NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian gave her thanks to The Greek Herald‘s readers and the wider Greek Australian community in NSW for their efforts to contain the spread of the COVID Delta variant.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank all Greek Herald readers and the wider Greek Australian community in NSW for everything you are doing to help us contain the spread of the coronavirus,” reads the Premier’s message.
Earlier this year in a multicultural conference the NSW Premier thanked community and religious leaders for the encouragement in the vaccination program.
“If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to book in for a COVID-19 vaccination. It is free to everyone in Australian and the nsw.gov.au website provides details about NSW health centres, GPs and pharmacies administering the vaccine near you,” reads the Premier’s message.
Archaeologists in Pompeii have discovered a well-preserved skeleton during excavations of a tomb in the east of the ancient city’s urban center.
A skull, as well as bones and fabric fragments, were found in the tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno.
An inscription of the tomb suggests that its owner, a freed slave named Marcus Venerius Secundio, helped organise performances in Greek Pompeii.
Experts say it is the first confirmation that the Greek language was used alongside Latin at the time.
“That performances in Greek were organised is evidence of the lively and open cultural climate which characterised ancient Pompeii,” the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said in a statement announcing the discovery.
Mr. Zuchtriegel said Marcus Venerius clearly had been able to make a living for himself after he was freed as a slave, given the “monumental” size of his burial tomb.
“He didn’t become super rich, but certainly he reached a considerable level of wealth,” Mr Zuchtriegel said in an interview with the Associated Press.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed Pompeii.
Tennis world No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas hasn’t had his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and neither is he in a rush to get it.
Tsitsipas, 23, says he’s accepted that he will likely be required to roll up his sleeve by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) at some point but that he still has reservations.
“No one has told me anything. No one has made it a mandatory thing to be vaccinated,” he told reporters.
“At some point I will have to, I’m pretty sure about it, but so far it hasn’t been mandatory to compete, so I haven’t done it, no.”
His advocacy for a “carefree” summer also followed his embrace of the perks of lockdowns.
“I actually think they should put us in lockdown once a year – it’s good for nature, it’s good for our planet,” said in an Instagram Live on Eurosport’s page in May 2020.
“I actually think it will be environmentally very beneficial.”
“Life is such a hustle, and you never get the time to spend with your family and connect with them. Now it’s an opportunity to do so,” Tsitsipas said.
He went on to tell reporters that he’s struggled in the ATP Masters 1000 tournament’s ‘bubble’ environments in Cincinnati, Ohio.
This includes non-compliance with consumer dignity and choice, support for daily living, inadequate food, and systems for handling feedback and complaints.
The report included deficits in the review of care and services for residents in relation to falls management, deteriorating mental health, and pain.
The audit also found the service was unable to demonstrate it had implemented an effective COVID-19 outbreak management plan or that staff had access to resources or information to assist communication with non-English speaking residents.
Other grounds of noncompliance included inadequate food with inspectors finding lunch services in a dementia unit consisted of puree with large amounts of gravy.
Residents also gave mixed feedback as to whether they received the personal care and clinical care that was “safe and right for them”.
The inspectors noted the home’s demographic was largely Greek and the facility was part of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, however the service was unable to demonstrate staff had access to resources or information to assist communicating with residents who do not understand English.
The facility will not be able to receive Commonwealth subsidies for any new care recipients for six months, must participate in fortnightly teleconferences with the ACQSC, and complete fortnightly reports outlining the facility’s steps towards improvement, as part of the compliance action.
According to The Daily Telegraph, St Basil’s Home acting chief executive Spiro Stavis says the facility was committed to addressing the areas of noncompliance.
“At St Basil’s Homes NSW/ACT Randwick we’ve begun introducing adjustments to close the gaps identified across the aged care quality standards,” a statement reads.
“It has been a challenging period in the aged care sector, and we understand that there is significant trust placed in us to meet resident expectations and those of the regulatory system.”
“This is not an outcome that we wanted for our home or our residents because at St Basil’s Homes NSW/ACT we pride ourselves on providing quality services under the values we hold dear, for the health, dignity and safety of our cherished residents.”
Mr Stavis said the facility has appointed Anchor Excellence as advisors to participate in fortnightly reporting and teleconferences with the ACQSC, along with supporting the home’s leadership group to address the sanction issues, and supporting onsite clinical and governance operations.
“Residents and their representatives …. have been very responsive and supportive in assisting us to make improvements to plans relating to residents’ individual care. It is encouraging to have their support in improving our home,” he said.
NSW has recorded 633 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8:00 pm yesterday.
It is the largest daily total every recorded in the state.
550 of the new cases were in Western and south-west Sydney.
NSW also recorded three deaths – a man in his 60s, as well as two men from Western Sydney in their 70s.
Victoria
Melburnians have had a freeze put on late-night weekend public transport services (Picture: David Crossing)
Victoria has recorded 24 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, 18 of whom were in quarantine while infectious.
Melbourne’s lockdown, which will run until September 2, has been tightened further with the cancellation of late-night weekend public transport.
No trains, trams or buses will run between 1:00am and 5:00am on Saturdays and 1:00am and 6:00am on Sundays for the next two weeks.
The announcement of the cancellation, which the government said was the same setting in place during last year’s second wave, comes a day after playgrounds were closed and a curfew was put in place.
Firefighters have bombarded fires which broke out in the areas of Vilia and Keratea near Athens on Monday.
Minister for Public Order Michaelis Chrysochoidis says the situation at Vilia was improving despite a number of flareups and that the Keratea blaze had been contained.
370 firefighters, 115 vehicles, 20 water-bombers, and 12 helicopters were deployed to attend the Vilia blaze on Tuesday.
Police have also arrested two people on suspicion of arson, including a 54-year-old man near a village west of Athens and a 29-year-old foreign woman in Athens.
Climate scientists, meanwhile, say there’s little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas is driving more extreme events as Greece’s current and most severe heatwave in decades.
The wildfire in Keratea spurred the blaze in the dense forest in Vilia on Monday, forcing the evacuation of a nursing home and several villages northwest of Athens.
These two fires were the most severe among dozens of wildfires to erupt that day, the fire department says, burning a combined 5,000 hectares of forest and farmland.
Firefighters have continued to battle major blazes in a national park north of Athens, in Evia, and the Peloponnese.
Greece’s government has reiterated its stance on the humanitarian crisis gripping Afghanistan.
Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi says Greece does not want to become the entry point into the European Union (EU) for Afghans fleeing the crisis.
“We are clearly saying that we will not and cannot be the gateway of Europe for the refugees and migrants who could try to come to the European Union,” Mitarachi told state television ERT on Tuesday.
“We cannot have millions of people leaving Afghanistan and coming to the European Union … and certainly not through Greece.”
“The solution needs to be common, and it needs to be a European solution.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias later told a crisis meeting of EU foreign ministers that the EU’s external borders must be protected and migrants must not be allowed to be used as a political tool by third countries.
Dendias warned that Greece would experience an influx in migration and called on the panel for agreement and collaboration to avert a migration crisis similar to 2015.
Dendias said the evacuation of all EU citizens from Afghanistan is an urgent priority and supported the EU countries currently planning to evacuate former Afghan interpreters, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
Dendias suggested the need for a representative government in Afghanistan and called for the Taliban to respect fundamental rights and freedoms.
As a teenager in Syria, Ibrahim Al Hussein dreamt of becoming an Olympic swimmer before he lost a leg in the war. Now a refugee in Greece, he is set to participate in the Tokyo Paralympics in late August.
“I was a bit stressed a month ago but I am alright now. I’m ready to compete,” the Para swimmer, who competed in the Rio Paralympics in 2016 as part of the first ever Refugee Team told The Greek Herald in fluent Greek, from his home in Sepolia, Athens, where he lives.
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
From the Euphrates to Tokyo
The son of a swimming coach, Al Hussein, 33, began swimming aged five in the Euphrates River.
In 2012 as the war in Syria raged in and around his home city of Deir ez-Zor, Al Hussein was visited by a friend. When his friend left to go home, he was shot at and Al Hussein ran over to help only to find himself injured.
“I knew the risk that I might not be coming back home alive,” he said. “But I told myself, ‘I have to go, because if something happens to him and I have done nothing, I cannot live anyway with this thought in my mind’.”
"I would urge people everywhere to support the world’s most courageous sports team."
“I was about to carry my friend to a safe place or hospital. But unfortunately, as soon as I reached him, there was an explosion beside me,” he said.
“I lost my right leg, and I also needed metal plates in my left leg, my nose and my left eye socket.”
Al Hussein received emergency medical treatment at a makeshift clinic before being taken to Turkey. His right leg was amputated from the middle of the calf. A year later, in February 2014 he made the dangerous journey to Greece in a wheelchair.
Al Hussein: “I’m happy in Greece”
“It was very difficult in the beginning in Greece because I didn’t speak the language and I had nobody. For the first 18 days I was living in the streets as there were no camps back then but eventually, I found a doctor in Athens who helped me,” he said.
Dr Angelos Chronopoulos of the Rehabline company used his specialist skills in prosthetic orthotics to produce a new plastic right leg for Al-Hussein.
“The leg would normally cost 12,000 euros but he made it, did not charge me for it and any maintenance is free,” Al Hussein said.
Ibrahim al-Hussein, a 27 year old refugee from Syria, during a swimming training session in the former 2004 Olympic sport complex in Athens. ; Ibrahim al-Hussein carried the Olympic Flame in Athens as part of the torch relay for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: UNHCR
“After that I said this is the place where I would like to live. I’m happy in Greece. I even learned to speak Greek because I love the country and the people so much.
“I didn’t come to Greece for the papers or the money. We had money in Syria but we lost everything. I came to find a new homeland.”
Hussein says he has rejected offers to compete with Syria as well as Germany and the US.
A passion to help other refugee athletes
In 2016, Al Hussein was the flag bearer of the first Independent Paralympic Team at the Rio Olympics.
One year later, the swimmer made his World Championships debut in Mexico City followed by a second World Championships appearance in London in September 2019.
Now, his focus is on Japan and after the Games Al Hussein intends to re-channel his efforts into helping other refugee athletes onto the highest stage in sport – he currently supports a refugee wheelchair basketball team in Greece.
“I want to show other refugees that they can do what they set their minds to. No one should go through the hardships I went through the first two years.”
Al Hussein is, no stranger to helping others.
“Athletes or not this is what you need to remember: the strength comes from inside. From your mind and heart, not from the body. The body just helps,” he said.
The advice I’m giving my patients is that the time for waiting to decide on vaccination is over, a serious form of the Delta variant COVID-19 now spreading quickly throughout Australia. Most of our states are in prolonged lockdown, our lives are being severely disrupted.
We are now all at high risk of catching the virus, the only thing that will keep us safe (and help get out of endless lockdowns) is for us all to get vaccinated. The other concern is that our hospitals are already starting to feel the strain – and the ICU beds are filling up.* Soon the concern won’t just be the virus. You won’t find a hospital or an ICU bed or a ventilator if you need it.
We have already seen this overseas. And things will get much worse in Australia if we are all not vaccinated soon.
Τhere are around 2000 ICU beds around Australia but already 400 are full – even though the daily numbers are relatively low at around 300 to 400 cases per day.
Ιt’s not hard to imagine what will happen when these daily cases are in the thousands!
Τhere is no direct medical treatment for any virus, much less COVID-19 – as doctors we provide “supportive” management such as bedrest, stay warm, aspirin for fever and plenty of warm chicken soup with lemon – as the Greek doctors have always prescribed.
Τhis has always been the case with all virus infections. And Covid 19 is a virus – albeit much more serious and deadly.
The only “treatment” for viruses is PREVENTION. And that is vaccination. (or stay locked up in your house 24/7 without any visitor).
Τhe vaccine will help your body make antibodies that will reduce the severity of the viral illness, going to hospital, ICU, put on a ventilator or dying. And it will reduce likelihood, but not stop the risk of transmission of the virus.
Βeing immunised won’t mean you are immediately free to travel or do whatever you want. It will take 2 to 4 weeks after your second jab for full effect. And there will need to be 70% to 80% of people vaccinated for us to get out of lockdown and get back to normal life.
So, everyone has to do their part (given that there is probably 10% to 20% of antisocial people in society) we need almost everyone else to get vaccinated.
Until then, you need to keep wearing your mask and follow the rules of lockdown:
1. we must stay in our own home and only mix with people that live in our house
2. visiting relatives or friends is strictly prohibited – as it puts everyone at risk
3. only one person to go shopping -and need to register with the QR code at the shop, wear a mask, sanitise hands going in and coming out
4. one Carer to visit sick or elderly friend or relative – and always the same person. Take the same precautions.
5. exercise daily in the open air and only with people who live in your own house. Keep a distance from other people and if necessary, wear a mask. Exercise is good for your mental health as well.
6. if you have symptoms stay home. Ring your doctor or hospital for advice and immediately organise a COVID-19 test at a local testing facility. Do NOT go to your doctor or hospital unless you are very sick! And, even then, ring ahead. Do not put others at risk without warning.
Stay away from work and friends or shops if you have symptoms. The government will pay in most cases for you to stay home, for the Covid test and for your time to have the test, and to stay home and your Covid results.
Finally, we can all despair about the slow rate of the vaccination rollout and result of prolonged lockdowns -the lack of vaccines to date and the difficulty to access vaccines.
But now the vaccines are becoming much more easily available and community pop-up vaccine clinics -including by the Greek community – are making the vaccines, and choice of vaccine, much easier. Please get vaccinated with the vaccine of choice – or whatever is available there is no more time to lose, it may very well save your life. And one thing for sure, if we don’t get vaccinated, the epidemic will get a lot worse!
And please remember it’s not just the old or the weak or the sick that are at risk with the delta variant. Even young un-vaccinated people are now filling hospital beds in ICU – and even dying.
As I write this article, the majority of new cases in New South Wales are now in the 20-year-old age group! And all are un-vaccinated or not completely vaccinated.
We are now in the fight of our lives and a fight for our way of life. The Greeks have never run away from a fight.
Please get vaccinated.
Dr Costas Costa.
GP Sydney. OAM.
* ICU beds are a very limited commodity.
It takes years to replace a bed because of all the staff training required. Usually people stay in ICU bed for average 2 to 3 days but a COVID-19 patient averages five or six weeks in ICU bed. So once the beds fill up with Covid patients, it’s a long wait for the next patient to get a bed and seriously ill COVID-19 patients don’t have that amount of time to wait.
Those Sydneysiders who fit the criteria for an urgent appointment can book in at one of several priority locations via the NSW Government website.
A new generation of Melbourne young guns is shooting up Australia’s rich list, identifying a problem or niche market and then making millions creating innovative products.
Greek Australian, Jess Hatzis, and her business partner, Bree Johnson, are two of these young guns.
According to The Herald Sun, the university friends are part of a five person team which launched the coffee-based skincare brand, Frank Body, in 2013 with a combined savings pool of $5,000.
Chinese private equity firm, EverYi Capita, recently took a minority stake in the in-demand beauty business and it’s now valued at $100 million.
Jess Hatzis (right) and Bree Johnson from Frank Body. Picture: The Herald Sun.
Frank Body products are sold in 156 countries at retail majors such as Mecca in Australia, Ulta Beauty in the US, Sephora in Europe and Boots in the UK.
Ms Hatzis tells The Herald Sun the key to success for any entrepreneur is to get stuck into it.
“No one will do it for you,” she said. “If you really want this, be prepared to work harder than you ever have to make it a reality.”
Ms Hatzis lists opening Frank Body offices in New York and London as key business highlights.
“It was confirmation that the business really is going global and something we had been working towards since day dot,” she told The Herald Sun.
Jess Hatzis.
While sales have lifted during Covid as locked down customers focus on self care routines, Ms Hatzis said the pandemic had reinforced the need to not take anything for granted.
“Don’t get complacent,” she said.
“At the same time we need to be grateful for what we have. So many people lost their loved ones, savings and businesses through the pandemic and we were fortunate not to experience that.”
Ms Hatzis and Ms Johnson are no strangers to business having also founded the successful advertising agency Willow & Blake, known for its attention-catching communications for the like of Grill’d, Elle McPherson Body and Pana Chocolate.
