#19,298
It's been a week since Australia Changed How They Report H5N1 - reporting `events' rather than individual detections in wildlife - and while the numbers have continued to rise (see below), we seem to be getting fewer (and less detailed) updates.
In the first 10 days of August, Australia's Chief Veterinary Officer released 11 bird flu updates/statements, but has only released one in the past 9 days. Similarly, Victoria's last update was August 15th.
Up until a week ago, DAFF was reporting both the number of positive and negative test results, along with number hotline reports (see below). This gave us some idea of the percentage of hotline reports being investigated (roughly 1 in 13).
With the move towards only tracking `events', that metric is no longer provided.
While I'd certainly like more data, there is only so much that any country can reasonably do when they are faced with a highly aggressive pathogen like avian H5N1.
For now, South Australia continues to post detailed daily updates, but added the following notice this week:
