Wrap-up
With Sunday drawing to a close let’s recap a few of the biggest stories from today:
- Two-thirds of staff at the SummitCare aged care facility in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills were unvaccinated, it was revealed, as the home dealt with an outbreak of Covid. Three positive residents have been relocated to Westmead hospital.
- Federal finance minister Simon Birmingham has refused to say when young people will received the Pfizer vaccine but has said projections suggest the number of available Pfizer vaccines will double in September.
- In related news, Birmingham has also waved off allegations of pork-barrelling involving the now discredited commuter car park fund and refused to promise the Coalition would not do the same in the future.
- Passengers on a Virgin flight from the Gold Coast to Sydney last Saturday have been urged to isolate and get tested after “multiple Covid-19 transmissions” were traced to the flight.
- Tasmanian opposition leader David O’Byrne announced he’s quitting as Labor leader, with the ALP investigating allegations he sexually harassed a woman more than a decade ago.
With that, thank you very much for tuning in. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning.
Updated
The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia said last week’s national cabinet decision to halve the number of international arrivals will force airlines to reconsider whether it is worth operating flights to Australia.
The decision – announced by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on Friday afternoon – will see the cap on returning travellers slashed from 6,070 to 3,035 a week.
“It is going to be a very difficult situation for many airlines to maintain their frequency of flights to Australia,” Bara’s executive director, Barry Abrams, said.
“Many will be asking whether or not it makes more sense to suspend their passenger flights or just run cargo flights. I wouldn’t see it as cutting Australia off, I would see it as reduced connectivity and availability of flights to and from Australia.”
Abrams told Guardian Australia the industry only found out about the change from the media.
While some airlines may choose to cut their routes to Australia, Abrams said he expected the government would then reallocate those passengers to other airlines that continued to operate.
But as there had been no detail provided, there were many unknowns about how the change would be implemented by 14 July, he said.
“The airlines haven’t even been allocated their cap reductions yet. It’s not until those processes start to occur that airlines can start to process this. I know that this does not provide any certainty to all this.
“We certainly get it that it’s a terrible situation, but that is something we are complying with from the Australian government that the airlines will have to go and do.”
Updated
Bodies of three fishermen found off NSW
Police have recovered the bodies of three fishermen and their upturned boat near Wollongong south of Sydney.
Relatives raised the alarm about 6am on Sunday after the trio set off from the Bellambi boat ramp in Wollongong about 2pm the previous day.
A ute and trailer were found in the car park of the boat ramp.
Search crews later found the men’s upturned boat off nearby Port Kembla. They also recovered the bodies of the three men.
Police from Wollongong, the force’s marine area command and PolAir, along with members of Surf Life Saving NSW and Marine Rescue volunteer crews were involved in the effort.
A report will be prepared for the coroner. Police are expected to provide an update later on Sunday.
Updated
Tasmanian opposition leader David O'Byrne quits
Tasmanian’s opposition leader, David O’Byrne, has announced he’s quitting as Labor leader, with the ALP investigating allegations he sexually harassed a woman more than a decade ago.
O’Byrne announced he was resigning on Sunday and said while he would remain in parliament as the member for Franklin, he would not seek or accept a position in the shadow cabinet.
“I have a life-long commitment to the cause of Labor and my decision to resign from the leadership reflects this,” O’Byrne said in a statement.
“The allegations raised will be dealt with through the confidential process initiated by the state secretary. I intend to respect the confidentiality of that process and I will make no further public comment on it.”
The outgoing Labor leader said speculation about the matter was not in the best interests of the party. “The focus of the party needs to be on holding the current government to account and the current debate is a distraction from this central task,” he said.
O’Byrne is alleged to have kissed a junior employee without consent and sent unwanted suggestive text messages while he was head of the head of the liquor, hospitality and miscellaneous union in 2007 and 2008.
Responding last week to news of the complaint, made to the Tasmanian Labor party secretary, O’Byrne said he had “let down my wife and family”.
“The matter has caused me to reflect deeply on the nature of consent and I have come to appreciate why the person concerned says our interaction was not consensual,” he said at the time. “I have written to her to offer my unreserved apology for the unwanted contact and texts.”
Updated
Kidd ends the press conference by encouraging residents in aged care homes to get vaccinated.
Kidd was asked by reporters about possible targets and what a target might be. Kidd’s response:
We want to see as many people vaccinated as possible. Vaccination provides protection to each individual, protecting them against the development of serious disease and the risk of death from Covid-19. Clearly, the more people who are vaccinated, the reduced risk of transmission of Covid-19.
As we have seen in examples around the world ... you can still get significant outbreaks and transmission of Covid-19 occurring, so there is no magic figure available at the moment as to what the threshold may or may not be.
Updated
Kidd is asked about the advice for pregnant women seeking vaccination:
At-risk groups continue to be looked at each week by Atagi, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. And it has provided advice for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding and talked about increased risks, that means we need to wait for the advice from Atagi as to whether pregnant women themselves become one of the risk groups for earlier priority vaccination.
Another question about children:
We don’t have vaccines available to children. There is continuing research happening around the world, looking at safe and appropriate vaccines for use in younger people. We need to wait for that advice to come through. We need to wait for the Therapeutic Goods Administration to do its job, looking at the safety of vaccines in those particular age groups. I certainly hope we will have protection available to people sooner than 2022, but it really depends on the research and developments around the world.
Updated
Kidd:
Please continue to get vaccinated, please encourage your family members and friends to do so, especially those aged over 60 and those in the priority groups or those of increased risk of exposure or increased risk of transmitting Covid-19 to those who are at greatest risk.
From this week, selected general practices across Australia will also start to offer the Pfizer vaccine to their eligible patients, including those aged from 40-59 years of age...
During this month, another 800 general practices will come online with the Pfizer vaccine as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine. This includes many Aboriginal community controlled organisations, which will be offering the Pfizer vaccine progressively through July and August.
Kidd also cautions:
Even if you have been vaccinated, it still remains extremely important to continue to practice Covid-safe behaviours. Please continue to follow the restrictions in your state or territory, and keep up-to-date with the list of exposure sites and the associated health advice.
Updated
Kidd:
Vaccination, of course, is just one part of the protections now in place for residents of aged care facilities. Every residential aged care facility in the country now has an infection prevention and control nurse and has detailed plans in place to respond to any cases of Covid-19.
On vaccines:
Well over 8.2 million doses, including over 5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, have been administered in Australia. Over 70% of people aged over 70 years, over 60% of people aged over 60 years, and over 50% of people aged over 50 years have received at least their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. In addition, nearly 30% of those aged over 16 years have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Updated
Deputy chief medical officer says SummitCare outbreak being taken 'very seriously'
The deputy chief medical officer prof Michael Kidd is giving an update now on vaccination rates and says the outbreak at the SummitCare facility in Sydney is being taken “very seriously”.
The commonwealth is working in partnership with New South Wales and the facility staff. The facility is in full lockdown and additional workforce supports have been activated, and testing of residents and staff has also been activated.
Today, all but one of the 2566 residential aged care facilities across the country have received their first and second dose of Covid-19 vaccination clinics from the national vaccine rollout program.
Updated
Queensland has woken up to good news this morning with authorities confident they have the state’s outbreak handled.
Authorities had been tracking two Covid-19 variants after the Delta and Alpha strains were detected in south east Queensland.
The sole case of community transmission reported on Sunday involved the less contagious Alpha strain and is linked to a known cluster involving a Greek community centre and a Portugese restaurant. Another was acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk expressed her gratitude to the public but asked for vigilance.
“It appears everything is under control at this point in time so we are very, very relieved about that,” Palaszczuk said.
The premier said mask should still be worn in areas that are yet to leave lockdown and the Queensland Check In app has been made mandatory upon visiting restaurants and bars, cafes, shopping centres, salons, gyms, stadiums, theme parks and universities.
Lockdown orders lifted for Brisbane and Moreton Bay at 6pm on Saturday and a day earlier for nine other local government areas in the south east, Townsville and Magnetic and Palm islands.
Updated
Looking ahead to next week, the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia will meet on Tuesday to talk interest rates and look at whether the record low rate of 0.1 per cent will rise any time soon.
AAP reports RBA governor Philip Lowe will hold a rare press conference following the meeting on Tuesday, which will be followed up with a speech given to the Economic Society of Australia on Thursday in an effort to properly frame its thinking.
The central bank has repeatedly said interest rates will not rise until inflation is sustainably within the two to three per cent inflation target, an event it did not expect to occur until 2024 at the earliest.
However, there is growing speculation among economists that this could be brought forward to 2023 or even earlier, given the strength of the economy, and particularly in a tight jobs market.
As one of its policy tools alongside the cash rate, the RBA targets the three-year government bond to ensure its yield, or interest rate, remains at or close to 0.1 per cent. Most fixed-rate mortgages are set against three-year bonds.
Updated
This morning on Insiders, Simon Birmingham dismissed criticism of the Coalition’s discredited commuter car park fund, declaring “the Australian people had their chance and voted the government back in”.
The federal finance minister on Sunday also refused to rule out the government embarking on similar programs in the future, although he said it would see “how processes and procedures can be enhanced”.
A report by the Australian National Audit Office, published last Monday, found the infrastructure department’s administration of the car park projects was “not effective” and the approach to selecting the sites was “not demonstrably merit-based”.
Daniel Hurst has the full story.
Updated
Here is the full announcement from NSW Health:
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – ADDITIONAL VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 4, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of new venues of concern associated with confirmed cases of #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/JcXRbZwM92
Updated
'Multiple transmissions' on Virgin flight from Gold Coast to Sydney
NSW Health has updated its list of exposure sites to include a Virgin flight from the Gold Coast saying “multiple Covid-19 transmissions have now occurred on this flight”.
Any passengers on board the flight that left the Gold Coast on 26 June at 1.26pm are strongly encouraged to monitor for symptoms, get tested and remain in isolation for the full 14 days regardless of their test results.
Additionally, anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed is a close contacted and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days.
- Ostar International bathroom supply store, Revesby, Saturday 26 June, 1.15pm to 1.30pm
- Commonwealth Bank in Roselands, Monday 28 June 8am to 5pm, Tuesday 29 June, 8am to 5pm, Wednesday 30 June, 8am to 3.30pm
- Bendo’s Premium Meats, Five Dock, Tuesday 29 June, 10.30am to 11.15am
Updated
A woman has allegedly spat at staff in a Darwin bar after she refused to wear a mask.
AAP reports the incident occurred on Saturday night at The Tap when bar staff asked the 22-year-old to put on a mask as required by the Northern Territory’s post-lockdown restrictions.
NT Police commissioner Jamie Chalker says said the woman allegedly responded by spitting at staff, and is likely to face criminal charges.
“That behaviour is completely and utterly disgusting,” Chalker told reporters on Sunday.
“That individual will be facing criminal charges as well as being fined for breaching CHO directions.”
Face masks remain mandatory in some settings including venues in Greater Darwin and Alice Springs until Friday.
Chalker said hospitality staff’s livelihoods depended on people following health directions and called on venues to mete out their own punishment.
“I do trust that the industry acts as one and ensures that that individual is banned from those premises for a long period of time,” he said.
“That behaviour is completely and utterly reprehensible and there should be no one in the Northern Territory prepared to defend that behaviour.”
On the whole, Chalker said community compliance had been “very good” across the NT with only a small number of fines issued.
There were no new Covid-19 cases reported in the NT on Sunday, as more close contacts in isolation returned negative test results.
Updated
Third Covid-19 positive NSW aged care resident taken to hospital
A third SummitCare resident has been transported to Westmead Hospital with no symptoms following five cases of Covid-19 identified in the aged care facility. The cases include three residents and two staff members.
Earlier today, chief operating officer Michelle Sloane said the Baulkham Hills aged care centre had been “unlucky” after a staff member brought the virus into the facility.
Sloane said the majority of residents have been vaccinated, along with three-in-four staff members.
Updated
Summary
If you’re just tuning in, here is a quick summary of this morning’s headlines:
- Victoria has continued its golden run and reported zero new cases in the formerly beleaguered state. The state has opened its borders to south east Queensland, Townsville, Perth and Peel.
-
Queensland, meanwhile, has recorded one new case with the chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, declaring the outbreak in the state “relatively under control”.
- A nursing home in Sydney has reported three new cases among residents after the virus was introduced by a worker, though the majority of residents are vaccinated.
- There are early reports a group of St George Illawarra Dragons players are in trouble after attending a party in breach of NSW stay-at-home orders.
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese has taken aim at the government over its failure to tell those under 40 when they may be able to access the Pfizer vaccine, after Simon Birmingham told the ABC there was no date, but said the government wants the number of doses to double – in September.
Updated
Western Australia records one new local Covid case
The Western Australia premier, Mark McGowan, has announced his state has recorded just one new local case of Covid-19 – a close contact of a previously known case:
WA has recorded one new local case of COVID-19, a household contact of Case 1023. However, as this case has been completing 14 days of quarantine, they do not pose a risk to the community. pic.twitter.com/ZOTnoUJMDI
— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) July 4, 2021
Updated
Just returning briefly to offer more detail from Anthony Albanese’s press conference this morning, the Labor opposition leader specifically took aim at the government over the lack of clarity about when under-40s will be able to get access to the Pfizer vaccine.
The fact that we’re last in the developed world in the rollout of the vaccine in ensuring our citizens are fully vaccinated, comes down to a failure of the government to plan. And this morning we saw another example of it. Simon Birmingham couldn’t say when Australians under the age of 40 will have access to Pfizer. That’s what happens when you think it’s not a race. When you think that you can just be complacent, and sit back and boast about how well you’re going, about how you’re at the front of the queue.
Earlier this morning Birmingham spoke to the ABC, where he assured young people there will be plenty of vaccine available for the under-40s, with the government expecting the number of doses being delivered to double – in September:
We will see a marked step-up in terms of availability of the Pfizer vaccine, from around 300,000 doses a week up to an average of 600,000 doses a week and further increased forecast in September.
So young Australians should have confidence that they will see a full opening up in the months to come, and that may even be sooner than months, but we do have to continue just to make sure we work through the different priority stages of the rollout that has seen more than 8 million doses administered to date to Australians, and has seen some 70% of over-70s receive their first dose, 50% of over-50s receive their first dose.
Updated
I’ve just spoken with NSW police and while they couldn’t give me too many details just yet, it looks like there definitely will be some big news connected with a party potentially breaking Covid-19 rules and the NRL soon.
Nine News is reporting a large group of St George Illawarra Dragons players are being investigated after a party but I have to stress this has not yet been independently confirmed by Guardian Australia.
The Illawarra Dragons’ media team published the following statement:
“St George Illawarra are aware of a New South Wales state government stay-at-home order and NRL biosecurity breach involving a number of players.
“The Dragons will not make comment at this time, while the investigation into the matter with the NRL integrity unit and NSW police continues.”
NSW police are expected to put out a statement shortly, which should clear up the number of people included in the alleged beach and shed some more light on the whole situation.
Updated
While NSW health authorities were giving their update, Labor opposition leader Anthony Albanese held a press conference at Parliament House where he took aim at the federal government over a failure to build dedicated quarantine facilities and ensure enough vaccine supply:
The fact is, the rest of the world is opening up. Australia continues to be in lockdown in large part and that is a direct result of the failure of the government on two issues: failing to roll out the vaccine effectively and failing to put in place appropriate, fit for purpose, quarantine facilities...
Updated
ACT reports no new local Covid cases
And ACT Health are reporting there are have been no new cases today:
ACT COVID-19 update (4 July 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) July 4, 2021
▪️ Cases today: 0
▪️ Active cases: 0
▪️ Total cases: 124
▪️ Recovered: 121
▪️ Lives lost: 3
▪️ Test results (past 24 hours): 895
▪️ Negative tests: 242,629
▪️ Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 89,802
ℹ️ https://t.co/2rCcWDk4wl pic.twitter.com/Bxjib1mHYq
Updated
Sloane – who is actually the chief operating officer at SummitCare – said 144 of 210 staff had gone into isolation after the illness was introduced by a worker and that they had just been “unlucky”:
I think no one saw this Delta strain coming. As we know it is all through the community at the moment, we have been the unlucky ones that have gotten it into our aged care facility.
We always knew that if we had a case in one of our homes, we planned for it with our pandemic planning and we knew that we would lose at least 50% of our staff.
Updated
The good news is that the facility is taking the issue seriously:
Sloane:
All residents are in total isolation, the doors are closed. They each have individual air-conditioning units so there is no risk of any kind of contamination in that sense. And we have had the team from Westmead here on site and we have educators on site monitoring and working with our staff and have assured our staff that as long as everyone is sterilising their hands ... there is no risk. We have a very high percentage, 96% of residents are vaccinated so that is a good thing.
When asked about vaccination rates among staff, Sloane said three in four staff have received a vaccine:
It is my understanding that about a third of our staff are indeed vaccinated. We have made a decision with public health that they will be vaccinating all staff towards the end of this outbreak.
We have had to furlough at least 70% of our registered nurses, it is my understanding. I am not to sure what the overall figure is, they are still working on that. A lot of our staff have been sent off to isolate.
Updated
Hello! We’re coming in hot with Michelle Sloane from SummitCare talking about new cases detected in an aged care facility in Baulkham Hills in north-west Sydney. Of 226 residents and staff tested yesterday, three residents were positive.
Sloane:
My understanding is they are all resting comfortably. They were all fully vaccinated and none are displaying symptoms. Two of them have been transported to hospital and that is purely on public health perspective, not because they need advanced treatment or care. They are all very comfortable.
The third resident, who shares a room with his wife, his family opted not to send him last night because they did not want to separate them and his wife had tested negative. But that will be reassessed today. Ideally, it would be better to have all three in hospital.
Updated
With that, I shall pass you over to the fantastic Royce Kurmelovs to take you through the morning.
However, Chant couldn’t give numbers on how many of the staff members at the SummitCare home had been vaccinated:
Look, I think that’s probably best directed to the commonwealth, who probably has collected that data in relation to aged care, given their responsibilities in that area. But if we’ve certainly got any information on that, we can look at it. But the commonwealth, I know, is requiring notification in relation to vaccine coverage.
Updated
The NSW chief health officer has been asked about the potential for Covid-19 to spread around the SummitCare aged care centre.
On the one hand, we know aged care facilities help spread the Covid-19 virus (even the old Alpha strain) extraordinarily quickly, but on the other, 96% of this home’s elderly population have been vaccinated.
Chant:
Obviously, we’re very concerned about any Covid in elderly patients. We know that as you get older and have additional underlying health conditions, that getting Covid is a very, very significant issue for you.
So, of course, we’re very concerned. What I am pleased to say is that the local health district is working very much with Summit healthcare and the commonwealth government has been coordinating a comprehensive response to that facility.
It’s pleasing to see that the vast majority of residents ... were vaccinated...
But that’s sort of the sense that that was a very positive outcome. We also know that some of the aged care workers were vaccinated and we’d like to see that increase, because we want to see aged care protected. But in terms of this, obviously it’s a watch-and-wait.
Updated
Yesterday the news world (or well, Twitter) was abuzz with photos of packed Bondi beach, and discussions about if NSW was really taking this lockdown seriously.
Well it looks like the NSW leader actually aren’t that concerned about it, given that outdoor transmission seems to be pretty low risk:
Berejiklian:
We think very strongly that the rules we’ve put in place are vastly being respected. There will always be exceptions.
But also we appreciate that when you’re asking the population to stay at home, except for essential services or essential matters, that you need to provide those opportunities. And I want to provide confidence to our citizens that we only burden them to the extent we need to.
But we ask everybody not to leave home unless you absolutely have to. As Dr Chant has said repeatedly, outdoor exercise is a good thing, it’s a good way to determine, you know, leaving the home. It’s a safe setting.
Updated
Interestingly coming out of the last national cabinet, Berejiklian (usually on decent terms with the federal government) has been on the out with Scott Morrison and the Labor run VIC, WA and QLD government over the reduction of international traveller arrivals.
Now she has been asked what she thinks of the Covid-19 four-stage exist plan in general ... and she sounds a little lukewarm.
Look, I think citizens of our state and our nation would like timelines. And I’ve made that position clear. I welcome the four-phase program. It’s in line with what New South Wales has been saying for a long time. But I also think the public would like to see some time frames, and I look forward to being part of those discussions...
I’m happy to support the expert advice. But remember I have been saying 80% of the adult population.
The figures that have been used are of the entire population. I have been very specific to say, when New South Wales hits that 10 million jabs, we can start considering other matters.
If national cabinet has determined a unified approach across the nation, I’m more than happy to support what that unified approach is, but I think we need to be ambitious and we also need timelines to give to the community.
Updated
There are three further cases associated with Great Ocean Foods, bringing the total number of cases linked to this location to 27.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 4, 2021
Despite the somewhat encouraging news today that the majority of cases had not spent any time in the community while infectious, Gladys Berejiklian says it’s too early to know if the lockdown will be extended. (Currently, it’s slated to end next Saturday.)
Obviously that decision rests on the health advice. Myself and my colleagues will consider the health advice. But what health experts look at is what Dr Chant has already commented on.
We look at the trends, we look at how many people have been exposed in the community. And that number pleasingly overnight was just two or three, which is very pleasing.
Updated
A reporter has asked if there are have been specific instances of infected people lying to contact tracers, and true to her promise Chant isn’t dobbing them out!
Generally speaking, the vast majority of citizens are doing the right thing. But health protects everybody’s privacy. But there have been instances where people have continued to visit others in their homes when they shouldn’t have been, and potentially have been other breaches.
But we just want people to know that we would much rather you tell us the truth, without consequence, so that we can actually find all those potential cases.
The NSW CHO ain’t no snitch!
Updated
It seems there may have been some hiccups in the NSW contact tracing in recent days with Chant urging young adults who are found to have Covid-19 to be open and honest with health authorities, regardless of if they have breached social distancing restrictions.
We’d also like to do a particular callout to young adults in the community. We know that this is a trying time for young adults who want to socialise with others. Please, continue to get tested. And also be assured that any information that is given to public health will not be shared.
It is important that when people are speaking to contact tracers, that they feel reassured about the fact that we will hold information in a confidential way...
Also, when our contact tracers are going back and looping around and confirming that when you become a case and confirming close contacts, we ask that you double-check that you haven’t had any breaches or any missteps.
Again, you know, we’ll be sad if you have, but please be open and honest with us. The consequences of not letting us know about a lapse are incredible at this sort of critical phase in our response.
Updated
Chant is now urging those who work in health care to call in sick if they experience even the mildest of symptoms.
And we particularly want to tell you that your workplace manager would much prefer you call in sick if you have the most mildest of symptoms than go to that workplace and potentially shut that workplace down because you’ve attended. So, please, even with the most minimal of symptoms, don’t go into the workplace. Instead, isolate immediately, get tested.
Updated
OK, now we are now getting an update on the SummitCare aged care cases that I mentioned this morning.
Chant:
In today’s numbers, we also have three individuals associated with the Summit Care Baulkham Hills aged care facility.
As you recall, we did have some healthcare workers at that facility who tested positive and were infectious at that facility.
That facility is in lockdown and there’s been a program of testing, repeated testing of all the staff and the patients.
Late last night, that came back to indicate that three of the people at that facility – residents of that facility – a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s, and a man in his 90s. Now, pleasingly, those three individuals were fully vaccinated.
But out of the abundance of caution, they have been offered transfer to Westmead Hospital for observation, and to date no further residents have tested positive.
But there will be continual cycles of testing in both our healthcare settings and this aged care facility, and that will need to occur for 14 days since their last exposure to the infectious person.
Updated
So the good news is that only three of those 16 cases spent any time in the community while potentially infectious, a significant improvement from previous days.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant:
14 of those [16 new cases] were linked to previously confirmed cases and five of these linked as being household contacts...
No new cases were acquired overseas in the 24 hours to 8pm last night...
In terms of the new cases, 13 were in isolation throughout their infectious period, and this is what we’re really going to have an eye to. If we do see cases occurring but people are in isolation, then they pose no risk of generating further cases in the community. One case was in isolation for part of their infectious period. And two cases were infectious in the community.
Updated
NSW recorded 16 new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, 14 of which are linked to previously confirmed cases.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 4, 2021
No new overseas-acquired cases were recorded in the same period. pic.twitter.com/ICvpPvFFoZ
NSW records 16 local Covid-19 cases overnight
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now, she says 16 locally acquired cases have been recorded in the state overnight.
To 8pm last night there were 16 cases of local transmission – or community transmission. In 13 of those cases, the people were completely in isolation, one was in partial isolation, and only two were infectious in the community. So, we are seeing numbers go the right way.
Updated
Reporter:
This latest case at the Prince Charles Hospital from yesterday, what position did she hold and how far around the hospital did she travel?
Young:
That’s what’s being sorted through contact tracing at the moment. So, that’s all being worked through. But she had the Alpha variant, so we will now have to go and work through. But she’s in a hospital, so we know who she’s come into contact with...
Reporter:
Are any of [the Alpha cluster cases] being treated at the Prince Charles Hospital?
Young:
Yes, but she hasn’t been in the Covid ward. We need to work through all of those very sensible questions you’re asking.
Updated
The Queensland chief health officer has been asked about the mask mandate still in place for large areas of the state.
For the next 12 days, they are absolutely essential. And then we will see what happens after that.
What reassures me in Queensland is that every time I say, “Now is the time to put on masks,” people do it. So, I don’t think you need to be wearing masks when we don’t have cases out there. So, it’s when we know that we’ve got the virus out in our community, that’s when you need to wear a mask.
Sunday 4 July – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 4, 2021
One new locally acquired case.
One new overseas acquired case.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/RyxOPc3ov9
In an interesting twist, it appears that one of the cases at the Prince Charles Hospital was not actually related to the infected Covid-19 ward administration worker, as we previously assumed, but was simply coincidentally infected, but an entirely separate outbreak.
Young:
Then, another piece of information that came through yesterday late, that is that we got the genomics sequence results for that worker who worked at the Prince Charles Hospital one day while infectious. They have the Alpha variant and it is confirmed that it is clustering with that outbreak from the Portuguese restaurant. So there is another case there that has been in the community that we need to work through how that worker got it.
They do not have the Delta variant related to the receptionist who worked outside the Covid ward. They have the Alpha variants and we already have the full genomic sequence back and it is clustering with the Portuguese restaurant.
There is a lot of information there, but I just want to summarise it that it is reassuring that it looks like we just had the one outbreak that we need to continue to closely manage. We have done this before, we have managed Alpha outbreaks very effectively before, we can continue to manage this one.
Updated
Queensland outbreaks 'relatively under control', chief health officer says
Gosh, there are so many different little Covid-19 outbreaks in Queensland at the moment.
Here is Young running through them all, and luckily it’s almost all good news:
If you remember, I mentioned the worker at the domestic terminal of Brisbane Airport who tested positive on a surveillance test. They tested 700 people through those two airports and one person, who was well, tested positive. We have gone and done repeat testing, multiple repeat testing on different platforms and it has confirmed that that was a false positive. So that person was not a case, which is very good.
We still have those two Delta variant cases at the airport, there has been so much testing since then. I am relatively comfortable where that is.
Then we have had the miners. And thank you to every single one of the miners, I know the resources industry has a really good process in place and it was tested through that outbreak, but I am confident that we have tested all of those miners and we don’t have other cases. So that is good news. They were Delta of course.
Then we had the airline staff on a number of Virgin flights. We have tested all of those and we haven’t found any other cases, and they were Delta.
It looks like the outbreaks that were concerning me are now relatively under control.
Updated
Young:
There is another person of interest that I am doing further testing on, another close contact from the Greek community centre. So just working through whether or not that is a case. Ultimately, this is good. These are alpha cases, we know they are linked directly to the outbreak that we have going on.
Updated
Young has also confirmed that one of the cases included in yesterday’s numbers, an airport baggage handler from Carindale, was, in fact a false positive and is no longer regarded as a case.
Updated
Queensland records one new locally acquired Covid case
Queensland has reported one new locally acquired case of coronavirus but the person was in home isolation, the state’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, has announced.
There were two new cases overnight, one in hotel quarantine, a traveller who had recently returned from overseas, and the second is in home quarantine, went into home quarantine on 2 July because they were a close contact of the Greek community centre.
That person has now been transferred to hospital. There is another person of interest that Young said was undergoing further testing.
Updated
Foley:
The first pillar in that four point plan is getting Australians vaccinated, to something that looks like comparable levels with our international partners in the OECD. We are 34th out of 34. We have a long way to go.
Updated
Just back to the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, for a moment:
Reporter:
There’s a woman in your electorate facing breast cancer surgery without her partner who hasn’t been able or given permission to fly home from Canada. Do you accept that your government’s support for further caps on international arrivals is causing undue pain and stress for Victorians who are separated from their loved ones?
Foley:
So I’m very familiar with his case but you’ll forgive me if I don’t talk about individual cases publicly.
But what I do know is that national cabinet unanimously signed off on arrangements that do include grounds for compassionate travel to be returned. It’s all around the issue of how do we keep Victoria and indeed Australia safe.
National cabinet’s four-point plan, we still have to see the details, but we want to make sure that, until such time as we are vaccinated, to something that looks like comparable levels with our OECD partners, that this temporary reduction is in place, because we’re faced with a really hard choice. Do we lock, everyone down, or do we lock a few people out?
Updated
This was the question I asked in my column yesterday: what to do when the political class becomes immune to embarrassment after ANAO reports? The answer can only be abolish these types of grants, or strengthen guardrails against pork barrelling. Who will take that on? #auspol https://t.co/YldfKiAtPG
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) July 4, 2021
Look, yes I know that politicians posting videos of babies is borderline propaganda, but this baby is really cute, so I’ll let it slide this one time.
Noah seems very keen to read my biography by @KarenMMiddleton #CuteAlert 🤣 pic.twitter.com/PvHQQtgdKX
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 4, 2021
For those who follow along with the blog on weekdays, you will know that I have an ongoing pet peeve with the extremely inconsistent and chaotic graphic design choices made by the Queensland premier’s social media team.
Today, just when we thought she has done it all, she continues to shock and astonish me.
A triple collum text tweet. So simple, yet so ugly. Why? How? And once again, why?
COVID-19 is strong – but Queensland is stronger 💪 pic.twitter.com/RPyooEpEGY
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 3, 2021
Thank you so much Michael for pointing this out to me on Twitter.
Victorian border opens to south east Queensland, Townsville, Perth and Peel
Large areas of Queensland and WA have now been downgraded to orange zones by the Victorian government, allowing people to once again travel to and from the southern state as long as they have the correct permit and isolate until receiving a negative test result.
Foley:
As of 1am this morning 10 local government areas in south-east Queensland and the Townsville area, as well as the Perth and Peel regions in Western Australia, moved from red zones to orange zones.
That means of course that if you are returning to Victoria from those areas, you must get tested within 72 hours of your return, and isolate until you receive your negative test.
People who have entered Victoria on red zone permits from these areas, when they were red zones, and are currently undergoing their 14-day home quarantine will be contacted by the Department of Health today, about the next steps that they take.
And it’s important that you take that advice, there’ll be a range of circumstances, some people have just got here. Some people will be well into their quarantine. Some people will have had their tests, others none. You just need to follow the specific advice that applies to you in your circumstances.
Updated
But it looks like there is hope.
Foley:
Victoria stands ready to deliver more vaccines, both through our state line clinics, our GPs and our pharmacists and others, as soon as we get the extra allocation.
There are discussions this week with the commonwealth led by Lieutenant General [John Frewen] and his team, and we look forward to those successful discussions starting to plan and deliver the promised increases in vaccines, particularly the Pfizer ... in coming weeks.
And we are hopeful that those conversations will be fruitful.
Updated
Victoria says Pfizer rollout to be reduced by 20% due to cut in supply
The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, says the state’s rollout of Pfizer doses will soon reduce by 20% due to a reduction in supplies from the federal government.
Over the coming weeks, we will see that reduced by some 20% to just over, 80,000 a week, as a result of the reductions in supply ... from the commonwealth for Pfizer.
At the same time, we see an uptick in allocations for New South Wales, and while we wish them every success of course ... what we are concerned about is that there is a clear appetite for Victorians to get vaccinated.
What we have to do is just calibrate that down, based on the fact that we are having now seen the reduction in Pfizer being provided to the state.
Updated
The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, is speaking now from Melbourne.
Updated
Just jumping back to that chat with the federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham, for a moment. He was asked on ABC Insiders about fairly scathing auditor-general report this week that found the government’s $660 million commuter car park fund (rolled out just before the last election) was not open or transparent. The report found the projects were nominated by Coalition MPs and candidates and the overwhelming majority of the cash went to seats the incumbent government was keen to win.
But the finance minister didn’t seem keen to admit to too much:
We are focused on delivering the election promises and that includes local infrastructure, such as car parks or major infrastructure project such as the Sydney second airport or the inland rail corridor. We will act in terms of recommendations of the auditor-general’s report, as we always do, to see if processes can be enhanced into the future...
In a parliamentary democracy, part of the process is local MPs advocate on behalf of their electorates. That’s what electorates expect, that’s what they vote on and governments are expected to listen and work to some of those advocacy points where need is genuine and where it is well argued and that is precisely what governments will continue to do so.
Host David Speers:
With respect, minister, the auditor-general says this was not needs-based. If you look at the congestion where this was worse, that’s not where the money went. It went to seats that you were trying to hold and win.
Birmingham:
David, the Australian people had their chance and voted the Morrison government back in the next election and we are determined to get on with local infrastructure, as we are nation-building infrastructure.
Speers:
So we can expect more of this?
Birmingham:
Well, David we are going to continue to deliver infrastructure projects for the nation because they lift our national productivity, they help Australians in terms of whether it be their access to public transport, the time it takes them to get home – these are all about ensuring that local communities get what they need, but nationally we get the productivity dividend that comes from faster movement of people and of freight.
Updated
Nooooooooooo!
My man deputy chief health officer Prof Allen Cheng is finishing his secondment to the Victorian health department and going back to Monash University.
I for one will be sad to see him go at the daily press conferences.
I've been off Twitter for a few months, but just a brief note to confirm that I've completed my secondment to the Victorian Dept of Health and will be resuming my usual roles at Alfred Health and Monash Universityhttps://t.co/5jOUCi8bO7
— Allen Cheng (@peripatetical) July 3, 2021
Updated
Plenty of Pfizer available for young people in 'months to come', Birmingham says
Simon Birmingham says he is confident that plenty of Pfizer doses are on the way:
We will see a marked step up in terms of availability of the Pfizer vaccine, from around 300,000 doses a week up to an average of 600,000 doses a week and further increased forecast in September.
So, young Australians should have confidence that they will see a full opening up in the months to come, and that may even be sooner than months, but we do have to continue just to make sure we work through the different priority stages of the rollout that has seen more than 8 million doses administered to date to Australians, and has seen some 70% of over-70s receive their first dose, 50% of over-50s receive their first dose.
Updated
On the topic of purpose-built quarantine facilities, the federal government has committed to creating three across the country, but these will likely be built from scratch, raising criticism from some state premiers who want existing commonwealth facilities transformed in order to have them operating sooner.
Insiders host David Speers:
The proposal in Queensland for a purpose-built facility at the Wellcamp Airport at Toowoomba – that’s been on the table since last week. Apparently only will take 12 weeks to put it together, 600 beds. Why hasn’t it happened?
Finance minister Simon Birmingham:
That facility cannot meet the criteria that have been worked out in terms of approximate to an international airport and proximity to health and hospital facilities and that’s why we’ve proposed an alternative site with the Queensland government and we expect that move into the different stages of feasibility assessment, as we’ve done with the Victoria government...
Speers:
It might not be perfect, but given the situation we’re in and the thousands of Australians overseas, “We are going to halve the intake,” surely you will do what you can to make it happen?
Birmingham:
Around 600,000 people returned since hotel quarantine, around 300,000 since March of last year. Australia has done an incredible job to have people return whilst continuing to suppress the virus and keep it out of the community, so it has been a very successful model to date, that was the model that could be stood up as fast as possible at the time. Yes, now, we are moving to create some of these facilities [which will] be about long-term resilience and providing responsiveness into the future to whatever may be thrown at us ... which none of us can necessarily predict in terms of this virus or other challenges to come.
Updated
Insiders host David Speers has questioned if international arrival numbers would have had to be cut if the federal government had spent the last 18 months establishing purpose-built quarantine facilities.
Federal finance minister Simon Birmingham:
No, David, I don’t think we are ever going to be able to replicate the number of places in terms of hotel quarantine in other types of facilities.
Now, we are building facilities in Melbourne, we are in discussions proceeding positively with the Queensland and West Australian governments to have additional facilities there.
We scaled up Howard Springs, as I said, to a 2,000-person capacity. So, all of those things will be there and will provide greater resilience in the future for the uncertainties that will come in the future.
Updated
We will jump back to this interview, but just an FYI, we are expecting to hear from the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian at 11am.
Yesterday the state recorded 35 local cases, raising fears about how effective the lockdown has been. I’ll bring you the updated numbers as soon as I can.
Updated
The federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham, is speaking on ABC Insiders now about the government’s decision to halve the number of international arrivals to help prevent more Delta virus outbreaks in Australia.
But this decision will make it considerably more difficult for the thousands of stranded Australians still stick overseas to come home, including more than 10,000 in India.
Birmingham:
This decision is one that just deals with the reality of the fact that the risk profile changes as we continue to move through this pandemic.
The Delta variant does change that profile in terms of the transmissibility of that and risks associated with it, and so we will continue to do what we can to support returning Australians – some 620,000 people have returned to Australia since the message was given in March of last year to do so...
The risk is an ever present and a real one and [that is] why decisions were taken on Friday.
We will still put 2,000 people through the Howard Springs facility with its capacity having lifted to that level on a routine basis. We will run more quarantine facilitated flights where we possibly can, and we will support those returning Australians as best we can whilst also providing the consular and, where necessary, financial assistance on the ground overseas, too.
Updated
Just a reminder for those in Sydney following along with the blog this morning, a number of new exposure sites and venues of concern have been added in the last day, including a number from the southwest of the city.
If you want to check all of the details, have a look at the full list below.
Updated
Want to learn more about the infamous “Delta variant” that everyone is talking about? Can I suggest this fantastic explainer from science reporter Donna Lu.
Several Sydney schools have been caught up in the latest outbreak involving the Delta variant, amid concerns about cases of school transmission of Covid-19.
Thousands of Sydney students have been asked to isolate during the school holidays, after several positive Covid cases at schools in South Coogee and Rose Bay.
Last month, the Delta variant was detected in a child in grade five in a North Melbourne school, which was possibly the result of child-to-child transmission.
The new variant seems to spread more rapidly than previous strains of Covid-19, but is it more transmissible in young people than adults?
You can read the full explainer below:
Facebook and the Aboriginal creative consultancy Creative x have teamed up to launch the “Connect to Country” campaign for this year’s NAIDOC Week, the annual celebration of the culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
This year’s NAIDOC theme is “heal country” calling for greater protections for land, water and Aboriginal sacred sites and cultural heritage, reports Andi Yu from AAP.
It ties in with the Connect to Country pitch to non-Indigenous Australians. A video posted this week on the campaign’s Facebook page asks “Where you from?”
Wherever you live right now, you’re on traditional country. And most don’t know how to spell it. Doesn’t feel right does it?...
We’re inviting you to rediscover all the places that you think you know and learn to see them with a brand old perspective.
Australians are encouraged to learn how to acknowledge country and how to connect with their local community and language groups.
Acknowledging country is easy, you just have to hit the right beats,” says Gamilaroi woman and Nine Network presenter Brooke Boney for the campaign.
Acknowledge the traditional owners of the country you’re on, make sure you say the name right, pay respects to elders past and present. Those are the key bits and the rest is up to you.
Other tips include engaging with traditional owner events, following Indigenous organisations and supporting businesses.
Bidjigal man Brad Cooke, the co-founder of creative consultancy Campfire x, told AAP, Connect to Country was the beginning of a movement.
For a lot of non-Indigenous people who’ve never been around Aboriginal people or communities, sometimes there are little or no Indigenous friends on their Facebook page...
It’s showing them something that they would never see alternatively themselves.
There’s a genuine willingness for non-Indigenous Australians to want to engage with Indigenous peoples or communities, they just have a fear.
A fear that they’re not going to do it the right way. We’re looking to remove that fear.
Facebook’s location-specific technology will be used to target geographic areas with stories relating to the area’s local Indigenous community.
Updated
Victoria records no locally acquired cases
There is some good news from Victoria to start the day, with no new locally acquired cases overnight.
I believe this is the fourth consecutive day without community transmission, (which as a Melbournian is nice to hear).
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and 1 new case acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 3, 2021
- 15,151 vaccine doses were administered
- 20,441 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/3g2z20I2c3
Three Sydney aged care residents test positive for Covid-19
Hello and welcome to the weekend blog. Matilda Boseley here to take you through all of Sunday’s news.
First up, there is a pretty serious situation unfolding in the Sydney aged care system.
Three residents have tested positive to Covid-19 at a north-west Sydney aged care home after they were in close contact with two staff members who tested positive last week.
Two of the three residents who tested positive on Saturday night at the SummitCare facility in Baulkham Hills have been transferred to Westmead hospital as a precaution, a spokesperson said on Sunday morning. They are showing “no symptoms whatsoever”.
The third resident remains at the home at the request of their family.
SummitCare says 96% of residents at the home are vaccinated, and the facility is now in lockdown.
We are expecting an update later today after SummitCare speaks with the NSW health department, so I will bring that to you as soon as possible.
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 or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com
Updated
