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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Michael McGowan and Ben Doherty (earlier)

NSW announces new measures as AMA says health system ‘can no longer manage’ – as it happened

Gladys Berejiklian
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced 466 new Covid cases and four deaths across the state on Saturday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

What we learned today, Saturday 14 August

That’s where I’ll leave you for tonight. It’s been a big day. Let’s recap what we learned.

  • New South Wales recorded its worst day of the pandemic for the third time in less than a week. Despite seven weeks in lockdown, the state recorded 466 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday and four new deaths. The state’s premier, Gladys Berejiklian, called the situation “dire” and warned the state faced months of further lockdown.
  • The worsening crisis saw the state again overhaul its restrictions. Late on Saturday the government announced the entire state would enter a seven-day lockdown, which will see schools close for at least a week. A number of new measures were introduced including harsher fines, tightened restrictions on movement and a requirement for people in hotspot LGAs to register a nominated “single buddy”.
  • The rise in cases in regional NSW has sparked concerns for the state’s health system, and the Australian Medical Association warned the outbreak meant some areas “can no longer manage the alarming increase in case numbers”. Of particular concern are the towns of Dubbo and Walgett, where vulnerable Aboriginal communities represent the “vast majority” of new cases, according to health officials.
  • In Victoria there were 21 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, almost half of them in the community while infectious. The state’s health minister, Martin Foley, said new cases were being recorded in multiple suburbs across Melbourne. There are now more than 450 exposure sites across the city, including several large apartment blocks.
  • Queensland recorded six new cases, including a one-year-old child, but all of the cases were linked to the state’s Indooroopilly cluster and none were infectious while in the community.
  • The ACT recorded one new case, bringing the total number of cases in the territory to seven. Health officials said genomic sequences had confirmed the original case recorded on Thursday had been linked to the Sydney outbreak, but were still unsure how the 27-year-old man who tested positive for the virus had contracted it. He has told local media he had not travelled to Sydney.

Updated

No public holidays for Parkes...

The Australian Retailers Association has released a statement suggesting the statewide lockdown in NSW could cost the economy $1.5bn a week.

CEO Paul Zahra said the announcement was not a surprise, but said the timing – only a few hours before the lockdown was due to begin – would leave regional businesses scrambling.

Small businesses are the life blood of so many regional towns and the lockdown will come as quite a shock, given this is something many haven’t experienced since the very beginning of the pandemic.

This announcement has come with only a couple of hours’ notice, which leaves regional businesses scrambling, standing down staff, reorganising stock and bracing for an uncertain future.

Existing state and federal supports provide some level of comfort; however, it won’t totally offset the losses many businesses are set to suffer.

We encourage customers to continue supporting their local businesses by shopping online, use contactless ‘click and collect’ or check out the takeaway and delivery options that might be available. Every dollar you spend keeps someone in a job.

Updated

Schools across NSW to close for seven days in lockdown: Barilaro

The NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, is speaking on the ABC about this statewide lockdown.

He’s confirmed two key things not clarified by the NSW Health statement:

  • Schools across the state will be closed for seven days.
  • There are no distance limits for regional parts of the state.

Barilaro says the decision was made today after “numbers coming out of Dubbo overnight and further numbers this morning”. The state considered locking down further local government areas, but Barilaro says sewage testing in areas with no known cases of Covid-19 convinced the government to lock down the entire state.

Barilaro says part of the decision to lock down is a “precautionary measure” to ensure the regional health capacity doesn’t become overwhelmed. He says while the state has the ability to move resources around where needed, the “reality is some of these small and regional communities don’t have an ICU unit”.

“We do have plans in place [but] at the same time we don’t want to see those very limited resources overwhelmed.”

Updated

Quite something.

The premier speaks ... via Twitter. The reason this statewide lockdown wasn’t announced at her press conference at 11am was “health advice concerning multiple regional areas”.

I guess we won’t know what that advice was until tomorrow though, because at this point there’s no indication that anyone from the NSW government intends to hold a press conference to take questions on a lockdown affecting the entire state.

Updated

NSW statewide lockdown rules explained for regions

OK, we have the official announcement on that 5pm statewide NSW lockdown. It’s a long one, so stay with me.

These new orders will replace any existing orders across regional NSW. It extends until 12.01am on Sunday 22 August.

The advice from NSW Health states:

Everyone must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They also cannot have visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends.

People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers’ responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together.

All hospitality venues must be closed to the public, including pubs, restaurants and cafes, except for takeaway.

Retail premises are required to close except for:

  • supermarkets and grocery stores
  • shops that predominantly sell food or drinks eg butchers, bakeries, fruit shops and delicatessens, but does not include restaurants or cafes
  • chemists and pharmacies
  • kiosks
  • shops that predominantly sell office supplies, pet supplies, newspapers, magazines and stationery, alcohol, maternity and baby supplies, medical or pharmaceutical supplies
  • food and drink premises, but only to sell takeaway
  • cellar door premises, but only to sell takeaway
  • hardware and building supplies
  • landscaping material supplies
  • rural supplies
  • timber yards
  • garden centres and plant nurseries
  • vehicle hire premises, not including the premises at which vehicles are sold
  • shops that predominantly carry out mobile phone repairs

Service stations, banks, post offices, laundromats and drycleaners can remain open.

Anyone who leaves their home must carry a mask with them at all times. They must be worn when working outdoors, by all school staff, by all people in outdoor markets, outdoor shopping strips, and in an outdoor queues waiting for products such as coffee and food.

Every employer across NSW must require their employees to work from home unless it is not reasonably practicable.

It is a reasonable excuse to leave your home for work – but only if it is not practicable to work from home.

There will be a one-day ‘grace period’ for planned weddings and funerals in the regional areas that have not already been subject to a lockdown. Those events may go ahead until 12.01am on Monday 16 August 2021, but only with guests from areas that have not already been subject to a lockdown. From Monday, small funerals and memorial services of 10 persons only (excluding the persons conducting the service) will be permitted.

Updated

The former prime minister Kevin Rudd has said the US, Australia and their allies should abandon the withdrawal of Afghanistan, as a resurgent Taliban impresses on the capital Kabul.

He said:

The fall of Oruzgun province to the Taliban, and the reported threat to Kabul, is an unmitigated disaster for the good people of Afghanistan. They do not deserve this.

I fear for the lives of all Afghans who have worked closely with Australian and allied forces in the past, just as I am especially fearful of retribution against Afghan women and children who for 20 years have had new educational and life opportunities opened to them.

Rudd said the fall of Kabul would be seen historically as akin to the fall of Saigon in 1975 and would be a major blow to US authority across the world.

It would also be an appalling failure given the sacrifice of tens of thousands of Australian troops over the course of this century, including those still suffering the scars of war, and those who lost their lives.

I believe it is now urgent that the US administration reverse the course of its final military withdrawal … if the US does so, and recommits a modest force to Kabul, disaster may still be averted.

Australia should support a re-commitment of troops.

Rudd said he understood his position would be unpopular, given Australia’s “collective exhaustion” at a two-decades war, Australia’s longest.

But I expect perceptions to change rapidly once we begin seeing images on our screens of mass civilian slaughter, public beheadings, and the enslavement of millions of women and girls. Perceptions will change further when Afghanistan once again becomes a safe haven for global terrorist operations.

Updated

Still no official announcement from NSW Health on this statewide lockdown, but the deputy premier, John Barilaro, did issue this tweet a little earlier:

Updated

South Australia has revoked its cross-border corridor with New South Wales, meaning people from within that corridor are now banned from entering the state. The only exceptions are essential travellers and people escaping domestic violence.

Essential travellers will be subject to the state’s level four requirements, meaning:

  • A Covid-19 test on day one, five and 13.
  • Self-quarantine for 14 days (from the day of arrival).
  • Must wear a face mask (covering mouth and nose) at any time that they come into contact with the public for a period of 14 days after their arrival in South Australia.

People escaping domestic violence will be subject to level five requirements:

  • A Covid-19 test on day one, five and 13.
  • Quarantine for 14 days (not counting the day of arrival) at a place approved by an authorised officer.
  • Must wear a face mask (covering mouth and nose) at any time that they come into contact with the public for a period of 14 days after their arrival in South Australia.

Updated

NSW health system 'can no longer manage' increase in cases: AMA

The Australian Medical Association has released a statement calling for exactly what the NSW government will announce this afternoon: a statewide lockdown.

The AMA’s NSW president, Dr Danielle McMullen, has released a statement warning the state’s health system “can no longer manage the alarming increase in case numbers”.

McMullen says:

The piecemeal approach to lockdown isn’t working. It creates an ‘us versus them’ mentality between LGAs, when really, we need to treat this virus like it’s everywhere, all the time. Every person in NSW must play their part or more people are going to get sick and sadly, more people are going to die.

Doctors from across NSW are exhausted and concerned for their community. Our already fragile rural and regional health system will be unable to cope with increases in cases.

Rural and regional doctors have supported their communities through bushfires, floods and Covid. Many have been unable to get locums or take leave.

Healthcare professionals are stepping up for their communities to vaccinate NSW residents, but vaccinations take time to work. Until we can get more jabs in arms, we need all residents to obey the restrictions.

Doctors across NSW are concerned that we are not going to be able to provide care for patients with other illnesses. If you are not worried about getting Covid, you should be worried about whether you will be able to get the care you need for other health conditions or unforeseen health emergencies.

Updated

Confirmed: All of NSW to enter lockdown from 5pm

I’ve confirmed that now. All of NSW – including those regional areas that weren’t covered by stay-at-home orders – will be put into lockdown from 5pm. I’m told there’s more detail to follow from NSW Health this afternoon, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see another press conference.

Updated

Seven-day lockdown across regional NSW, MP reveals on Facebook

A New South Wales Nationals MP, Ben Franklin, has gone on Facebook to announce he has been told that there will be a statewide lockdown from 5pm tonight.

Franklin has written that he’s been “advised by the deputy premier” that “a seven day lockdown for ALL of Regional NSW will be in place from 5pm this evening”.

This is an important step to try to stop the spread of the virus further into the regions.

For residents in the Lismore, Ballina, Byron and Richmond Valley LGAs this will mean that the current lockdown will not be lifted at 12.01am on Tuesday 17 August as originally planned, but will now be extended to 5pm on Saturday 21 August.

Thank you to everyone in our community who is working together to get on top of the situation. Testing numbers have been high in the Northern Rivers and today we saw another day with no new positive cases.

I’ve asked the premier’s office if they can confirm this.

Franklin is not a minister, and announcing a statewide lockdown to his 1,800 followers on Facebook is, uh, quite something.

Updated

A correction from NSW Health. Only 13 cases in the Hunter region. Two subsequently received a negative test, and one is not from the Hunter.

You love to see it.

The NSW opposition leader, Chris Minns, has called on the government to extend the new test and isolate payments to regional NSW. He released this statement a little earlier:

The next few weeks are going to be tough for the people of New South Wales.

We want these measures to work. We want lockdowns to end. We want life to go back to normal as soon as possible.

But the NSW government needs to ensure vital financial support is in place for people who need it.

That must start with small business support, where struggling businesses continue to have their applications left in limbo and issues continue to plague Service NSW while they are hanging by a thread.

We are also calling for the new ‘test and isolate’ payment to be extended to the regions. No one should be left financially worse off because they are doing the right thing.

Updated

NSW Health has released a new venue of concern for Dubbo.

Anyone who attended the gymnastics area of Fitness Focus on 7 Jannali Road, Dubbo on Monday 9 August from 3.53pm to 5.05pm is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they were there, regardless of the result.

Updated

Have seen some uncertainty around about the new NSW restrictions and how they apply to people in greater Sydney who aren’t in those designated hotspot LGAs.

I’ve been able to confirm the following: If you live outside of a hotspot LGA and your intimate partner lives more than 5km away, you are still allowed to visit them.

The same goes for your single bubble buddy: I’m informed that they do not need to be within 5km.

In case that wasn’t totally clear from today’s announcement (it wasn’t).

Updated

Quite the concession from the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, during the press conference this morning...

Updated

As we know, the NSW outbreak has spread well beyond Sydney. Here’s a breakdown of where the 466 new cases were recorded:

  • 166 are from Western Sydney Local Health District
  • 106 are from South Western Sydney LHD
  • 59 are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD
  • 37 are from Sydney LHD
  • 30 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD
  • 26 are from Western NSW LHD
  • 16 are from Hunter New England LHD
  • 15 are from Northern Sydney LHD
  • Five are from Central Coast LHD
  • Two are from the Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD
  • Four cases currently have unknown addresses

Updated

ACT authorities link Covid cases to Sydney outbreak

The ACT has confirmed that its outbreak – which now sits at seven after one new case was reported on Saturday – has been linked to the NSW outbreak.

The territory confirmed on Saturday that genomic tracing has linked the 27-year-old Gungahlin resident who tested positive to the virus on Thursday to the Sydney outbreak.

It’s still unclear how that man contracted the virus. The man has told media he did not travel to Sydney before testing positive.

The ACT administered 4,500 tests on Friday, a result the chief minister, Andrew Barr, said he was pleased with. He told reporters on Saturday:

So many people have come forward for testing and we are aware that there were significant delays. Yesterday was a very significant day of testing that gives us a great deal of surveillance, in terms of the spread of the virus across the community.

Updated

Midday update, Saturday 14 August

Good afternoon. Thanks to Ben Doherty. It has been a whirlwind morning of Covid news, and hopefully you’ve been too busy enjoying your Saturday morning (as far as that’s legally possible at the moment) to keep up, so let me quickly take you around the grounds:

  • NSW has again set a grim new benchmark, recording 466 new Covid cases and four additional deaths. It is the third time in less than a week the state has set a new record for the highest number of cases recorded during the pandemic. The four deaths were two women in their 40s and 70s and two men in their 70s and 80s.
  • After seven weeks of lockdown, the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced a raft of changes to restrictions. All of Sydney will now have a 5km travel limit (down from 10km for areas outside the designated LGAs of concern), people inside those LGAs of concern will need to register the nominated person in their “single bubble”, and people will be eligible for a $320 loss of income payment if they are forced to miss work while isolating after a Covid test. You can read the full list of NSW restrictions here.
  • In Victoria, 21 new cases were recorded. Of those, 11 were in quarantine for their full infectious period. The state now has more than 450 exposure sites listed on the health department’s website. The sites seem to have spread to Melbourne’s south-east overnight – Chadstone Shopping Centre is among the locations added.
  • The ACT recorded one new case – a close contact of a previous case.
  • Queensland recorded six new cases – all of them in home quarantine.

Updated

That’s my stint ... three press conferences is all I can handle this deep into a pandemic. I’m handing over to the imperturbable Michael McGowan. Thanks for your company, comments, and correspondence. Be well.

Updated

$5000 fines for Covid breaches in NSW

Here are some more details on NSW’s increased penalties, announced today by the police commissioner.

From 12:01am Monday 16 August:

Increased fines for Public Health Order breaches

· $5,000 on the spot fine for breaching self-isolation rules;

· $5,000 on the spot fine for lying on a permit (already a criminal offence);

· $5,000 on the spot fine for lying to a contact tracer (already a criminal offence);

· $3,000 on the spot fine for breaching the two person outdoor exercise/recreation rule; and

· $3,000 on the spot fine for breaching rules around entry into regional NSW for authorised work, inspecting real estate and travelling to your second home.

From 12.01am, Saturday, 21 August:

Permit system to enter regional NSW

· Any person who wishes to travel to regional NSW for one of the following reasons must have a permit which will be made available on Service NSW.

a. authorised workers from LGAs of concern;

b. Inspecting real estate. Any person inspecting real estate in the regions must now genuinely need a home to live in (no investment properties); and

c. Travelling to your second home. This is now only allowed if you are using the home for work accommodation or if the home requires urgent maintenance and repairs (if so, only one person may travel there).

Changes for residents in local government areas of concern:

· From 12.01am, Monday, 16 August: only exercise and supervision of children allowed (no outdoor recreation);

· From 12.01am, Saturday, 21 August: People who live alone must now register their “singles bubble”. Registration will be made available on nsw.gov.au.

Barr notes that more than 1% of the ACT population was tested yesterday which will give health authorities a significant assistance in tracking this virus. Asked about the prospect of lifting the lockdown early, he says:

“As we will always done through this pandemic we will be cautious, listen to the advice of the chief health officer, and make well-informed decisions.”

One new case in the ACT

In the ACT, there has been one just one new case confirmed. There are now seven active cases in the territory.

“We are pleased we locked down when we did. It was definitely the right decision,” chief minister Andrew Barr said.

The Delta outbreak in western NSW continues to grow in vulnerable Aboriginal communities of Dubbo and Walgett, where local Aboriginal health services are working to increase vaccinations and testing.

The western NSW local health district (LHD) said there were 17 new cases recorded in Dubbo and one new case in Walgett to 9am today.

The region – the majority of whom are Aboriginal people, who were supposed to be a priority group for vaccination for at least the last 18 months – now has a total of 42 cases.

Chief executive of the western LHD Scott MacFarlane has said the “vast majority” of those cases are Aboriginal people, and some are children.

A today’s press conference NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said there were 26 new cases in the region but the Western LHD told Guardian Australia they were “working hard” to confirm those additional numbers, suggesting some of those cases may have been confirmed after the 9am deadline.

Indigenous vaccination rates in the region are “criminally” low and have sparked anger in communities at the slow rollout.

“The government had the better part of the year to get this sorted. What is the actual vaccination rate for Aboriginal people across the country?” Linda Burney, the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, said.

Updated

On the five-kilometre rule in NSW, it applies to Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour.

It applies from 12.01am Monday 16 August.

Updated

Berejiklian has announced the lockdown of Armidale will be extended another seven days. The premier said this was due to health advice, despite no cases.

There were 26 new cases in Dubbo and surrounding areas. There were 16 new cases on the Hunter and New England region.

Berejiklian says Delta strain 'diabolical'

Berejiklian has warned there is no “perfect path” through this pandemic.

For a long time, nearly a year and a half, we were different to the rest of the world, and now, we are not different from the rest of the world. The Delta strain is diabolical and we have to accept and be real about that. Even when you throw everything at it ... cases are still emerging. This is really a diabolical strain, we have to be real with what works, and we also have to be hopeful, which is realistic. I’m a realist, and when you get to those double doses, and you see that reduction in hospitalisation, you can live more freely ... that is what we are working towards and why we are racing and sprinting to get to those vaccination rates.

I mean this in a heartfelt way, the way the community has responded in the patience they have shown us in coming forward and getting vaccinated has been outstanding.

And sometimes we have let you down, sometimes we have made you wait too long or the booking system hasn’t been as efficient as it should, but please know, as far as NSW is concerned, I’ve always fought to get as many vaccine doses as possible in our state, always fought to have a sense of urgency to our program.

There is no perfect path forward. We are going to make more mistakes, of course we are, we will frustrate people, but it’s a journey we take together, and I feel it every day and I want to assure people of that, I feel what we are imposing on our citizens, and I feel the fear, just like everybody else.

We all have loved ones, people whose businesses are on the brink, who are really wanting that support, so we are working day and night, and when I say that, please know that every member of my team and every agency is working its guts out to support the community at this time.

Updated

A little more on the permit system for travelling to regional NSW from greater Sydney. Movement across the state will be significantly curtailed from midnight next Friday.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian:

You will need a permit to go into regional NSW, whether you are an authorised worker, travelling to a second home because you might be a worker utilising a second home, or inspecting real estate, you will need a permit, which will be effective from next Saturday.

But between now and then police can stop you and seek evidence for what you are doing, and if you are doing the wrong thing you will have those fines imposed.

Police commissioner Mick Fuller:

The permit system is essential in terms of protecting regional NSW, and I would ask from Monday there will be information online on the government website in terms of how to access a permit and the permit system will come in place midnight, Friday next week.

I think it is important that those people who have been getting around the orders, taking family on vacations to other premises, that is over. The permit will only allow generally one person to travel for what is essential business.

Updated

It is going to get worse, Berejikilian warns, and the only way out is getting the state (the country really) to a 70%-80% vaccination rate.

I want to foreshadow the most difficult thing for us as a team in New South Wales, for us as citizens of our state, will be living through September and October and keeping everybody safe.

Updated

Greater Sydney to be restricted to 5km movement limit

There has been an escalation in the penalties for breaching lockdown regulations in NSW, and a tightening of those conditions.

New penalties include:

  • $5,000 on-the-spot fines for quarantine breaches (up from $1,000).
  • $5,000 on-the-spot fines for lying to a contact tracer (this is already a criminal offence).
  • $3,000 on-the-spot fine for breaching the two-person exercise rule in any way
  • $3,000 on-the-spot fine for breaching rules about going into regional New South Wales from greater Sydney.

“In greater Sydney and other lockdown areas ... the 10-kilometre rule will come down to 5km, so you can do activity within your local government area but instead of 10km from your home, it will be 5km from your home and that’s for all of greater Sydney.

“Exercise means only exercise and supervision of children, so the word recreation... that word is taken out in terms of those local government areas of concern, exercise means exercise.”

Updated

Police have ordered a cafe in Leichhardt closed over alleged “repeated breaches of the public health orders”.

The police commissioner has issued a statement:

Officers from Leichhardt Police Area Command have served a business on Norton St, Leichhardt, with an order to close this morning (Saturday 14 August 2021) due to alleged repeated breaches of the public health orders.

The closure order follows a number of previous interactions with the business owner due to numerous complaints from members of the public.

Police have attended the cafe a total of 10 times in the past two weeks and issued the owner five PINs for breaching the public health orders. The owner has also been arrested and charged on two separate occasions with a number offences relating to alleged breaches of the public health orders, and those matters remain before the courts.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller
NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/AAP

Police will allege the owner has been seen on a number of occasions preparing and serving food without a mask and allowing customers to sit inside and outside the cafe, in contravention of the current rules.

He has also allegedly refused to produce a Covid-19 Safety Plan when asked, as required under the public health order.

This cafe owner, a 44-year-old man, has shown a blatant disregard for the health and safety of his community for an extended period of time, and his business will now stay closed until I’m satisfied there is no further risk to public health.

Updated

466 cases is devastating news. The premier is warning September and October will be very difficult.

Some further breakdown of those numbers:

  • 466 locally acquired cases of Covid-19 reported to 8pm Friday.
  • 76 were in isolation throughout their infectious period, 19 for part of that period. At least 68 were infectious in the community (these details are still being investigated).
  • One overseas acquired case.
  • 129,352 tests reported to 8pm.
  • 378 Covid patients in hospital, 64 in intensive care, 29 on ventilators
  • Increasingly, younger patients are ending up in intensive care: four in their 20s, six in their 30s, seven in their 40s.
  • Covid-positive samples are being detected in Broken Hill, Ballina, and Brooklyn.

Updated

NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller has said movement across NSW, and in particular in greater Sydney, needs to be severely limited.

The NSW police force will launch ‘Operation Stay At Home’ Sunday at midnight. Police will be supported by the Australian Defence Force as you know, there are already 300 men and women of the ADF on the ground and an additional 500 will come online from Monday.

The movement, particularly in greater Sydney was way too high from our perspective, in terms of what we were trying to achieve, and our part in this is to get NSW Health ahead of the Delta variant. These are some of the biggest fines that I have ever seen, and we will be issuing them as of today.

So can I say to the members of the community out there, you may think that leaving your LGA to train is OK, but it’s not. You have a five-kilometre limit from your house in greater metropolitan Sydney. We will be enforcing that.

Fuller said families taking vacations at holiday homes would also be stopped, with permits generally only allowing one person to travel to an alternative accommodation for maintenance or other necessities.

Updated

More from Berejiklian:

Can I say on a positive note that New South Wales has pretty much reached 50% of first doses vaccinated. We know that the lockdown, coupled with a strong targeted vaccination program, is what will get us out of this dire situation. Vaccination is key. Don’t wait, please come forward and get vaccinated.

This is the nature of Delta. It is something we have not seen before and is spreading in a way we have not seen before. If we want to stop the spread, we need to get people vaccinated.

Updated

Berejiklian has given some detail on those four deaths.

They were:

A woman in her 40s in palliative care who was not vaccinated.

A man in his 70s who was vaccinated but had pre-existing conditions.

An unvaccinated man in his 80s in Concord Hospital

And a woman in her 70s at Campbelltown Hospital.

We had four deaths overnight and we extend our deepest condolences to each and every one of the family and loved ones. As I say every day, we read out the statistics but behind each statistic is a human being with loved ones they have left behind and a heart goes out to all of them in this tragic circumstances.

Updated

NSW has reported 466 new cases and four deaths

Gladys Berejikilian has opened her press conference saying this is the most concerning day of this outbreak so far.

466 new cases, the biggest jump in a day. Tragically, four deaths.

Updated

NSW about to give 11am Covid update

Martin Foley is still on his feet, but NSW is coming up in about five minutes.

Updated

Re-iterating, there are 21 new locally acquired cases in Victoria, all linked to existing cases, 11 in isolation during their infectious period.

There are 163 active cases across Victoria. Three are in hospital, one in intensive care, Foley said.

33,675 people got tested yesterday and while we’ve been averaging more than 40,000 tests per week, we really do need to get that 33,000 number back up to that 40,000 number to help us track down those chains of transmission. It’s so important.

If you have symptoms, you need to go and get tested. If someone in your family has symptoms, encourage them to get tested. If your mates have symptoms, get them to also be tested.

Because there is every chance if you don’t get tested and you pass this virus on to someone else, then they will pass it on to more people

Foley said Victoria wants to do 1 million vaccinations in the next five weeks.

Updated

Victoria’s press conference is underway. Health minister Martin Foley has urged the Victorian community to come out in greater numbers for testing.

Victoria about to give Covid update

The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, will be giving the state’s coronavirus update imminently.

Updated

More details from Queensland.

Again, re-iterating that all six new locally acquired cases were in home quarantine. All are linked to the Indooroopilly cluster, which has now reached 143 cases.

Of the new cases, one is the one-year-old sibling of a child in hospital. Five are new infections in adults.

On Friday across the state, 22,774 people were tested, while 15,158 vaccines were administered.

There is a seventh case in the state, a child from Cambodia, who is in hotel quarantine.

Queensland’s deputy chief health officer, Dr James Smith, told the press conference “the numbers are looking very reassuring”.

We want to extend our thanks to all of those families that have really done it pretty tough in quarantine. It’s not easy. It is a challenge.

And the fact that they have been so good and so compliant about their quarantining has meant that we’ve been able to get on top of this cluster and has meant we’re in the encouraging position that we’re in now.

Updated

Queensland reports six new Covid cases

Updated

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of lagging vaccination,

Of bungled health responses,

And a broken federation.

First class Sammy J. First class.

Police in regional Victoria are investigating social media threats against canned food producer SPC, after the company mandated Covid-19 vaccines for its workers.

The company, which runs a major cannery in Shepparton, set a precedent for corporate Australia by mandating vaccination for workers and contractors earlier this month.

And from our colleagues in the United States.

In Louisiana, public health efforts to halt the spread of Covid have been hampered by low vaccination rates and crowded housing following last year’s hurricane season. Now, hospitals are struggling to cope.

The situation in Afghanistan is calamitous. The Taliban continue to sweep across the country, seizing cities and taking control of swathes of territory. They are wreaking a brutal violence, killing civilians and seeking out anybody with any sort of connection with the west.

Updated

The inimitable Murpharoo adds a new nomenclature to the Australian political lexicon: governing hesitancy.

To wit ...

With Covid-19 cases mounting because of the winter Delta outbreak, Australians are acutely aware of the public health perils of vaccine hesitancy. But this week, Australians were subjected to a different kind of equivocation: governing hesitancy.

Updated

From the great Amy Remeikis, who is also proposing the annexation of Duranbah beach by Queensland. (She is joking... I think...)

More on Melbourne from our friends at AAP. I haven’t been to Chadstone in eons, but I remember it as massive. That’s a monumental deep-clean:

The biggest mall in Australia, Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne, has been declared a Covid-19 exposure site.

The centre was declared a tier-two site on Friday night.

Anyone who was at Chadstone between 4.26pm and 5.40pm on Saturday 7 August must take a Covid test and isolate until they receive a negative result.

The Coles supermarket within the shopping centre has also been listed.

There are now more than 450 exposure sites in Melbourne including Highpoint shopping centre and several large apartment blocks.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, says the lockdown’s ongoing toll on children is “heartbreaking”, as mystery Covid-19 cases threaten to further extend the shutdown.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP

Professor Sutton said he considers the social impacts of lockdowns when providing health advice to the state government, including keeping children out of school and away from their friends.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he told 3AW of having to explain that fact to his own three young children.

“But, again, what alternative pathway have we got available to us? Because we know what happens when restrictions are not done in a timely way or are not sufficient to control transmission – it explodes in numbers.”

Melbourne is in the second week of its sixth lockdown, brought on to contain several Delta variant outbreaks.

But contact tracers are racing to discover the source of concerning mystery cases, with 13 emerging in the past three days.

Of the 15 locally acquired coronavirus cases reported on Friday, the origin of four was under investigation and seven were out in the community while infectious.

Professor Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at the University of South Australia, believes Melbourne will get on top of its Delta variant outbreaks, but not by 19 August when the lockdown is due to end.

“I would say it’s highly unlikely,” he told AAP. “I don’t think that lockdown will finish ... until you’re in single digits and have no mystery cases.”

Unexpected wastewater detections have also arisen in the regional areas of Shepparton and Lakes Entrance, where there are no known active cases or current exposure sites.

Updated

Victoria reports 21 new cases

From Victoria, 21 new cases, all locally acquired, all linked to previously known cases, with 11 in isolation during their infectious period.

Updated

Catching up this morning, this came through from NSW Health late last night.

The list of NSW and ACT Covid hotspots is here:

It is a minority in northern NSW that is anti-vax, but it is a noisy one. As Ben Smee writes:

In the hinterland town of Mullumbimby, locals say they have been banned from cafes for raising concerns that staff are not wearing masks. Businesses have placed signs in shopfront windows asking vaccinated customers not to enter under the misapprehension they could shed the virus.

My indefatigable colleague Michael McGowan has this vital read on where it went wrong for “gold standard” New South Wales.

Good morning. Wherever this missive might find you, under whichever restrictions you might find yourself, I hope these words find you well.

This is Ben Doherty here, helming this blog from Sydney, under day ... day ... I don’t actually know which day of this iteration of this particular lockdown we are under. My known past and foreseeable future are under lockdown, that’s all I can tell you.

All eyes are on New South Wales this morning after the state reached another grim record of 390 new locally acquired coronavirus cases on Friday, while two people died from the disease, taking the national toll to 948.

The NSW crisis cabinet met on Friday afternoon to decide on updated lockdown rules after receiving advice from the NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, and will further restrict travel to regional areas, and tighten lockdown rules regarding the singles bubble.

Gladys Berejiklian’s government is also expected to finally introduce a Covid test payment to ensure people isolate while waiting for a swab result rather than feeling pressured to work. Media have reported the NSW crisis cabinet had on Friday afternoon agreed to a permit system for people wanting to leave the Greater Sydney area after the virus spread into the Hunter and northern rivers regions.

There was a potential crisis looming in Indigenous communities in western NSW, with cases in Dubbo and Walgett now reported, as well as traces of the virus being located in sewage at Bourke and Parkes. There were also concerns about possible spread to the south coast of NSW, with reports that people from the ACT, which went into lockdown on Thursday due to a new outbreak of the Delta variant, were moving to coastal towns. There was also concern about the spread of cases in Blacktown and Mt Druitt.

Melbourne is into the second week of its sixth lockdown, brought on to contain several Delta variant outbreaks. But contact tracers are racing to discover the source of concerning mystery cases, with 13 emerging in the past three days.

Of the 15 locally acquired coronavirus cases reported on Friday, the origin of four was under investigation and seven were out in the community while infectious.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, whose state recorded seven new local cases, called for a clear containment plan from the NSW government.

The ACT is in lockdown until Thursday with six confirmed local cases, including a 14-year-old high school student.

Updated

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