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KEY POINTS

• One active case left in SA
• Adelaide Uni offers special intake for COVID-affected students
• Mother’s Day a more distant affair in 2020
• National picture in brief
• UK to quarantine travellers for 14 days
• US youths die from mystery syndrome

One active case left in SA

South Australia has just one active case of coronavirus, with the state recording no new infections for the third day in a row.

Of the 439 total cases in the state, 434 people had recovered from coronavirus.

One person who tested positive remains in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The results come as SA Pathology announced a dedicated team that will respond to potential coronavirus outbreaks in aged care facilities across the state.

Health Minister Stephen Wade said the team of 12 domiciliary nurses and phlebotomists will work to identify cases and limit its spread throughout the community.

“A key to protecting our state from a resurgence of this disease is our success in dealing with cases as they are identified,” he said.

“The way to stop a case from becoming a cluster and a cluster becoming an outbreak is to identify and isolate cases and contacts quickly

“Older people are much more vulnerable to becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 and residents in aged care facilities are at particular risk as we see in both Australia and overseas.

“Speed is vital when it comes to diagnosis and contact tracing, so this rapid service has the potential to save lives.”

The mobile service will be available to all metropolitan residential facilities and some country facilities as well as prisons, disability accommodation and boarding houses.

The State Government will start to lift restrictions tomorrow with all country accommodation to reopen, including caravan parks, hotels, motels and Airbnb services.

SA will also allow alcohol-free outdoor dining at cafes and restaurants and the resumption of outdoor sports training.

Universities and TAFE colleges will be allowed to resume face-to-face learning, public swimming pools, places of worship and libraries can reopen, and open house inspections and home auctions will be permitted.

Source: SA Health

Source: Department of Health, States and Territories Report 9/5

Adelaide Uni offers special intake for COVID-affected students

High school students whose studies are affected by the coronavirus outbreak could be accepted into Adelaide University using their Year 11 grades.

The special intake program comes after thousands of students across the state were forced to study from home due to the global pandemic.

Students must still complete their Year 12 studies to qualify for the special intake program, with applications closing for the new scheme on August 28.

“We’re very aware of just how difficult this year has been, and will remain, for school communities,’’ deputy vice-chancellor Pascale Quester told the Sunday Mail.

“This entry pathway will enable 2020 Year 12 students to apply for entry into the vast majority of our undergraduate degrees based predominantly on their 2019 Year 11 subject results, without compromising entry standards.

“We hope that having this additional entry option will reassure students that, no matter how disrupted their studies are in 2020, they can still pursue their careers.”

Mother’s Day a more distant affair in 2020

People shouldn’t kiss or hug their elderly mums this Mother’s Day due to the coronavirus crisis, health authorities have warned.

Some states are easing COVID-19 restrictions, but NSW and Victorian leaders have warned residents to be careful what they wish for, as they take a more cautious approach.

Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Paul Kelly, says if people are feeling well “and you really want to see your mum” it’s OK to visit on Sunday.

“But for elderly mums just be a little bit cautious and probably keep that 1.5-metre distance for now,” Prof Kelly said on Saturday.

“I know it is hard and we all want to cuddle our mums on Mother’s Day.”

National picture in brief

CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

• Australia has 794 active cases after recording a total of 6929 cases to date.
• The national death toll is 97 – NSW 46, Victoria 18, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 6 (includes 2 Qld residents who died in NSW and are included in both the Qld and NSW counts), SA 4, ACT 3.
• 795,400 people have been tested in Australia, out of a population of 25.7 million.
• More than 5.4 million of an estimated 16 million people have registered for the federal government’s coronavirus tracing app, COVIDSafe, since April 26.

UK to quarantine travellers for 14 days

The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, an association representing the airlines said on Saturday.

Airlines UK, which represents British Airways, Easyjet and other British airlines, said the move required “a credible exit plan” and should be reviewed weekly. Airport operators said it could have a “devastating” impact on the aviation industry and the broader economy.

The quarantine plan was first reported by The Times newspaper, which said Prime Minister Boris Johnson would on Sunday announce that passengers arriving at airports and ports, including Britons returning from abroad, will have to self-isolate for a fortnight.

Under measures that are likely to come into force in early June, travellers will have to provide the address at which they will self-isolate on arrival, The Times said.

“These measures will help protect the British public and reduce the transmission of the virus as we move into the next phase of our response,” The Times quoted a government source as saying.

Johnson’s Downing Street office and the interior ministry declined comment.

Johnson is due on Sunday to announce the next steps in Britain’s battle to tackle the novel coronavirus following a review by ministers of measures that have all but shut the economy and kept millions at home for more than six weeks.

US youths die from mystery syndrome

Two young children and a teenager have died in New York state from a possible complication from the coronavirus involving swollen blood vessels and heart problems, Governor Andrew Cuomo says.

At least 73 children in New York have been diagnosed with symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease – a rare inflammatory condition in children – and toxic shock syndrome. Most of them are toddlers and elementary-age children.

Cuomo announced two more deaths a day after discussing the death of a five-year-old boy on Thursday at a New York City hospital. A 7-year old in Westchester County and a teenager in Suffolk County also died. There is no proof that the virus causes the mysterious syndrome.

Cuomo said the children had tested positive for COVID-19 or the antibodies but did not show the common symptoms of the virus when they were hospitalised.

“This is the last thing that we need at this time, with all that is going on, with all the anxiety we have, now for parents to have to worry about whether or not their youngster was infected,” he said at his daily briefing.

New York is helping develop a US-wide criteria for identifying and responding to the syndrome at the request of the Centers for Disease Control, Cuomo said.

Children elsewhere in the US have also been hospitalised with the condition, which was also seen in parts of Europe.

Doctors still believe that most children with COVID-19 develop only mild illness.

At least 3000 US children are diagnosed with Kawasaki disease each year. It is most common in children younger than six and in boys.

Symptoms include prolonged fever, severe abdominal pain and trouble breathing.

OFFICIAL SOURCES OF ADVICE AND INFORMATION

Local updates and resources

State Government central information

SA Health

Mental health support line (8am to 8pm): 1800 632 753.

National advice and information

Australian Government Coronavirus information hotline: 1800 020 080

Government information via WhatsApp: click here

Travel

Australian Government travel advice: smartraveller.gov.au

Check your symptoms

Free, government-funded, health advice: healthdirect.gov.au

– Reporting by InDaily staff, AAP and Reuters

This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.