The Northern Territory experienced significant drops in infections such as rotavirus, salmonellosis and cryptosporidiosis during the first wave of the pandemic.
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.
3 December
- Non-respiratory communicable infections drop significantly in NT during first pandemic wave.
- Diabetes associated with three-fold greater risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation and worse outcomes.
- The US breaks its single-day record for COVID-19 hospitalisations.
- The latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia.
- The Northern Territory experienced significant drops in non-respiratory communicable infections such as rotavirus, salmonellosis and cryptosporidiosis during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report in Communicable Diseases Intelligence, the territory saw an 87% drop in rotavirus, 42% drop in salmonellosis, 42% drop in shigellosis and 63% drop in cryptosporidiosis cases during the period from 15 March – 15 May 2020 compared to the median for the previous five years.
“Physical distancing, and promotion of other non-pharmaceutical interventions such as hand hygiene and environmental cleaning, coincided with a decrease in enteric illnesses (except campylobacteriosis) in the NT, suggesting a possible unintended benefit,” the authors wrote. - Individuals with type 1 and 2 diabetes have around a three-fold higher risk of being hospitalised with COVID-19 or developing more severe illness, according to a study published in Diabetes Care.
The prospective cohort study examined disease outcomes in 6138 COVID-19 patients without diabetes, 40 with type 1 diabetes and 273 with type 2 diabetes. Those with type 1 diabetes had a nearly four-fold higher odds of hospitalisation and 3.3-fold higher odds of more severe illness than those without diabetes. In patients with type 2 diabetes, those odds were 3.3 and 3.4-fold greater, even after adjusting for factors such as age, ethnicity, BMI and smoking. - The United States has broken its single-day record for the number of people hospitalised with COVID-19, with just over 100,000 people in hospital with the infection: nearly 19,400 are in intensive care, and 6855 are currently on ventilators.
- Sydney is on alert after a staff member of a quarantine hotel tested positive for COVID-19. The individual worked at the Ibis Hotel Darling Harbour and Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour in late November, and also travelled to and from south-west Sydney on public transport.
NSW Health is investigating whether the infection was acquired at the hotel or in the community.
Meanwhile, an alert has been issued for north-west Sydney, after SARS-CoV-2 RNA fragments were detected at a sewage treatment facility in Riverstone.
Here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia to 9pm Wednesday:
National – 27,9234 with 908 deaths
ACT – 117 (0)
NSW – 4588 (6)
NT – 53 (0)
QLD – 1205 (3)
SA – 562 (0)
TAS – 230 (0)
VIC – 20,345 (0)
WA – 823 (2)
