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Australia Covid live update: Victoria and SA lockdowns expected to end; outbreak in Sydney unit block
Australia Covid live update: Victoria records 10 new cases as SA lockdown expected to end; outbreak in Sydney unit block
(32 minutes later)
Follow all the day’s news
Follow all the day’s news
In terms of what to expect from this Victorian lockdown announcement today, the Herald Sun is reporting that while stay at home orders and the 5km loop will be scraped, hospitality venues will be under strict patron caps and private gatherings in homes will still be banned.
A returned traveller who tested positive for COVID-19 after completing hotel quarantine may have been infectious on the Gold Coast for up to 12 days, reports Tracey Ferrier from AAP.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young is scrambling to work out where the man picked up the virus as the list of exposure sites linked to him grows.
She says he either got it during a recent trip to China, in hotel quarantine in Brisbane, or after he was released on July 12 and went home to the Gold Coast.
The man, who was fully vaccinated, returned three negative tests while in hotel quarantine. However, he fell ill on July 15, three days after his homecoming.
AAP understands he did not seek a coronavirus test despite having symptoms.
It wasn’t until he went to a GP eight days later, for an unrelated issue, that he got tested at the doctor’s insistence.
Initial test results obtained on Saturday were inconclusive but a second test on Sunday was positive, forcing the man into hospital.
It’s possible he could have spent a total of 12 days moving around the Gold Coast while infectious, including taking a child to and from daycare, eating out, and going shopping.
His family members were tested on Sunday but those results are yet to come back.
Young is hopeful the risk is low but she has also noted the man’s second test showed a higher viral load than the first, suggesting he could be at the start of his illness.
She says anyone who has been on the Gold Coast or in Brisbane since July 13 should regularly check the growing list of exposure sites.
So far those sites include the Goodstart Early Learning centre at Parkwood, various dining venues, the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre and the Kmart store at Westfield Helensvale.
Here is what ABC has to say on the newly announced Victorian numbers.
OK, here is the full statement from Victorian police regarding their investigation into the three Sydney removalists who allegedly spread the Delta variant of Covid-19 into Melbourne.
Police have concluded they will not be taking any action against the workers.
Huzzah! Only 10 local cases in Victoria today, and all “are linked to the current outbreaks, and all were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period”.
No Victorian Covid-19 numbers as of yet, but don’t worry, I’m refreshing my browser every 0.5 seconds just in case.
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins has welcomed the Morrison government’s decision to adopt an independent complaints mechanism for serious incidents in Parliament House, which is the central recommendation of the Foster review.
Higgins, who says she was raped by a more senior colleague in the office of the then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds, said on Monday an independent complaints mechanism would “ensure Parliament House is a safer workplace for all future employees”.
The Morrison government has accepted all 10 findings of the Foster review, which was initiated after Higgins went public with her story. The prime minister asked a deputy secretary in his department, Stephanie Foster, to undertake a review of the parliamentary workplace. There is also a separate review being undertaken by Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins.
You can read the full report below:
Given the case numbers, I don’t really see how this would play out any other way?
In terms of what to expect from this Victorian lockdown announcement today, the Herald Sun is reporting that while stay-at-home orders and the 5km loop will be scrapped, hospitality venues will be under strict patron caps and private gatherings in homes will still be banned.
This has not been independently confirmed by Guardian Australia.
This has not been independently confirmed by Guardian Australia.
The paper is reporting Victoria will enter “lockdown lite” from midnight tonight, with masks remaining mandatory both indoors and outdoors.
The paper is reporting Victoria will enter “lockdown lite” from midnight tonight, with masks remaining mandatory both indoors and outdoors.
Reportedly schools will return to face-to-face learning, retailers and gyms will be allowed to reopen and public gatherings of up to ten people will be allowed.
Reportedly schools will return to face-to-face learning, retailers and gyms will be allowed to reopen and public gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed.
However, restaurants, bars, cafes and pubs will be restricted to 1 person per 4 sqm, as well as “harsh patron caps which are still being finalised.”
However, restaurants, bars, cafes and pubs will be restricted to one person per four square metres, as well as “harsh patron caps which are still being finalised”.
We should learn if the Herald Sun is on the money with their report around 11am-ish this morning when the premier steps up for this all-important press conference.
We should learn if the Herald Sun is on the money with their report around 11am-ish this morning when the premier steps up for this all-important press conference.
Hmmm, Melbourne radio station 3AW is reporting that Victoria police have found the trio of Sydney removalists who allegedly spread the Delta variant to Victoria did not breach any health orders.
Hmmm, Melbourne radio station 3AW is reporting that Victoria police have found the trio of Sydney removalists who allegedly spread the Delta variant to Victoria did not breach any health orders.
I’ll follow up and bring you more of that as soon as I can.
I’ll follow up and bring you more of that as soon as I can.
One of the federal government’s key vaccine deals has been hit with major delays, with 51 million doses of Novavax originally due to arrive in the second half of this year now not expected until 2022.
Since initially touting Novavax as one of three secured deals that could immunise the entire population as a “primary” vaccine by the end of this year, the federal government has quietly edged away from the commitment as it focuses instead to securing more Pfizer vaccines.
The ordered Novavax will now serve as part of the government’s booster strategy when supplies mostly come on stream in 2022, with only a small portion of the 51 million ordered now expected in the final quarter of this year.
You can read the full report below:
Ariarne Titmus uninstalled her social media apps before arriving at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. So when the Australian swimmer arrived for the press conference after winning the women’s 400m freestyle on Monday, she had not seen the entirety of her coach Dean Boxall’s wild celebration. But Titmus was unsurprised that Boxall was fast becoming an internet sensation.
“That’s just the way Dean is,” she explained. “He’s very passionate about what he does – he really becomes quite animated.”
South African-born Boxall, in his mid-40s, has been a swim coach for more than two decades and currently leads Brisbane-based swim club St Peters Western. The club has a long pedigree of supporting top talent, with alumni including past Olympic stars Stephanie Rice and Leisel Jones.
In recent years Boxall has developed a reputation as “one of swimming’s new rock star coaches”. He travelled to Tokyo with a squad of six Australian swimmers under his guidance; three have already won gold; Titmus on Monday, plus youngsters Meg Harris and Mollie O’Callaghan as part of the winning 4x100m relay team on Sunday.
You can read the full story on Dean Boxall below:
Now I don’t just talk the talk, people. After posting below about the importance of booking in a blood donating appointment, I went and booked my own for tonight.
I’ve got to share that sweet sweet O-negative around! And, if you are able, you should too!
(There’s a HEAP of restrictions, including having had a Covid-19 vaccine in the last seven days, as well as some pretty broad banns on men who have sex with men, so being eligible definitely isn’t a given.)
You can book appointments on the Lifeblood website.
Australia needs to double its blood donation effort for the rest of the year to ensure a healthy supply, the Red Cross says.
Covid-19 restrictions, including lockdowns, have hit donor rates, and the Australian Red Cross’s Lifeblood division is appealing for people to come forward, reports AAP.
Australia needs nearly 7,000 donations in the next fortnight and to double appointments through until Christmas, donor services director Cath Stone said.
Australians are still getting the blood supplies they need, but ongoing reluctance to donate could lead to shortages.
The ongoing “failure” of Australia’s top legal officers to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years old has seen 499 under-13s sent to jail in the past year alone, according to a coalition of 47 justice and health organisations.
The coalition – representing welfare, youth and legal advocates, including Anglicare and Acoss – says attorneys general have “failed” to take action, “despite being handed an expert report overwhelmingly recommending that all states and territories and the federal government change laws to keep children out of prison.”
In 2020, 499 children aged between 10 and 13 were imprisoned. At least 65% of them are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children. 68% of all children in detention were on remand, meaning they were yet to be convicted of any crime.
“Every day that attorneys general refuse to act, they are condemning a generation of our children to a lifetime behind bars. Ten-year-old children who get trapped in the criminal justice system don’t come out,” the co-chair of Change the Record, Cheryl Axelby, said.
You can read the full report below:
I reached out to NSW police about this locked-down apartment in Sydney’s south-west.
This is what they had to say:
Tens of thousands of Covid nasal test swabs are being put on planes and flown from hotspots in New South Wales to be processed in Brisbane and other cities, with labs in Sydney still “drowning” from record testing turnouts that have led to result wait times of up to 10 days.
As daily testing numbers hover around 100,000 in NSW, a backlog in processing swabs in Sydney continues to force people into isolation, with Guardian Australia aware of an essential worker abandoning their vaccine appointment as they awaited a negative result.
Laverty Pathology, which runs drive-through Covid testing clinics, including one in Fairfield at the heart of Sydney’s outbreak, last week acknowledged a “huge surge” in testing had pushed turnaround times to 72 hours, however there have been reports of some Laverty patients waiting more than four days for a result.
You can read the full report below:
Various media outlets are reporting this morning that NSW police are out guarding an apartment block in Devitt Street, Blacktown whose residents have been placed in isolation overnight.
It’s understood health officials discovered several cases inside the building were linked, with fears a super-spreading event may have occurred.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that all residents have been tested overnight. NSW Health pathology teams, clad in full PPE, are on site.
I’ll bring you more details as soon as I can.
Opposition front bencher Chris Bowen is out and about this morning. He is actually spruiking his new book about ALP history.
But I’m more interested in what he has to say about the greater Sydney outbreak, given his electorate of McMahon is smack bang in the middle of the hard-hit south-western suburbs, including parts of the Fairfield LGA.
Bowen was asked on ABC News Breakfast if he believes tighter lockdown restrictions are needed to curb the spread of the Delta variant in the area.
This is interesting, as a central pillar of the state government rhetoric around the south-west outbreak has been that lockdown laws are sufficient, but people simply aren’t complying with the social distancing laws to a sufficient degree.
Hello and welcome to Tuesday! (Oh my, it’s only Tuesday.)
Unfortunately, there is some tragic news to start the day.
The death toll from this latest Delta wave of coronavirus has reached double digits, with NSW Health reporting two more deaths from Covid-related illness.
They confirmed a woman in her 80s had died at her home in Pendle Hill in Sydney’s west on Monday afternoon, while a man, also in his 80s, died at Campbelltown hospital.
Those reading the blog from Melbourne today are no doubt on edge, as they wait to hear if lockdown will lift at midnight tonight. It’s expected that the strictest social distancing laws will be lifted, but the state’s pathway out of lockdown will be cautious and incremental.
Premier Daniel Andrews has already flagged masks will likely remain compulsory in some settings, while health minister Martin Foley told reporters on Monday “nothing has yet been finalised”.
He said the state was “on the right track” but authorities wanted to base their decision on the most up-to-date and accurate data.
They usually hold their Covid press conferences around 11-11.30am.
Speaking of easing restrictions, South Australian premier Steven Marshall says the state’s week-long lockdown will end at one minute past midnight on Wednesday morning, provided there are no further “unlinked” coronavirus cases.
Masks will still be required in high-risk settings, such as aged care centres, in medical services and on public transport. All food and drink consumption must be while seated, and dancing and singing remain banned. Family gatherings will be limited to 10 people, although weddings and funerals can have up to 50.
OK, with that, why don’t we jump into the day!
If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley.
