Around 12% of close household contacts of someone with COVID-19 end up contracting the disease, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
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The latest
- Afternoon update: Transmission rate of COVID-19 in close household contacts around 12%, study finds.
- Morning update: NSW injects additional funds to boost return of elective surgery.
- The latest confirmed COVID-19 infection figures for Australia.
- Around 12% of close household contacts of someone with COVID-19 end up contracting the disease, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Researchers looked at the spread of infection on 195 unrelated close contact groups, which consisted of 215 primary cases, 134 secondary or tertiary cases and 1964 uninfected close contacts. Their analysis, which accounted for incubation and infectious periods for the disease, suggested around 12% of household contacts that were close relatives became infected, and 17% of co-habitants were infected.
“The provision of comfortable facilities for exposed contacts to quarantine or for mild cases to isolate away from their families could be a valuable strategy to limit onward transmission within households,” the authors said.
The risk of infection was lowest in those aged under 20 years, who had about one quarter of the risk seen in those aged over 60 years.
- The NSW government is throwing an extra $388 million of funding to speed up the resumption of elective surgery in the state, including supporting public patients to have surgery in private hospitals. The focus is on patients whose surgery has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a statement by NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, NSW Health will meet with the public and private health sectors to work out how to best spend the money to fast-track a return to 75% surgical capacity by the end of June.
Meanwhile, NSW tested a whopping 17,392 individuals for COVID-19 yesterday, which marks a new record for the state.
- Victoria’s COVID-19 count shot up by 21 yesterday, with 15 cases detected among returned travellers in hotel quarantine, while another case was picked up in a staff member working at the hotel where some travellers were quarantined. An additional case has also been detected in a staff member at the Rosstown Community aged care facility in Carnegie, which has since been placed in lockdown.
Here are the confirmed COVID-19 infection figures across Australia to 9pm yesterday:
National – 7370, with 102 deaths and 6870 recovered
ACT – 109
NSW – 3135
NT – 29
QLD – 1066
SA – 440
TAS – 228
VIC – 1762
WA – 602
