Australia Covid news live: NSW records 141 new cases and two deaths as Victoria records 11 new cases
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Version 4 of 19. Follow all the latest updates, live Berejiklian says the government is “doing all we can” to increase vaccination rates in the five Local Government areas most impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak. Berejiklian says measures include: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she wants to make two points this morning: First, she is urging everyone who can. to come forward and get vaccinated. NSW has recorded 141 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. Of those, 38 cases were infectious while in the community. The state has also recorded two deaths over night: a woman in her 70s, but also a woman in her 30s with no pre-existing conditions. South Australian authorities are also due to give a Covid-19 update at 11.30am AEST (11am SA time). But first, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is stepping up to the mic. Queensland has recorded no new locally acquired cases overnight. It has recorded five new cases in hotel quarantine, which were acquired overseas. This brings the total number of active cases in Qld to 26. For those who don’t watch the daily news press conferences, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant is doing a live Q&A on TikTok TONIGHT at 7pm AEST. The goal of the Q&A is to “inform and educate” listeners about Covid-19, lockdown rules across NSW, and the importance of getting vaccinated. NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is due to give a Covid update at 11am AEST. My first press conference of the day. I’m wolfing down a piece of toast for sustenance. Stay tuned. While most state and federal government leaders have condemned yesterday’s anti-lockdown protests, Liberal National party backbencher George Christensen has gone far, FAR in the other direction. He took to his Facebook page yesterday to not only voice his support for the protests, but encourage his followers to attend. In one post reflecting on the Melbourne protests, he wrote: In another post, Christensen shared photos of himself attending a local “freedom” protest in Bluewater Quay, and complained that “hardly any media were in sight”. I put “freedom” in quote marks because having thousands of unmasked people in close proximity during a Covid outbreak is a pretty effective way of helping to spread the virus and keeping people in lockdown. So here you go, George. I’m covering it. Nobel laureate Prof Peter Doherty has weighed in on whether other states should divert their Pfizer vaccines to NSW to help curb the growing outbreak as discussed on the ABC’s Insiders this morning. Doherty cautioned that any vaccine won’t have an effect for at least two to four weeks, suggesting that vaccines shouldn’t be used in place of stricter, more effective lockdowns. To put this into context: NSW’s lockdown has, so far, Not. Been. Going. Well. Not only are case numbers growing (163 yesterday), but many of these cases are still in the community during their infectious period (45 yesterday). The Australian Medical Association president Omar Korshid also warned on Friday that current lockdown measures are “simply not strong enough” to contain the Delta variant in NSW. The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse cancer treatment centre at the RPA hospital in Camperdown, Sydney, has been declared a Covid exposure site. Anyone who visited it on 20 July is considered a close contact and needs to get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result. More than 100 exposure sites have been added in NSW overnight. In other news, UK journalist and former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan has revealed he has Covid-19. He believes he caught the virus at Wembley during the Euro 2020 final, which took place on Sunday 11 July. Morgan is fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. He told the Mail On Sunday that he thought the event would be Covid-safe, but that that hope “disintegrated”. “It was turning into an unregulated free-for-all,” he said. The government has announced it has secured an additional 85m doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be delivered in 2022 and 2023. Prime minister Scott Morrison says the deal will provide every Australian with access to a booster vaccine, if required. Morrison says: |