The Morrison government has reached agreement with states and territories over the health costs of tackling the coronavirus on a 50/50 basis, which could end up costing $1 billion.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was a stand-alone arrangement, with $100 million put down upfront, and not linked to any other funding arrangements.
“This is about dealing with the coronavirus, and making sure that the states, as they are leaning forward and responding we are leaning forward and responding with them,” he told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
The Commonwealth will contribute $500 million while the states make up the rest.
“It could be more, but we at least have to enter into these arrangements having some sense of the scale of what we’re dealing with here,” Mr Morrison said.
The announcement comes amid news that three Sydney hospitals have been directly impacted by the virus’ spread.
Dozens of staff at Ryde Hospital were placed in self-isolation and 56 patients were identified as close or casual contacts of a confirmed Covid-19 case.
At Liverpool Hospital, in the city’s west, 23 staff and five patients have been identified as potential close contacts of a confirmed case.
A health worker at Canterbury Hospital has been diagnosed with the virus after returning from Iran.
The diagnoses suggest Sydney’s coronavirus epicentre is in the north-west of the city.
Epping High School, located nearby to the affected hospitals, has ordered more than 1100 teenage students were ordered to self-quarantine from Friday after a year 11 boy tested positive for coronavirus.
NSW Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant said measures were in place to ensure hospitals were adequately staffed.
“I want to reassure the public that we have several mitigation strategies in place to backfill any absent staff with other health workers to ensure continuity of service in our hospitals,” she said.
Australia’s chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, had earlier warned the worst-case scenario for Australia was “millions of people being infected over a period of several weeks”.
Professor Murphy remains confident that the country’s public health systems were well prepared if widespread outbreaks occurred.
However, concerns over the safety of frontline health workers responding to the outbreak have prompted union calls for the introduction of dedicated clinics.
Australia now has 53 confirmed cases across the country, and two elderly people have already died.
Worldwide, the virus has spread to 80 countries, with 95,000 confirmed cases and 3250 deaths.
Authorities warn more cases are inevitable, and are now framing the battle against the virus as a war that won’t be over quickly.
The dawning realisation that the battle is set to be drawn out has impacted local supply chains of key household items.
Coles and Woolworths have enforced limits on toilet paper purchases after panic buying.
Woolworths is also limiting the sale of large bags of rice, and hand sanitiser.
Further afield, four more Australians have been caught up in yet another cruise ship emergency, this time off the coast of California.
Test kits are being dropped onto the Grand Princess with dozens of people having shown flu-like symptoms. A passenger on a recent cruise died.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says consular officials are in San Francisco ready to support the four.
Australia has already lost one person to a cruise ship outbreak, and others are still in hospital.
– with AAP
The post Prime Minister strikes deal with states to share coronavirus burden appeared first on The New Daily.
**Business and Marketing support on best price; Hit the link now----> http://bit.ly/2HsQmSi