Westmead Hospital is the frontline of Australia’s fight against coronavirus.
The hospital in Sydney’s west is the designated lead hospital for infectious diseases in the country.
It was here on January 23 when Australia’s first coronavirus patient was diagnosed.
For the first time since the pandemic began, the hospital has allowed a news crew inside its intricate COVID-19 ward.
Today, they have four patients on the dedicated ward, which has capacity to surge to 64.
At the peak of the virus, the hospital had 12 confirmed patients on the ward and nine in intensive care on ventilators.
– The Australian share market has roared back from early morning losses of 2.3 per cent to finish flat on the day even as international oil prices collapsed.
After being down 120.6 points in morning trade, the S&P/ASX200 benchmark index finished Wednesday down just 0.1 points to 5221.2, while the All Ordinaries index finished down 4.8 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 5,273.8.
“The market’s looking strong,” said Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston, noting that S&P futures and most Asian markets were also up.
“I wouldn’t read too much into it because the backdrop is still one of confusion, but (it) could easily have been down two per cent. Someone’s been in a buying mood. It’s a pretty damn good move to me.”
Mr Weston said he saw no particular reason for the recovery, saying while optimism might have been buoyed a bit by the US Senate passing a stimulus measure, that had been expected.
