News

Guidelines update, v44.1

21 October, 2021

Version 44.1 of the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 includes an addition to the remark for prone positioning for adults: For adults with COVID-19 and respiratory symptoms who are receiving any form of supplemental oxygen therapy and have not yet been intubated, prone positioning for as long as tolerated (ideally 8 hours or more) is...

News

Taskforce Executive Director passes the leadership baton

15 October, 2021

Founding Executive Director of the Taskforce, Professor Julian Elliott, this week stepped down as leader after 18 months at the helm. Julian was instrumental in the establishment of the Taskforce in...

News

Coverage: Understanding evidence

17 August, 2021

Science reporter for the The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Liam Mannix explains the critical role of gold standard evidence and highlights the role of Cochrane and the...

News

Taskforce amends remarks for Tocilizumab in response to critical shortage

5 August, 2021

This week the Taskforce was alerted by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to a global tocilizumab shortage for both COVID-19 treatment use and other indications. To help support...

News

Guidelines update, v41.2

22 July, 2021

Version 41.2 of the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 includes the identification of two new studies on disease-modifying treatments: Canakinumab NEW – one...

News

Guidelines update, v41.1

15 July, 2021

Version 41.1 of the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 includes the identification of six new studies on disease-modifying treatments. Convalescent plasma - two...

News

Guidelines update, v40.3

25 June, 2021

Version 40.3 of the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 includes the identification of several new studies on disease-modifying treatments as well as an...

News

Guidelines update, v40.2

17 June, 2021

Version 40.2 of the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 includes the identification of three new studies on disease-modifying treatments. In addition, the treatment...

News

Taskforce publishes guidance to help healthcare workers and organisations make decisions about PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic

10 June, 2021

Following today’s publication of the Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG)’s Guidance on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers in the context of COVID-19,...

News

Head to ATAGI or NCIRS for vaccine advice

28 May, 2021

The Taskforce is responsible for treatment guidelines for the management of COVID-19. The body responsible for vaccine advice is the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). For...

News

Guidelines update, v39.1

28 May, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week includes the following change to the evidence summary section for:   REGN-COV2 The...

News

Guidelines update, v38.3

13 May, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include the following changes to the evidence summary sections for:   Convalescent plasma...

News

Steve McGloughlin: A team approach in an intensive year

7 May, 2021

When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) team at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne set itself the goal that no one...

News

WEBINAR – Murray PHN hosts ‘Long COVID Symptoms: Management of long term effects’

6 May, 2021

International event hosted by Dr Norman Swan LONG COVID SYMPTOMS: Management of long term effects – what is known so far? Taskforce Senior Evidence Officer and Primary Care...

News

Guidelines update, v38.1

29 April, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include the following changes to the evidence summary sections for:   - Lopinavir-ritonavir...

News

Webinar: Living Evidence and consumers

22 April, 2021

Are you interested in developing a better understanding of how clinical guidelines can be kept up-to-date with the latest evidence as new research emerges? The Taskforce is proud...

News

Guidelines update, v37.1

15 April, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include the following changes to the evidence summary sections for:   - Corticosteroids...

News

Guidelines update, v36.1

25 March, 2021

Update to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week includes:   Bromhexine hydrochloride - additional study has been added to the summary...

News

Taskforce continuing to recruit HCWs for IPC consultation

18 March, 2021

The Taskforce will soon be conducting a series of consultations with frontline healthcare workers to provide feedback on the implementability of draft infection prevention and control (IPC) recommendations....

News

Guidelines update, v35.2

11 March, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include:   Tocilizumab - The reference for one included study (Wang et al.) was...

News

Women who lead: Sutapa Mukherjee and her journey to the Taskforce

8 March, 2021

As the female co-chair of the Taskforce Guidelines Leadership Group, the contribution of Associate Professor Sutapa Mukherjee in the fight against COVID-19 is reason enough to be recognised...

News

Guidelines update, v35.1

4 March, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include: Tocilizumab - The references for REMAP-CAP and COVACTA (Rosas et al.) trials have...

News

WANTED: Frontline healthcare workers for IPC recommendations consultation

3 March, 2021

The Taskforce is currently recruiting frontline healthcare workers in Australia to volunteer to participate in a series of consultations to provide feedback on the implementability of draft IPC...

News

Seeking consumers and carers with lived experience of COVID-19

24 February, 2021

Share your lived experiences of COVID-19 and contribute to the national guidelines The Taskforce welcomes people who have been affected by COVID-19 to join the Consumer Panel.  The...

News

Guidelines update, version 34.1

18 February, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include:   Dutasteride - preprint publication status has been removed from the summary information...

News

RECOVERY Trial publishes tocilizumab results

12 February, 2021

The Taskforce notes the publication of results of the tocilizumab arm of the RECOVERY trial in medRxiv Tocilizumab in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): preliminary results...

News

Guidelines update, version 33.1

5 February, 2021

Updates to the Australian guidelines for the clinical care of people with COVID-19 this week include: Additional study (Mohan et al.) added to the summary information for Ivermectin recommendation: We...

News

Taskforce recommendation for tocilizumab unchanged

29 January, 2021

The Taskforce Disease Modifying Treatments and Chemoprophylaxis Panel and the Guidelines Leadership Group have incorporated the results of the tocilizumab arm of the REMAP-CAP trial (published as a pre-print on January 7,...

News

Statement on joint media release from the REMAP-CAP, ACTIV-4 and ATTACC trials regarding anticoagulation

24 December, 2020

The Taskforce acknowledges the publication of a joint media release from the REMAP-CAP, ACTIV-4 and ATTACC trial teams on December 22nd, 2020. The investigators have reported that among...

News

Taskforce recommendations for remdesivir unchanged following detailed analysis of disease severity subgroups

18 December, 2020

The Taskforce has completed a comprehensive review to assess the credibility of disease severity subgroups used in its recommendations on remdesivir. This was initiated following the World Health Organisation...

News

2020 in review

18 December, 2020

This week marks our 36th weekly guidelines update which now incorporates 118 living guideline recommendations, 10 living clinical flowcharts, and covers over 100 clinical questions. The Taskforce website has been viewed...

News

Greater than the sum of its parts: how The Ian Potter Foundation’s early and generous support helped the Taskforce deliver in 2020

9 December, 2020

Looking back over what’s universally recognised as a most extraordinary year, the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce represents something greater than the sum of its parts. On one...

News

New expert panel to bring latest evidence and clinical experience together to prevent COVID-19 transmission in healthcare settings

30 November, 2020

The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce has today announced the membership of its new expert panel for infection prevention and control (IPC), which will be jointly chaired by...

News

A year like no other: Professor Carol Hodgson takes a look back at the collaboration, collegiality and contributions inspired by COVID-19

28 November, 2020

Professor Carol Hodgson knows first-hand the challenges facing frontline health workers, researchers and guideline developers in the time of COVID. A few months into 2020, she was already...

News

Help shape the guidelines

19 November, 2020

The second Taskforce impact survey was launched today. We are calling on Australian healthcare practitioners to participate in a brief 5-minute survey to help us understand how the...

News

Care and comfort in the time of COVID: Natasha Smallwood takes a holistic approach to health

11 November, 2020

‘COVID is one of those illnesses that speaks to how much we need a holistic approach to care and comfort,’ says Associate Professor Natasha Smallwood, Deputy Chair of...

News

Julian Elliott on ANZICS ‘Meet the Experts’ podcast

10 November, 2020

This week Taskforce Executive Director, A/Prof Julian Elliott, was interviewed by Dr Swapnil Pawar on ANZICS Meet the Experts podcast to discuss the processes and challenges involved in forming the...

News

ANZJOG publishes Taskforce paper

2 November, 2020

Led by A/Prof Joshua Vogel, the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ANZJOG) has published an early access version of a Taskforce paper on the Clinical...

News

IPC Panel Co-Chairs announced

29 October, 2020

The Taskforce and the Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG) today announced the appointments of Dr Phillipa Hore and A/Prof John Ferguson as Co-Chairs for the new Infection Prevention...

News

COVERAGE: A/Prof Julian Elliott on Trump treatment

7 October, 2020

Our Executive Director, A/Prof Julian Elliott spoke with Liam Mannix from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald about President Trump's treatment for COVID-19.      

News

COVERAGE: COVID ‘long-haulers’, A/Prof Elliott on Saturday AM

26 September, 2020

Our Executive Director, A/Prof Julian Elliott joined Linda Mottram on ABC Radio's Saturday AM program to discuss the importance of recognising prolonged symptoms after the acute phase of...

News

Navigating COVID-19 ‘tiger country’

22 September, 2020

In the first of a new series profiling Taskforce members, we catch up with Professor Josh Davis. An Infectious Diseases physician at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital and researcher...

News

What happens if I get COVID-19?

15 September, 2020

Finding trusted answers amid the widespread coverage of questionable claims and dubious data on unproven treatments is not easy. The good news is there are clear guidelines and...

Explainer

New palliative care flowchart

10 September, 2020

The Care of Older People and Palliative Care Panel has published a clinical flowchart for the Management of people with COVID-19 who are receiving palliative care. Co-Chair of the...

News

Commonwealth announces new ICEG/Taskforce partnership

9 September, 2020

Commonwealth Minister for Health, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, this week announced the establishment of a new partnership between the Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG) and the Taskforce as...

News

New evidence of life-saving benefit of corticosteroids in critically ill people with COVID-19

3 September, 2020

A landmark meta-analysis conducted for the World Health Organisation was published in JAMA this week, reporting that corticosteroid use improves survival in critically ill patients with COVID-19. The analysis pooled...

News

Landmark publication of COVID-19 Core Outcomes Set

26 August, 2020

Our congratulations to Taskforce colleagues Professor Allison Tong and the COVID-19-Core Outcomes Set (COS) Workshop Investigators on publication of their landmark work in Critical Care Medicine. The paper reports...

News

Coverage: Taskforce hydroxychloroquine recommendation

5 August, 2020

Science reporter for the The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Liam Mannix spoke to Taskforce Executive Director, A/Prof Julian Elliott regarding the 'Do Not Use' recommendation for the...

News