Summary
With that, we’ll be closing the blog for today. Thanks as always, for reading, and thanks to Matilda Boseley for her great work on the blog earlier.
We’ll be back tomorrow bright and early with all the latest news. Stay safe, and see you tomorrow.
Here’s what happened today:
- New South Wales announced even harsher restrictions for eight local government areas in Sydney, and formally requested support from the army to help enforce the new rules.
- The state recorded 239 new local Covid cases, another daily record for NSW.
-
Restrictions were tightened in eight areas, with residents now required to wear masks at all times outside of the home, and a 5km radius limit in place.
- The NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, said 300 troops from the Australian defence force would be brought in to the areas “over the coming week”.
- The Victorian health department said it was still searching for the source of infection for a mystery case – a testing centre traffic controller. Multiple exposure sites have been listed in the state.
- The state reported six other new local cases, but all were linked to current outbreaks and in quarantine.
- South Australia announced two new cases, but both were family contacts of a known case, and were in quarantine.
- Queensland reported no new cases, and the health minister, Yvette D’Ath, said a Covid-positive backpacker, who was reported yesterday, was infected in transit and was confirmed as the Alpha, not the Delta strain.
Updated
Australia can’t afford to abandon its zero Covid strategy until 80% of the population is vaccinated, the Grattan Institute has warned, predicting that could take until March if children are not included in the rollout.
Medical editor Melissa Davey has this report:
There is still no official statement from the federal government on the NSW request for assistance from the Australian Defence Force, but Guardian Australia has been told the request will be accepted.
It’s understood there’s been a long-standing offer from the federal government for ADF support in the Covid-19 response, and the ADF will now undertake some planning work with NSW police to understand the full details of the request. The personnel are expected to help with compliance and provide logistical support.
Updated
A local councillor in one of Sydney’s most heavily locked-down council areas has said that the decision to bring in the army is “really troubling”.
Charishma Kaliyanda, a Labor councillor on the Liverpool council, said resources should be put into “greater income support and better communication, especially on vaccination”.
This is really troubling - reinforces the idea that the people of southwest and western Sydney have a “compliance” problem rather than putting resources into greater income support and better communication, especially on vaccination. Reinforcing fear won’t be effective long-term. https://t.co/D2g0qIW0bS
— Charishma Kaliyanda (@Ckaliyanda) July 29, 2021
Updated
Tasmania to reopen border with Victoria
Tasmania will reopen its border to Victoria from midnight tonight after a two-week closure.
“The decision was made based on the current situation in Victoria,” the Tasmanian public health director, Mark Veitch, said in a statement reported by AAP.
“Public health responses and lockdown have identified cases and limited onward spread, such that almost all recent cases were already in quarantine before they became infectious.”
A number of premises in Victoria remain high risk, meaning people who’ve been to the venues cannot enter Tasmania.
Victorian arrivals quarantining in Tasmania will be allowed out from midnight, provided they haven’t been to any high-risk areas across the country.
Tasmania, which hasn’t had a Covid-19 community case since May last year, remains closed to NSW and has listed high-risk premises in Queensland and South Australia.
NSW state MP Jihad Dib, whose electorate is within the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA, which is one of eight LGAs under the toughest restrictions in the state, has said that requests for food hampers have increased by 60%.
Lakemba MP @jihaddibmp says requests for food hampers have increased 60 percent as the lockdown crushes livelihoods. “People are really doing it tough”
— David Lipson (@davidlipson) July 29, 2021
Listen in on PM
And unsurprisingly, those same areas generally have a lower median personal income than other parts of Greater Sydney https://t.co/Oq6SIsOvvj pic.twitter.com/WVd60u0ING
— Oz (@redrabbleroz) July 29, 2021
Updated
About two thirds of the coronavirus cases in the past fortnight are under 40. https://t.co/Q9EG8BTB4a
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) July 29, 2021
The health minister, Greg Hunt, said the commonwealth would “willingly comply” with the “welcome” request from NSW to deploy the ADF.
“The ADF is on offer from the commonwealth, we would be very happy to support NSW and the NSW government on that front,” Hunt said. “The ADF played a critical role in Victoria, the boots on the ground were here to help people, they assisted with compliance, they actually provided confidence.”
“That will provide additional support to the police and additional help for the people of NSW.”
Hunt also said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee – all of the state and territory chief health officers – would be holding an emergency meeting on Thursday night to determine how other states could help NSW battle the current outbreak.
“They are doing a herculean job, and they are doing it with the support of the nation, and as part of that, the support for tracing and the capacity of other states and territories and the commonwealth to assist is on the table.”
When asked about future vaccination plans, Hunt said that the Covid pandemic would be with us “for decades”.
Updated
Here is an updated graph of Covid cases in Victoria by isolation status:
Updated
NSW Health has released the latest venues of concern. They include multiple trains.
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 29, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues of concern and public transport routes associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/bSBGFQdXKw
NSW police request support from army to enforce restrictions
NSW police has formally requested support from the Australian defence force to enforce Covid-19 restrictions in the state.
The police commissioner, Mick Fuller, has confirmed he has made the request in a statement issued just now.
“The NSW police force is significantly expanding its enforcement activities in Sydney over the coming days and has requested 300 ADF personnel to boost its operational footprint,” he said in a statement.
“With an increase in enforcement activity over the coming week, I have now made a formal request to the prime minister for ADF personnel to assist with that operation.”
Fuller said he thanked “the prime minister for his ongoing support”.
The NSW minister for police, David Elliott, welcomed the request for assistance.
He said the combination of police and army personnel would be “a functional, effective and dynamic team to fight this pandemic”.
Updated
There’s been a brief Covid-19 scare in the ACT, which has remained Covid-free for more than a year now.
The Canberra Times reports that several suspected cases were ruled out after 11 tests returned false-positives on Wednesday. Ten of the cases have since returned negative results.
The remaining person was waiting in isolation in NSW awaiting a new test result. ACT Health said: “At this time, there are no positive cases of COVID-19 in the ACT and no exposure sites.”
Two new cases in SA, both linked
The South Australian chief health officer, Prof Nicola Spurrier has announced two new cases in SA today.
One is a woman in her 80s and a man in his 40s, both are in quarantine, and are known contacts of a previously-reported case. The woman is the wife of someone who had already tested positive, and the man is a family member.
“There’s only still two people hospitalised and they’ve remained stable and they are a man and a woman in their 80s.”
She adds: “There is still that very real risk from New South Wales.”
Updated
Coalition pays consultants $2.2m for 2 months' work, refuse to reveal nature of job
The federal government has handed management consultants McKinsey & Company a $2.2m confidential contract for two months’ work, but is refusing to give even basic details about what the company is doing with taxpayers’ money.
The government’s tender website, AusTender, reveals that McKinsey last week won the $2.2m contract for the work through the Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
But basic details of the contract have been kept confidential.
The department did not answer questions about the nature of the work McKinsey was conducting, how it was selected for the work and why it was being paid so much.
Christopher Knaus has the story:
Updated
State premiers including Victoria’s Daniel Andrews have repeatedly criticised the lockdown settings in NSW and called for a “ring of steel”.
But how is a “ring of steel” different to the current restrictions on people leaving Sydney?
And how do Sydney’s current restrictions compare to the peak of Melbourne’s stage-four restrictions?
Elias Visontay has this explainer:
Updated
A new class of synthetic drugs is contributing to fatal overdoses in Victoria, according to a coronial analysis of drug deaths during the past decade.
AAP reports that the Victorian Overdose Deaths report found 4551 people have died from drug overdoses in the state between 2011 and 2020.
Men were twice as likely to die of an overdose as women, according to the report, with 35- to 54-year-olds most at risk.
The report identified a new trend in lab-made narcotics called “New Psychoactive Substances” (NPS) which contributed to 33 fatal overdoses in 2020.
“The data highlights the urgent need for appropriate harm reduction interventions to mitigate the risks associated with NPS use,” the coroner’s court review states.
NPS are designed to replicate the effects of other well-known illegal drugs such as cannabis, MDMA and cocaine, or pharmaceuticals such as benzodiazepines and opioids.
Given the rapid rise of NPS, their effects have not been well studied and there is some uncertainty about their impact in fatal overdose cases.
NPS use may have increased during the pandemic, the report suggests, or the higher number of NPS-related deaths could be due to increased forensic detection.
Updated
NSW Health have tweeted out some further details of the new restrictions announced today for eight local government areas:
From 12.01am on Friday, 30 July 2021, residents of the eight Local Government Areas of concern (Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta) will be subject to new exercise, mask and shopping rules. pic.twitter.com/zDyvxitgk5
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 29, 2021
• Exercise, outdoor recreation and singles bubble visits must be done within 5kms of the person’s home;
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 29, 2021
• Individuals cannot travel more than 5kms from home for shopping, unless the goods or services are not readily available in that area; and
Daily Telegraph drops Alan Jones column
The Daily Telegraph has ended Alan Jones’s regular column amid controversy about his Covid-19 commentary, including calling the NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant a village idiot on his Sky News program.
The newspaper’s editor, Ben English, told Jones he was dropping his column because it didn’t “resonate” with readers.
Read the story from Anne Davies and Amanda Meade here:
Here are the latest figures on Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations in NSW.
Here's a quick look at hospitalisation and death figures for the current NSW outbreak (data courtesy @covidliveau) pic.twitter.com/2UTshSB9Z6
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) July 29, 2021
Updated
Only 60% of Sydneysiders are fully adhering to social distancing and movement restrictions, with analysis of movement data suggesting that unless compliance with rules increases, the greater Sydney lockdown will not quash the current Covid-19 outbreak.
University of Sydney analysis has found compliance with restrictions across Sydney has increased from 40% to 60% over the last two weeks, however modelling shows compliance needs to reach 80% for restrictions to control the Delta variant – with that figure including necessary movements of essential workers.
Once this level is achieved, it will take one month to control the outbreak, according to the University’s Centre for Complex Systems Prof Mikhail Prokopenko, Dr Sheryl Chang, Dr Oliver Cliff and Dr Cameron Zachreson.
The study also found that if even 40% of the greater Sydney population was fully vaccinated by September, a stricter lockdown needs to continue until then to control Delta. In NSW currently only 16.9% of the population is fully vaccinated.
The modelling also shows 10-15 % of people are not observing social distancing restrictions, despite not being essential workers.
Prokopenko said compliance would need to increase otherwise lockdowns could be needed until Christmas. He said:
What is most concerning is that our model showed that even when we take into account essential workers, 10-15% of the population is still not doing the right thing which means we could be stuck in lockdown for quite a while longer.
The accelerating vaccination rollout will begin to make a difference in a few months, but at this stage a tight lockdown makes a larger impact and needs to continue. The main takeaways are people should continue to stay at home as much as possible, minimise their interactions outside households, and get vaccinated.
The data covered 16-25 July and was based off Google’s movement data.
Updated
Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here with you now. Thanks to Matilda Boseley for all her work earlier.
A bullying and intimidation complaint has been lodged against South Australia’s sports minister with the matter now under official investigation.
The complaint against Corey Wingard was lodged by Sport SA chief executive Leah Cassidy in relation to the minister’s conduct on two occasions, AAP reports.
The premier, Steven Marshall, has referred the matter to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment for investigation.
Marshall has confirmed he received the complaint but declined to comment directly on the matter.
“We take any allegation seriously and so we’ve referred it on promptly,” the premier told reporters on Thursday. “If there is reason to take any further action, I will have no hesitation in doing so.”
The Labor opposition said the minister must stand aside while the investigation was under way.
“This allegation is very concerning, and any investigation must be treated incredibly seriously,” Labor frontbencher Tom Koutsantonis said.
Updated
Gosh, it’s been a morning and a half. Thinking of everyone in NSW, especially the two million residents of the hotspot LGAs.
I’m off now but I’ll be back to bring you all the updates tomorrow morning. For now, the vibrant Naaman Zhou is here to take you through the afternoon.
Jumping back to Victoria for a moment.
Traffi controller was not vaccinated. There were positive cases that drove through and got tested at the Moonee Valley site the days he worked. But authorities say he had very minimal contact with people in his job @abcmelbourne #springst
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) July 29, 2021
Vic Acting CHO Ben Cowie says the traffic control worker had "very limited" contact with any member of the public at the testing site. Work continuing to check how, where, when he was infected.
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) July 29, 2021
NSW lockdown changes
Probably not an amazing sign that we have to do a summary of NSW lockdown rules two days in a row, but ah well, here we are.
Here are the main changes to lockdown rules from midnight tomorrow:
Hotspot LGAs:
- There are still eight hotspot LGAs - Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool Cumberland, Blacktown Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown.
- Masks are now mandatory in all public indoor and outdoor settings.
- Residents are not allowed out of their LGA and the maximum distance they can travel from home has decreased from 10km to 5km, unless under “exceptional circumstances”
- This also means that a resident’s new “singles bubbles” partner must also live in the hotspot LGA and be within 5km.
Increased police powers:
- The penalty for not wearing a mask when required will rise from $200 to $500. This is for both hotspot and non-hotspot LGAs.
- Police will also be given the power to close public premises, worksites, workplaces and businesses if they “continue to flout the public health orders”.
- The general police presence will also increase and there will be an increased focus on compliance rather than giving warnings and educating.
- Police minister David Elliott has promised these measures will be temporary and shed as soon as possible.
Updated
New exposure sites from Victoria mystery case
The Victorian Department of Health’s Naomi Bromley says contact tracers are still searching for the source of infection for the mystery case of a Covid-19 testing centre traffic controller that was detected yesterday. (This is the seventh community case in today’s numbers.)
The public health team is investigating the circumstances surrounding the positive case of the traffic controller, or the mystery case, that came to light yesterday.
Interviews were conducted yesterday and they are continuing throughout the day today and we’re really following up on all of the possible sources of infection for these gentlemen.
We’re investigating where he was during his acquisition period, and where he worked and travelled while infectious. Testing is already under way, and several members of his household and his close social circle have already returned a negative test result, which is very encouraging.
New exposure sites were listed on the website yesterday within a matter of hours and they include:
- United Petroleum in Baxter.
- Chemist Warehouse in Baxter Kringle Hub shopping centre, including the Coles supermarket.
- Ritchie’s IGA liquor on Moorooduc freeway, Frankston.
- 7-Eleven in Yarra Ville.
- And the waterworks Park Square.
We do know that the positive case worked at Moonee Valley racecourse testing site, and that site remains closed today and will do so for a few days yet. A deep clean is underway and details of when it will reopen will be made available online.
Now if you do live in that area, and you need to test, the recommendation is to head to the showground site – that’s our biggest testing site and they’ve got really fantastic capacity there.
Updated
Foley says four of today’s cases were school students in Bacchus Marsh, a satellite town just outside greater Melbourne.
Six of those seven community cases that we have announced were in isolation during their entire infectious period.
Of those seven cases, four cases are students at Bacchus Marsh Grammar who were all in isolation and all were obviously primary close contacts and actually tested, on their day-13 test, positive.
A further two are household contacts of the previously identified case at the Lacrosse apartments in Docklands [in inner Melbourne].
The seventh is the person that we alerted the community to yesterday.
Updated
Nearly 20,000 vaccines distributed in Victoria yesterday
Victoria recorded seven local cases overnight, six were in isolation and the one remaining mystery case was previously announced yesterday.
Here is Victoria’s chief health officer Martin Foley:
There are currently reported today seven locally acquired cases in this morning’s numbers from yesterday. Zero of those cases were from hotel quarantine.
This brings us to some 205 active cases of Covid-19 currently in Victoria. We have seven cases in hospital, this includes two in ICU, with one of those people being on a ventilator.
Yesterday, through the state-run clinics, we distributed 19,118 vaccinations and that was another strong day through our state clinics. And a similar number was distributed through our GP and primary healthcare partners.
We also returned 42,009 Covid tests yesterday. That was a very strong figure.
Updated
Okay, we are jumping over the Melbourne press conference now which started just a few minutes ago.
NSW health minister calls people who decline vaccination 'selfish'
Guardian Australia’s own Anne Davies has asked NSW health minister Brad Hazzard what he thinks of media commentators such as Alan Jones who have “called into question the need for a lockdown, and called into question the expertise of the chief health officer”.
Safe to say Hazzard isn’t happy about it.
There are a lot of people who don’t base their decisions in science, or evidence, and all I will say is we are in a one-in-100-year pandemic*. The community need to understand the decisions are taken as best as possible on the basis of evidence and science to keep us safe.
More broadly, I would say to those, we had a question from a journalist here before about some people not wanting to take vaccines. My message to them is you are being extremely selfish. If you think you cannot have a vaccine just because you don’t want to have a vaccine, well you should think about what you are doing to your family and to the community.
I would say even more than that, what a ridiculous position is that when you are going to put health staff at risk and when you get sick, you are going to expect to come into hospital and get paid for by taxpayers. It is time for those who actually think that way to wake up, including commentators who actually don’t base their commentary on logic whatsoever.
*See!
Updated
Side note: take a sip of coffee every time Gladys Berejiklian says “please know” or health minister Brad Hazzard says “one-in-100-year pandemic”.
Updated
OK now on to the “Shellharbour” of it all. You will remember earlier today the Shellharbour mayor was making the media rounds, calling for lockdown to be lifted on her area as there has been no cases.
Berejiklian has been asked if there is any chance greater Sydney’s outer towns and cities may come out of lockdown ahead of 26 August. She said:
That will depend on the advice. We are looking at areas like the Central Coast and Shellharbour and Wollongong and other places, but it is important to note that when you have so many cases lurking in the community, but also when you have critical workers going into communities, you have to accept the risk is everywhere.
That is why all of us have to be vigilant, no matter where we live. We can’t cut corners no matter where we live*. We have to abide by the health orders that we are under because that risk is there and, as Dr Chant has said repeatedly, it only takes one or two people doing the wrong thing to have this spread enormously.
Whilst your community may not have any cases today, you could very well do tomorrow. Whilst I appreciate people want to be let off if there are no cases in their community, that is the situation today, it may not be the situation tomorrow. We need to stay vigilant and we need to make sure everybody is following the health orders.
Everybody is subject in Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong to the health orders but, as the weeks go by, if we get health advice that says some area – particularly those on the edge of greater metropolitan Sydney – are virus-free and the risk is low, we can take those measures.
*But wait, I thought NSW’s whole approach was about targeting the hardest-hit areas?
Updated
Reporter:
You said time and time again that vaccination is the only way out of this but what we’re hearing from a lot of people in the community, particularly in hotspot areas, is that they aren’t interested in getting a vaccination. What are you going to do to try and curb this hesitancy and what is your plan B if you can’t get them to change their minds?
Berejiklian:
What both Dr Chant and I have said consistently is we need a dual approach to get out of this lockdown: we need the lockdown, the restrictions and high rates of vaccination.
This is not only to protect individuals but reduce how contagious you are. And we do have strategies through community leaders and through people who are influenced by people they respect, and we know in some communities having a vaccine isn’t something that comes naturally, and that is why we are providing that important information.
The evidence is there. If you want to protect those you love the most, not only do you need to respect the health orders but encourage vaccination, and the evidence is there...
There is no stronger evidence than the fact that two doses of the vaccine are keeping people out of hospital. They are also reducing how contagious you are. If you want to protect yourself and your loved ones, get vaccinated. That is the strongest message we can send.
Updated
Chant has been asked if she can foresee a situation where vaccination rates are high enough to allow greater Sydney to open up without the number of cases infectious in the community dropping to zero.
But Chant says people’s focus right now must be on getting infection rates down.
We assess the situation each day but I think what I have got to absolutely say is my commitment, and that of my team and that of the police, is to get the numbers down. We have got to see this turn around.
If you do not have contact with anyone, you cannot transmit it. There is no possibility of transmitting it if you do not have contact. Even if you transmit it to your household, if your household hasn’t been out, then you won’t transmit it. There is a fundamental responsibility on us all to take the lockdown incredibly seriously.
Updated
Here is an update on the regional NSW town of Armidale.
Reporter:
The virus fragments detected in the sewerage in Armidale, how high is the level of concern there?
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant:
We are aware of someone who is there. That person is no longer infectious.
We have and we are following up ...a close contact that is also residing in Armidale who had previously tested negative but we are testing them again. We will repeat that sewage.
We have some plausible source for that positive detection in Armidale but we need to be very sure because that person was residing there for a little period of time and hadn’t previously detected.
For the abundance of caution, thank you for raising that, a call out to the Armidale community. We want you to come out and get tested. As you have seen, we have seen some testing positive in the sewerage and then we respond. Thank you to the community for that.
Updated
NSW police minister Mick Fuller has been asked if he is considering bringing in curfews of a “ring of steel” around Sydney or the hotspot suburbs. But it seems he is more focused on expanding the ADF’s role in enforcement if need be.
Fuller:
Nothing is off the table between conversations between the premier and myself.
We are not stretched at the moment, but clearly if there was an LGA expansion, I would absolutely have the confidence in expanding the Australian defence force in NSW.
To be clear, they are working with us now in hotel quarantine. They’re working in our police operation centre, some 40,000 shifts in hotel quarantine alone ... being NSW. If we had to use them I would call out.
Updated
SA records two local Covid cases overnight, both in quarantine
South Australia’s Modbury cluster continues to grow, with two people testing positive overnight. Luckily both were close contacts who were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
BREAKING: 2 new Covid cases in SA overnight.
— Andrea Nicolas (@AndreaLNicolas) July 29, 2021
Both were in Quarantine.
Takes Modbury cluster to 21. @7NewsAdelaide #covid #modburycluster pic.twitter.com/QhdzoPluO8
Updated
NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller says police will “absolutely” be going “door to door” carrying out compliance checks to ensure people are following lockdown laws.
Overnight we conducted hundreds of checks, particularly close contacts or those who have the virus.
Thankfully, everyone was home as they were supposed to be on health advice. We’ll continue to do that. We know home-to-home transmission is a huge issue for us. We know people are bringing it home from work sites that aren’t complying with health orders.
If you think about the powers I’ve asked for, it will go back to the homes continuing to breach health orders putting us into extended lockdowns.
Fuller clarified that police would likely not conduct random checks but rather “targeting complaints from Crime Stoppers”.
Updated
Reporter:
You say the rules are about compliance and making it easier for police to enforce the rules. Doesn’t that show that the rules you had in place before now were not efficient? And the public health order in place to enforce those rules?
Berejiklian:
Part of the response to Delta means you have to be flexible and you have to adjust according to where the challenges are, so obviously over the course of the last few weeks it’s been apparent to us where the virus is circulating, where the problem areas are, and then obviously how we respond to that.
So we should always be open to being adaptable and flexible according to what the virus is doing and according to where the virus is circulating.
For example, thank you to people who live in the Fairfield local government area. Relative to other local government areas, that area is doing better so we’ve adjusted surveillance testing in that community and transferred it to Canterbury-Bankstown. We need to be flexible and adaptable, we need to be able to respond to the health advice, and Dr Chant’s advice might change overnight and we need to respond to that.
Updated
FYI - there will be a Covid-19 update from Melbourne in about 20 minutes.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley, Acting CHO Prof Ben Cowie and Acting Commander Naomi Bromley to hold press conference at 11:45am #springst #COVID19Aus
— Political Alert (@political_alert) July 29, 2021
Updated
Like clockwork, Guardian Australia’s Nick Evershed has pulled through with a graphic breakdown of today’s NSW cases by isolation status.
A big jump in cases today in NSW to 239 locally acquired, and again a large number of cases with unknown isolation status https://t.co/7zGdA7ZuaE pic.twitter.com/XHJjq7JBG5
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) July 29, 2021
Despite case numbers jumping by more than 60 cases overnight, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian still will not agree that the government moved too slowly at the start of the outbreak.
Reporter:
With these numbers today, will you admit that your strategy has failed, that you have failed? You said the settings were right. That’s not true...
Can you see now that you made a mistake and the strategy is failing, and this death of 1,000 cuts, a little bit of restrictions every day, is not working and you have to come down hard?
Berejiklian:
Well, we have harsher restrictions in place than any other state has ever had*, and even if you look at mobility data, which we have access to, the vast majority of our citizens are actually doing the right thing.
If you compare our mobility data to when Melbourne was in lockdown, the majority of our citizens are doing the right thing, but as we know, the Delta strain is a game-changer and it is so contagious.
We also know that it only takes a very small number of people to do the wrong thing to cause ripple effects which can cause a setback.
Reporter:
So you haven’t failed?
Berejiklian:
Of course all governments are making their way through the Delta strain around the world. There is no perfect way to deal with a pandemic and we’ve been far from perfect and I would have made that comment 18 months ago. We’ve been far from perfect.
But if you look at other places around the world and the way the Delta strain has taken over communities, even when vaccination rates have been higher than ours, we can take some comfort in the fact that today we haven’t had thousands and thousands of cases, thousands of people in hospital and many more deaths, and that’s what these lockdowns are about.
It’s about preventing that severe illness, it’s about preventing death and keeping the community safe. And once our vaccination rates go up, obviously then we can consider the way forward. But it’s really important for us to acknowledge that had we not done what we’ve done in the last five weeks, the situation would have been far worse. I’m never going to suggest we get everything right.
I don’t think any government around the world can say they get everything right because there’s no rulebook.
Updated
Reporter:
You’ve made masks mandatory outside the home for all these people in eight LGAs. Is there this more of a symbolic decision, something you previously railed against? And can you clarify if these rules for the eight LGAs apply to people who live outside the LGAs but go into the LGAs for work every day?
Berjiklian:
Obviously part of the reason why we’re mandating mask wearing for people living in those eight local government areas – and I want to stress the [restrictions in] each of those local government areas might increase or decrease, depending on what the virus is doing and where movements are – but part of the reason is is makes it easier for police to enforce because it is really important for us to focus on compliance.
We’ve had thousands of police out in force already. They’re working with the community. That will continue. There will be extra emphasis on compliance. Police were providing updates that anecdotally: people were using the excuse of exercising for 10km or doing other activity within 10km to get around or breach the health orders. That can’t continue in those communities where the virus is circulating at the rate which it is.
Part of the reason is, firstly, by reducing the radius to 5km within those areas of concern, it gives police greater ability to do their job, and the mask enforcement has a benefit in that you casually come into contact with someone else and you’re not wearing a mask, it increases transferability, given an area has a lot of virus. And it provides opportunity for police to ensure that everybody is wearing a mask around other people.
Updated
Increased police powers will be shed as soon as possible, minister vows
Here is NSW police minister David Elliott on the increase police powers and penalties:
The NSW government and the NSW police detest the fact that we’ve had to increase these penalties and provide extra power to the police force. It is certainly not something that we want to do and it is, in fact, something that we cannot wait to shred.
These powers, these health orders, these restrictions are something that government cannot get rid of quick enough. But it’s quite clear from the overwhelming number of people that are doing the right thing, that same overwhelming number of people have had a gutful of their fellow residents doing the wrong thing, and that’s evident by the fact that we are now getting tens of thousands of people reporting breaches through Crime Stoppers.
And my appeal to the people of NSW is to make sure you continue providing that information because it’s only through that information that the police are going to be able to ensure compliance and it’s only through that information that we’ll be able to get these figures down...
It is important for the community to rest assured that short-term pain has a long-term gain. We want to make sure that everybody complies with the restrictions knowing full well that it is the intent of the police, it is the intent of the government and certainly the intent of the commissioner and I, to get rid of these restrictions, get rid of these fines as quickly as we had to introduce them.
Updated
Chant:
There are currently 182 Covid cases admitted to hospital. 54 people in intensive care and 22 of whom require ventilation. And they’re young.
Many of the cases are young. We’ve got two in their teens, eight in their 20s, four in their 30s and three in their 40s. It’s not only an old person’s disease. So everyone should discuss vaccination. My message is get vaccinated.
NSW's Delta outbreak death toll rises to 13
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has confirmed two additional Covid-19 death overnight.
She says:
There were 240 cases of Covid reported in NSW and of these, 239 were locally acquired and one was overseas acquired. It was pleasing to see that testing volume, 110,962. But, you know, disturbingly, we’re still seeing these case numbers rise and we’re still seeing too many people infectious in the community.
Sadly, we’ve had two Covid-related deaths – a woman in her 90s from south-western Sydney died yesterday morning at Liverpool Hospital. She was not vaccinated and was a household contact of a confirmed case. She’s not [linked] to the Liverpool Hospital cluster.
A gentleman in his 80s from south-western Sydney died yesterday afternoon at Royal North Shore and again, he was not vaccinated and was a household contact of a confirmed case.
Can I just extend my sincere sympathies to the families.
Updated
Penalties for breaching NSW lockdown laws increase
As part of this new mini-wave of lockdown rules, the legal consequences for breaching lockdown and mask laws has increased and police powers have been amplified.
Berejiklian:
Statewide, it’s clear when you need to wear a mask, and if you don’t you will be penalised, and they’ll go up from $200 to $500 to allow that extra level and that extra layer of deterrence.
Police will also from tomorrow be given the power to close a public premises, a work site, a workplace, a business, if those entities continue to flout the public health orders. We’re noticing too much of a lack of complains from businesses or from premises. If that’s the case, police will be given the power to close down those premises.
Commissioner Fuller, who is with us today, will talk about increasing police presence and increased focus on compliance. We appreciate it’s a difficult time for everybody in our state but we also appreciate it only takes a handful of people, or a small percentage, to do the wrong thing to cause a setback for all of us. We can’t afford setbacks. If we want to get out of this lockdown as soon as we can, we can’t afford setbacks.
Police will increase compliance and presence on top of what is already occurring and commissioner Fuller knows if he needs anything further, he can ask the government he will receive it*.
*Call me a cynic but the message “the police will get any powers they want” from a premier raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
Updated
66 NSW Covid cases infectious in community
Of today’s NSW cases, 66 were in the community during their infectious period.
A massive 70 cases are still under investigation.
NSW recorded 239 new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/aJt7MoE522
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 29, 2021
Eighty-one cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and 22 cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period. Sixty-six cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 70 cases remains under investigation.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 29, 2021
Updated
Just a reminder, those eight hotspot LGAs are Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool Cumberland, Blacktown Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown.
This area has a population of around 2 million.
Updated
Outdoor mask wearing and 5km travel limit for eight hotspot LGAs
Berejiklian has announced the lockdown will tighten once again for the eight “hotspot” LGAs.
These new rules will apply from tomorrow midnight:
The NSW government, on advice from the police, has taken extra measures, also based on the health advice in relation to compliance, in relation to making sure that everybody across the state – particularly those areas of concern – are doing the right thing.
For that reason, if you live within those eight local government areas - and I want to make this point also, depending on the health advice there could be more local government areas that come into those areas of concern or come out, depending on case numbers.
If you’re in a local government area of concern – and at the moment there are eight of them – you need to make sure you wear a mask now at all times. If you step foot outside your household, you need to wear a mask at all times. It doesn’t matter where it is.
We’re seeing too much evidence of people who are not wearing masks when they need to, or if they are outdoors, they’re coming into contact with other people and not having a mask. If you live in a local government area of concern, you must wear a mask when you set foot outside your house.
If you live in a local government area of concern, from midnight tomorrow, you can only move within a 5km radius of your home. So it doesn’t matter what the reason is.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, you have to make sure you do not move within a 5km radius of your home. It doesn’t matter whether it’s for shopping. It doesn’t matter whether it’s for other exercising that you’re allowed to leave the house from. You can’t move beyond a 5km radius, and that includes singles bubbles.
If you want to have a singles bubble in a local government area of concern, you cannot have anybody move or you can’t move within 5km of where you live.
Updated
Berejiklian:
We’ve had a record 1 11,000 tests in the 24 hours to 8:00 pm but regrettably, we also had quite a large increase in the number of cases overnight so 239 cases of community transmission.
At least 70 of those were infectious in the community and based on those numbers we can only assume that things are likely to get worse before they get better given the quantum of people infectious in the community.
Can we stress again, as we have in the last weeks - most of these transmissions are occurring amongst households and in workplaces, but also in health settings.
NSW reports 239 local Covid cases in state's most infectious day ever
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now and has announced a grim milestone for Australia’s more populous state: the state recorded 239 local cases overnight.
The highest ever single state’s daily local case total was 723, which was recorded in Victoria on 30 June last year.
Updated
We are just standing by now for the NSW daily Covid-19 numbers when NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian starts her daily press conference.
Gosh, you’ve got to love an outdoor, public press conference!
Premier cops some drive-by feed back “Get em Danny boy”
— Andrew Lund (@andrew_lund) July 29, 2021
Some more drive by feedback... “Go f*ck yourself you ar*ehole”. https://t.co/bLQ5ekSo8F
— Andrew Lund (@andrew_lund) July 29, 2021
Updated
Victoria has ruled out a “no jab, no entry” approach to the AFL grand final.
There are still a lot of questions over if it will even be able to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground this year given a super-spreading event at the stadium this month was one of the main factors that plunged Victoria into its most recent lockdown.
Sports Minister Martin Pakula remains "HOPEFUL" that the GF will be at the G. He rules out a "No Jab No Entry" approach: "That'd be a bit too soon for that sort of thing.." because there's not been enough available to everyone within the next 9 weeks.. by the end of Sept..
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) July 29, 2021
Updated
Victoria’s Daniel Andrews has donned the hi-vis – no words so far on if he will be addressing today’s Covid-19 situation or is strictly a train man this morning.
Premier @DanielAndrewsMP says government will spend $2.5 billion to remove another 10 level crossings (on top of 75 already committed to). Says “it’s good for 4000 jobs” @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/90cLZJF464
— Andrew Lund (@andrew_lund) July 29, 2021
Updated
NSW case numbers reportedly top 200 today
This hadn’t been independently confirmed by Guardian Australia but Nine News is reporting the NSW case number will be more than 200 today.
We will find out for sure in about 30 minutes.
Hearing new cases are above 200 today unfortunately. @9NewsSyd
— Chris O'Keefe (@cokeefe9) July 29, 2021
Updated
Da’th and Young both said they were very concerned about those sitting around him on his flight from WA back to Queensland (after he was turned around at the border), but they do not yet have the details of which flight he was on.
Young:
When he got out of hotel quarantine here in Brisbane, he had done his 14 days and had three negative tests, he then on travelled to WA. But they turned him around, they put him into a hotel for two days until there was a suitable flight and then he was placed on that flight and returned to Queensland. I am just getting the details of that flight he was on. I don’t have them yet but we will contact trace the people who sat around him.
He has got the Alpha variant and contact trace them. Then when he arrived he was already starting to have some symptoms.
He went to the backpackers hotel in the city on Roma Street. He essentially stayed in his room there because he was starting to feel increasingly unwell. The other two people in the room have tested negative, which is good.
Due to the cooperation of the manager of that hotel who has done a brilliant job and the people who have been staying there, we have now tracked down the 62 people who are there currently, tested all of them and got back 59 results all negative.
Updated
Here is chief health officer Jeannette Young with more details about that infected backpacker.
We do have that whole genome sequencing result on that latest case, the gentleman who travelled from the Philippines via Port Moresby to Brisbane, and it is the Alpha variant. And it clusters exactly the same – no snips different – with three other cases that we have had here in Queensland.
It doesn’t cluster with any other cases in Australia. It is clear that he has acquired it from one of those three people. He was on the same plane as those three people when he travelled from Manila to Port Moresby and then again on the same plane when he travelled from Port Moresby to Brisbane.
When he arrived into Queensland, he is unknown to these three people, they don’t know each other, he went into one hotel and these three people into another hotel. So he has clearly acquired it in transit to Queensland. That is important to understand.
We then realise that is a longer incubation period than we would normally expect, but we know around 1% of people can have an incubation period longer than 14 days, as has happened with this gentleman.
Updated
Mask mandate to remain in 11 Queensland LGAs for extra week
D’Ath says the sheer number of incidents where Covid-19 has entered Queensland in recent weeks means mask-wearing laws will remain in place for now in the southeast and other currently mandated areas.
In relation to our restrictions - with the number of different outbreaks that we have had across Brisbane in recent times, ecause of what we are still seeing in New South Wales and there is still a risk, even though that risk is decreasing, Victoria and SA - that the restrictions will continue in relation to mask-wearing for the 11 LGAs for another week.
We know that people were hoping that the masks will lift but I think we are up to 13 incursions of the virus through different outbreaks in Queensland over the last six weeks.
We have been able to contain all of these outbreaks to very small numbers. That is in some small part to the restrictions we have had in place and particularly mask-wearing and people isolating themselves at home when they’re unwell and those who are on home quarantine directions.
It is important, while we work through the most recent cases that we have had in community, that we continue to practice mask-wearing to ensure that we don’t have transmission going through our community. We thank everyone for their ongoing compliance for mask-wearing.
Updated
Health minister Yvette D’Ath has confirmed that 10 Covid-19 positive people from the infected cargo ship currently in Queensland’s waters have been transferred to hospital.
I can also update that we have had 10 people transferred from the Sanyu carrier from Weipa down to Brisbane. We are managing them in our Covid wards.
There are 11 still onboard, two who are negative and nine who are positive.
Updated
Luckily, so for, none of the backpackers the infected man was staying with have tested positive.
D’Ath:
I want to thank the backpackers because the manager there has been absolutely incredible, provided a lot of data, which has allowed us to identify and test all individuals associated with the backpacker. There is 62. We have 59 results back and they are all negative, which is a great result...
This gentleman had travelled after he left hotel quarantine in Brisbane. He had travelled to WA, stayed in hotel quarantine for two days and then returned.
It is particularly that flight from WA back to Brisbane that we want to ensure that we contact trace because that is the period in which this gentleman started to become infectious.
Updated
Covid-positive backpacker was infected in transit, Queensland says
D’Ath:
I can report now that the genomic sequencing has come in from the gentleman who came in from the Philippines to Brisbane and who was staying at the Roma Street City Backpackers.
What we have identified is he is a direct match with three other travellers who he was on two flights with, Philippines to PNG and PNG to Brisbane.
Those other three travellers were sent to a different hotel quarantine than this individual, which confirms for us that this gentleman has contracted it from one of the other travellers while in transit on the plane or through the airports.
We can confirm also that it is the Alpha variant that we are dealing with.
Updated
Queensland records no local Covid cases overnight
Health minister Yvette D’Ath is speaking now.
Thursday 29 July – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 29, 2021
0 new locally acquired cases.
1 new overseas acquired case, detected in hotel quarantine.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/0m4AGezus3
Updated
The NSW update is at 11am by the way.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant and NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller will provide an update on COVID-19 at 11:00am #COVID19nsw
— Political Alert (@political_alert) July 29, 2021
We are just standing by now for an update on the Covid-19 situation in Queensland.
Here is the full clip of Scott Morrison stating it’s likely all Australians will be vaccinated by Christmas.
Today show host Karl Stefanovic:
Definitively, will everyone who wants a vaccine in Australia have one by Christmas?
Morrison:
I believe that will be the case, yes, and that’s what Lieutenant General Frewen tells me as well. There will be the supply and we are hitting more than a million a week now. We are really turning it around.
We have caught up a lot ground on this program and Australians are responding really well. We need that to continue not just in NSW but right around the country.
The Delta strain is incredibly virulent and there is no country in the world that is not struggling with. All around the world countries are wrestling with this and we have learnt a lot in recent weeks and we will be talking about that tomorrow.
Where the Delta strain hits, you have to act quickly and we need to take that and move forward as quickly as we can.
Every Australian will have the opportunity to be vaccinated by Christmas, and lockdowns will become a "thing of the past".
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) July 28, 2021
That is what Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP promised, as he announced disaster payments would rise for those affected by the lockdowns. #9News pic.twitter.com/tEX3A6OmDv
Updated
Now the “greater Sydney” lockdown isn’t really just greater Sydney at all, covering a number of other large towns and cities including Shellharbour, more than 100km south of Sydney.
The mayor of Shellharbour, Marianne Saliba, has slammed the government’s decision to keep her area in lockdown despite not recording any cases.
She spoke with the ABC just a second ago, saying:
[I’m] very disappointed to be honest. There seems to be double standards by the NSW government. Gladys at her press conference yesterday said that if figures improved we would consider letting local government areas out of the lockdown. I do not know how they can improve more than zero.
We have had no cases, no traces, no venues and we still have none, and I do not know what the premier wants from us...
Nobody is saying open up the floodgates and let everybody in or out but the people of Shellharbour should have a right to be around in the community freely when there is no transmission...
I have written to the premier on two occasions and received no response.
Updated
By the way, the brilliant Tom Lutz is back in the saddle today to bring you all the Olympic updates from the Aussie team in Tokyo.
You can check that out on the Guardian Olympic live blog:
Updated
Tighter restrictions on unvaccinated people will eventually be considered, PM says
Scott Morrison says leaders will eventually consider imposing greater restrictions on people who choose not to get vaccinated against Covid-19 “because they’re a danger to themselves and others”.
The prime minister made the comment during a radio interview with the Melbourne radio station 3AW. He said he could not guarantee the country would open up by the end of this year, “because the virus is unpredictable and it would be irresponsible to do so”.
But Morrison said the vaccination program was on track to allow people who wish to be vaccinated to have that opportunity by the end of the year. It was, he said, “up to all of us to come forward and get those vaccines”.
The 3AW interviewer Neil Mitchell pressed Morrison on the consequences for those who chose not to be vaccinated. The PM said it was “ultimately everybody’s personal decision about their health” but vaccination provided protection against Covid-19.
If you’re vaccinated, you’re less likely to get it, you’re less likely to transmit it, you’re less likely to get a serious illness, and you’re less likely to die. They are four good reasons why people should get the vaccination.
Of course if you’re not vaccinated, Neil, well, you don’t have that protection and that is just a simple fact. And what that would mean is, particularly when we go into the next phase … which is what we’re discussing at national cabinet tomorrow, then in those circumstances the people who choose not to get vaccinated, well they can’t expect to have the same restrictions [as those] who are vaccinated.
When Mitchell said it sounded like a vaccine passport, Morrison disagreed, saying he “wouldn’t use that phrase”.
What I’m simply saying is that if you’re not vaccinated, you’ve made a choice, and you’re entitled to make that choice … but if you’re not vaccinated you present a greater heath risk to your self and to others than people who are vaccinated. That’s just a simple fact and public health decisions would have to be made on that basis ... It means if people aren’t vaccinated they’re more at risk and we’d have to have more restrictions on people who are unvaccinated because they’re a danger to themselves and others.
But Morrison said leaders were still working through the details.
Updated
Looks as though we’ll be getting an update on the Queensland situation in just over half an hour:
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young will give a COVID-19 update at 10am
— @MartySilk (@MartySilkHack) July 28, 2021
Updated
If you’re looking for a side-by-side comparison of the “go for gold” and “not a race” comments from Scott Morrison, look no further:
Updated
Reviews of rapid Covid-19 tests in Australia have found markedly different results in their effectiveness, but experts say the New South Wales government’s decision to employ them in schools and essential workplaces will help to control the virus.
As NSW recorded 177 cases of and extended its lockdown for four more weeks on Wednesday, the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, indicated that rapid antigen testing was likely to be used in schools by the middle of August to allow year 12 students to begin returning to classrooms before end-of-year exams.
The premier indicated that the state’s health department would also work with business with a view to introducing the rapid tests in workplaces such as construction sites.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
On 3AW, Scott Morrison also pushed back at criticism about the effectiveness of the national cabinet, which brings together the prime minister, the premiers and chief ministers.
The prime minister said the public only saw the disagreements but they didn’t see many areas of agreement:
Tell me a family that gets together every week and doesn’t have a disagreement.
Morrison said he knew the national cabinet had its critics, but added:
I mean what’s the alternative? … We’ve saved 30,000 lives and got a million people back in work – that didn’t happen by accident.
Host Neil Mitchell asked Morrison whether he had been “bashing heads together” at national cabinet, prompting the reply: “I wouldn’t put it like that, Neil.”
But Morrison said he understood people found it frustrating to see premiers taking potshots at each other. He said he often gave “counsel to our group” that it was important to keep working together.
Summarising his relationship with Daniel Andrews, Morrison said:
We’re professional leaders who work together.
Updated
So now we are comparing national cabinet meetings between the prime minister and state and territory leaders to a dysfunctional family gathering ... OK.
Scott Morrison told 3AW:
What family meets up every week and doesn’t have disagreements? Whether it the premiers or whether it’s a dinner in a family grouping.
And what we do is we keep meeting. I’ll tell you it’d be a failure if it didn’t meet, it would be a failure if people didn’t talk, and didn’t work through difficult issues, which we do every single week.
We have met more times as a team of premiers and chief ministers and the prime minister than Coag [Council of Australian Governments] met almost over 30 years.
Now, that has happened because I’ve kept pulling them together and getting into the room and sorting things out every single day.
Host Neil Mitchell:
So you are bashing heads together?
Morrison:
Well, I wouldn’t put it like …
Mitchell:
But who is the annoying uncle in all this family?
Morrison:
Well, I’ll let others make that judgment.
Updated
OK, let’s have a little break from Covid-19 for some joy:
Nawaka villagers continue to celebrate the Fiji 7s team Gold Medal win at the Tokyo Olympics. #Olympics #FijiRugby #FIJ #Nawaka #FijiSports pic.twitter.com/5gRu1ngeA7
— Filipe Naikaso (@Naikasof) July 28, 2021
Find full coverage of the Games in the Guardian’s Olympics live blog.
Updated
No guarantees on when Australia will open up from Scott Morrison, when asked during an interview with Melbourne radio station 3AW:
Q to PM from @3AWNeilMitchell: "Do you reckon you can guarantee we'll be open by the end of the year?"
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) July 28, 2021
A: "No-one can give those guarantees Neil. Because the virus is unpredictable; and it would be irresponsible to do so."
Can say there'll be enough vaccs available by then.
Updated
Oooft! The prime minister has been using the “well other countries have got stuff wrong too” line during interviews this morning.
Sunrise host Natalie Barr:
You could say that it was bad luck that the AstraZeneca did not work out and now it’s branding is not that great, though I know it is a great vaccine, while other countries like America were ordering 100m [doses] in the middle of last year, we did not put in our order until early this year, did we?
Scott Morrison:
We went from 10m to 20m to 40m and we were able to bring forward the Pfizer doses to earlier this week, earlier than contracted. Now it is about getting the job done.
Barr:
Very late though?
Morrison:
No nation gets everything right, and we are hitting the marks we need to now. We have to focus forward and get this job done.
Updated
Victoria records six new local Covid-19 cases
Victoria has just released its numbers, announcing seven local cases – one of which was reported yesterday afternoon.
That one case is the traffic controller who worked at a Covid-19 testing site, the other six “are all linked to current outbreaks and were in quarantine during their infectious period”.
Reported yesterday: 7 new local cases and no new case acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 28, 2021
- 19,118 vaccine doses were administered
- 42,009 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/R5bKEgGSSf
Updated
So prime minister Scott Morrison has also been speaking to the media this morning, after coming under fire for likening the vaccine rollout to a gold medal run at the Olympics, despite stating many times earlier in the year that it “was not a race”.
He was asked on Sunrise this morning if he had “treated it as a race from the start, would we be in this mess?”
Morrison:
When we made those remarks, we were talking about the regulation of the vaccines. I’m not sure if people are aware of that*.
We have always treated this with the greatest of urgency. That is why we have been able to turn around the program from the early setbacks and the lack of supply of a vaccine and changing device on AstraZeneca.
We have scaled that up, going to 3.5m this week, and this month we will be over 4m in vaccinations. We are now vaccinating at a rate of more than a million a week
We had 160,000 vaccines this week, and there are pop-up clinics particularly for AstraZeneca, in western Sydney, and the vaccination program is hitting the marks it needs to. If we had not responded with urgency, we would not catch up the ground that we are catching up.
*Nope, the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the TGA on 25 January and AstraZeneca on 16 February. He said “it is not a race” at least five times in March.
Updated
Oooh, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking early this morning. I wonder if we will get the Covid-19 update at this event or if we will have to wait for the CHO to step up later in the day:
Daniel Andrews is speaking at from 9.45am at a level crossing removal.
— Kaitlyn Offer (@KaitlynOffer) July 28, 2021
Updated
NSW is lagging behind many other states and territories when it comes to vaccinating its elderly population, with fewer than 40% of over-70s fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
New data released by the federal government on Wednesday provides a state breakdown of national vaccination numbers for the first time. The figures reveal that of the almost 1 million people over 70 in NSW, 77% have received a first vaccine dose and 39% have received a second.
Victoria’s figures are similar, with 78% of its over-70s receiving one dose and 36% fully vaccinated.
This leaves more than a million people aged over 70 in NSW and Victoria either unvaccinated or having received just one dose to protect them against the highly contagious Delta variant.
Check out the full report here:
Updated
Queensland's risk of Covid outbreak escalates
Let’s go north to Queensland now where the risk of a Covid-19 outbreak in Queensland is escalating after 20 more cases were recorded in the state, the chief health officer has warned.
One of the new cases recorded on Wednesday was a man who had been infectious in Brisbane for six days, while 19 people with coronavirus are contained on a ship offshore, reports Marty Silk from AAP.
The man who was infectious in Brisbane completed hotel quarantine on 17 July then stayed at a backpacker hotel before becoming unwell and getting tested on Monday.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young says the man had likely been infectious since last Thursday, and contact tracing is under way:
I think this is escalating now; we have had 13 incursions of the virus into the community ... over the last six weeks ... That is more than we’ve seen before for a long time, so I’m very worried.
Late on Wednesday, Queensland Health said everyone at Joe’s Place Backpackers and Brisbane City Backpackers from the afternoon of 20 July to 1am 28 July were close contacts.
Anyone at Brisbane domestic airport about 1.30pm on 20 July or the emergency department of the Royal Brisbane and women’s hospital about 10pm on 26 July are low-risk contacts and should get tested.
Young is also expecting genomic sequencing to reveal exactly where a Gold Coast man, who tested positive this week, caught the virus.
It’s believed he caught the Delta strain from another hotel guest staying in the room opposite him at the Amora hotel in Brisbane.
The hotel quarantine system was “clearly insufficient” in containing the Delta variant of Covid-19, Young said.
Updated
It was 5.58pm on 5 May when an email lobbed into Department of Defence inboxes that suggested Peter Dutton was wasting no time making his mark on his new portfolio.
The email, titled “Media Response Advice”, summarised a request from the defence minister’s office (DMO) about how the department should avoid providing detailed on-the-record answers to questions from journalists.
“Evening Sir, Ma’am, Ladies and Gents,” said the email.
“Defence Media have passed on advice received from DMO regarding media inquiries.”
What followed were several dot points, including a request that: “Responses are to be as brief and succinct as possible.”
You can read the full report below:
Chances of a second recession rest of NSW's shoulders, Frydenberg says
Josh Frydenberg says the fate of Australia’s economy in the third and fourth quarters of 2021 rest on how quickly NSW can curb Covid-19 case numbers and come out of lockdown.
The September quarter will already almost certainly be in the negatives, but if December is the same that could mean Australia would technically enter another recession.
Frydenberg:
Well, it’s certainly too early to be definite about the December quarter. My expectation is that the September quarter will be negative. But with respect to the December quarter, that does depend to a large extent how successful New South Wales, our largest state economy, is in getting on top of this virus.
And that’s why people need to follow the health advice and that’s why it’s also important for our economy that both South Australia and Victoria have come out of these lockdowns ...
As I did say, the economy did bounce back very strongly after the lockdowns we saw last year. But we can be confident about the inherent resilience, the strength of our economy. If we get on top of this virus, I am confident that the economy will bounce back strong.
Updated
And now the big test! Is Josh Frydenberg willing to give Victoria a compliment, given that NSW has fallen from the commonwealth’s “gold standard” status for its pandemic response.
ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar is testing the waters:
So Victoria is the gold standard now?
Frydenberg:
Well, unfortunately, and tragically, here in Victoria, more than 90% of the deaths have taken place and we’ve been in lockdown for more than 200 days.
But I have welcomed and I did support the short, sharp lockdown that the Andrews government undertook, and it’s very pleasing to see life starting to get back to a Covid-normal, although the restrictions are still in place in many parts of the city.
Oh well, maybe next time!
Updated
Answering questions on if there is a limit to how much the federal government is willing to go into deficit to keep supporting areas in lockdown, Josh Frydenberg said there is “no alternative”:
Well, it’s certainly costing the economy, the budget and the country a significant amount of money. But we have no alternative other than to ensure that we get on top of these outbreaks when they occur.
And my sense is that you’ll now see shorter and sharper lockdowns as the default position of state governments until we get a sufficient number of people vaccinated. And that’s what the Doherty modelling that we discussed at national cabinet is about.
Updated
Yesterday the federal government finally answered calls to ramp up financial support for those in lockdown areas to a level similar to jobkeeper.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is doing the media rounds this morning to discuss the package and has been asked on ABC if he regrets how long it took the commonwealth to beef up its support payments:
Well, as the circumstances have changed, so has the response. And what we’ve seen yesterday was an announcement by the premier of New South Wales that they were extending their lockdown for another month. That required increased support and we did so, both on the household assistance side as well as the business support side.
So the household assistance, as you say, is increased from $600 to $750 a week if you’ve lost 20 hours or more of work. And from $375 to $450 a week if you have lost under 20 hours of work. And more than eight hours of work.
In the case of business support, we’ve increased the threshold for businesses that are now eligible from $50m of annual turnover to $250m. And we’ve increased the amount that businesses can receive from a maximum of $10,000 a week to now a maximum of $100,000 a week.
So a substantial increase in the economic support flowing to New South Wales as well as a bilateral agreement with Victoria for a new $400m economic support fund for small and medium-sized businesses.
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Victorian health officials are also on edge this morning after a traffic controller who worked at the Moonee Valley Racecourse drive-through Covid-19 testing site tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, two days after developing symptoms.
The testing site was immediately closed and dozens of staff who worked the same shifts as the man were sent home to isolate as a precaution.
Health minister Martin Foley said there was “minimal risk to those at the site” but authorities are still racing to find the source of the infection.
We should get an update on this situation mid-morning when Victorian officials step up for their daily press conference.
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Good morning
Hello everyone and welcome to this lovely Thursday. (The loveliness of this Thursday will vary greatly depending on which state you are reading this in.)
It’s Matilda Boseley here and we start today’s news coverage in NSW where 2 million people in eight Sydney local government areas are bracing for four weeks of harsher lockdown measures.
The population of the hotspot LGAs, spanning 50km of the city’s west, cannot leave their local areas unless they are authorised workers.
From Saturday, greater Sydney’s construction industry can resume work in “non-occupied” settings, as long as they are adhering to social distancing rules and are outside the eight LGAs of concern.
But with two in five construction workers living in hotspots, the Urban Development Institute of Australia wants fully vaccinated workers permitted back on site.
Tradespeople, including in-home cleaners, living and working outside the hotspots will now be permitted into clients’ homes, provided there is zero contact with residents.
Deputy premier John Barilaro spoke about this new rule yesterday:
If you’re getting an air-conditioner replaced for a couple of hours and you have an opportunity to do your groceries, we’d encourage that.
NSW recorded 177 local Covid cases overnight, an all-time high for the state. We should learn today’s numbers at 11am when Gladys Berejiklian steps up for her daily press conference.
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