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| Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 42 new Covid cases and eight deaths – latest news | Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 42 new Covid cases and eight deaths – latest news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Gladys Berejiklian expected to announce changes as South Australia opens up to ACT and Brett Sutton gives evidence at Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry. Follow all today’s developments | Gladys Berejiklian expected to announce changes as South Australia opens up to ACT and Brett Sutton gives evidence at Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry. Follow all today’s developments |
| Victoria’s health commissioner Brett Sutton has confirmed at least one guest left hotel quarantine not knowing they had contracted Covid-19 and then subsequently passed on the virus to the person who picked them up. | |
| The Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry heard on Wednesday that although Victoria now extends hotel quarantine for an extra 10 days for returned travellers who refuse to be tested for Covid-19 on day 11 of their 14-day stay, the view of Sutton and the Victorian government was that testing should not be mandatory. | |
| In late June, the government reported around 30% of the 18,000 travellers who came through hotel quarantine refused testing. | |
| The inquiry heard one person who completed their quarantine at the Stamford Plaza Hotel left the hotel without being tested and was positive for Covid-19 with a genomic strain linked to the hotel as the source. They subsequently infected the person who picked them up and took them home. | |
| Sutton said this incident contributed to the decision to require an extended stay for those who weren’t tested on day 11. | |
| “I think that that has become part of the reflections on strengthening the testing regimen within hotel quarantine for that very purpose,” he said. | |
| Sutton said while he was empowered to force testing, there was a view of the outbreak team that coercive powers to force testing would not help people be compliant. | |
| “The trust and rapport that is fundamental to being able to engage with people and have the honest provision of information, and also the willingness of people to come forward for testing with an understanding that if they test positive, they will need to go through a process of defining their close contacts constraining where they move to and constraining their behaviours,” he said. | |
| “There is always a trade off, if there is an individual who might not be providing that information, or who might not be compliant with advice, what the consequences might be for the broader community, going forward.” | |
| Now, just catching up on what else happened in that hour, NSW has reported 10 new cases of Covid in the last 24 hours. | |
| Four were locally acquired. | |
| NSW Health: | |
| There were 19,566 tests reported in the 24-hour reporting period, compared with 8,835 in the previous 24 hours. | |
| Of the ten new cases to 8pm last night: | |
| Six are overseas travellers in hotel quarantine | |
| Four are locally acquired and linked to a known case or cluster | |
| One of the new cases is a close contact of a previously confirmed case linked to the CBD cluster. They had completed self-isolation prior to becoming symptomatic and had previously tested negative. Contact tracing is underway. | |
| Three of the new cases are linked to a staff member from Concord Emergency Department. They include: | |
| · a student at Blue Mountains Grammar School who attended school while infectious late last week | |
| · a household contact of the above case who did not attend school while infectious. | |
| · a close contact of the above student who is not at school. | |
| Contact tracing is underway. Blue Mountains Grammar School senior school (years 10, 11, 12) has moved to online learning until after the school holidays. | |
| Two of the cases above visited the Springwood Sports Club, 83 Macquarie Road, Springwood, and anyone who attended on 12 September from 1 pm to 2 pm time is considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received. | |
| These cases also visited Lawson oval, Lawson. Anyone who attended on 13 September from 10:30 am to 12:45 pm is also considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received. | |
| People who attended the above venues who are identified as close contacts are being contacted by NSW Health. Close contacts must immediately isolate and get tested for COVID-19 and remain in isolation for a full 14 days after their contact, even if the test result is negative. | |
| One of the cases reported today attended the Hunters Hill Bowling Club on Tuesday 8th September from 6:50pm to 9pm. NSW Health is contacting all patrons who were at the venue at this time to review their exposure and identify any close contacts. Anyone who was at the venue at this time should be alert for symptoms and immediately get tested if any develop or have developed since this exposure, and stay isolated until a negative test result is received. | |
| One of the cases reported today attended the JB HIFI Penrith Plaza on Sunday 13 September from 4pm to 4.30pm. Anyone who was at the venue at this time should be alert for symptoms and immediately get tested if any develop or have developed since this exposure, and stay isolated until a negative test result is received. | |
| NSW Health is also advising that a previously reported case attended Anytime Fitness, Casula on Friday 11 September from 10:15am to 12pm. All people who attended the gym during this time are considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received. | |
| That’s where the Daniel Andrews press conference ends. | |
| On the issue of ‘permanent’ road blocks, that is what it sounded like and that is what the Tveeder transcript said and Andrews said something similar yesterday. I am checking whether it should be ‘prominent’. | |
| No one is suggesting there will be a divide between metro Melbourne and regional Victoria forever - but just like for the moment there are fixed roadblocks set up at borders, there will be stronger static roadblocks between metro Melbourne and regional Victoria while restrictions are lifted in one area and not the other. | |
| Q: There’s been parents asking for, when metropolitan schools open up, for Grade 6 rather than Grade 2 to be allowed in first. Has there been medical advice that suggest why the younger levels compared to Grade 6 would be able to go back? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| Can Melbourne look at just locking down aged care, but opening up other areas? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| There will be no changes to daylight saving in Victoria. | |
| Q: Did Mr Eccles relate the email to you? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| I’m not getting into a commentary on these matters. It’s not appropriate. It’s an active process and the people, myself and others, will be assisting the inquiry next week. It’s not really appropriate for me to be commenting on those matters. | |
| Q: Have you spoken to him since yesterday’s hearing? | |
| Andrews: No, I have not spoken to him since yesterday’s hearing. | |
| Q: Brett Sutton is before the inquiry today. His written submission says he did not know security guards were being used until after the outbreak. Is that something he was consulted about? | |
| Andrews: It’s not for me to interpret, comment or make findings about a written statement in written evidence. That’s before the inquiry. I’d scarily have time to do anything else if I were to pretend to run an inquiry as well as doing the other work. | |
| Will Victorians have time to prepare for bushfire season? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| Q: Last month you it told the public accounts and estimates committee that it’s fundamentally incorrect to assert there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer to Victoria and somehow someone said no. Do you stand by that statement? | |
| Daniel Andrews: Yes, I do. My statements have been accurate and I will be assisting the inquiry next week. | |
| Q: That appears to contradict the evidence we heard yesterday: We heard that the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Philip Gaetjens, wrote to your departmental secretary, Chris Eccles, in an email entitled “assistance re hotel security” and he said he was sure the commonwealth would be willing to assist with ADF personnel if Victoria wanted to “reconsider its operating model”. | |
| He replied saying, “Thanks, Phil”. | |
| In light of that, who is right about this? Why does your statement appear to contradict that? | |
| Andrews: All can I can say is the statements I’ve made are accurate. I stand by those statements and I’ll be providing evidence next week and it’s not appropriate for me to run debates back and forth. You’re fine to ask the question but there’s a live process going on. I’m not distant from it. I’ll be part of that process next week. | |
| Q: With all due respect, how can your statement have been correct when it directly contradicts this email trail? | |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| That’s entirely a matter that relates to a whole lot of detail both within the email and beyond that it’s not appropriate for me to get into. I’ve answered your question. It’s exactly the same answer I gave yesterday because it’s accurate, it’s truthful and others can seek to play games with this. I’m focused on getting this job done and the statements I’ve made are accurate | |
| Q: There’s a growing amount of legal cases against the state government for lost earnings tracing back to hotel quarantine failures, including a class action with more than 100 plaintiffs. Are you worried that taxpayers will end up forking out money? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| What would Daniel Andrews say to the families of those suffering from a mental illness, given what they have seen? | |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Does the Victorian premier think public trust in the Victorian police has been damaged given the footage and images from the last week? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Will Victoria take on any more hotel quarantine travellers, given Michael McCormack’s request? | |
| No. | |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Daniel Andrews is checking on what the advice is for people from regional Victoria who want to travel to another region – and whether they can travel through metro Melbourne to get there. | |
| Camping and national parks are still being worked out – as in where you can camp, how and which national parks in regional Victoria will be opened. | |
| You’ll find out what is considered a lawful reason to travel into regional Victoria. | |
| (Another of those very weird sentences. I get why, but it doesn’t make it any less strange.) | |