Adolescents show higher rate of COVID-19 than children

And the hotel quarantine process is coming under very serious scrutiny, with claims it may be unlawful and the PM considering a 'more flexible' approach.

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.

29 September

• COVID-19 incidence twice as high among adolescents as children in the US, study finds.
• Home quarantine may be considered for returning travellers, PM suggests.
• Latest confirmed COVID-19 infection figures from around Australia.

• The incidence of COVID-19 is twice as high among adolescents as it is among children, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
  Researchers analysed data from 277,285 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in school-aged children in the United States, and found just over one-third of cases were aged 5-11 and two-thirds were aged 12-17. Males and females were evenly represented, but among those with information on race or ethnicity, 42% were Hispanic, 32% were White and 17% were Black.
  Five percent of the children had no symptoms, 1.2% were hospitalised and 0.1% were admitted to intensive care. Fifty-one children died of COVID-19, and just over one-quarter of these children had at least one underlying condition.
• Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged the possibility of reintroducing home quarantine for returning travellers, or using a triaging method to determine the level of risk.
  “I think as time goes on we will need a more flexible approach that gives us more options for managing this,” the PM said at a press conference today, as he suggested Australia could look to open its borders with other countries that have had success in managing the pandemic, such as New Zealand, South Korea or Japan.
  Meanwhile, the Victorian inquiry into the hotel quarantine failures has been told by one barrister that the hotel detention scheme may have been unlawful and breached the state’s human rights laws, according to a report on news.com.au. The barrister suggested that possible lapses in daily reviews of the mental and physical wellbeing of detainees could expose the Victorian state to lawsuits from detainees.
• Here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia, to 9pm Monday:
  National – 27,044, with 875 deaths
  ACT – 113 (0)
  NSW – 4128 (0)
  NT – 33 (0)
  QLD – 1157 (0)
  SA – 468 (0)
  TAS – 230 (0)
  VIC – 20,149 (5)
  WA – 676 (0)