COVID: language barriers continue to put multicultural groups at risk - ABC News

Details: Published: Thursday, 06 August 2020 09:51

The Victorian Government has tripled the fines for people found to be breaching the lockdown rules. So why isn't everyone getting the stay-at-home message?

Australia's peak multicultural body fears that adequate support isn't being given to non-English-speaking residents in high-risk coronavirus suburbs – threatening their health and the health of everyone in their communities. Click here to tune into the ABC News broadcast.

SSI in the News

Governments must improve COVID-19 communications to CALD communities

Federation has joined with several community groups appealing for governments to effectively report COVID-19 directives to people with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. "Information is not reaching into many CALD communities in a way that actively engages the communities and individuals to enable them to fully understand what is required of them now and into the coming weeks of the COVID-19 response nationally," letters sent to federal, state and territory health ministers state.

Refugee doctor keen, but unable, to join coronavirus fight

Posted April 03, 2020 10:15:57 Tamer Antakly's medical specialty is the lungs - an organ among the most vulnerable to coronavirus. With more than three decades of experience, he's humble when he notes he could be "useful" in Australian hospitals battling a deadly pandemic. But he can't work in them.

How Coronavirus Is Creating Unique Challenges For Australia's Migrant Communities

For Australia's migrant communities and its international students, language barriers, the disruption of family structures and exclusion from economic aid are intensifying the already harsh challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. In Sydney, restaurant owner Vatsal Harshadkumar Shah saw that international students were struggling financially and weren't getting economic support from the government, so he responded by starting a free meal service.