News Articles
WA slashes quarantine as Omicron spreads
Date of Posting: 08-02-2022
Western Australia will take another tentative step towards living with COVID-19 by halving quarantine periods for close contacts. The move to seven-day quarantine will come into effect from Tuesday and also apply to thousands of returned traveller Read More...
Lifeline text service to operate all hours
Date of Posting: 08-02-2022
Mental health charity Lifeline has announced its Crisis Text helpline will expand to operating all hours of the week amid high demand for its services. The Crisis Text service was introduced in 2019 and since then has provided support for vulnerab Read More...
Program to address Indigenous sleep health
Date of Posting: 08-02-2022
Scientists are hoping to improve sleep health among Indigenous Australians after new research found they are far more likely to experience unhealthy slumber. Sleep coaches are being deployed in northwest Queensland to work with Indigenous youngste Read More...
Junior doctors are still being bullied
Last Updated: 08-02-2022
A snapshot of Australia's trainee doctors shows more than a third have witnessed or experienced workplace mistreatment for successive years. The survey results show 35 per cent of junior doctors saw or experienced bullying, harassment or discr Read More...
Women make up half the disability population but just over a third of NDIS recipients
Last Updated: 08-02-2022
Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides individualised funding to nearly 500,000 Australians with disability. Despite an even male-female split among under-65s with a disability (49% female), only 37% of Read More...
Lifeline's new 24 7 Crisis Text Service opens up crisis support to hard-to-reach groups
Date of Posting: 08-02-2022
Research shows that Lifeline’s Crisis Text service is reaching entirely new groups of Australians in distress and at high risk of suicide. Since 2019, Lifeline has provided Australia’s only Crisis Text helpline, providing support to pe Read More...
Eating disorders potentially hiding autism diagnosis
Date of Posting: 08-02-2022
Young people with eating disorders may also have underlying and undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder, according to Flinders University researchers. Led by Professor Robyn Young from the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, a new study Read More...
NSW push to increase booster jab rate
Date of Posting: 07-02-2022
NSW is pushing to increase the rate of booster vaccinations as the health minister calls for a national definition on what it means to be "fully vaccinated". NSW recorded 7893 COVID-19 cases on Sunday and 28 deaths, including two people Read More...
Omicron fall eases strain in Victoria
Date of Posting: 07-02-2022
Victoria's Omicron wave continues to ease, with the state reporting six COVID-19 related deaths and 7169 new cases. The infections figure is its lowest this year, while the fatalities were the fewest during a 24-hour reporting period since fiv Read More...
App to empower and connect parents through pregnancy and postnatal journey
Last Updated: 07-02-2022
The journey through pregnancy is an incredible and beautiful time in a couple’s life. It can also be a time of much change and upheaval, which can lead to many questions, concerns and worries.[subscribe] The Covid-19 pandemic has also mad Read More...
NSW posts 8389 virus cases, 18 deaths
Date of Posting: 06-02-2022
NSW has added 8389 new COVID-19 infections and a further 18 virus-related deaths, with some elective surgery set to resume ahead of schedule. Coronavirus patients in the state's hospitals now number 2337, which is 157 fewer than the previous 2 Read More...
Spain drops outdoor masks, US cases slip
Date of Posting: 06-02-2022
Spanish authorities are easing outdoor mask orders as COVID-19 infection numbers fall in the United States while South Korean curbs are extended for two weeks. Spain will next week lift a requirement for people to wear masks outdoors as a measure Read More...
Australia reaches 95pct vaccination target
Date of Posting: 06-02-2022
Almost all Australians are now partially protected against COVID-19, with the country reaching a 95 per cent milestone in first doses. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the achievement puts the country "right at the front of the highest global v Read More...
Ready for take-off with global vaccine doc
Date of Posting: 05-02-2022
Experts have developed a COVID-19 vaccine status document for Australians going overseas, after a domestic version was slammed for being so flawed it could be forged within minutes. Verizon Business Australia said on Friday it worked with the Aust Read More...
Vic lifts non-urgent elective surgery ban
Date of Posting: 05-02-2022
Victoria will lift its ban on non-urgent elective surgery as COVID-19 hospital patient numbers fall short of Omicron forecasts. Elective surgery is ramping up to 50 per cent of normal levels from Monday in Victorian private hospitals and day proce Read More...
Hundreds of school staff test positive
Date of Posting: 05-02-2022
Hundreds of public school workers in NSW tested positive to coronavirus this week, but the government has heralded the school return as a "major achievement". Premier Dominic Perrottet says he wants to focus on "the positive" a Read More...
Thousands of teens eligible for boosters
Date of Posting: 04-02-2022
An extra 380,000 people are now eligible for a COVID-19 booster after 16- and 17-year-olds were given the final green light to receive their third dose. The country's leading advisory group on immunisations gave the second and final approval f Read More...
Data shows growing Indigenous vaccine gap
Date of Posting: 04-02-2022
All states and territories have failed to vaccinate Indigenous Australians against COVID-19 at the same rate as the rest of the country, with new data exposing a worrying health gap. An update of Indigenous vaccination rates, shared by the federal Read More...
Cancer patients in self-imposed lockdown
Date of Posting: 04-02-2022
Breast cancer sufferer Claire Simpson has placed herself in a self-imposed lockdown due to ongoing COVID-19 infection rates. However, her concern isn't only about getting sick.[subscribe] "It's more that if I were to catch it, it w Read More...
Lack of support for women who have early miscarriages
Date of Posting: 04-02-2022
Women are not being offered the mental health support they need after experiencing a miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy, despite healthcare workers recognising it as a significant loss, researchers from the University of Otago, Wellingto Read More...
Australian College of Nursing calls for urgent tax-free COVID payment to NSW nurses
Date of Posting: 04-02-2022
In line with today’s call from the Perrottet Government requesting JobSaver-style support from the Commonwealth, the Australian College of Nursing wants some of this funding to go urgently to nurses in NSW. “Nurses are the largest regi Read More...
Qld records 16 deaths, including child
Date of Posting: 03-02-2022
Another 16 people have died with COVID-19 in Queensland including a child under the age of 10 amid calls for more kids to get vaccinated before school returns. Queensland recorded 9630 new cases after 22,437 tests in the past 24 hours.[subscribe] Read More...
New research sheds light on kids' coughs
Date of Posting: 03-02-2022
Children who experience a nasty and persistent wet cough may be affected by an antibiotic-resistant slime, new research suggests. Some kids with stubborn coughs had a newly-discovered "bacterial slime - called a biofilm - in their lungs," Read More...
NSW regions face hit to workplace safety
Date of Posting: 03-02-2022
The number of complaints to the NSW agency in charge of workplace health and safety from regional areas was on track for a record high last year, while the number of inspections carried out tracked towards an all-time low. Despite the surge in com Read More...
Critical care nursing shortage exacerbated by pandemic
Last Updated: 03-02-2022
By Professor Margaret Fry A shortage of nurses is predicted for most specialities across Australia, including critical care, and the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly exacerbated the shortage.[subscribe] The forecast shortfall of about 85,000 Read More...
Aged care concern, 10 virus deaths in Qld
Date of Posting: 02-02-2022
Another 10 people have died with COVID-19 in Queensland as the state raises concerns about the percentage of aged care residents who have received a booster. Eight of the ten deaths reported on Tuesday were aged care residents, none of whom had re Read More...
Omicron subvariant BA.2 'more infectious'
Last Updated: 02-02-2022
The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which has quickly taken over in Denmark, is more transmissible than the more common BA.1 and more able to infect vaccinated people, a Danish study has concluded. The study, which analysed cor Read More...
Schools resume, elective surgery to return
Date of Posting: 02-02-2022
Tens of thousands of NSW school students have started the school year after undergoing the first of many rapid antigen tests in a bid to keep a lid on an anticipated spike in COVID-19 cases as classes resume. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says the Read More...
Virus sub-variant 'not cause for concern'
Last Updated: 01-02-2022
A new COVID sub-variant circulating in Australia is not yet causing concern among health experts, says the deputy chief medical officer. Professor Michael Kidd says although the Omicron sub-variant - known as BA.2 - appears to have a higher " Read More...
Workers isolate as Omicron hits WA mines
Date of Posting: 01-02-2022
A growing Omicron outbreak threatens to plunge Western Australia's lucrative mining sector into chaos amid renewed calls for the state to reopen its borders. Twelve new local cases emerged on Monday, including seven linked to a Perth nightclub Read More...
Rapid test concern as schools return
Date of Posting: 01-02-2022
As experts predict a spike in COVID-19 cases following students returning to classrooms, a new survey has forecast large numbers of infections could go undetected. The survey found nearly one in three parents in NSW and Victoria don't plan to Read More...
Aid for NSW business as virus deaths rise
Date of Posting: 31-01-2022
The NSW government has announced a $1 billion support package for businesses hit hard by the Omicron outbreak as the state records its deadliest day of the pandemic so far. There were 52 deaths and 13,524 new positive COVID-19 tests reported in th Read More...
Anxiety high ahead of return to school
Date of Posting: 31-01-2022
Bella Greco is nervous about starting Year 12 as COVID-19 cases soar across Australia. The 17-year-old isn't anxious about contracting the virus, she's more concerned about missing the important coming-of-age milestones if sickness takes h Read More...
Women ignored in heart attack stereotyping
Date of Posting: 31-01-2022
Women are more likely to ignore or have heart disease symptoms misdiagnosed because they are not seen as likely candidates for heart attacks, researchers say. It is no surprise heart disease kills more men but it is still one of the leading causes Read More...
Australia posts near record virus toll
Date of Posting: 31-01-2022
After a pandemic-high 98 fatalities were reported on Friday, a further 97 were announced on Saturday, 49 of them in NSW, which constituted its deadliest day to date. Victoria registered 31 deaths, Queensland 12 and South Australia five.[subscribe] Read More...
Spain, Canada say Omicron has peaked
Date of Posting: 31-01-2022
Health authorities in Spain and Canada say all indications point to the worst of the Omicron variant of coronavirus having passed while officials in Iceland prepare to relax pandemic restrictions. There are optimistic signs that Spain has passed t Read More...
NSW posts deadliest virus day, 49 deaths
Date of Posting: 31-01-2022
The toll also follows Friday’s announcement of an additional 35 fatalities in the state’s aged care facilities that were slow to inform local health authorities over the past month. More than 250 NSW deaths have been reported in the pa Read More...
UK to start rolling out Pfizer virus pill
Date of Posting: 29-01-2022
The United Kingdom will start rolling out Pfizer's COVID-19 pill to vulnerable people next month, the health ministry says, targeting the treatment at people with compromised immune systems for whom the vaccine can be less effective. The healt Read More...
No change to full vaccination definition
Date of Posting: 29-01-2022
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is still considering whether to change its advice about the definition of full vaccination. If it does, it’s up to states and territories to amend their respective public health Read More...
Cancer lawsuit over Fukushima disaster
Date of Posting: 29-01-2022
Six people who were living in Fukushima at the time of the 2011 nuclear disaster and have since developed thyroid cancer have filed a lawsuit demanding compensation for their illnesses. The people, now aged 17-27 and living in and outside of Fukus Read More...
