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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Lisa Cox and Christopher Knaus (now)

Government announces 50 new cases amid fears of extended lockdown – as it happened

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced 50 new Covid cases on Saturday, 26 of which were infectious in the community.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced 50 new Covid cases on Saturday, 26 of which were infectious in the community. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

What happened today, Saturday 10 July

We’re going to wind things up for the evening. Here’s a reminder of what we learned today:

  • NSW recorded another 50 Covid-19 cases, 26 of which were in the community throughout their infectious period and a further 11 for part of their infectious period.
  • The NSW premier, Gladys Berejklian, warned the lockdown could be prolonged if people did not follow the current restrictions.
  • There are now 16 people in intensive care in the state, including a teenager, and 47 people with Covid in total are in hospital.
  • Of the people in hospital 79% are unvaccinated. No one who has received two doses of a vaccine is in hospital.
  • Victoria warned it is likely to introduce a hard border with NSW.
  • Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia recorded no new local cases.
  • Health alerts have been issued in Tasmania and Victoria after a healthcare worker left Tasmania, flying via Melbourne, on 2 July and two days later tested positive in London.
  • The television and radio presenter Jonathan Coleman has died after a battle with prostate cancer.

We will see you back here tomorrow. Stay safe.

Updated

NSW has updated its list of venues of concern. New close contact venues include Bupa Dental in Miranda from 10.50am to 12pm on Wednesday 7 July, Chemist Warehouse in Punchbowl on Thursday 8 July from 9.20am to 9.40am and Direct Trade in Merrylands from 2.20pm to 2.50pm on Saturday 3 July.

The full list of venues is on the NSW Health website.

And there is also a reminder about changes to Victoria’s travel permit system from 11.59pm tonight.

  • Northern Territory: Alice Springs and greater Darwin – incorporating the City of Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield – have changed from orange zones to green zones. The whole of the Northern Territory is now a green zone.
  • Queensland: The local government areas of Brisbane, Moreton Bay and regions of the Sunshine Coast have changed from red to orange zones.
  • Queensland: The local government areas of Townsville (including Magnetic Island), Palm Island, Ipswich, Logan, Redland, Gold Coast, Lockyer Valley, Noosa, Scenic Rim and Somerset have changed from orange to green zones.
  • Western Australia: The Perth metropolitan region and Peel region have changed from orange to green zones. The whole of Western Australia is now a green zone.

All LGAs in greater Sydney, including the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Shellharbour and Wollongong, remain red zones.

The ACT and regional NSW are orange zones.

Updated

Victoria has released its daily Covid-19 statement. It is the state’s 10th day in a row of no locally acquired cases. There were three new cases in travellers in hotel quarantine.

We learned earlier today about a recent Covid-19 case in London who left Australia from Melbourne airport. The Victorian government has said the following:

Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Health has today contacted passengers on a recent Launceston to Melbourne flight that included a passenger who has since tested positive for Covid-19 in London.

The passenger landed at Melbourne airport on 2 July, transferred to the international terminal and then flew to London via Singapore.

Due to the brief time the case spent at Melbourne airport and the lack of current evidence that the case contracted the illness in Tasmania, the Melbourne domestic and international terminals are not considered exposure sites.

Passengers who were on Qantas flight QF1542 on Friday 2 July are being contacted and asked to isolate, get tested and remain isolated until they get a negative test result.

Victorian public health authorities are working through flight manifests today and are working closely with their colleagues in Tasmania.

Tasmania has not recorded a positive Covid-19 case since December 2020 and the new London case spent two weeks in Tasmania prior to their departure to the UK, making it unlikely that the case contracted Covid-19 in Tasmania.

Tasmanian public health services have taken a precautionary approach and listed public exposure sites linked to this case while they were in Tasmania. These exposure sites can be seen at: https://www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au/families-community/public-exposure-sites-in-tasmania

Updated

Western Australia has issued new advice for people who have arrived in the state from Tasmania recently:

WA Health has issued updated advice for travellers who have recently returned from Tasmania, after a public health alert was issued for parts of the state today.

The Tasmanian Department of Health has released a list of sites that were visited by a person who tested positive for Covid-19 two days after they left the state and arrived in London.

WA chief health officer Dr Andrew Robertson said there was currently no evidence there had been any community cases in Tasmania or that the person contracted Covid-19 while in Tasmania or was infectious while in Tasmania.

“We are simply erring on the side of caution,” he said. “The risk to the West Australian community is extremely low.”

Anyone who has recently arrived into WA from Tasmania and has been to one of the exposure sites in the past 14 days during the relevant times is required to isolate, be tested immediately (within 48 hours) and remain isolated until they receive a negative test.

“Given the risk is extremely low in this case, people do not need to quarantine 14 days,” Dr Robertson said.

Updated

The Victorian government is asking residents of the state who are in NSW to return to Victoria as soon as possible.

NSW police say 67 infringement notices were issued in south-western Sydney on Friday, but the overwhelming feedback from officers is that residents are complying with the Covid restrictions. AAP reports:

Police issued 67 infringement notices in south-west Sydney on Friday, the NSW deputy police commissioner, Gary Worboys, has said.

The area has since Friday been the epicentre of a high-visibility police operation designed to enforce compliance with public health orders.

Worboys said the overwhelming feedback from police was that residents in the area were complying with lockdown restrictions.

The operation will now expand to areas where case numbers are growing, like Sutherland, Hurstville and Miranda in the city’s south.

“We really want people to take responsibility for their own actions. We want people to realise that the decisions they make will affect what happens over the next days,” he said.

A total of 167 fines were issued across NSW on Friday, including for a gathering held in Randwick and another on the Central Coast.

Seventy-six of Friday’s infringements were $200 fines for failing to wear a mask.

Ten further people were charged with failing to comply with public health orders. All of those charges were associated with other criminal offences, police say.

Updated

NSW Health is increasing testing capacity in south-western Sydney.

It has extended the operating hours and added new clinics.

Unfortunately, the link it provides with more details is broken. But it has tweeted out the opening hours for its testing sites in the area.

Updated

South Australia has just reported two new cases, both acquired overseas. The latest cases include a woman in her 20s and a baby girl. They were infected overseas and have been in a medi-hotel since arriving in Australia.

Two others are currently in Royal Adelaide hospital with Covid-19. They are both in a stable condition.

Updated

The Australian Banking Association says small businesses affected by lockdowns will have their loan repayments deferred for three months.

The move has been welcomed by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson.

This is a positive initiative that will help many struggling small businesses stay afloat in these challenging times.

Updated

In non-Covid news, this is extremely cool.

Mirvac has just distributed an email saying it has been “made aware of a confirmed case of Covid-19 who visited Broadway” on Thursday, between 12pm and 2pm. That is a reference to the Broadway Sydney shopping centre, for those unaware. It’s usually a very busy site.

It says the stores visited include Kmart, JB Hi-Fi, Coles, Aldi, Harvey Norman and Liquorland.

We have been advised that the centre as a whole will shortly be listed as a contact location on the NSW Health website with anyone who was in any part of the centre asked to monitor for symptoms and if they occur get tested immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative result.

Updated

Western Australia reports no new Covid cases

Western Australia has recorded no new Covid-19 cases, either locally-acquired or overseas-acquired.

The state’s total remains at 1,033 cases.

From WA Health:

WA Health is monitoring 10 Covid-19 cases: five linked to the Perth northern suburbs cluster, four among returned travellers in hotel quarantine and the seafarer transferred from the MV Emerald Indah. He remains isolated in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in a stable condition

All close and casual contacts identified in the northern suburbs community cluster have so far tested negative.

Updated

The latest vaccine rollout data has just been released.

Almost 11% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated. We’ve had 142,500 vaccinations in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 9.014m doses administered.

About 33% of eligible Australians have had a first dose.

Updated

The NSW Labor leader, Chris Minns, has issued a statement calling for a new economic support package to assist businesses through the lockdown.

He’s called for rent relief, a tourism support package and support for workers, among other things.

Updated

Victoria flags hard border closure with NSW

The head of Victoria’s Covid-19 response, Jeroen Weimar, also flagged the possibility of a hard border closure with NSW.

At the moment, greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Central Coast are part of a red zone and residents cannot travel to Victoria.

People in other parts of NSW are required to isolate until they receive a negative test if they travel into Victoria. The exception is people in border communities who have a permit to move within the border zone.

The government says it is watching the situation by the hour and, while it hasn’t made a decision yet, the current settings could change, with Weimar saying there is a strong chance a hard border will be put in place.

Updated

A few more details from that Victorian press conference.

Victorian authorities have spoken about a passenger on an international flight that left Melbourne who has since tested positive in the UK for Covid-19.

He had flown into Melbourne from Launceston on 2 July on QF1542. All passengers who were on that flight have been contacted.

He was at Melbourne airport for four hours before flying first to Singapore on flight SQ228 and then on the the UK.

The passenger had tested negative for Covid-19 before leaving Tasmania and authorities were working on the assumption he was infected while in transit overseas.

Updated

Australia’s trade minister, Dan Tehan, has also been speaking about the trial home quarantine program that will launch in Australia.

He says “ultimately it would be wonderful to see home quarantine being used in the lead up to Christmas” as more Australians are vaccinated.

He says one of the keys to success for the program will be compliance and the SA trial will include use of a mobile app.

Tehan is asked about the situation in NSW and whether the state should have locked down earlier.

He says NSW, and other states, had followed health advice.

Updated

Jeroen Weimar, the head of Victoria’s Covid-19 response has been speaking.

Victoria has recorded no positive cases again and he says most of the earlier outbreaks are under control.

A person who flew to the UK on a flight that originated in Launceston, via Melbourne, has tested positive in the UK for Covid-19.

Passengers on that Qantas flight earlier this month are being contacted.

Updated

Hello everyone, Lisa Cox here. While we wait for that Victorian presser I’m going to step away from Covid-19 to my usual round (environment) for a moment and recommend you read this piece by my colleague Graham Readfearn.

Yesterday, the environment minister, Sussan Ley, announced she would appeal a federal court ruling that she has a duty to protect Australian children from climate harm.


The case that led to this ruling has attracted a lot of international attention from legal experts who say it has done something that none of the 1,800 or so climate cases around the world since 1986 have managed.

Updated

I’m going to hand over to my colleague Lisa Cox for now.

She’ll take you through the Victorian press conference at 1.30pm and any other developments this afternoon.

Greg Dore, an infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, has warned it is not yet safe to ease restrictions and simply live with the virus. Doing so risks overwhelming the hospital system, he says.

Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Dore says:

Globally, we will be living with Covid-19 for many years – probably decades to come. However, the case that it is not yet time to “live with the virus” in NSW and Australia is compelling.

With vaccine coverage at its current levels in Sydney, a rapid spread of the virus would be inevitable if we changed course now and would bring with it the risk of our hospital system being overwhelmed.

While the further increase in cases reported yesterday and a marked increase in close contacts is concerning, particularly given the more infectious nature of the Delta variant, transmission has not outstripped potential public health control measures.

He believes the outbreak can be suppressed using public health measures.

The time to live with Covid-19 will be when high-level population vaccine coverage has been achieved. With only one third of adults having received an initial dose, and around 10 per cent completing vaccination, that time is several months away.

Updated

We’ve just published a story on the death of the television and radio presenter Jonathan Coleman, who passed away overnight after a battle with prostate cancer:

Updated

The Victorian government is planning to give us a Covid-19 update at 1.30pm.

We’ll keep you posted on that as it happens.

My colleague Nick Evershed makes a really important point on Twitter.

The government has been banging on about the imminent boost to vaccine supply, both by bringing forward Pfizer imports and ramping up AstraZeneca domestic manufacturing.

But AstraZeneca production has been down in recent weeks. Australia was receiving about 1m per week back in May.

But the domestic production at the CSL plant in Melbourne dropped considerably through June. We understand that’s due to maintenance work at the plant.

It hasn’t really climbed back up since then.

The health department told us it hadn’t directed CSL to reduce manufacturing. In a statement to the Guardian, it said:

The government has not requested nor agreed to a slow down or reduction in delivered doses of AstraZeneca.

Questions regarding the lower production rates are a matter for CSL.

Regardless, the production hasn’t climbed back up to previous levels of 1m per week.

So how is the government planning to hit its AstraZeneca targets (2.2m per week) in coming months?

Updated

Back to the Sydney Covid-19 outbreak.

Virus fragments have been detected in a number of sewerage systems. One is of particular concern.

Fragments were found in sewerage around Glenfield, in Sydney’s south-west. That is worrying because no current cases have been recorded there.

Updated

Tributes are flowing for the late radio and television presenter Jonathan Coleman.

In a statement, his family said he passed peacefully last night, surrounded by friends and family. He has fought prostate cancer for four years.

His wife, Margot, said:

Jono and I have been soulmates for close to 40 years. We have been fortunate to have lived a rich and wonderful life and I have been lucky enough to watch up-close someone with enormous talent and the special gift to make people laugh.

I will miss him beyond words and with the support of our gorgeous children, Oscar and Emily, and their partners, we will continue to live in the manner that he wanted.

Updated

Zero cases in Queensland

Queensland has recorded zero new locally-acquired cases.

Five cases were recorded in returned travellers, who are in hotel quarantine.

Australian broadcaster Jonathan Coleman dies, age 65

Some sad news.

Jonathan Coleman, the Australian television presenter, radio announcer, writer, comedian, and spokesman, has died.

Updated

The ACT has again recorded no cases. Remarkably, it’s been a year since the ACT last recorded a locally transmitted case.

The ABC had an interesting piece on the ACT’s relative success in preventing Covid-19 outbreaks this morning.

The ACT is surrounded by the NSW and typically has a large volume of Sydneysiders crossing the border.

But it has managed to keep itself Covid-19 free. The only cases in the past year have largely involved returning diplomats, who were infected overseas.

The ABC reports:

Professor Tracy Smart leads the COVID-19 team at one of Canberra’s biggest employers – the Australian National University – and has been examining the ACT’s response since the pandemic began.

She says luck has played a part, adding that the ACT now faces its greatest threat.

“I honestly have been particularly surprised over the last couple of weeks that we haven’t had a case pop up, given the traffic to and from Sydney all the time,” she says.

“We’ve done especially well considering that we’re wrapped around by NSW.”

Updated

50 cases, 26 infectious in community, amid vaccination plea

That’s the end of that update.

To recap, we’ve learned:

  • NSW has recorded 50 new locally acquired cases.
  • 26 of those cases were infectious while in the community, which is a worrying sign
  • the NSW premier has warned that things will get worse before they get better. She says the key to lifting restrictions is reducing the number of people who are infectious while in the community. That means complying with the rules.
  • 47 people are currently in hospital.
  • 16 are in ICU , including a teenager, one person in their 20s, and another person in their 30s.
  • 79% of people in hospital are unvaccinated. All people in ICU are unvaccinated.
  • not a single person in hospital has received both doses, aside from aged care residents who were hospitalised as a precaution.
  • police have issued 167 infringement notices in the past 24 hours for breaching restrictions. They found two parties, one in Randwick, and another on the Central Coast. Police say 67 fines were issued in south-west Sydney.
  • Berejiklian was hesitant to give any forecast for when Sydney might emerge from lockdowns. She says case numbers will get worse.
  • Berejiklian urged people to tell the truth to contact tracers. She said lying was making it harder to contact trace.

Updated

Bereijlian is asked about people living alone and the possibility of social bubbles, as introduced in Victoria.

That’s why we allowed the outdoor exercise with two people. If you live alone, you can have contact safely in a socially distanced way, to exercise. Obviously through various services we do have support for people isolated. For those who cannot obtain essential goods and services, we do have exception for carers for people to go and support them. There are multiple ways to support people who live on their own. If you are home learning, whether you live alone, this isn’t easy for anybody, we get that.

Berejiklian says there is 'risk of a prolonged lockdown'

Berejiklian says she is frustrated by the continued flouting of the rules.

She says “we are not asking much”.

We are not asking for much, I don’t believe, given the situation we are all in. If everybody does the right thing, we will get out of this as soon as we can. But if people continue to flout the rules, that is our biggest risk of a prolonged lockdown and none of us want to see that. Can I please urge people to look inside themselves, to really dig deep into their own consciences and do the right thing, if not for yourself, think about your closest loved ones. Think about the rest of us. If you truly care about the loved ones, those closest to you, you will refrain from doing anything which is outside the rules.

Earlier Chant said a total of 16 people were in intensive care with Covid and 79% of those in hospital had not been vaccinated.

Updated

Dr Chant is asked whether the 26 people who were infectious in the community had symptoms. She says people are infectious for 48 hours. Many people are out in the community without symptoms.

It is important to remember that people are infectious for 48 hours. So every time we give these numbers, it is the fact that the person is not necessarily doing the wrong thing, they just don’t know yet that they are infectious. We have a smattering of people that still go about their business with symptoms and that’s because they think, “I’m at low risk. I probably haven’t got it.” They second-guess symptoms and we are saying, no, don’t do that.

She urges people this weekend to avoid contact wherever possible. Stay at home and avoid interacting with people outside of your household, she says.

Even if you have to go to the shops, choose the checkout – the checkouts – self-service checkouts, keep your distance from others. This virus is transmissable, but still needs a proximity to transmit and a duration. Do not go and chat with the checkout people. Do not go and have a conversation with anyone. Make sure your mask is well-fitting. This is a time to get what you need and get out of any indoor environment and stay in your household.

Updated

Worboys clarifies that police DO NOT expect people exercising to have their identification with them to prove they are not 10km from home or outside their LGA.

But I will go back to my other point where police are investigators. So if someone provides details, regardless of whether they have a phone, driver’s licence or some other card, and police are uncertain or unsure, they will make further inquiries, and of course they can issue that personal infringement notice at any time.

Dr Chant is asked what the government is doing to ensure communications to south-west Sydney is not overly confusing.

The advice we’ve received very much from the community groups is community radio, getting video from community leaders and sharing on social media is a very effective communication tool, and we are doing a lot more pushing with the community radio and also having people from those communities speak to their community directly.

79% of hospitalised are unvaccinated

Kerry Chant reveals that 79% of those in hospital with Covid-19 have not been vaccinated.

Not a single person who has received both doses has been hospitalised, aside from the aged care residents who were hospitalised as a precaution.

Updated

She is asked why the restrictions on Friday weren’t announced earlier.

Berejiklian says the state is relying on the “best” health advice and experts.

She is also asked whether the federal government has offered the military to help the state. Berejiklian is equivocal.

Look, there is always offers, but we will make sure that we have the best resources deployed where and when we need them to make sure that we ensure compliance.

Updated

Case numbers will go up: Berejiklian

She says the only way for restrictions to be eased is to get the number of those people travelling in the community while infectious.

We need to get that 26 number as close to zero as possible. Now, that is the greatest indicator of what the situation is moving forward, and that is why we are saying to people, unfortunately, the vast majority of people who have been infectious have chosen not to do the right thing in the last few days, or when it was uncovered, and that’s why Dr Chant’s message of please tell us the truth at the beginning – you won’t get in trouble.

She says case numbers will go up. But she wants the number of those infectious in the community to go down.

I do expect the numbers to be bouncing around and the situation to worsen before it gets better. When you have so many people infectious in out community, you assume, based on the maths, case numbers to go up, but what I want to see is the number of people infectious in the community go down, and that is what is key. We cannot have people with symptoms acting as though it is OK to leave the house or OK not to get tested until they get sick.

Updated

Berejiklian is asked when we can possibly expect to emerge from lockdown.

She says it will depend on compliance with the restrictions.

The premier is not drawn on whether the lockdown could extend beyond July.

What will determine how quickly we get out of the lockdown is what each individual does, and it does come down to a handful of people. Unfortunately, in a pandemic, we rely on everybody doing the right thing at all times. We know the settings we have in place are the right settings at this point in time. But what we don’t know is how many people will choose to flout them, and that’s why it’s up to each individual. Please know – and I can’t reiterate this enough – if you do the wrong thing, the people you will hurt the most are those closest to you. Those closest to you. Your immediate household, friends you have been in touch with, a work colleague you may have been in touch with, the people that are closest to you, that you love the most are the ones that are going to get the virus if you do the wrong thing.

Updated

He warns Sydneysiders against disguising travel across the state as “some sort of business trip”.

Police are investigators. Police will ask questions, they will find out the truth, and if you need to be issued an infringement notice, they will.

Worboys said police have come across two parties. The first was in Randwick in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The second was on the Central Coast.

A couple of examples that I would like to highlight is in Randwick, where police were called to a noise complaint, found eight men essentially having a party or a gathering at Randwick, clearly against the public health orders. Eight infringement notices were issued and that party was shut down and those people left that house. Another incident up on the Central Coast at The Entrance where police again were called to a residence there where they found five people gathering in that residence.

Updated

Police deputy commissioner Gary Worboys says 167 personal infringement notices were issued in the past 24 hours, including 67 in south-west Sydney.

He says:

Overwhelmingly, the response by police, when I speak to them, is that the vast majority of people in south-west Sydney are being compliant.

Updated

Chant says there’s been 10 more cases linked to the party at the Meriton Suites in Waterloo. That takes that outbreak to 35 cases.

I think what we are seeing is chains of transmission and we are having difficulty getting ahead of those chains. We need everyone to stay hunkered down this weekend, stay within your household, and if anyone in your household has the most minimal of symptoms get tested.

Updated

47 hospitalised for Covid-19 in NSW: Chant

Chief health officer Kerry Chant says there are now 47 people hospitalised with Covid-19.

Covid is a severe disease associated with hospitalisation and, tragically, in some circumstances, death. It is critical that we follow the stay-at-home rules. I’m making an impassioned plea for the community this weekend to follow diligently the advice we’ve provided.

Nineteen of the people in hospital are under the age of 55. Eight are under the age of 30.

Of the 16 people in ICU, one is a teenager, one is in their 20s and one is in their 30s.

Updated

In saying that, Berejiklian says she has seen a significant downturn in mobility across the city. That is welcome, she says.

She also suggests people have been withholding information from contact tracers when they are first interviewed.

Eventually our health contact tracers get to the truth. Please tell the truth from the first minute rather than after repeated conversations, because otherwise you put your closest family and friends at the greatest risk, and that is something we don’t want to see.

Berejiklian says the majority of the 50 cases were transmitted by family or friends. She urges people to follow the rules. There’s evidence of people flouting the rules, she says.

I do want to state that out of those 50 cases, the vast majority of those cases – and I can’t stress this enough – are close family or friends of people who have Covid. So, people are getting the virus and then spreading it to those closest to them. If you truly love your parents, your sisters, your best friends, please stick to the rules.

Updated

'Things are going to get worse': Berejiklian

Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now.

She says 26 of the new cases were infectious in the community.

That is the number we need to get down to as close to zero as possible. When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better.

She is praising the high testing numbers.

42,000 people tested to 8pm last night and whilst that has been a sustained figure and Dr Chant likes to see that number 40,000 or more, given the circumstances we would like to see more people coming forward and getting tested, especially those highlighted in Dr Chant’s report, and especially those who have been in the venues highlighted by New South Wales Health. Last night to 8pm we had 50 new cases of community transmission and, most concerningly, 26 of those were infectious in the community.

Updated

Of those locally acquired cases, 37 are linked to a known case or cluster. Fourteen are household contacts and 23 are close contacts – and the source of infection for 13 cases remains under investigation.

NSW records 50 new cases

Bad news for New South Wales. The state has recorded 50 new locally acquired cases.

Updated

Gladys Berejiklian to update Covid numbers at 11am

We’re roughly 10 minutes away from hearing from the New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Sit tight. We’ll have the latest case numbers and advice shortly.

Updated

Looking for some good news? We have an excellent weekend of sport ahead of us.

Tonight, the wonderful Ash Barty will appear in the Wimbledon final, taking on Karolina Pliskova.

Richard Evans has a lovely piece looking at Barty’s exploits, her place in history, and her emulation of the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

We’ll be live-blogging all the action from Wimbledon tonight.

Early Monday morning, we have the much-anticipated final of the Euros. England are of course taking on Italy at Wembley.

For all you early risers and fanatics, my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes has captured the trials of waking before the sun every morning to watch football half a world away.

Updated

Albanese is criticising the government’s “spin” on Friday, after it dropped a story to News Corp suggesting it had tripled its Pfizer order. In fact, it had brought forward deliveries of its existing order. The volume of doses (40m) on order has not changed.

Albanese:

The circumstances here are, we had a big splash yesterday morning in the newspaper and then we had a statement from Pfizer that contradicted that big splash. I think we should be getting more vaccines as quickly as possible. I hope that occurs. But the statement from Pfizer yesterday made it very clear that there weren’t additional vaccines and that they were sticking to the agreed schedule in terms of the delivery of those vaccines. What we need is less spin and more delivery from this government.

Albanese is asked about the prospect of a travel bubble with Singapore.

He says it’s the last thing on the minds of those locked down in Sydney.

The circumstance at the moment is a week ago we had 12 million Australians locked down. We still have 5 million at least locked down in the greater Sydney area and those lockdowns have increased in terms of their severity. The idea that we are talking about bubbles, we are nowhere near there. If you are locked down at the moment, you are not worried about a bubble. A travel bubble to Singapore let me tell you. What you are worried about is your family and your friends.

'This lockdown is Scott Morrison's lockdown': Albanese

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is speaking in Brisbane.

He’s criticising comments by Scott Morrison suggesting that Australians had enough savings built up to get through the lockdown.

Now, a prime minister who says that people who are doing it tough have got a buffer in terms of their savings to get through this pandemic, and to get through lockdowns, just shows how out of touch he is. The fact is that it is casual workers, it’s people who are losing their income who are most likely to have no savings whatsoever.

He says “this lockdown is Scott Morrison’s lockdown”.

It’s a direct result of his failure to roll out the vaccine effectively and to have national quarantine facilities. And he has an obligation to help those Australians who have been doing it tough today.

Updated

If you’re in Greater Sydney, a reminder that you may be asked to carry ID or show evidence of where you live to prove you’re not 10km from home.

Australia Post has released data showing a significant increase in online shopping during the last fortnight.

Australia Post says almost 4m households have purchased online in the past two weeks. That’s up 6% compared with last year.

New South Wales was largely responsible, as you’d expect. The state accounted for 35.1% of all online purchases. Australia Post general manager parcel and express services Ben Franzi said the recent online sales growth was similar to that seen last year.

We know that when restrictions tighten people buy more online. In fact, during lockdowns online purchase growth almost doubles when compared to non-lockdown periods according to our data.

Updated

More than 700 mine workers will start flying home after being locked down due to a Covid-19 case recorded last month.

The workers were forced to isolate at Newmont’s Granites Mine, which is 540km north-west of Alice Springs. They have been stuck in their rooms since and have warned of poor conditions and food shortages. The 14-day quarantine is now up.

AAP reports the workers will begin to fly home from Saturday.

Newmont Australia vice-president Alex Bates said the company’s first concern had been for the welfare of its employees and their families.

I would like to thank our employees and business partners for their patience and commitment during quarantine, which has been a difficult experience.

Updated

AAP reports that the Covid-19 pandemic is changing Australia’s shopping behaviour.

New research from international marketing communications agency Wunderman Thompson Commerce shows more people are opting to purchase online, taking their inspiration from social media, and want quicker deliveries.

AAP reports:

More than 2000 Australians who buy online at least once a month participated in the Future Shopper 2021 survey, part of a wider pandemic research project conducted among 28,000 consumers in 17 countries.

About 72 per cent of the Australian respondents said COVID-19 had changed their purchasing behaviours and they would retain some or all of the behaviours.

Sixty per cent said they believed online shopping would prove more important in 2021.

The report shows consumers crying out for faster delivery, with one-in-two wishing more brands and retailers offered next-day delivery.

More than 70 per cent suggested they are happy to receive personalisation samples.

NSW Covid-19 update scheduled for 11am

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant and NSW police deputy commissioner Gary Worboys will speak to the media at 11am.

Updated

Labor has criticised the belated decision to establish an mRNA manufacturing capability in Australia. The lack of mRNA manufacturing in Australia has left the nation wholly reliant on imports of Pfizer and Moderna.

Labor MP Anika Wells told the ABC:

Why didn’t we prioritise local manufacturing, the production of an mRNA vaccine back in March 2020? Because we are now – you know, in July 2021, you would think we will be able to have these things rolled out by now. I think what our work as local MPs should be is supporting local business, encouraging local manufacturing and making decisions to manufacture stuff onshore, locally where we absolutely possibly can. This is a real missed opportunity.

The federal government has since announced it is exploring the business case for developing an mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability. It says it would not have been able to establish mRNA manufacturing in time to aid with the current rollout.

Wells also criticised the decision to gamble too extensively on AstraZeneca.

Liberal MP Tim Wilson, in response, accuses her of undermining the AstraZeneca vaccine:

I think that the evidence on this is actually extremely clear and it’s responsible to encourage Australians to get vaccinated. Now obviously there has been a risk assessment around prioritisation, but it is very important that politicians don’t seek to inflame community concerns against actual risk.

Updated

Queensland records zero cases

And more good news outside of NSW. Queensland has also recorded zero new locally acquired cases. Five overseas cases were recorded but all are in hotel quarantine.

Updated

Victoria records tenth day of zero cases

Good news out of Victoria. A tenth straight day of zero locally-acquired cases in the state.

There were 23,265 tests conducted, Three new cases were acquired overseas. Those cases are all in hotel quarantine.

There are, of course, a number of restrictions in Greater Sydney that remain unchanged after Friday’s announcement, including the reasons you must have to leave the house.

The only time you are allowed to leave the home is if:

  • you are shopping for food or other essential goods and services
  • to obtain medical care to compassionate needs (only one visitor can fulfil carers’ responsibilities or visit for compassionate reasons)
  • to exercise
  • for essential work or education, if you cannot work or study at home

A reminder that you can have no visitors to your home.

“Nobody should be coming into your home, nobody that is outside of your household,” Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday.

You are, however, allowed to visit a partner.

Outside of Sydney, the NSW regions face the same restrictions as they did prior to Friday.

They include:

  • Up to five visitors to a household.
  • a capacity limit of either 25 people or one person per four square metres for businesses
  • a 20-person limit applies to classes or activities at a gym.
  • you must be seated to drink alcohol at pubs and bars
  • singing and dancing is not allowed. Dancing is allowed at weddings.
  • theatres, cinemas, and music halls are restricted to 50% seating capacity or one person per four square metres.
  • travel to Greater Sydney is highly restricted

Updated

In a piece published this morning, I looked at Australia’s early vaccine procurement decisions, which go a long way in explaining our poor rollout.

One decision that has come under particular scrutiny recently is t to only order 10m Pfizer doses in November 2020, four months after our allies had made far larger deals.

I spoke with former Pfizer global research and development president John LaMattina. He told me the minuscule order was “unconscionable”.

Once the amazing and unprecedented efficacy of the mRNA vaccines was established, ordering a mere 10m doses was unconscionable. When both Pfizer and Moderna demonstrated the potent efficacy of their vaccines, every country should immediately have reached out to these companies to place their orders.

In the case of Australia, enough vaccine to inoculate its entire population over the age of 18 should have been done at once. Assuming that is about 20m Australians, this would have cost about US$780m … How much has Australia spent on Covid-19 relief packages?

But, in terms of supply at least, there is some hope on the horizon. Even before Morrison’s bizarre “announcement” on Friday, we knew that Pfizer supplies were expected to increase significantly in coming months.

Former health department secretary Stephen Duckett says that, soon, supply will no longer be an issue. The focus then must turn to fixing logistics, reversing hesitancy, and widening the distribution channels by setting up more mass vaccination hubs and extending clinic open hours.

Updated

Just a reminder of those new restrictions in New South Wales, which were announced yesterday and came into effect overnight.

  • browsing in shops is not allowed. Essential shopping only.
  • only two people are allowed to conduct outdoor exercise together at a time, down from 10.
  • exercise is now only allowed within your local government area, or within 10km of your place of residence.
  • carpooling is not allowed outside of members of your household
  • funerals are now allowed only 10 attendees. In force from Sunday.

Gladys Berejiklian has warned that the lockdown is likely to stay in place until those case numbers come down.

Updated

The police operation in south-western Sydney is continuing this weekend. Roughly 100 extra officers, including mounted police, were sent Liverpool, Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas. Police have denied suggestions they are targeting multicultural communities.

But that’s not how many on the ground see it. The ABC has just spoken to Abdul Kandakji, a hairdresser in Bankstown.

There is a lot of police presence in Bankstown and, like I said earlier, if you listen to the young crowd, they feel like they’re being intimidated, they are being unfairly treated compared to the lockdowns that happened in the eastern suburbs. The presence of police over there wasn’t as strong and strict as it was in Bankstown and, look, I understand they are doing that to sort of have control and stop the spread of the disease, but the young generation don’t understand that. They think, ‘Oh, look, they’re picking on us’.

pic
A police officer and a shopkeeper in Fairfield. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Updated

My colleague Melissa Davey has taken a deeper look at why the Delta variant is causing such chaos in NSW. She writes that the NSW strategy of delaying harsh measures as long as possible and relying on people to be sensible has not been enough.

But the experts she spoke to said it is not too late to contain the outbreak. Using police and fines was not the right approach, according to chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, Prof Catherine Bennett.

You can’t just add more fines and bring in more police, because if people don’t realise they’re doing the wrong thing, they’re not thinking about fines either.

Instead, Bennett called for messaging to focus on testing and the work of local health teams.

We need to share that positive messaging that support is in place, and put testing in places where people feel safe and where it’s easy, and show that it is endorsed by community leaders.

You can read the whole piece here:

Updated

Today was meant to be the day Greater Sydney emerged from a two-week lockdown.

Instead, Sydney is in the midst of the toughest Covid-19 restrictions in more than a year and the possibility the lockdown will stretch beyond its scheduled end next weekend.

The new rules, limiting exercise to groups of two and banning browsing at shops, came into effect on Friday at 5pm.

“Unless there’s a dramatic turnaround in the numbers, I can’t see how we’ll be in a position to ease restrictions by next Friday,” Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday.

“[This is] the greatest threat we have faced in NSW since the pandemic started … [and] at the moment the numbers are not heading in the right direction.”

Twenty-nine of the cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday were in the community for some or all of their infectious period.

Prime minister Scott Morrison on Friday advised Sydneysiders to “push through” and comply with restrictions.

“Hopefully [the lockdown is] as brief as it can be, but as long as it has to be, to ensure that we suppress the virus and this most recent outbreak and we’re able to get back to where we were a few weeks ago,” Mr Morrison told Nine’s A Current Affair on Friday evening.

Ten Covid-19 patients in NSW are in intensive care, with four ventilated – one person aged in their 20s.

NSW Health lists new Sydney Covid hotspots

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s ongoing coverage of the Covid-19 crisis. I’m Christopher Knaus and I’ll be taking you through all the developments today.

All eyes will be in Sydney again today. The city had a rough day on Friday, recording 44 cases, the highest daily number in the latest outbreak.

State health authorities are warning they have identified a staggering 14,000 close contacts, and have implemented new restrictions on exercising to try to curb the spread further.

We’re expecting a mid-morning update from the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian on case numbers.

Meanwhile, at a federal level, scrutiny continues over the federal government’s botched vaccine rollout. The government has promised an imminent ramp up in its supply of vaccines, something states have been begging for.

I’ll bring you the latest as it happens.

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