Yesterday
Melbourne outbreak takes a dangerous turn with mystery mutant cases
New research suggests the appearance of the delta variant in Melbourne could result in a doubling of hospitalisation rates.
- Tom Burton
School closures come at a high price for children
Closing Victoria’s schools is not a zero-sum activity, with the negative impacts likely to flow on to academic performance and psychological health.
- Julie Hare
- Analysis
- Coronavirus pandemic
Australia’s blind spot is putting its pandemic performance at risk
Malta has seaside villas while Vietnam uses military installations, but experts say Australia’s Howard Springs is among the world’s best quarantine facilities. So why not build more?
- Jill Margo
This Month
Australia’s education advantage evaporating as borders stay shut
Australia’s position as a global leader in international education is withering as students await certainty on borders.
- Julie Hare
- Analysis
- Coronavirus pandemic
Victoria’s track and trace shows that speed matters
While experts argue over how infectious the latest variant is, the Victorian response to its outbreak is light years ahead of last year.
- Tom Burton
I feel your pain, Tudge tells unis, but no help on offer
Alan Tudge will offer university leaders his sympathy but not much else when he addresses a major conference.
- Julie Hare
Pubs giant devises payday scheme for locked-down casuals
What’s the next saddest thing to a pub without beer? A pub with no staff or customers.
- Tom Burton
Victorian lockdown hurts Sydney hotels
Nearly 250 people in NSW are self-isolating after being deemed close contacts of a Melbourne tourist as the Victorian lockdown causes pain for Sydney hotels.
- Finbar O'Mallon
How the pandemic has begun teaching us Greek
The World Health Organisation is making a big change to how it names variants, hoping people will stop referring to their country of origin.
- Jill Margo
Early signs emerge that Victorian outbreak is under control
There are emerging signs Melbourne’s lockdown is suppressing transmission and quelling its COVID-19 outbreak. But experts are divided on the need for a longer lockdown.
- Tom Burton and Tom McIlroy
Teacher quality dependent on measuring competence
The economic pay-off from improving school outcomes is entirely reliant on the quality of the teaching workforce.
- Julie Hare
Victorian outbreak finely balanced as three new cases recorded
Early signs the Melbourne outbreak could be coming under control, with all three new cases linked, but authorities say it’s premature to say if the seven-day lockdown will end Friday.
- Tom Burton
May
Vaccine delays in aged care expose rollout failings
The government is considering if COVID-19 vaccinations should be mandatory for aged care workers as cases in Melbourne nursing homes expose holes in the rollout.
- Hannah Wootton and Finbar O'Mallon
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
The lab leak theory, like the virus, won’t go away
After 3.5 million deaths, a question persists: did COVID-19 escape accidentally from a Wuhan institute rather than leaping from bats or pangolins to humans?
- Ross Douthat
- Opinion
- Health insurance
Five reforms that will make private health more sustainable
Despite the entire health sector reaching a post-COVID-19 crossroads, the budget kicked significant change to private health insurance down the road, again.
- Terry Barnes
‘Captive population’: why not vaccinate those in hotel quarantine?
Some experts have called on the government to offer vaccines to all those returning to hotel quarantine, saying it will cut the risk of infection in a leaky system.
- Jill Margo
Australians still wait for access to psychedelics-assisted therapies
While research evidence into the efficacy of treatments, the regulator continues its slow evaluation.
- Theo Chapman
Psychedelics are psychiatry’s new hope
Once-demonised hallucinogens such as psilocybin are showing astonishing promise in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Andrew Jacobs
Focus mental health budget on those at high risk: former NZ PM
Targeting mental health spending on groups with the greatest needs will be more effective says former New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English
- Tom Burton
What Victoria’s lockdown means for travel
There is a range of restrictions and bans in place across Australia for Victorians as the state wrestles its latest outbreak.
- Finbar O'Mallon
