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Active COVID-19 cases now at 32

Ministry of Health Media Release
June 4, 2021

Issued By: Office of the Chief Medical Officer

This evening, FridayJune4, 2021, I wish to update you on the present COVID-19 situation. Within the last twenty-four hours we have recorded five(5) additional cases. These new cases are nationals and are  referred to as Case #79 through to Case #83.The individuals are in isolation and are being monitored. These cases bring the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 83 with 69 cases for St. Kitts and 14 cases for Nevis. Please note that 51 cases have fully re cove red with zero deaths. There are now thirty-two(32) active cases.

The Ministry of Health continues its robust contact tracing exercise which began on Wednesday May 19, 2021and we will update you as the situation unfolds. We will broaden our web of contact tracing and testing to identify all possible contacts. The aim is to break the chains of transmission of the COVID-19 virus and contain this cluster of cases. The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that all measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus.

We urge you to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures. These include wearing a face mask, maintaining good hand hygiene, maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when in public places and avoiding crowds and events. These non-pharmaceutical measures work, and we are encouraging everyone to comply with them especially at this time.

We remind you that the AstraZeneca / Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is our main tool in fighting this virus and we urge you to come forward and get vaccinated. By getting vaccinated you are not only protecting yourself but those who cannot be vaccinated such as all of our school children.

We continue to encourage persons to empower themselves with the facts about the benefits of the AstraZeneca / Oxford Vaccine and take advantage of this opportunity to be vaccinated. You can access the COVID-19 vaccine at any health center in St. Kitts tomorrow Saturday June 5, 2021 between 9:00 am to 4:00 pm and at two health centers in Nevis-Charlestown Health Center between 8:00am to 1:00 pm and Gingerland Health Center between 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of the Federatio

The post Active COVID-19 cases now at 32 appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

'I thought that was it and then I heard her screaming'

A 23-year-old woman says she was tailgated, threatened and then rammed head-on by an out-of-control drunk driver in an alleged road rage attack in Adelaide's south.

Just before 10am, authorities were called to Tiller Drive and Commercial Road in Seaford after reports there had been a number of road incidents.

Witnesses were there to help as the driver allegedly continued his rampage on the busy road.

"I didn't know what to do, where to go," Chloe told 9News.

READ MORE: SUV crashes into NSW house, pins woman in bed

Chloe says she was tailgated, threatened and then rammed by an out of control drunk driver in Adelaide.

"He came up next to me, asked me to wind down the window and said 'I'm going to hit you', 'you're dead.'"

Fearing for her safety, Chloe phoned her father, Gary.

"I could hear it in her voice she was getting more and more frightened," he told 9News.

"So, I jumped into my car and then I heard her say 'he's going to hit me', 'he's just hit me' and then I thought that was it and then I heard her screaming 'he's coming at me again.'"

Chloe says she was left bracing in the front seat of her car as the drunk driver lined her up, before ramming her car head-on.

"He reversed into me, drove through the red light, U-turned and then rammed me head-on at full pelt," she said.

The force of the impact pushed her SUV into the car behind her.

She suffered burns from the airbag but was otherwise physically unharmed.

Police allege the driver of a white ute, a 39-year-old Moana man, was more than three times the legal alcohol limit.

CCTV video shows the white ute closely following Chloe's car.

Police allege after the attack the man drove at witnesses standing at the side of the road before parking his car metres from the scene and attempting to flee.

Members of the public stepped in to stop him.

"There was a bit of a punch up on the road," resident Nicole Remnant told 9News.

"And they just … distracted him."

The accused man was arrested at the scene and remains behind bars.

He's been charged with three counts of acts to endanger life, aggravated driving without due care and drink driving.

He has been banned from driving for 12 months and is due to face court on Monday.

Man tests positive to COVID-19 after leaving WA hotel quarantine

Health authorities are contacting scores of people in Western Australia after a man tested positive to COVID-19 after being released from the state's quarantine hotels.

WA Chief Health Officer Dr Andrew Robertson confirmed the case in a press conference this afternoon, saying it was not a virus variant of concern.

Dr Robertson said the man left his hotel on Friday and visited a number of venues before he returned to quarantine yesterday as a precaution.

Exposure sites have been listed and contact tracing is underway.

READ MORE: Melbourne aged care home reports two additional COVID-19 cases

WA's Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson.

"This case had done 14 days in a hotel and then had been cleared in accordance with the national guidelines on day 10," Dr Robertson said.

He said the man was allowed out of the hotel yesterday and was tested in line with the requirements of his maritime industry workplace. He returned a positive test.

"Getting positive tests on PCR is not unusual," Dr Robertson said.

"We often get people who are chronic shedders, but the test result was more moderately positive than we would anticipate. So, as a precaution, we have put him back into one of the quarantine hotels and have taken further tests.

"His test today was weaker which is more in line with what we would expect with somebody who was a chronic shedder and we believe that he is a non-infectious chronic shedder".

Dr Robertson said WA health authorities believe the man shedded viral particles and not the virus.

"We do not believe he is of major concern to the community," he said.

"Having said that, we have taken a very precautionary approach. He only got out at lunchtime yesterday, he visited a couple of places. He visited a pharmacy, he visited a telephone store, and he had a meal at a hotel."

READ MORE: Extra COVID-19 vaccines being sent to Victoria as state battles outbreak

Dr Robertson said he believed only a small number of people potentially came in contact with the man.

"There may have been 12 people at the restaurant and a similar number in the store," he said.

"We're just asking (them) to get tested in the next day or so. We are not requiring them to quarantine. Obviously, if they develop symptoms then we would ask them to isolate.

"Just to reinforce, we do not believe he is infectious."

Extra 100,000 vaccines for Victoria

The federal government will release an extra 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Victoria, as the state continues to battle a coronavirus outbreak.

Victoria is in its second week of lockdown with the state recording positive cases of the potentially deadly virus on a daily basis since late last month.

Today the state reported two new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of active cases to 85.

READ MORE: Melbourne aged care home reports two additional COVID-19 cases

People queue for the COVID-19 vaccine at the Sunshine Hospital vaccination hub, in Victoria.

An additional two new cases have also been reported by an aged care facility in Melbourne, neither of which are yet to be included in the state's official numbers.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the state will have access to an additional 100,000 Pfizer vaccines over a three-week period from June 14.

"This will allow them to work through some of their existing inventory and will provide that extra 100,000 doses which will support 50,000 individuals over the coming weeks," Mr Hunt told reporters.

"My understanding is that Victoria has received 980,000 doses to date, (and) has administered over 613,000 doses, but this week they will work through some of that inventory, so we are providing additional 100,000, which is for 50,000 people to have both first and second doses."

He said all states and territories are managing the vaccine inventory well.

Mr Hunt said more than 770,000 Australians have been vaccinated in six days, this means more than 5 million vaccines have now been delivered in Australia.

"Now at the moment, with momentum, is the time we asked Australian to keep coming forward to be vaccinated. You're doing an awesome job," he said.

Mr Hunt said the federal government will also double the doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

He said it is expected from July there will be a ramping up of Australia's vaccine program, particularly with the Pfizer doses, jumping from 300,000 to about 600,000 a week.

"We will build up over the course of July, started low and build up high over the course of July, that will be maintained," he said.

"Then during October, November and December, we will have approximately 27 million doses of Pfizer."

Australian Medical Association Victoria head Roderick McRae today praised the federal government's vaccine increase, before offering a virus reminder.

"We want our GPs to be undertaking the vaccinations at maximum pace, as much as they possibly can, because tragically, this is a real virus. It is highly infectious, it is spread by aerosol and it occasionally kills people," Mr McRae said.

READ MORE: COVID-19 fragments detected in wastewater

The spotlight is on vaccination rates in Victoria as the latest outbreak in the state sent Greater Melbourne into lockdown.

"As age advances, we know that over 70 years of age, the mortality is 70 per cent that comes from the observations of the northern hemisphere have done all their experiments for us.

"We are relying on experts to analyse information and get it out there.

"I cannot over emphasise how important it is that people get vaccinated."

New COVID-19 cases reported in aged care

The COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria's aged care system has spread further, with a resident and nurse testing positive to the virus.

An aged care resident and a nurse at the Arcare facility in Maidstone returned positive tests to the virus on Sunday.

"Arcare is saddened to advise that we have two new cases of COVID-19 at our Maidstone residence," a statement from the facility read.

READ MORE: Extra COVID-19 vaccines being sent to Victoria as state battles outbreak

The staffer worked at the Arcare aged care facility in Maidstone while infectious.

"One is a 79-year-old resident who lives in close proximity to the first two residents diagnosed.

"The second is an agency registered nurse who last worked at the residence yesterday."

The resident, who has had both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, is asymptomatic but will be transferred to hospital for public health reasons, coordinated by the Victorian Department of Health.

The employee has received the first dose of the vaccine and is also asymptomatic.

All team members who worked at Arcare on Saturday are isolating and will get a COVID-19 test.

The aged care home is undergoing a coronavirus "testing blitz".

Victoria recorded four new infections today but despite the low numbers there's no indication of an early end to Melbourne's lockdown.

"The Delta variant, it is much, much more infectious than what we were dealing with last year," acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said.

The Delta variant has health authorities concerned, with the virus lurking in the wastewater of some of Melbourne's inner west suburbs including Footscray, Moonee Ponds and Flemington.

READ MORE: Man tests positive to COVID-19 after leaving WA hotel quarantine

"This new detection is of interest because there are no confirmed cases in that area," Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Allen Cheng said.

"What we are somewhat concerned about are the upstream, so … for these cases where we can't find who gave them the infection and particularly the family who returned from Jervis Bay (in NSW)."

Mr Merlino said it is likely there will be further easing of restrictions in regional Victoria and careful easing of restrictions in Melbourne.

"We've just got to drive this thing (COVID-19) to the ground," he said.

NSW police rescue boat attempts high-stakes rescue

A New South Wales police rescue boat has attempted a high-stakes rescue after a whale became entangled in netting off Coogee Beach.

Authorities tracked the whale along the Sydney coastline before intercepting it just off North Head.

Video of the rescue attempt showed an officer stretching out over the bow of the police boat unsuccessfully attempting to free the creature.

READ MORE: Man tests positive to COVID-19 after leaving WA hotel quarantine

NSW Police Rescue has attempted a high-stakes rescue after a whale became entangled in netting off Coogee Beach.

The rescue mission played out dangerously close to nearby rocks, before the whale sped away.

The mission to help the whale has been paused due to fading light.

Spotters will head back out along the NSW north coast tomorrow morning to see if they can find the creature.

National Parks and Wildlife have a specialised whale disentanglement team for such an incident.

Man looking for shark teeth in a Florida survives alligator bite to head

A diver searching for prehistoric shark teeth in Florida's Myakka River is recovering after an alligator bit him on the back of his head.

Jeffrey Heim suffered a skull fracture in the attack, which happened last Sunday in Sarasota County. He needed 34 staples to close the wound. He also suffered puncture wounds on his hand from an alligator bite.

The 25-year-old Tampa man thought he'd been hit by a boat propeller until he saw the alligator looking at him.

READ MORE: Extra 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines being sent to Victoria as state battles outbreak

"It felt very heavy and it really felt like it was moving very fast," he told CNN.

"It felt blunt. It felt like a blunt force. I didn't feel the cutting, I felt a pulling."

Mr Heim says he'd dived in the river several times before and had entered the water at a public spot near a restaurant.

Mr Heim spent about 10 minutes looking for alligators in the water while he put on his wetsuit, but didn't see anything before he got in the water.

He was free diving, without scuba tanks, so he took a few deep breaths and dove down in hopes of finding megalodon teeth in the gravel at the bottom of the river.

Mr Heim was underwater for about 45 seconds when the alligator struck.

After the initial bites, Mr Heim says he was able to back away and climb back onto the river bank as the alligator lunged at him.

He says an ex-firefighter at the restaurant got a first aid kit and bandaged his head while others called 911.

"I was so lucky that I was in a public place and that there were people who I was able to call over," he said.

Mr Heim says he felt really tired and just wanted to go to sleep after the bite. But he feared he was going to die.

READ MORE: Man charged over series of road rage incidents in Seaford

An alligator has bitten a diver on the head in Florida in the US.

Mr Heim says he joked and made light of what happened when he first got to the hospital. But he had "a very religious and emotional moment" as he was about to get a CT scan, when he realised how lucky he was to survive.

"The situation really just emotionally came crashing down on me," he said.

"I cried so hard that day for about an hour or two. (I) just could not stop crying and I was thanking God."

He spent a day-and-a-half in the hospital and says his swelling has gone down a lot. He is still taking antibiotics to fight off infection.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says alligators become more active as their courtship activities begin in April, and as temperatures warm up.

"I was probably too comfortable diving during mating season," Mr Heim said.

"I should have known better."

Despite the severity of his injuries, Mr Heim says he hopes the alligator isn't killed. He blamed the attack on mistaken identity.

FWC officers and a contracted nuisance alligator trapper were sent to investigate the incident, a spokesman for the agency told CNN in an email.

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One alligator, a six-foot-four-inch female, was removed from the area and the trapper is working to remove another alligator in the vicinity, the spokesman said.

Captured nuisance alligators become the property of the trapper and are usually processed for their meat and hide, but are sometimes sold to animal exhibits or zoos.

The FWC estimates that there are about 1.3 million alligators in Florida, and that the reptiles can be found in all 67 counties.

The agency said that there were 12 alligator attacks on humans in 2020. The last fatal attack occurred in 2019.

Mr Heim says diving for fossils is his way of relaxing, and that much of what he finds goes into his collection.

He turns some of the teeth into jewellery, which he sells. He says he donates some of the proceeds to promote shark conservation.

Mr Heim says he plans to keep diving once he's well enough, but he'll stay away from the Myakka River.