COVID-19 Australia: Epidemiology Report 25: Fortnightly reporting period ending 13 September 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2020.44.77Keywords:
SARS-CoV-2, novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, acute respiratory disease, epidemiology, AustraliaAbstract
• The number of new cases reported nationally this fortnight was 764, a 61% decrease from the previous fortnight (1,948). On average this represented 55 cases diagnosed each day over the reporting period, a decrease from 125 cases per day over the previous reporting period.
• 84% of all cases (640/764) were reported in Victoria, with a smaller number of cases reported from New South Wales (95), Queensland (22), Western Australia (4) and South Australia (3).
• In Victoria, 97% of cases (621) were locally acquired and were mostly reported from residential aged care facilities; and 3% of cases (19) were reported as under investigation at the date of extract this reporting period.
• Excluding Victoria, 124 cases were reported nationally, 32% (40) were overseas acquired; 65% (81) were locally acquired, predominantly in New South Wales (62); and 2% (3) of cases were under investigation at this time, all reported in Queensland.
• The continued decrease in new cases observed this fortnight in Victoria is likely associated with the enhanced public health measures that are currently in place in Victoria. Locally-acquired cases which were predominantly associated with several interconnected clusters continued to be reported in New South Wales.
• In Queensland, 82% of cases (18/22) were reported as locally acquired from two clusters associated with immigration centres or correctional facilities.
• A total of 6 deaths were reported from cases diagnosed in this reporting period—all from Victoria, all aged 50 years or older, three male and three female.
• Although testing rates have declined gradually over the past month they remain high at 14.5 tests per 1,000 population per week. The overall positivity rate for the reporting period was 0.13%. Victoria reported a positivity rate of 0.39% for this reporting period while in all other jurisdictions the positivity rate was 0.05% or lower.
• For this report, “In focus” is paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-COV-2 (PIMS-TS).
• A review of Australia’s public health response to COVID-19 (as at 13 September 2020) is at Appendix A.
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