Survey: Australian health system facing ‘significant’ crisis

Staff check a client at a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Jan 8, 2022. (MARK BAKER / AP)

MANILA / HANOI / SINGAPORE / YANGON / YEREVAN / JERUSALEM / BAGHDAD / RIYADH / DHAKA / KUALA LUMPUR / WELLINGTON / SUVA / SEOUL / CANBERRA –  Australians' confidence in the country's healthcare system has fallen, a survey has found.

According to the latest Australian Healthcare Index survey published by the Australian Patients Association (APA) recently, the overall rating of the health system has fallen from 7.8 out of 10 in March 2021 to 7.2 this year.

More than 11,000 participants in the survey identified three major concerns with the system: the cost of private health insurance, growing wait times in emergency departments and access to mental health care.

Almost one-quarter of respondents said their mental health has declined in the last six months and 59 percent who were seeking support said they waited more than three months.

Marcus Tan, chief executive of consumer healthcare platform Healthengine, said the findings indicated an "impending and significant" health crisis.

"The overall trend is heading in the wrong direction suggesting that the Australian healthcare system is under stress, likely leading to worse experiences and outcomes," he said in a media release.

It comes as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across Australia.

There were more than 25,000 new coronavirus infections and more than 50 deaths reported in Australia on Tuesday.

According to the latest data from the Department of Health, there were 3,006 cases being treated in Australian hospitals on Monday including 113 in intensive care.

As of Monday afternoon, a total of 7,822,716 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Australia, including 9,387 deaths, and 211,622 active cases.

Armenia

Armenia reported 60 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, taking its total to 423,104, the country's Ministry of Healthcare said on Monday.

Data from the ministry showed that 25 more patients recovered in the past week, taking the total number of recoveries to 412,693.

No death cases were registered in that period, and the death toll stood at 8,625 as of Monday.

Armenia has lifted most restrictions on COVID-19 since April, when the country had seen a notable decrease in daily new COVID-19 cases.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh recorded a COVID-19 death on Monday with the daily test positivity rate jumping to 10.87 percent.

Monday's death was the first one from the pandemic recorded in 21 days. The South Asian country reported the last COVID-19-linked death on May 30.

Also, on Monday Bangladesh reported 873 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total tally to 19,57,200, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

A total of 29,132 people have died from COVID-19 as of Monday in the country.

Fiji

Fiji has reported more COVID-19 cases over the past few days, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the island nation to more than 65,000 since March 2020 when it recorded its first confirmed case.

Fiji's Ministry of Health has recorded 95 new COVID-19 cases since last Thursday, and of the 95 new cases, 46 cases were reported last Saturday, according to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the ministry encouraged Fijian children to take the vaccination, saying that vaccinating children will reduce the ability of COVID-19 to spread in the country.

From July 2, the ministry will deploy pediatric vaccines to children aged between five and 11.

India

The number of daily new COVID-19 cases continues to rise in India, with 9,923 added over the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 43,319,396, showed the data released by the federal health ministry on Tuesday.

After falling to around 2,000 new cases per day till a few weeks ago, the incidence of COVID-19 has begun to rise once again in the South Asian country, crossing the 13,000-mark a couple of days ago.

Besides, 17 more deaths from the pandemic since Monday morning took the death toll to 524,890.

A medic administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in a shopping mall in Iraq's capital Baghdad on Aug 25, 2021. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Monday declared a new wave of COVID-19 infections in the country, with 515 new cases reported in the past 24 hours.

"There is a noticeable increase in the positive cases during the past few days, as well as an increase in the number of infected people in hospitals, which means that Iraq has entered a new pandemic wave," the ministry said in a statement.

It said that the resurgence of infections is an inevitable result of many people not receiving COVID-19 vaccines despite their availability in all health centers in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces, as well as the non-adherence to health-protective measures.

The ministry called for speedier vaccination and returning to adhere to individual and societal protective measures, the statement added.

On Monday, Iraq reported 515 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide tally and death toll to 2,332,692, and one more fatality, bringing the death toll from the virus to 25,229. The total recoveries in Iraq grew by 225 to 2,304,557.

A total of 18,691,060 tests have been carried out in Iraq since the outbreak of the disease in early 2020, with 6,317 done during the day, it said.

A total of 14,420 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the past 24 hours across Iraq, bringing the total number of doses administered to 10,797,872, according to the Health Ministry.

A medical staff member wearing protective gear tends to a coronavirus patient in the COVID-19 ward at Beilinson Hospital Rabin Medical Centre in Israel's central city of Petah Tikva on Feb 1, 2022. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Israel

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Israel has risen to the highest rate since early April, and a key question that concerns many Israelis is whether restrictions will be reimposed soon.

The Israeli Health Ministry reported 10,235 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the highest figure since April 1, while the number of active cases stands at 57,769, the highest since April 19.

Professor Eyal Leshem, a senior infectious disease specialist at Sheba Medical Center, Israel's largest hospital, told Xinhua that the recent increase in morbidity was probably caused by more than one factor.

 "There are almost no restrictions, so masks are not used, schools and businesses are completely open, and there is a wide infection in the community," he explained. "Second, probably many thousands of people, asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, were not diagnosed, and are therefore not in quarantine and can infect others."

Leshem estimated that the increase in morbidity in Israel will continue in the coming weeks because the reproduction number indicator is still above 1.

Following the rise in morbidity, the ministry announced that its panel of experts will convene on Tuesday and discuss ways to curb a new COVID-19 wave spreading in the country.

In the last discussion held by the panel earlier this month, the experts decided not to recommend the government new restrictions and a fifth dose vaccination campaign, but at the same time suggested wearing masks indoors, especially in gatherings.

However, even if the panel recommends new restrictions this week, it is not certain that the current government, headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, will approve them, as its policy is trying to avoid imposing restrictions as much as possible and maintain the routine of life and economy.

Malaysia

Malaysia recorded 2,093 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Monday, bringing the total tally to 4,542,705, according to the health ministry.

The newly reported infections included one imported case and 2,092 local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

Three more deaths were reported from the pandemic, bringing the death toll to 35,735.

Myanmar

Myanmar on Monday reported four new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 613,494, according to the Health Ministry.

The health authorities tested 5,141 people for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate was 0.08 percent.

It added that the death toll from COVID-19 remained unchanged at 19,434 as no new deaths were confirmed in the past 24 hours.

New Zealand

New Zealand recorded 5,630 new community cases of COVID-19 with 17 more deaths, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

Among the new community infections, 1,663 were reported in the largest city Auckland, the ministry said.

In addition, 65 new cases of COVID-19 were detected at the New Zealand border.

Currently, 362 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals, including four in intensive care units or high dependency units.

A health worker (right) walks past people queueing up for coronavirus swab tests outside a gymnasium in Manila on Jan 7, 2022. (STR / AFP)

Philippines

The steady uptick in the COVID-19 infections in the Philippines signals the start of the peak of cases, the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.

"Right now, (we see) that the number of cases is continuously increasing," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a television interview. "We can see that this is really the start in the peak in the number of cases." 

Vergeire said the Southeast Asian country is seeing a trend similar to what happened in September 2021 and January 2022. The Philippines reported the highest single-day tally on Jan. 15 this year, with 39,004 new cases.

The Philippines has seen four COVID-19 waves since the pandemic hit the country in January 2020.

Vergeire said the DOH recorded around 2,458 cases across the country last week.

In Metro Manila, she said, the number of cases has doubled already. "In their average number of cases from the previous week, we can see a 70 percent increase in the number of cases."

Infectious diseases expert Edsel Maurice Salvana downplayed the spike in COVID-19 cases, saying the uptick in cases is expected due to the detection of the new, more transmissible coronavirus variants.

Salvana said the country's COVID-19 cases "remains manageable at this time due to the low healthcare utilization rate."

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus travel restrictions on Monday on its citizens traveling to Turkey, India, Ethiopia and Vietnam, state news agency SPA reported.

Earlier this month, the kingdom lifted measures imposed to prevent the spread of the virus, including a requirement to wears face masks indoors.

A notice warning people not to gather in groups larger than five persons as part of restrictions to hald the spread of the coronavirus is displayed at Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on Jan 4, 2022. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

Singapore

Singapore reported 3,220 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total tally to 1,370,981.

Of the new cases, 281 cases were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 2,939 through antigen rapid test (ART), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

Among the PCR cases, 251 were local transmissions and 30 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, 2,633 were local transmissions and 306 were imported cases.

A total of 296 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with eight cases in intensive care units.

South Korea

South Korea reported 9,310 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 18,289,373, the health authorities said Tuesday.

The daily caseload was up from 3,538 the previous day, but it was lower than 9,771 tallied a year earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 7,198.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded 521 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, down 12 from Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health.

Among the new infections, only one was imported and the rest were domestically transmitted in 42 provinces and cities.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi was the pandemic hotspot with 141 new cases recorded on Monday, followed by the central city of Da Nang and the northern Phu Tho province with 27 each.

The infections brought the total tally to 10,738,161 with 43,083 deaths.