Rates of Campylobacter and Salmonella infections in Australia have almost halved since the lockdown because of the Coronavirus pandemic that began in March.
The Food Safety Information Council revealed that since the COVID-19 shutdown started, reported rates of these infections per 100,000 people have declined compared to the past two years.
This shows the effectiveness of good handwashing, and that there has been less bulk catering as fewer people have been eating out or entertaining, according to the health promotion charity.
In April, 839 Salmonella infections were recorded compared to 1,383 in 2019. For May, 818 cases were reported versus 1,172 in the same period the year before, according to the Australian Department of Health’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. These figures convert to a reporting rate of 3.4 in April compared to 5.5 in April 2019 and 3.3 in May versus 4.7 in May 2019.
FoodWorld 