The city that holds the title of having the longest lockdown in the world is becoming overwhelmed as COVID cases spike
Melbourne along with the state of Victoria has recorded 1,838 new local COVID-19 cases and five further deaths after confirmation that Australian Defence Force personnel will start driving ambulances in the state.
The army has officially been activated as the health care system battles with record admissions.
Today’s number of cases for the past 24 hours is a new daily record for any state or territory in Australia
The spike comes as Ambulance Victoria metro regional director Jerome Peyton told an Australian media outlet that paramedics were experiencing soaring emergency calls driven by the pandemic.
Ticker Health co-host and Medical Doctor, Dr. Kieran Kennedy says the health care network is trying to deal with rising cases everyday while still trying to support regular treatments such as cancer and mental health admissions.
“Logistical nightmare”
Kennedy says it is currently a logistical nightmare to try and seperate services within hospitals, stating it is becoming a challenge to “seperate COVID positive people or close contacts with those that aren’t.”
In the past two weeks, Ambulance Victoria had reported four of its five busiest days in history.
Victoria’s Triple Zero call system was also experiencing near record levels of demand.
Major changes to ambulances:
For the first time in Ambulance Victoria’s history, two paramedics will no longer be deployed to each ambulance.
Instead, a paramedic will be joined by a driver from the Australian Defence Force member, St John Ambulance Australia member, State Emergency Service, or a student paramedic.
TikTok users could soon find that the popular social media service is either under new ownership or could be outright banned in the United States.
President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that requires TikTok to find a new owner—or face a ban in the United States.
Over the past several months, Washington D.C. has been under pressure to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app.
Lawmakers and security experts have long raised concerns that the Chinese government could tap TikTok’s trove of personal data about millions of U.S. users.
TikTok’s CEO said the bill is disappointing and reiterated that the company has committed to challenge it.
David Zhang from China Insider. joins Veronica Dudo to discuss
Threads, the social media platform owned by Meta, is gaining traction with a surge in daily active users, outpacing X in the U.S.
With Threads averaging 28 million daily active users compared to X’s 22 million, Meta’s ambitions to reach a billion users seem within reach despite a slowdown in growth. While X still boasts 550 million monthly active users globally, Threads’ focus on user experience and avoidance of real-time and political content could position it as a formidable competitor moving forward.
This weekend’s entertainment lineup has something for everyone.
Apple TV+ brings “Sugar,” a drama set in New York City, while “Civil War” offers historical intensity.
“Challengers” with Zendaya brings a saucy sport drama to life, and superhero buffs can catch the trailer for “Deadpool and Wolverine” for action-packed fun.
With options spanning drama, history, reality, and superheroes, there’s excitement in store for all this weekend.