Page 1043 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020
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of contacts and isolation of cases. Our health protection service has trained more than 100 contact tracers to support the response and has initiated automated text messaging follow-up of contacts. Cases are followed up daily by public health nurses and physicians.
As of yesterday, the ACT had conducted more than 14,700 tests. Multiple testing sites are available to the public, including a drive-through testing clinic at EPIC and Canberra’s main respiratory clinic site at the Weston Creek walk-in centre. The ACT’s testing criteria were expanded to include all people with COVID-19 symptoms in a testing blitz conducted from 24 April to 8 May. During this period, the number of tests collected per day increased more than twofold, with 2,434 tests conducted in the first 11 days of this period at an average of 221 tests per day. Encouragingly, this has continued, with daily testing numbers regularly exceeding 300. Although we are confident that there are not large numbers of undetected cases in the ACT, this surveillance testing gives us an even better view of the situation and will help to guide decisions around the easing of physical distancing restrictions.
Critical to entering the next phase of responding to the epidemic in Australia is ensuring sufficient testing capacity to rapidly detect as many cases as possible and limit transmission through comprehensive contact tracing. Since the first case of COVID-19 in the ACT on 12 March, 339 tests have been conducted on close contacts, with 48 testing positive for COVID-19.
With the lifting of restrictions, it will be important to identify any new cases early to mitigate the risk of community transmission. As we move into the next phase of managing COVID-19 in the ACT, our priorities are enhanced surveillance in the community, and continued outbreak planning for at-risk subpopulations, including aged-care facilities, other residential facilities, healthcare workers and hospitals. The community’s continued adherence to the health advice and public health directions remains crucial in the short to medium term.
Madam Speaker, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canberra Health Services has implemented a number of changes to how its services are delivered. These changes minimise risk and ensure that essential services continue to be provided, while protecting the safety of consumers and staff. This is providing an opportunity to examine and improve the way we provide services to the ACT and the surrounding region into the future.
Canberra Health Services has utilised collaborative working models across medical professional groups, as well as across public and private facilities. One example is designing a process for delivering elective surgery across public and private facilities, to preserve services for people needing surgery, in the event of a surge in demand due to COVID-19.
Canberra Health Services has embraced the enhanced use of technology to deliver its services. This includes the establishment of a collaborative telehealth service across its outpatient services, across areas such as cancer, sexual health, community nursing and allied health, mental health, diabetes and endocrinology. One hundred and fifty-eight telehealth appointments were successfully held in the first week of
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