SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s leader in the state of New South Wales on Monday apologized for not stopping people carrying the new coronavirus from marching off a cruise ship in Sydney in March. t what was at the time that Australia was its worst outbreak.
FILE PHOTO: A medical worker administers a coronavirus (COVID-19) test on a member of the public at a pop-up test center in Sydney, Australia, 12 August 2020. REUTERS / Loren Elliott
The apology of NSW Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian for her mischievous government outbreak came aboard the Ruby Princess when the death toll from a second wave of infection in the state of Victoria hit a record 25.
Australia has reported 23,500 COVID-19 cases and 421 deaths, far fewer than many other developed nations, but misunderstandings in the treatment of the Ruby Princess and possibly also with hotel quarantine in Victoria have proved costly.
“The lessons were not learned quickly enough and I apologize indefinitely on behalf of all those individuals and agencies who made those mistakes,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
A public inquiry into the Ruby Princess outbreak concluded last week that NSW health officials were making “unattainable” mistakes when they left about 2,700 passengers, 120 of whom felt insensitive, leaving the Carnival Corp property (CCL.N) ship on March 19th.
The study found that 914 infections could be traced back to the Ruby Princess, mostly among passengers. The outbreak left 28 dead.
Berejiklian asked her in particular about the 62 people who carried the virus from a passenger.
“I can not imagine what it would be like to have a loved one or to be someone myself who continues to suffer and experience trauma as a result,” she said.
The investigation commissioned by the Berejiklian government found that NSW health officials did not ensure that the ship was aware of increased screening for the virus, or to ensure that sick passengers were isolated in their cabins.
They also failed to get quick test results for unmarked passengers before leaving.
VICTORIA STABILIZES
Victoria State, where a second wave of infections struck in the capital Melbourne in June, said the number of new infections had been stable over the past 24 hours. The daily death toll of 25 went above the previous record of 21 set on 12 August.
Authorities in the southeastern state said 282 new COVID-19 cases had been discovered, about the same as the 279 cases reported on Sunday.
Those numbers are well below the peak of more than 700 daily cases in Victoria earlier this month and officials are confident a strict lockdown is working in Melbourne.
NSW was the only other state on Monday to report new COVID-19 cases, with seven discovered in the past 24 hours.
Australia is in talks with fax manufacturers to secure supplies, Health Minister Health said on Sunday.
He declined to comment on media reports that Canberra will reach a deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.L) to secure the Oxford University vaccine as soon as the first half of next year.
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(This story corrects the number of fatalities linked to COVID-19 outbreak on board cruise ship in paragraph 6)
Report by Colin Packham; Additional reporting by Renju Jose; Edited by Stephen Coates
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