Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health
Keeping Tasmanians safe and secure is our highest priority as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak in the state's North West.
That is why we began a testing blitz for the region this week as a further measure to stop the spread of coronavirus in Tasmania.
There were 272 presentations to testing clinics on the North West Coast yesterday and we have further capacity for more testing.
I have been engaged with Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and we are working on a comprehensive plan to expand testing even further in the region.
I will have more to say on this plan tomorrow, however this will be a partnership that will deliver more tests, with bolstered stocks of swabs and reagents to the deliver capacity we need.
This will complement our initiatives to roll out new testing clinics and will include mobile clinics which will be deployed to the North West and West Coast in coming days.
I have had constructive discussions with Federal Minister for Aged Care Richard Colbeck with regards to our aged care response in the region.
Staff have been deployed to test all residents and staff at Melaleuca Nursing Home, Eliza Purton Home for the Aged and Coroneagh Park.
We will continue to work with the Commonwealth Government to ensure these facilities have enough staff to care for their residents.
In the meantime, I'm pleased to confirm the Emergency Department at the North West Regional Hospital will re-open today from 2pm. I would like to thank AUSMAT, the ADF and the cleaners for all their hard work this week.
The teams will continue to progressively clean and re-open the NWRH and the NWPH over the next fortnight to ensure North West residents have access to the healthcare they need.
