Tag Archives: oceania

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Patient 'faked chest pains to get a PCR test'

A Melbourne hospital worker has hit out at a patient who called Triple Zero while faking chest pains to get a PCR test quickly.

The patient was rushed to the emergency department of the Royal Melbourne Hospital last week, where they admitted they had faked the pain and just wanted a COVID-19 test.

Nurse unit manager of the emergency department Susan Harding condemned the "desperate" move as the Victorian Government called a Code Brown emergency response today to ease the pressure off the struggling hospital system.

LIVE UPDATES: COVID-19 isolation period 'under review'

"They called Triple Zero, called an ambulance under the guise of having chest pain, they presented to the emergency department and were fast-tracked down to a resuscitation room at which point they declared they didn't have chest pain, and that they really wanted a PCR and wanted it quickly," Ms Harding said.

"That is an unbelievable misuse of resources."

Victorians have been continuously warned to refrain from calling Triple Zero or attending emergency departments unless they require emergency assistance.

"We don't want people to unnecessarily present to the emergency department," Ms Harding said.

"I can absolutely with confidence say that if people attend clinics or services and their care requirements are beyond what that service can provide, they will be on-referred to the emergency department.

"So we are asking people to make good decisions.

"We've been challenged in the last couple of weeks and what we don't want to do is put our healthcare service under pressure."

READ MORE: What is a Code Brown? Everything you need to know

A coronavirus cluster is engulfing the Royal Melbourne Hospital with at least seven patients, staff and visitors testing positive.

Ambulance wait times have been of concern in recent weeks amid staff shortages and escalating demand.

A Code Brown emergency measure is set to prioritise the offload of ambulance patients at emergency departments.

"If you are not too unwell and you're seeking advice or information only, there are other quicker, more accessible means that you can gain that advice rather than calling Triple Zero or coming to an emergency department," Deputy State Controller Adam Horsborough said.

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Bitcoin bubble could deflate in 2022

Bitcoin's bubble could burst and lose more than half of its value in 2022 as investor "mania" wears off, one investment firm has warned.

In his list of ten "improbable but possible outcomes for 2022", Invesco's Global Head of Asset Allocation Paul Jackson says he can see Bitcoin falling below $USD30,000, marking a drop of more than 50 per cent since the crypto's recent high in November 2021.

Alluding to the great stock market crash of 1929 – infamously known as "Black Tuesday" – Mr Jackson said the boom in Bitcoin's value bears the hallmarks of a phenomenon known as "financial mania".

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Also called an "economic bubble", manic investing typically sees the price of an asset soar to far greater heights than its intrinsic value due to mass marketing.

"The mass marketing of Bitcoin reminds us of the activity of stockbrokers in the run-up to the 1929 crash," Mr Jackson writes.

"We know how that ended and Bitcoin has already fallen to around $USD 42,000 (as of 7 January 2022), following closely the downward path of our mania template.

"That template suggests a loss of 45 per cent is experienced in the 12 months after the peak of a typical financial mania."

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Mr Jackson said if the template is followed, the price of Bitcoin would plummet to between $USD 37,000 and $USD 34,000 by the end of October 2022.

"The template also suggests that bubbles typically deflate for a further two years," speculates Jackson.

"Hence, we think it is not too much of a stretch to imagine Bitcoin falling below $USD 30,000 this year (with the health warning that we have got this wrong before and that it seems to be going through a series of bubbles)."

The cryptocurrency has long been called a "bubble" by institutional investors, but has defied predictions multiple times.

In late December 2017 Bitcoin rose to what was then considered astonishing heights by hitting in excess of $USD 19,000 per coin.

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Just two months later in February 2018 it had lost more than half of its value – prompting many to claim that the bubble had burst.

But fast forward to late 2020, where the global economy had suffered deep blows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bitcoin was climbing again and eclipsing its 2017 high.

Investors had traditionally viewed the cryptocurrency as the tool of cybercriminals and shady transactions on the dark web.

But by late 2020 it was gaining legitimacy: the UK and the US central banks had voiced interest in developing their own digital currency using blockchain technology derived from Bitcoin.

Automaker Tesla started accepting Bitcoin as payment for cars, El Salvador became the world's first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender and in late 2021 and Australia's own Commonwealth Bank announced it would allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies via their online banking app.

Currently one Bitcoin is worth $AUD 58,463, having retreated heavily from an early November 2021 high of more than $AUD 91,000.

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