For all the chatter about hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir and other drugs, a review has concluded that no proven therapies for COVID-19 currently exist.
It’s goodnight from The Medical Republic‘s live COVID-19 blog.
Thanks to our sponsor and supporter for funding this project with an independent grant, Boehringer Ingelheim.
The latest
- Review of pharmacotherapy studies for COVID-19 concludes nothing is effective.
- Some good news; now in chart form.
- Sydney’s Royal North Shore to get fast-tracked COVID-19 facility.
- For all the chatter about hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir and other drugs being clutched in the desperate search for a way to improve outcomes for COVID-19 patients, a review has concluded that no proven therapies for this virus currently exist.
Published in JAMA, the literature review looked at the studies published so far for a range of repurposed, investigational and adjunct therapies – including chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, a range of antivirals, corticosteroids and others – and found nothing so far is showing significant promise.
This log-log plot is a representation of how different countries are going in their fight against COVID-19. Excitingly, Australia’s infection case load is starting to dip!
There are a few limitations and caveats to the graph, which was created by Aatish Bhatia in collaboration with Minute Physics – find out more here.
2.10pm, 17 April
- The Australian Health Practitioners’ Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has updated its COVID-19 FAQs to provide more information for practitioners on the issues of compliance, restrictions and education.
The new information clarifies that all conditions or restrictions on a practitioner’s registration remain in effect, practitioners must continue to comply with those restrictions, and AHPRA will continue to monitor compliance as outlined in the monitoring plan.
If practitioners are impacted by COVID-19 and unable to comply, they need to contact their case officer.
AHPRA also said one-on-one education can be conducted by videoconferencing, but not via online education.
In a slightly clenched-teeth tone – suggesting that the organisation is being inundated with a lot of questions that it was never meant to deal with – AHPRA has also detailed the things it can’t help practitioners with.
These non-AHPRA subjects include helping health practitioners find a job in the COVID-19 workforce, helping source personal protective equipment, volunteering, clinical issues relating to COVID-19 and technical support for telehealth (have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?).
Don’t ask AHPRA about these things. They will not be amused.
- Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital is going to get a purpose-built 4-bed COVID-19 recovery ward as part of a major state government investment in health infrastructure.
The ward will house patients who have been discharged from intensive care but require care before they are cleared to return home. The facility is expected to open in late May.
1.30pm. 17 April
- Tasmanian health authorities are keeping a close eye on three nursing homes on the state’s north west coast after contact tracing a worker who worked shifts there but was later diagnosed with COVID-19.
The healthcare worker is believed to have worked shifts at Melaleuca Nursing Home in East Devonport, Eliza Purton Home for the Aged in Ulverstone, and Coroneagh Park in Penguin, as well as the North West Regional Hospital and the North West Private Hospital.
So far there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at any of the three nursing homes.
- The US Food and Drug Administration is encouraging all patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma to help improve access to antibody-rich convalescent plasma for research and transfusion into critically-ill patients.
The Mayo Clinic in the US has set up a program to expand access to convalescent plasma, and already 1040 sites and 950 clinical researchers have signed on to participate. The effort is based on early data from China suggesting that a single dose of convalescent plasma can lead to improvements in patients with severe or life-threatening disease; either in lessening the severity or duration of illness.
The American Red Cross has also set up a website for recovered patients interested in donating plasma. In Australia, the Red Cross says it is consulting with government about whether this should also happen here.
- Physical distancing may be keeping influenza infection rates down as well, with data suggesting infections are historically low. FluTracking Australia, which surveys around 60,000 Australians a week, reports that the rate of influenza-like illness has dived to 0.3% this week, compared to around 1.8% at the same time last year.
A report on ABC News showed that the rates of influenza-like illness dropped drastically after the introduction of social distancing in mid-March, when rates were around 1.6%. The survey’s coordinator, public health physician Craig Dalton, told the ABC that social distancing has meant the virus has fewer opportunities to transmit. But there is a downside – lower herd immunity to seasonal influenza, which could see higher than usual infections next year.
- Here are some of the main COVID-19 developments that happened yesterday: Prime Minister Scott Morrison restrictions won’t be lifted until Australia has an expanded sentinel testing regime; greater tracing capability; and local response capabilities so sudden outbreaks like the current one in Burnie, northwest Tasmania, can be immediately contained.
Australian researchers showed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be found in raw sewage, which opens up the possibility of early warning surveillance and community monitoring via wastewater testing.
A study suggests people with COVID-19 may be at their most infectious at or before symptoms begin. Obese individuals in intensive care have a seven-fold higher odds of requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for COVID-19 than those in the healthy weight range. A rapid point-of-care testing program that aims to deliver results in 45 minutes is being funded for remote and rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. - Here are today’s COVID-19 infection figures for Australia to 3pm yesterday:
National – 6468 (up 21) and 63 deaths
ACT – 103
NSW – 2897
NT – 27
QLD – 1001
SA – 434
TAS – 170
VIC – 1301
WA – 535
Disclaimer: The content on the Medical Republic COVID-19 blog is independently created by Medical Republic without input from Boehringer Ingelheim Pty Ltd. The views, information, or opinions expressed on the Medical Republic COVID-19 blog are Medical Republic’s own and do not necessarily represent those of Boehringer Ingelheim Pty Ltd. Boehringer Ingelheim Pty Ltd is not responsible for and does not verify the accuracy of any content on the Medical Republic COVID-19 blog.
