Hunter GPs want everyone to play their part in war…

Hunter GPs want everyone to play their part in war against coronavirus

Hunter general practitioners have pleaded with the high risk members of the community to comply with social distancing and hygiene protocols in an effort to reduce the strain on the health system and ultimately the coronavirus's mortality rate.

"This virus is deadly and the number of cases is rising rapidly. Experience overseas has shown our intensive care units will become overloaded and many more people will die unnecessarily if we do not manage to reduce the rapid rise in cases," Hunter General Practice Association representative Dr Colin Pearce said.

"Every case that is prevented will save multiple lives."

The association's call for community cooperation came as another four cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the Hunter on Wednesday. They were: a man in his 30s who recently returned from the US, a woman in her 70s who recently returned from Europe and a man and woman in their 30s who attended a wedding on the South Coast where an infected person was present.

The total number of cases in the health district as of Wednesday afternoon was 11. They were among 57 new cases in NSW, taking the state's total to 267.

Nationally, more than 500 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

In an effort to minimise the pandemic's impact on the region, general practitioners have produced a brochure that highlights key public interventions

"This is unlike anything we have experienced before," Dr Pearce said.

"The impact on our community will largely be determined by how well people, particularly those in high risk groups, respond to simple public health instructions."

The first is self isolation for those who have travelled overseas or for those who have contact with a person with a confirmed case of coronavirus.

The second is taking steps to protect family and community through social distancing and personal hygiene.

The third is to protect essential health services and health workers from being overwhelmed.

"We need to keep general practice coronavirus free," Dr Pearce said.

"If you have been overseas in the past two weeks do not come to the surgery. Call for a phone consultation. Only attend hospital if you have severe symptoms, such as a high fever, cough or breathlessness."

Those considering a tele-health consultation should phone their practice first to check billing criteria.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has signed an Order under the emergency powers of the Public Health Act banning non-essential indoor gatherings of 100 or more people.

The restriction was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday morning to slow the spread of the virus and enable health authorities to contact trace cases.

Hunter New England Health public health physician David Durrheim endorsed the new measures.

"We continue to urge our community to take all measures to prevent the spread of this virus," Dr Durrheim said on Wednesday.

"These include the new measures announced by the Prime Minister including social distancing, very strict respiratory hygiene, hand hygiene and making sure we don't take cold or fever type illnesses out into the community

"For Australia the only way we are going to slow the spread of this virus is for all of us to work together and make sure we don't spread it in our community. "

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the rising case numbers was in part due to the "incredibly high rates of testing in NSW".

NSW Health authorities have conducted 35,800 tests and has the capacity to run more than 4000 tests samples a day from both public and private labs.

Dr Chant said the outbreak had "changed and evolved" internationally.

"What we've been seeing is increasing cases in returning travellers from Europe, and also America, adding to those previous countries that we've had, which were the original ones which were Iran, South Korea and Hong Kong," Dr Chant said.

"We have also observed an increase in the number of cases where we haven't been able to find a source of any infection."

Meanwhile, domestic flight cut-backs look set to include Newcastle Airport with airline Regional Express foreshadowing "brutal" changes to its network.

Rex operates multiple flights between Newcastle and Sydney each day and is scheduled to have six flights on the route on Thursday.

The airline is yet to detail which routes will be impacted, but told the Newcastle Herald reductions in flights across the country's south-east were imminent.

"With regards to schedule changes, cuts will be brutal but clinical and Regional Express (Rex) will announce cuts in the next few days," a Rex spokesperson said.

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