Increased demand for long COVID treatment

By Our Reporter
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Representative image // Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

Long-COVID rehabilitation centres are facing an increased demand for treatment, with wait times of up to five months.

St Vincent’s respiratory clinic currently has a four month wait time for services and for the rehabilitation clinic it is a five month wait, according to news compiled by the NEMBC Multilingual News Service, Victoria.

Dr Anthony Byrne, a physician at St Vincent’s COVID clinic, said he believed there should be a nationally coordinated approach to long-COVID and its treatment.

Up to 12 per cent of people infected with COVID-19 go on to develop long-COVID, which amounts to nearly one million people in Australia.

Audit finds rollout too slow and poorly planned

An audit into Australia’s vaccine rollout has found it was too slow and poorly planned.

The Australian National Audit office released a report on Wednesday, which found that the vaccine rollout was only partly effective in its early stages.

The report found that early vaccination targets were missed, with then Prime Minister Scott Morrison promising to have the rollout completed by October 2021.

By that time only 55 per cent of Australians over the age of sixteen had received their two doses.

The audit recommended the Department of Health complete a review into the rollout by the end of this year.

Victorian Numbers

Across Victoria over 69 percent of people aged 12 years and older are now up to date with three COVID-19 vaccination doses, while almost 95 percent have received two doses.

In addition, almost 57 percent of children aged five to 11 years in the state have now received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

Victoria has recorded over 4,416 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 with 46 lives lost.

Health Message: Concerns over low third dose rates

New figures show the number of Australians receiving a third dose of a COVID vaccine is slowing down.

While over 70 per cent of eligible Australians have received their third dose, over five and a half million eligible people are yet to do so.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said that the uptake on booster doses has ‘flatlined’ and that this was very concerning.

Third and fourth COVID vaccination doses are available from local GPs and selected pharmacies.

Victoria handing out free N95s

N95 masks are currently being handed out to Victorian public transport users.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced last week that the masks would be distributed at both railway stations and COVID testing sites.

Three and a half million masks will be handed out at popular railway station locations, including by V/Line conductors and Authorised Officers.

Anyone visiting a state run COVID testing site will be able to get a box of ten masks for the next three to five weeks.

(NEMBC Multilingual News Service)


The Indian Sun acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government.


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