Question On Notice No. 625 asked in the Legislative Council on 16 March 2022 by Hon Martin Aldridge
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Minister for Health
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 1266-
View tabled paper
Question
(1) I refer to the daily release of COVID-19 statistics relating to testing positive cases, hospitalisations and deaths, and I ask, noting the daily report is for a period to 8pm the night prior, when is the report compiled and available for release?
(2) Which agency compiles the report?
(3) Who receives the report and at what time is the report typically received by the Minister?
(4) Will the Minister please table the information that was provided to the Minister for Health on 16 March 2022 relating to the day prior, including any email or letter used to communicate the information?
(5) Why has the Government abandoned the positive case heat map by Local Government area, noting this was published information in the early response to COVID-19?
(6) If a person tests positive on a Rapid Antigen Test and reports this, then tests positive on a subsequent PCR test, how is it ensured that both positive results are not counted in the published data?
Answered on 11 May 2022
(1 – 3) The Department of Health provide a daily COVID-19 update to the Minister’s Media Adviser each morning. This update includes the confirmed number of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths in the 24 hour period to 8pm on the day prior. The exact time the update is received varies each day and is dependent on the publication of vaccination data by the Australian Immunisation Register.
(4) See tabled paper.
(5) Information has been refined to reflect higher caseloads in the community. The Department of Health’s daily COVID-19 update includes a breakdown of new cases by region.
(6) Tests are matched to existing people in the contact tracing database and a new case created only if the person is not an existing case.