Here’s a quick wrap of the COVID-19 news and case numbers from each Australian jurisdiction for the past week, as reported on Friday, May 5, 2023.
The states and territories are now reporting their COVID-19 statistics weekly instead of through the daily updates initially provided from the early days of the pandemic.
News you may have missed
Novak Djokovic can return to the US Open this year after missing the tournament in 2022, because the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for foreign air travellers ends next week.
Mexican officials have announced that the country has developed its own COVID-19 vaccine, more than two years after inoculations from the US, Europe and China were rolled out.
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New South Wales
NSW has recorded 53 deaths and 12,323 new cases of COVID-19.
There are currently 1,291people in hospital, including 30 in ICU.
Northern Territory
The NT has recorded three deaths and 216 new cases of COVID-19.
There are currently 21 people in hospital.
One thing to know: COVID-19 dropped to 4th leading cause of death in US last year
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found COVID-19 deaths trailed those caused by heart disease, cancer and injuries such as drug overdoses, motor vehicle fatalities and shootings.
In 2020 and 2021, only heart disease and cancer were ahead of the coronavirus.
US deaths usually rise year-to-year, in part because the nation’s population has been growing.
The pandemic accelerated that trend, making 2021 the deadliest in US history, with more than 3.4 million deaths. But 2022 saw the first drop in deaths since 2009.
Inflammation after COVID-19 may be caused by ‘fighter-bomber’ cells
Queensland researchers have found that chronic inflammation after COVID-19 may be caused by “fighter-bomber” immune cells trying to beat it — not the virus itself.
The ongoing study, led by the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, is examining the behaviour of macrophages — the “fighter-bombers” of the immune system which take out the sick cells.
Inflammation is what drives the fever response to the disease and is closely linked to long COVID. Hospitals currently give the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone to COVID patients after the virus has peaked, but this study aims to design drugs that can be given earlier.
“We are essentially trying to work out where the immune system got its wires crossed, and how we can untangle that,” researcher Dr Larisa Labzin told the ABC’s Jemima Burt.
“Our study has started to ask a really fundamental question of how these immune cells recognise when the virus is around, and how they assess whether the virus is a threat,” she said.
“And therefore, what kind of immune response they need to make in order to fight off the virus, so then we can target it when it’s going wrong.”
One more thing: There are concerns long COVID could lead to a new wave of people with disabilities
Since January 2020, there have been more than 11 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia, according to the World Health Organization.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggests around 5 to 10 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Australia experienced symptoms three months after infection.
People with Disabilities Australia president Nicole Lee is worried the health of those people may never improve.
“I’m very concerned that long COVID is potentially leading to a new wave and cohort of people with disability,” she said.
“For those people who do have lasting and long-term impacts … they do need to start to be supported, and understood, and respected as having a chronic illness or a disability.”
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