Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer press conference about COVID-19 on 14 June 2020

Read the transcript of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan’s press conference on 14 June 2020 about COVID-19.

Date published:
Media event date:
Media type:
Transcript
Audience:
General public

Good afternoon.

I’m here to provide the Department of Health’s update on COVID-19 today, so thank you. Firstly I can report I can report in the past 24 hours we’ve has 18 new cases, which slightly up on figures we've had this week, and that's 7,320 confirmed cases during this pandemic.

We continue to see 16 people remaining in hospital and 2 of those in intensive care. We are saying now that around 410 active cases continue in Australia, and that number continues to decline as we expect, as we see a slowing and suppression of the spread across the country. We are pleased to announce that again, more than 1.8 million tests have been conducted in Australia and that is a terrific number.

6.31 million people have now downloaded the COVIDSafe app, and, again, we encourage everyone who hasn't done so, to downloading and registering for that app.

Of the cases we have seen in the last 7 days, approximately 47 per cent of those cases have been acquired overseas. And as we know, we continue to see Australians and Australian residents return here, and then some come positive and they remain in quarantine, as we expect, on the return from overseas. And so, 47 per cent of those cases in the last 7 days are overseas acquired.

Also, we have been seeing some reports in the media suggesting there are some plans to change the restrictions, the travel restrictions and quarantine requirements for business travellers from overseas. I have to say that, while we're constantly reviewing the travel restrictions and the quarantine requirements for overseas travellers, there is no plans at this time to change the requirements for international business travel to Australia.

The travel restrictions remain in place and the same, there are some very early discussions about the possibility of the return of international students, but at this point in time there are no current dates planned for that — the work is still in progress.

I'll take questions if there are any questions.

Thank you.

Contact

Help us improve health.gov.au

If you would like a response please use the enquiries form instead.