The hand sanitiser production line at a Melbourne factory is running around the clock with customers crying out for the product in the face of an impending coronavirus outbreak.
A Melbourne factory is going all out to provide the country with hand sanitiser.Credit:iStock
Pharmacies and supermarkets have been out of stock, or running low, on hygiene products and surgical masks since late January when the flu-like illness began to hit the headlines.
Earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “I was very disappointed” when the opposition refused to provide pairs while the National Security Committee was meeting, and accused Labor of putting politics above the coronavirus.
But the opposition leader Anthony Albanese rejected these claims, saying it was the government who initiated votes this morning instead of listening to debate about the ongoing sports rorts scandal because "they're addicted to shutting down debate in parliament".
'They shut down debate': Labor leader Anthony Albanese.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Victorian Labor MP Catherine King initiated a motion to suspend standing orders, which Mr Albanese said his party could not push through on their own.
"In order to suspend standing orders, you need 76 votes. Labor's only got 68 when everyone's here and everyone isn't here," he said.
He said that in his two decades in parliament, Mr Morrison was the first Prime Minister on either side of the room who did not allow for debate in parliament.
"They shut down debate and therefore what that does is that triggers the bells ringing and the votes being held."
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the federal government was making sure the country was well prepared with enough medical supplies, personal protective equipment, and medical staff.
Focused: Federal health minister Greg Hunt.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“One of the things we're most focused on is to make sure we have the personnel capacity if there is a surge within our hospitals and medical system in the event of a pandemic,” he said.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said hospitals prepared every flu season for a surge in cases, getting extra staff, rearranging hospital wards and potentially diverting people away from emergency departments.
On this week's Please Explain episode, Tory Maguire is joined by Herald Health Editor Kate Aubusson to answer all of our Coronavirus questions.
Later on in the episode, Europe Correspondent Bevan Shields, who is in Italy, comes to us from the near-deserted Venice to tell us about life inside the “red zone”.
The Australian government expects the coronavirus to become a global pandemic and will implement its coronavirus management plan.
Upping the nation's response to COVID-19, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday afternoon the rate of transmission outside China was "fundamentally changing".
"We believe the risk of a pandemic is well upon us": Scott Morrison.Credit:AAP
The World Health Organisation is yet to declare a global pandemic, but Mr Morrison said Australia must get "well ahead".
"While the WHO is yet to declare ... its move towards a pandemic phase, we believe the risk of a global pandemic is very much upon us and as a result, as a government, we need to take the steps necessary to prepare for such a pandemic."
Mr Morrison had directed his Health and Education Ministers to consult with state and territory counterparts to find any gaps in their response plan.
Australia has recorded 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Mr Morrison insisted it was still safe to go out to sporting events, dinner and social outings.
"The key message that I really want to get across to Australians today is because of the actions we've taken on the coronavirus, we've got ahead. We intend to stay ahead."
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the announcement triggered "full preparation" for a supply chain of necessities such as medical supplies and personnel.
"At this stage while we're in containment, we're in another role and that's preparation for a much more significant event," Mr Hunt said.
"What this does is it now moves to a full preparation phase for all of the supply chains, the medicines, we're working on the national inventories, the national medical stockpile. Tomorrow, as I say, we'll meet with COAG. What the PM has also done is authorise other ministers such as the Education Minister and the Home Affairs to work with their parties."
NSW Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant said most cases of COVID-19 were mild, and only some were severe.
While that was good news for most individuals, she said that makes containing the spread of the disease more challenging.
“We know that people are potentially infectious at the time around when they’ve got symptoms but those symptoms might be quite mild, so they may actually not be thinking of the protective things they need to do at those times,” she said.
With one sick person potentially able to spread the infection to three others, Dr Chant said that accounted for the “exponential rise” in cases in areas overseas.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said it was important for the community to regularly wash their hands, sneeze, and cough into their elbows and stay home when sick to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Victorians who fall sick this flu season are likely to be tested for coronavirus and influenza at the same time amid fears that outbreaks of the two potentially lethal respiratory illnesses could overlap.
Brett Sutton, the state's Chief Health Officer, said it was "inevitable" more cases of coronavirus would emerge in Australia in the coming weeks and warned that the looming epidemic could coincide with the impending winter flu season.
Dettol hand sanitiser for sale at Sydney Airport at $5.45 per 50ml bottle (they retail at $3.50 at Coles and Woolworths). Normal airport prices, or cashing in on coronavirus?
50ml packs of Dettol hand sanitiser selling at Sydney Airport for $5.45.
One of our readers reckons it's the latter.
Fears about the virus' spread has led to reported shortages in hand sanitiser and face masks over the past month.
"I was simply trying to do the right thing boarding a flight today, so thought I better get some hand sanitiser to be safe.
"I was worried that maybe they would not have any stock, I was wrong the airport to my surprise have hundreds of the small bottles - perfect!"
Until he saw the price.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the rising stars of left-wing politics in the United States, has criticised the decision to put Vice-President Mike Pence in charge of a task force to manage the spreading of the coronavirus.
"Mike Pence literally does not believe in science," she wrote on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.
"It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic. This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have."
Many people online were equally flabbergasted at the decision, pointing out that while he was Governor of Indiana, he oversaw a catastrophic HIV outbreak in his state.