And the United States steps up the mask mandates for public transport.
Welcome to The Medical Republic’s COVID Catch-Up.
It’s the day’s COVID-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with any tips, comments or feedback.
1 February
- A quarantine security guard in WA tests positive for UK SARS-CoV-2 variant, prompting lockdown measures.
- COVID-19 taskforce recommends against four drugs for COVID-19, including antibody cocktail and azithromycin.
- US mandates masks on all public transport.
- Latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia.
Detection of the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in a quarantine hotel security guard has prompted a five-day lockdown for the Perth metropolitan area and the Peel and South West regions.
According to WA Health, the security guard was working at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel quarantine facility, which is where he is thought to have contracted the virus on the 26 or 27 January. The incident is being investigated, but in the meantime those areas are under lockdown until 6pm, 5 February.
The lockdown means no one can enter or leave the regions, residents must stay at home except for grocery shopping, essential work, medical care or for one hour of exercise with no more than one other person a day. All non-urgent elective surgery is postponed.
Masks are now compulsory outside the home, all food venues can provide take-away online, public facilities such as gyms, cinemas and libraries are closed, and schools will remain closed.
Sarilumab, azithromycin, baricitinib and neutralising antibody cocktail REGN-COV2 are all off the table for the treatment of COVID-19 in Australia, according to the latest update from the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce.
The Taskforce advised that none of these drugs should be used to treat COVID-19, unless it is within the context of an approved clinical trial.
Masks are now mandatory on all public transport and in transport hubs across the United States, as the Biden administration takes steps to get control of COVID-19 numbers.
The ruling applies to everything from air travel to rideshares, and also specifies that the mask has to be worn correctly over the nose and mouth.
Case numbers in the US have now topped 25 million, deaths have reached 432,000, and 118,000 new infections have been diagnosed in the past seven days alone – an increase of just over 4% from the previous week.
Here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia to 9pm Sunday:
National – 28,811 with 909 deaths
ACT – 118 (0)
NSW – 5104 (3)
NT – 98 (0)
QLD – 1310 (0)
SA – 597 (1)
TAS – 234 (0)
VIC – 20,448 (0)
WA – 902 (0)
