory infection—for
example, shortness of breath, a cough or a sore throat—regardless of
whether they have been overseas or in contact with a known case. Of course, we
will continue with our regime for healthcare workers and WA police officers and
anyone in a high-risk setting, such as aged-care facilities or remote
communities, who will be tested if they have any one of the symptoms—that
is, either a fever or an acute respiratory infection. It will give us the flexibility we need to test those in
vulnerable settings and increase our line of sight of COVID across the state .
We are doing everything we can to prepare our system and hospitals to care for
those who need it. We also want to ensure that our frontline healthcare staff
have the PPE and the protection that they need to care for their patients.
The ongoing laboratory
testing that we are doing to make sure we can look after our healthcare workers
is important , as is, as I said before, the opportunity to procure more
PPE to protect them on the front line.
Today we released a heat
map, which is a graphical representation of COVID-19 case data. The values are
represented in colours to give viewers a quick impression of the
location of cases in Western Australia. This map, which has been developed by
the Department of Health, highlights confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the
state. The map displays both regional and
metropolitan activity by local government authority. Importantly, only Western Australian cases will be displayed on the
maps. We will exclude the number of cases from cruise ships and other non-WA
cases . Cruise ships continue to be a significant challenge to us in
relation to the number of cases we are dealing with, but the Department of
Health is up to the challenge to look after these souls. We wish them all the
very best. We have a number of them in
intensive care units now and, on behalf of the government and, I am sure,
everyone in Parliament , we wish them all the very best for their speedy
recovery on their COVID-19 journey.
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