From 11.59pm on Sunday, August 2, face coverings will become mandatory for regional Victorians. Face coverings are already mandatory for Melbourne and Mitchelle Shire. Victoria has also suspended elective surgeries except for Category 1 and the most urgent Category 2 surgeries – click to read more.
Category: COVID News
Face Coverings Mandatory for Melbourne
Face coverings are now mandatory for Melbourne and Mitchell Shire – read more.
Face Masks Recommended
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer is now recommending that people in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, under stage 3 restrictions, wear face masks when outside the home if it is difficult to keep 1.5 metres away from others. Click here for more information.
Government COVID-19 Roadmap
The Government has announced the roadmap to a COVID-19 safe Australia in three stages.
Click here to read the detailed plan of the steps.
COVIDSafe App Released
The Australian Government has released its COVIDSafe app for smartphones. The app is available to download for free via the Apple or Google app stores.
Its purpose is to identify people who may have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19 so that they can be advised to take measures to help stop the spread of the virus or to get tested. Read more here.
Medicines Australia acknowledges the Government’s decision to temporarily allow for substitution of dose strengths
20/04/2020 –
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, Medicines Australia acknowledges the Government’s decision to temporarily allow for substitution of dose strengths or forms of medicines by a pharmacist without reference to the patient’s doctor only if the originally prescribed medicine is in serious shortage (as deemed by the TGA) at the time. This should only be implemented within strict protocols released by the TGA. Click here for more.
NDIS: Priority Home Delivery Services
From Monday 6 April, NDIS participants can purchase grocery items online to be delivered to their home. Click here to read more.
Medicine Supplies in Australia
Medicines Australia (MA) is advising that Australia has sufficient supplies of medicines and are strongly discouraging the stockpiling or panic buying of medicines. It’s important that people, including those living with a rare disease, only obtain the medicines they immediately require.
MA has encouraged pharmacists and GPs to help manage the supply of medicines and support the Government’s purchasing limits on selected medicines. Useful links for more information:
COVID-19 limits on dispensing and sales at pharmacies
Limits on dispensing and sales of prescription and over-the-counter medicines
TGA cautions against over-buying medicines
There are certain medicines deemed critical by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and MA. If there was no availability or if there was an interruption to treatment, this could result in significant health impacts. The other scenario being anticipated is an increased demand of some medicines due to COVID-19. See this list, published on the TGA website — other medicines may be added over time.
COVID-19 updates from the National Disability Insurance Agency
Here is a snapshot of the COVID-19 updates as of 25/3 from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA):
– If a participant has a scheduled plan review, the NDIA will contact them by phone or email to undertake their review. As part of this plan review process, a participant can discuss having a new plan in place for up to 24 months.
– The NDIA will be making changes to NDIS systems over the weekend to make sure participants have the funding they need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
– To ensure participant plans don’t end, on the day a plan is due to expire, it will be automatically be extended by 365 days. Participants who have plans that expire soon, do not need to do anything to have their plans automatically extended by 365 days.
Click here for full details.
Support for NDIS participants and providers through COVID-19
Rare Voices Australia welcomes new measures announced to support NDIS participants and providers through COVID-19. Click here to read the Hon Stuart Robert MP’s media release.