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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mostafa Rachwani (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

NSW records fifth death from Sydney outbreak – as it happened

What we learned, Monday 19 July

And that is where we will leave it tonight. Here is everything we learned:

  • NSW recorded 98 new cases today, with 20 still infectious while in community, as premier Gladys Berejiklian indicated numbers needed to drop further before lockdown is lifted.
  • A fifth person, the mother of the twin removalists who broke health orders in travelling to Victoria after testing positive, has died due to the outbreak.
  • Victorians will not emerge from lockdown tomorrow, after the state recorded another 13 new locally acquired cases.
  • South Australia has recorded three new cases, linked to a man returning to the state from Argentina via NSW. Increased restrictions were introduced to curb the outbreak.
  • Eight crew members from the BBC California have tested positive after the ship docked in Western Australia.

Please stay safe, and thanks for reading.

Updated

The Advertisier is reporting of a third case in South Australia, another close contact of the 81-year old man who tested positive earlier today:

It has been a long day of news and Covid updates, so it is forgivable if you’ve missed any other headlines today, but in a story today, Sarah Martin and Paul Karp have revealed a staffer in the prime minister’s office was involved in both the sports rorts scandal, and the new cark park scandal.

In evidence to a parliamentary committee on Monday, the Australian National Audit Office outlined how the federal government awarded funding under the scheme by preparing a list of 20 top marginal seats, and inviting the sitting MP to nominate projects for funding.

You can read more of the story here:

Updated

All eight crew of ship BBC California test Covid-positive in WA

Eight members of the BBC California, a ship docked in Western Australia, have returned positive tests for coronavirus.

The eight crew members had been quarantined and tested after coming forward with symptoms.

WA premier Mark McGowan had anticipated their positive tests and said appropriate precautions had been taken.

Updated

And I think (hope) with that, we have wrapped up the press conferences for the day. Here’s hoping there’s better news at the conferences tomorrow.

Updated

Spurrier said it was still not certain if the father and his daughter were infected with the Delta strain.

She said test results showed the “fingerprint of the strain” but that serology results tomorrow would show what strain they have.

She said the expectation was that it would be the Delta strain linked to the NSW outbreak.

Updated

South Australian chief health officer Nicola Spurrier has said she doesn’t think a lockdown is required in the state yet, and that the woman who tested positive has returned a “weak” positive result.

This gives us two different scenarios: and this is the daughter, she has either got this from her father and she is in the early stages of the infection, and that is possibly the most likely scenario.

The other scenario is that she was initially infected and she is at the end of her infection and she passed it her father.

The way of telling this is taking another swab tomorrow and to see if we have a stronger signal. At any rate, not only have we had the gentleman in the community with exposure sites but we now have the daughter.

Now, she has spent a lot of time with her dad, so many of the exposure sites are overlapping with those we already know from her father, but there are some additional exposure sites.

Prof Nicola Spurrier
Prof Nicola Spurrier says she doesn’t think South Australia needs to be locked down at this stage. Photograph: Morgan Sette/AAP

Updated

SA premier Steven Marshall says the state needs to get ahead of the virus and that restrictions are the best way to avoid a hard lockdown:

We now have an expanding list of sites the man and his daughter could have come into contact with people during an infectious period, and we have to get in touch with all of those people at all of those sites and get all of them into quarantine, make sure they are secure and they have their tests. And then we have to get their close contacts into quarantine.

This is a massive operation and we cannot do it with everybody moving around the state. The more movement there is, the longer it will take us to get on top of this.

Updated

SA tightens restrictions after new Covid case

South Australia will implement “enhanced” restrictions after a woman tested positive earlier today.

The woman is the daughter of an 81-year-old man who had returned to the state from Argentina, via NSW.

The state will move to “level four” restrictions, which include a return to the rule of one person per 4 sq metres, all non-essential retail closing, private gatherings being capped at 10, and masks being mandated at all “high risk” indoor settings.

Updated

SA premier Steven Marshall has just stepped up for a Covid update.

Updated

NSW police has released a statement on the deportation of Katie Hopkins, saying it also fined her $1,000 for a breach of the public health order.

It also says she has been taken to the airport to be deported.

Police attached to the hotel quarantine operation were notified of an alleged breach of the public health order (Covid-19 Air Transportation Quarantine) at a hotel on Sussex Street, Sydney, about 8.45pm on Friday (16 July 2021).

Following inquiries, a 46-year-old woman was issued a $1,000 penalty infringement notice for not wear face covering yesterday (Sunday 18 July 2021).

NSW police assisted Australian Border Force with the transfer of the woman to Sydney international airport this afternoon (Monday 19 July 2021) following the cancellation of her visa, departing to the United Kingdom.

Updated

Senator Bridget McKenzie was on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing for what was a pretty spiky interview.

She was quizzed on a range of issues, and her back and forth with presenter Patricia Karvelas is worth a look:

McKenzie:

The fact [is] she breached and flouted our quarantine system and has been sent home, and I don’t think anyone in Australia would be saying that should not have been done.

Karvelas:

Isn’t it weird we are letting [in] someone like that when Australians are stranded?

McKenzie:

I think we all want Australians home as fast as possible. We have seen premiers, who are responsible for the majority of the quarantine provisions, put caps on arrivals. Some wanted 50%, some wanted that to be higher. The sooner we can lift that, the better, and then we can get those Aussies back.

Updated

We are waiting on an update from South Australia now, but in the meantime, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has released an ad campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated. It features artists such as Tim Minchin, Rhonda Burchmore and performers from the Australian Ballet.

It certainly strikes a different tone to the more threatening and horrifying ad released by the federal government.

This, on the other hand, feels better to watch. Here’s hoping it has its intended effect.

Updated

Fifth death in NSW Covid outbreak confirmed

NSW Health has confirmed that the woman found dead in Green Valley was a confirmed Covid-19 case.

It said in a statement:

NSW Health today sadly reports the death of a woman in her 50s who was a confirmed Covid-19 case. She was a resident of south-western Sydney and a close contact of a Covid case.

This is the 61st death in NSW related to Covid-19 and the fifth of the current outbreak.

NSW Health extends its sincere sympathy to her family and friends.

Updated

NSW police has provided a few further details about the death of a woman in her 50s in Green Valley in Sydney’s south-west.

In a statement, NSW police said:

About 9.15am today (Monday 19 July 2021), emergency services responded to reports of a concern for welfare at a house in Thursday Place, Green Valley.

Officers from Liverpool City police area command attended and the body of a woman, aged in her 50s, was located inside the home.

An investigation has commenced and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

When the Guardian asked if the woman was the mother of two of the Covid-positive removalists, and if they suspected she had died of Covid, a NSW police spokeswoman said she was unable to confirm those details.

Updated

There are also reports the woman is the mother of the Covid-positive removalists who travelled to Victoria, which sparked the outbreak there.

Police have closed off the street and are investigating.

Police are investigating the death of a woman in her 50s, who was found in her home at Green Valley, in Sydney’s south-west.

We’ll bring you more as it comes to light.

Updated

Bigsound, the southern hemisphere’s biggest music industry gathering, has been cancelled for 2021, on its 20th anniversary.

Organisers said in a statement it was “unfair” to expect people to attend and artists to display their work while Sydney was still in lockdown.

We think it’s unfair to expect people to come and artists to showcase when there is still uncertainty about who else will be able to be here – and whether they’ll be able to cross the border again to get back home.

All delegate pass holders and artist applications will receive full refunds in the coming weeks.

Updated

Renters are facing the biggest annual increases since the GFC in 2009, according to a report released by CoreLogic today.

Median rent for houses and units jumped to $476 a week in June, a 6.6% increase on last year.

Meanwhile, regional tenants were also hit with a rental spike, with the median figure up 11.3% to $441. The spike was due to people moving out from cities across the country, the report indicated.

Interestingly, the country’s two biggest cities (which are also both in lockdown currently) saw the weakest return, with a 3.2% increase for Sydney and a 1.4% drop for Melbourne.

A 'leased' sign outside a property
Average rents across Australia have risen 6.6% on a year ago. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP

Updated

Eight crew report feeling ill on ship docked in WA

Western Australia premier Mark McGowan has just stepped up to provide a Covid update and has announced that eight crew members aboard the BBC California have reported feeling ill.

McGowan said all eight crew members were taken off the ship and taken into testing and quarantine, with results due “later this afternoon”.

Should any of the results be positive for Covid-19, the remaining six crew members onboard the ship will also be tested. Every precaution is being taken to ensure the safety of port workers and the West Australian community.

No health staff boarded the ship. Land-based port workers wore the required PPE, including gloves and masks, and followed all approved processes.

Updated

NSW Covid disaster payment claims top 300,000

Reynolds has announced that more than 331,000 claims for Covid-19 disaster payments have been made in NSW.

She also said Victorians would be able to apply from Friday, if the lockdown was extended to then.

Updated

Apologies, it appears the WA presser has been pushed back, but the federal minister for government services, Linda Reynolds, is in Perth and has been discussing government support for people in lockdown across Australia.

Ask if the weekly payment of $600 was enough, Reynolds said it was a “temporary measure”.

This is a temporary support measure which is designed to help families put food on the table and keep the bills paid throughout this period. We think it is about right.

Reynolds was also asked if the rate of the original jobkeeper would be raised as lockdowns continue. She said:

Jobkeeper was implemented last year for a very specific circumstance, that was the circumstance where we had a national lockdown. Obviously the situation has evolved significantly since then, and government payments continue to evolve as the circumstances of the virus evolve.

In this case, we now have two payments, one that goes directly and very quickly to individuals, go straight into their bank account, to help them straight away. The other one is for businesses. So we think that this is actually a better way to do it. Again, we keep evolving the payments as the circumstances require.

Linda Reynolds
Linda Reynolds says a weekly lockdown payment of $600 is ‘about right’. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

We are on standby for the WA Covid update, which shouldn’t be long.

NSW Health has released an updated list of venues of concern for this afternoon, and they include Cafe Juliet in Summer Hill and Paradise Grocery in Lakemba.

It has also updated times for Al Sultan Butchery in Lakemba:

Updated

So one of the issues that has characterised this outbreak in NSW has been the number of cases that are active in the community v cases isolated for part or all of their infectious period.

The logic has been that if positive cases are being reported, but they are already in isolation, authorities can feel confident that they are on top of the outbreak.

But as you can see from the graph below, the number of cases isolated for all or part of their infectious period has only grown over time.

It is this number authorities want to see drop down before any restrictions can be eased, and it is this number that has remained stubbornly, consistently high.

Updated

An update on the saga with Katie Hopkins: Guardian Australia understands the far-right commentator is likely to depart Sydney on an international flight leaving mid-afternoon today.

This follows the cancellation of her visa following her broadcast of live video from what she claimed was a Sydney hotel room on Saturday morning telling how she was trying to “frighten” security guards.

We’ll let you know if and when we have any further details. For more on her “imminent” deportation, see Paul Karp’s story from this morning:

Katie Hopkins.
Visa cancelled: Katie Hopkins. Photograph: Warre/Silverhub/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

The testing site in Coffs Harbour appears be getting overwhelmed, with lines at the site reportedly snaking around the block.

NSW Health workers were seen handing out water and hand sanitiser to people waiting in line, some of whom have brought chairs with them:

We have new press conference start times!

WA will give its update at 12.15pm AWST, which is in an hour, and SA will give another update at 3.30pm ACST. Good to see them give separate times.

Updated

Returning to NSW for a moment, the TikTok comedian who has been accurately predicting case numbers for a couple of days now has released a “press release” as the “people’s premier”:

Not sure what else to add to this tale, but there you go.

Updated

SA records new Covid case

During both the NSW and Victorian Covid updates, the South Australian government has also been giving its update, and has announced a single locally acquired case.

The 81-year-old man had previously travelled to Argentina and returned to Australia via NSW, doing two weeks of quarantine there. While in quarantine he had a fall and spent 10 days in a NSW hospital, returning to South Australia on 8 July.

The man’s family have been put into quarantine, and the hospital he presented himself to overnight has also gone into lockdown.

SA premier Steven Marshall said there wasn’t going to be a lockdown today but warned that further restrictions were likely.

Updated

Good afternoon, everyone, and a quick thanks to Matilda for her amazing work this morning. I will be guiding you through the news this afternoon, and there is still much to get through, so let’s dive in.

Updated

With that, I shall hand you over to the amazing Mostafa Rachwani, who will take you through the afternoon of news.

See you tomorrow, everyone!

Updated

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has said point-blank that Victoria is not in a position to mandate that all aged care workers are vaccinated.

Well, there’s been a bit of frankly unhelpful and completely inaccurate reporting about this. We don’t have a public health act like they do in New South Wales...

Here is a news flash – private aged care is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government; [they] fund, regulate it and licence it.

What I don’t do is dictate what public health will be, because if I were to do that, under the Public Health Act as it is written now, we may find ourselves in court. That would not be an appropriate process. So I wouldn’t read anything into that...

We know as a state what it’s like when this gets into aged care. It got into private aged care, we were able to avoid those tragedies in public sector age care, the beds we run, but we know, all of us, the tragedy and the great toll that this virus took on aged care residents...

We take those matters seriously and any suggestions to the contrary is wrong.

Updated

Andrews is still sounding optimistic about the possibility of hosting the AFL grand final.

I’m not briefed beyond ... what I said the other day – I look forward to us getting this outbreak under control, us getting crowds at sporting events again and multitude of very big sporting events of course held as close to normal as possible here in the major events capital of our nation. Far too early to speculate about those things.

Updated

Sutton has been asked if he thinks children should eventually be vaccinated with Pfizer.

So, whatever vaccine goes through the Australian register of therapeutic goods process, for kids, will be terrific.

We haven’t got any yet. If that happens, with Pfizer, fantastic, for 12-plus and maybe younger age groups as they go through the safety and efficacy trials for the younger cohorts. If it is another mRNA or another type of vaccine, fantastic.

It’s protecting kids for their own sake, but also helps move us towards that herd immunity and protects you from the exit wave I referenced in the UK, where you get tens, hundreds of thousands of cases because you still have a significant proportion of the population who can’t yet be vaccinated.

Updated

It seems Sutton doesn’t share his NSW counterpart’s assurance that outdoor transmission isn’t of great concern.

He says they think a number of the sports stadium transmission event were through “pinch points” where people may have come into close contact without knowing.

The Delta variant shows that transmission within stadiums occur.

We think there’s been outdoor transmission probably at the MCG and AAMI. We don’t know if it’s at seating, we have individuals not seated together.

There’s no evidence they have attended a food chew together. We think it is a pinch-point going into the stadium out doors.

A lot of people reference the fact we don’t hear about transmission outdoors. I think some relates to the fact you have casual contacts, you will never know if they came together, they end up a mystery case.

When you know they’ve been outdoors, you start to pick up some of the outdoor transmission. It is much, much lower risk. It happens.

Updated

A number of people at the MCG, particularly the MCC area have now been upgraded to tier 1, and must now isolate for 14 days, but Sutton says they will be contacted by the department.

There will be different advice given by virtue of those elements. If people have been upgraded to tier 1, there will be advice.

It’s the first aid advice, if you like, in the text and we will follow up with a phone call as soon as we can.

People need to accept that advice will change based on the assessments that are made. These were individuals who were not sitting together.

We think there was a pinch-point on entry into the stadium and not through the same gate. So that will bring in a lot more people. We just need to cop that reality and everyone who has attended needs to cop that reality as well and do what the guidance is through those texts and the follow-up phone calls.

Updated

If you were at the tier two exposure site of the MGC the Victorian government is asked you to get tested again.

Sutton:

If you are on level two of the member’s reserve at any stage and have already had [one test], I am requesting that you obtain a second test when possible following your first test.

Following that upgraded risk, is out of an abundance of caution.

If you don’t have symptoms then you don’t have to isolate while awaiting your second test result, if you have any symptoms at all you have to remain isolated until the negative results.

Updated

ACT reports no local Covid cases

Barr! Stop it! It’s not nice and it’s not kind to make me post that ACT has zero local Covid-19 cases once again during the Melbourne press conference.

I’m happy for you, but I wish we didn’t have to go through this every day.

Updated

Hmmm, this is interesting. A reporter has asked Victorian chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton what he feels was the most impactful measure the government took in last year’s second wave.

It’s always difficult. There was a huge, complex bundle of interventions that happened in Victoria’s second wave and how you tease apart from individual effect of each and every one of those elements is hard to say. Clearly we’ve tried to investigate that.

We have an understanding there was a lot of transmission that happened in workplaces and then cycled through households and so we know that those were significant issues. We know that masks wearing was more effective than we might have presumed before that intervention, it contributed 40% in terms of the total reduction in transmission through the second wave, something akin to that.

It was the stage 4 lockdown that drove numbers down faster. The peak at close to 700 cases, went down with stage 3 and masks, but it wasn’t enough to get where we needed to be come October but in terms of exactly how you tease out what those specific interventions were, it’s hard to say.

I think you need to do a lot of work pre-emptively in workplaces to manage that risk. We saw the explosive potential in some particular work settings, food distribution warehouses, abattoirs – that’s been replicated across the world and so those work cohorts – the PPE implemented in food distribution and healthcare/aged care and abattoirs were really effective measures as well. Not being unwell about when – when you turn up to work and the contact tracing in the workplace with our teams in public health – they were all elements but it’s hard to know exactly the contribution of each.

Updated

Reporter:

Would bit fair say you’re really looking for no mystery cases and zero cases who haven’t been in isolation for their entire infectious period before we open up? Would that be fair to say?

Andrews:

That would be the perfect outcome. Sometimes you can achieve that, sometimes you can’t. If you can’t, then you have to make a really challenging risk judgment about – well, OK, we’re just shy of that, what is the risk if we open up under those circumstances? That’s when it gets very challenging. That’s the nature of the job, right?

No one is complaining about having to make difficult choices. At this stage if you were to try to call it on those metrics – yes, we have no mysteries – that’s a good thing, but we have far too many out in the community for a portion of their infectious period if not all of it and we have to drive that right down. That is not dissimilar to New South Wales, except we are much – we’re in a much stronger position to be able to do that. We will get to that outcome quicker, I think, that’s the advice we have.

Updated

Andrews says that they won’t go against the federal government recommendations to give teachers priority access to the vaccine.

It is clear that Delta is not something that schools are immune from. School transmission is a real issue. We have a number of schools that have been at the centre of this outbreak. That’s why schools are closed ...

I don’t think we’ve ever been, we’ve never shown an unwillingness to follow the advice on which cohorts, which groups should be vaccinated first. We’ve always been quick to act.

The big limiting factor here is not advice to prioritise A over B, it’s how much supply we’ve got. Until we get to those [the increase to supply] is met in September, October and November, and we have literally palettes of this stuff arriving as we were promised, then the current priorities will remain in place, I would think.

Again, politicians don’t set those priorities, they’re very much based on advice.

Updated

Department lays out its defence for car park controversy

The infrastructure department is up before the car park rorts estimates hearing.

The secretary, Simon Atkinson, and deputy secretary, David Hallinan, have set out the department’s defence of the commuter car park program – the central thrust of which is that it is not a grants program it is a national partnership agreement between the federal and other levels of government.

Atkinson said:

It would be unusual under national partnership to have an open competitive process – that would be normal for grant programs, but these aren’t grant programs.

By structuring the program in this way, the Morrison government gave itself the discretion to allocate funding to whichever projects it wanted. And who decided to structure it this way? Why – it was a decision of government.

Hallinan tabled a few documents relating to the program, but indicated the department would not be providing spreadsheets identifying projects because these are “deliberative matter” informing cabinet decisions. These will be blocked using a public interest immunity claim.

Officials said they hadn’t seen the document identifying projects in the “top 20” marginals, nor a map of Australia breaking down funding before projects had been selected.

Atkinson:

The department wouldn’t deal with a document with that sort of title on it (top 20 marginals tracking document) ... We don’t have it. To the best of my knowledge, nobody in the department had or now has that document.

The financial services minister, Jane Hume, then launched a counterattack against Labor, tabling a document outlining its $300m commuter car park promises before the 2019 election.

Labor deputy chair Katy Gallagher said Labor promised to consult with state territory and local governments to select project sites, not pick them all themselves. Hume parried that Labor’s program would not have been decided through a competitive grant process, either.

Updated

And here is Andrews on tightening NSW border restrictions:

Again, I want to be very clear. Anything I say, I’m not running a commentary or criticism or grading of New South Wales – we wish them well – only good things because as soon as they get it under control, that takes a lot of pressure off us and Adelaide and Brisbane and the whole country.

Just in terms of the border, I’m not here today to make announcements but we are actively looking at what more we can do – it’s a hard border now – police are using technology, drones, choppers, doing random stops, all sorts of things and overall compliance with the permit system has been very, very high, very high.

I think I can’t rule out certainly further changes and further limiting movement from New South Wales to Victoria. I see a further case in regional New South Wales today. I think that confirms we made confirms about all of the state being a red zone. That’s not easy, that dramatically inconveniencing a lot of people, but so, too, does this virus travelling. It has to be pulled up in Sydney. It has to be.

Our job in the first instance is to pull it up here out of this outbreak. The cases started in Sydney, we have to end them here, that’s what we’re determined to do. Then we will have to look at the border and if there is anything further we can do.

Updated

Andrews is lopping back on a few things now. About the frustration people may feel not knowing when this lockdown will end:

I live in a family, too. I will go home after this and do my many, many meetings from home today, because that’s the right thing. My household will want to know what is going on. Everyone wants to know for the best of reasons. I could guess at it now, I don’t think that’s fair.

I appreciate more than most that’s very frustrating because I’ve had to stand here doing ‘I can’t tell you now be but I will tell you’, a number of times. It’s served us well waiting for thousands of results to come forward. I know it is frustrating, but there are many frustrating things about this and this is one. I think it will be more frustrating if we were chasing the popular thing, not prepared to do what had to be done.

Tomorrow night won’t be enough. We will need to do more. As soon as we’ve made that decision, I will be out here explaining to you why in terms of your issue about what will guide us, a number of cases, trains of transmission, mystery cases – we don’t have any – they’re all linked, it’s almost certain we would have mystery cases if we had not shut down, almost certain, all of these things that will guide us again and it will be off tonight’s data and stuff in the morning and then we will report our progress.

Updated

Andrews has been pretty firm that Victoria will learn tomorrow when lockdown will end.

I have an acute understanding that everybody who is watching and listening would love to know what is happening after midnight tomorrow night right now, but I’m not in a position to provide that clarity. I will be tomorrow.

Andrews and Sutton have both been asked about testing capacity in Mildura, which had not had a case since March last year before the two recent cases (linked to the MCG) emerged.

A pop-up clinic has opened in the city, but Andrews says there is no need for everyone to be tested, as occurred in the regional city of Shepparton last year.

That’s about it from the NSW press conference, we will continue to bring you updates from Victoria.

Here’s a few video “highlights”:

Updated

NSW press conference

Deputy police commissioner Gary Woyboys said that police power would be diverted to Sydney’s eastern suburbs to ensure people are complying with Covid-19 rules.

That will be done, as said before, [there is] a lot of capability to move people around the state or from police area commands. We have specialist resources, our public transport command, mounted police, police on bikes, the list goes on. We are terribly well resourced to deal with the movement of our resources.

Updated

Melbourne press conference

Victorian CHO Brett Sutton says the period of time that positive cases have been in the community is staying fairly consistent at below an average of two days each, which will be a key factor in considering how long lockdown will be extended.

It is an improving trend over time. We are seeing people who, yes, they are out in the community for some of the infectious period, but it is becoming a smaller and smaller period of time. I think I spoke to 1.7 days average four cases the other day. It stayed like that yesterday.

We are probably looking at a shorter period now. The initial test results we are getting back from people also have high CT values, which means lower viral loads. So we’re picking up people lower in their infectious period as well, which means they are less likely to transmit to others, another good sign. But these are all separate elements that need to be considered in full over the course of today.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton.
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton. Photograph: James Ross/AAP



Updated

NSW press conference

Berejiklian has been asked how people are expected to live off $600 a week for multiple weeks.

Can I stress that obviously there are support packages and place for individuals and businesses, and I don’t want anyone feeling they are going to go out with the basic things they need safely in the next couple of weeks, but I make this point that our job in getting out of the lockdown is getting kids back to school, is getting people and their workplaces safely, and that is what we are working towards.

That is why we have put in those extra difficult measures, because we want to get out of this as soon as possible. We want to make sure our population can live as safely and freely as possible until we get a large portion of the population vaccinated.

Melbourne press conference

Andrews says there are four more cases that will be reported tomorrow who have been in isolation for their entire infectious period.

He says he knows everyone would love a timeline, but will provide an update tomorrow.

We have to make sure that we continue to avoid this thing running wild and are determined to do that.

I know it is frustrating and everyone would love to have a timeline, absolute certainty right now. One thing we can be certain of is we have, through the sacrifice and the effort we have all made of these last four days, we have avoided much, much worse and we are very well-placed to be able to run these chains of transmission into the ground and then get back to normal as soon as possible.

Those details – based on the best advice, which is formulated from the best and most recent and most complete picture, test results coming back rather than leaving them in the lab, the results and make a decision based on the data – that will happen overnight. It will be a very long night and we will be out tomorrow to see you to give you and all Victorians certainty.

Updated

Sydney press conference

Berejiklian has confirmed that the target of 80% of eligible people vaccinated is not official government policy.

No, it’s an aspirational target that was set, 80% of the adult population or 62% of New South Wales.

As the leader of the NSW government, I was willing to put a target on the number of jabs we wanted before we could have conversations about opening up the state.

I also think it is important to have not only the 10 million jabs but also make sure everyone who wants the vaccine has access, then we can make those decisions.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian at the press conference on Monday.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian at the press conference on Monday. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

Melbourne press conference

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton is outlining some more detail about the 13 new cases recorded in the state. All the cases are linked, which Sutton is fairly stoked on.

He says there has been transmission between strangers, including people who had been seated outside away from each other at sporting events.

One case is from Mildura, four more cases are people who dined at Ms Frankie, there are two more linked to Trinity Grammar, one linked to AAMI Park, one linked to the Phillip Island cases, another to Young and Jackson, and another to Bacchus Marsh Grammar.

Sutton is concerned about the final case: a person who contracted the virus at the Crafty Squire, which hosted an event for the final of the Euro 2020 soccer tournament.

That final case ... is of concern. It is absolutely an example of how quickly this variant is moving in the short time we are seeing between exposure and then being infectious and onward transmission.

Previously, last year, we would not have seen any circumstances with someone who had been exposed was transmitting to someone else a day and a half later, less than 48 hours later simply was not seen last year with other variants.

So while we acted as conservatively as possible in declaring Crafty Squire a high-risk venue, we didn’t necessarily expect there to transmission there. The fact it has occurred some 30 hours after being exposed is absolutely a feature of the Delta variant.

Updated

Melbourne press conference

Daniel Andrews is at pains to emphasise he is not criticising the NSW government. But he also stresses that border restrictions are likely to be in place for some time.

As for things in New South Wales and the ongoing challenge we face, I made the point yesterday that even once this outbreak, is complex and challenging as it is, unless and until case numbers in Sydney dramatically reduce, we are going to have an ongoing challenge in terms of defending the border to the north and ensuring that nobody that has this virus is coming to our state. That is for another day.

Updated

Melbourne press conference

Andrews says that if Victoria had not locked down when it had – and if it did not extend lockdown – it would have ended up like greater Sydney.

I think knowing what we know now, having seen what has unfolded during this lockdown, these last four days, we know that if we had been open then we would be just like Sydney.

We would have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cases; we would not be looking at a short lockdown, we would be looking at something entirely different. We wish them well and we want them to be as successful as possible as fast as possible because if there is a problem there that is an ongoing challenge for all of us.

We are not ready to lift the restrictions at midnight tomorrow night. To do so would not be the right thing to do. It would be, perhaps, a few days of sunshine, and then a very high chance we would be back in lockdown again, that is what I’m trying to avoid, we are trying to do this properly and bring the cases to an end, close of the community transmission and open with a sense of confidence that we can stay open.

Updated

Sydney press conference

Remember how the federal government put the blame on far-right commentator Katie Hopkin’s visa being approved by the NSW state government because they requested she was let in on top of the current caps as there was an economic opportunity in her being here? (She was brought here by Channel 7 to be on Celebrity Apprentice).

Well, Brad Hazzard says he hadn’t heard of her, and seemed to imply he didn’t deal with the request for her to come to Australia directly.

I think the way the process works, obviously going back to June or July last year, where Australia was a very favourable place to come, particularly for Hollywood, we looked at those issues and put in place a process where the film companies who are guaranteeing a massive boost to our economy and jobs can make applications.

As long as they do it in a way that is not going to impede on the number of Australians that are coming back. They can make arrangements to do that, and they can provide at their cost safe arrangements.

What happens is the state operations centre has those applications that come to them, they considered them, public servants who are tasked with the job of trying to make sure that our economy is looked after at the same time as we look to keep us safe.

They make recommendations to the government, and they make recommendations – sometimes it comes to me and sometimes it doesn’t.

Someone in my office. If there is no objection from state operations and it can be done in a safe way, it will generally get approval if it is a big positive for our economy and jobs.

In saying that, can I just say I was shocked to see that lady who fortuitously I had never heard of before, and I hope to never hear of again.

To think that she could think that the measures we are taking to keep our community safe can be treated with such juvenile, imbecilic behaviour is mind-boggling. To think that she could put our teams in our health quarantine, our staff, we have police, we have health staff, to think that she thinks it is acceptable to put them at risk and to put our broader community at risk is completely abhorrent and I hope she is on the first plane back.

Katie Hopkins, pictured here in 2007.
Katie Hopkins, pictured here in 2007. Photograph: Nathan Strange/AP

Updated

Sydney press conference

Despite this whole leaking scandal health minister Brad Hazzard says they won’t be releasing the numbers earlier in the day like Victoria started doing during the second wave.

Hazzard:

*to reporter* I don’t need you interrupting me.

In terms of us giving the important message which goes out at 11 o’clock each day at a way that the community understands the significance of what we are asking people to do, to keep people safe. I think that is appropriate.

*To reporters* Please stop yelling.

Updated

Sydney press conference

The health minister has denied that the NSW state government undertook a “sting” on the TikTok NSW number leaker. Instead, it was just “looking at what the issues were”. Hmm, sounds like semantics to me.

Reporter:

[The TikTok man] picked the numbers five days straight but not today. Have you found the leak?

Hazzard:

Can I say it was a disappointment that is something as serious as our messaging to the community in a pandemic, clearly someone somebody in the system wasn’t feeling the need to disclose those figures to somebody who was not an appropriate person to be making commentary about it.

And so, health looked at the issues around that. I saw someone saying on social media that it was a sting, no it wasn’t. It was looking at what the issues were and making sure that the system was such that the information could be kept to the appropriate time whether messaging to the community.

A crane is seen at a construction site in Martin Place on July 19, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.
A crane is seen at a construction site in Martin Place on Monday. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Updated

NSW press conference

Health minister Brad Hazzard has had a crack at the Daily Telegraph reporter for asking questions about the photo of Berejiklian out and about, not wearing a mask.

Seriously. Taking an opportunity to have a go at the premier’s private life by getting a photo when she was more than double where we are from you now.

The media with the exception of the Telegraph have been very good over the last few days. We know that the health orders are given as a guide to help the community get through what is a very difficult time.

Some of them are precise and some of them are not as precise as perhaps you would like, but common sense must prevail. I heard now nearly 12 months ago a comedian, not a journalist, say, why are we looking for the loopholes rather than just making it work?

Common sense says stay away from people as far as possible... If we are talking about 1.5 metre social distance.

If you need something you could work on, work on 1.5m.

Updated

There are now 15,800 primary close contacts in Victoria and more than 250 exposure sites.

Daniel Andrews:

What I want to make clear is we have made great progress, we have avoided thousands of cases, knowing what we know, lockdown was the right course, it was the right call at the right time, and remains very challenging.

We will not be ready to lift this lockdown at midnight tonight ... I can’t tell you exactly what rules and what timeframe will apply beyond midnight tomorrow night, we want to explain why that is the case.

The chief health officer will provide advice to me and my senior colleagues that will occur over tomorrow night and tomorrow morning and it will be based on the best information, the most complete set of facts we can possibly pull together.

That means the results of today’s interviews, of today’s testing, the results of tests that are in the lab now, all of those things will be taken into account and we will make a decision that is in the interests of all Victorians and in the interests of avoiding what is occurring in other parts of our country.

Updated

Victoria lockdown will not lift tomorrow night

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking from Melbourne. He says lockdown will not lift tomorrow night.

We are running alongside this virus but we are not yet out in front of it. If you think about it like a fire, we have a containment line and are making significant progress but it is not out yet.

What we know with Delta is an hour is like a day and day is like a week in some ways, it is moving so fast.

Updated

OK, it’s time to talk about that photo of the premier that was released this morning showing her talking with her partner, drinking a coffee and not wearing a mask.

You have to wear a mask when close to a coffee shop, hospitality venues and outdoors when you can’t social distance.

(I’m pretty sure you can see her mask in her hand, and you are allowed to take it off to eat or drink, but still, it wasn’t a great look.)

Berejiklian:

I think the health message has been extremely clear in relation to that and I will ask Dr Chant to reiterate the message we have been providing.

Firstly, can I say I expect everyone to follow the health orders, everybody. Can I also say, they are very clear.

When you are outdoors and you are exercising, you obviously don’t need to wear a mask but if you are in close contact to anybody, no matter what you are doing if you cannot guarantee social distancing you must wear a blast.

I will get Dr Chant to reiterate that message.

Updated

Obviously, the next question for Chant is: “When will children get vaccinated?”

Chant:

I think we need to work in sequence. When we have more vaccine supplies and we have done the hard work of vaccinating the adult population. Concurrently, we are looking at the next group we want to vaccinate.

I think you would expect us to do that planning, but at the moment that is a long way off because at the moment we are adding, pleasingly seeing an increase in vaccine availability in terms of Pfizer, but supply is still constrained at the current time.

Updated

Vaccinating children will play a 'key role' in the NSW rollout

And here is Kerry Chant with that point about the virus spreading in children populations.

A couple of the characteristics of Delta strain is that we are seeing more infections from children spreading, which is not a characteristic we had observed with previous strands. It means we need to rethink and think about our role of vaccinating children.

It is pleasing to see in some countries overseas that we have vaccines that are licensed for use in children, and I know the regulator, the TGA, is often continually considering the vaccine.

At the moment we have a shortage of supply. But we do have adequate supplies of AstraZeneca vaccine and I am urging the population, coverage – even for the over 60s – is not high enough and we have a good vaccine that can be used, where the risk of hospitalisation and death is very high as age increases ...

I think we need to see that our journey of living with Covid is going to be a long one. We will have to adjust to whatever the virus delivers us. We will respond.

That is why it is always hard to make fixed statements, but in short, I think there will be a key role for vaccinating children and also having booster vaccination rolled out quite quickly as well.

Updated

NSW aiming for 80% vaccination target before state can 'live with Covid'

The NSW premier is sticking by her target of 80% of the eligible NSW population vaccinated before they move into the “living with Covid” stage of the pandemic.

We will always take the advice of the health experts, we will take the advice of what experts around the country are saying. In relation to the 10m jabs, no one was prepared to set a target – we decided to in New South Wales ...

80% of the adult population – it took 10 million jabs only gets about 2% of the population vaccinated, which is why I want Dr Chant to explain the threats of the Delta virus in the population.

I will come back to answer questions but I wanted to make the point from a health expert perspective, so we are aware that this is a deadly disease impacting younger people.

Updated

Berejiklian has been asked if she is afraid that we will never reach zero cases with the new Delta variant.

We know the Delta variant is nothing like we have seen. We know how challenging it is but we wouldn’t have thrown everything acted if we didn’t have a chance of quashing it. If we all work together then we can quash it.

I understand how difficult it is. Believe me, the decisions we take, it takes a deep blow on all of us to make these difficult decisions. It is not easy, it is not easy at all, but please know we do it in the best interest of our state because all of us want to get out of this as quickly as we can.

I want to stress that some of the cases you have heard in the last few days, including today and regional New South Wales, where people were working at workplaces at multiple sites and a critical work, who may not have had symptoms but unfortunately were infectious at the time, and that is why we have to be alert and aware that the strain is difficult and different to anything we have seen.

I absolutely believe if we come together and work hard we can quash this, but that is why we are in a critical phase and why the government had to make those difficult decisions. What we have in place are the best measures on health advice, they are what we believe we needed to do to reduce workplace transmission, mobility, household to household transfer.

Updated

Government will not backpedal on construction pause in NSW

There has been rumours today (mostly from the Ray Hadley on 2GB radio) that the premier was going to back down on the pause to all construction work across greater Sydney.

But Berejiklian was asked just now, and it seems that that won’t be the case.

We are wanting to make sure that the industry is well supported in having those extra Covid safe measures on the side, including testing on the side, a number of other things that can be done.

The small and medium businesses have different stresses on them than larger ones. Larger have greater capacities for testing arrangements, which is why it is important for us to take up also the industry can resume and continue safely indefinitely. That is our aim.

We knew the risk of literally having thousands and thousands of people moving across sites, some across multiple, from parts of Sydney that had a huge virus loads or huge cases within them, was not a tenable position.

If we are serious about having harsh conditions, if we are serious about quashing this thing. Because what the lockdown had done successfully, which we needed it to do, was stopped what we call the rate of increase, the exponential growth. We succeeded in that, we have since table as the virus - but if we want a normal life we need to quash that which is why those extra measures were put in place.

Non-essential construction has ground to a half due to NSW Covid restrictions.
Non-essential construction has ground to a half due to NSW Covid restrictions. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Updated

A correction. While Berejiklina and Chant put the number of people who were in the community while infectious “for more than one day” at 20 the offical NSW Health tweets tell a different story.

They say 20 were infectious in the community, 17 were in isolation for just part of their infectious person and seven are still under investigation.

I’ll try to get clarity on this, but that seems like 37 people infectious in the community at first glance.

Updated

Deputy police commissioner Gary Worboys has strongly stated that police don’t have a ring of steel around greater Sydney or the south-west LGAs.

201 infringement notices issued in the last 24 hours. Of note, 121 of those were in regional New South Wales. That is north, west and south of the greater Sydney area.

What I want to emphasise today, the strategy the police are working on is not a ring of steel. We are not operating on a ring of steel around greater Sydney, not around any LGA, not around south-west. New South Wales police force has 17,700 employees, police officers that are competent, well resourced and every single day are providing tasking is across the state.

When we look at the spread of those infringement notices, it shows that the concentration of police and their efforts around the pandemic is right across the state of New South Wales.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys. Photograph: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Updated

Areas of concern for Covid outbreaks extend to Coffs Harbour and Blayney in regional NSW

Chant:

The areas of concern for increased testing Lakemba, Punchbowl, Fairfield, Bankstown, Liverpool, Cumberland, airy lands, Guildford, Wollongong, Blayney, Parks, Coffs Harbour, Crows Nest, St Leonards... Georges River Bayside and Sutherland shire.

This goes to my final point. That we do need to make sure that we are not complacent and think this is just an issue in south-west. Far from it.

What we need to do is every time we leave our house, be vigilant in who we interact with.

Updated

NSW Covid patients in intensive care rise to 24

Here are the hospitalisation numbers for today.

Chant:

There are currently 82 Covid cases admitted to hospital, with 24 in intensive care... one has had a vaccination, with [the] one person having had a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine.

Again, vaccination is critical. Can I just urged everyone in the community who is eligible for the vaccine to go forth and make an appointment. Go on to the eligibility checker and access the vaccine. I would urge anyone, particularly over 60, to go and get on AstraZeneca vaccine from their general practice.

Updated

Here is chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant with the details of today’s 98 local cases:

New South Wales recorded 98 local cases of Covid in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. As a premier said, we still had 20 cases that were infectious in the community for more than one day.

It is pleasing to see that the venues have been narrowed and that people appear to be taking the health advice about limiting the time spent anywhere and also not going out when you are sick ...

In terms of the cases by local government area, again, Fairfield local government area has 47, Canterbury-Bankstown 13 and Liverpool 13. Reflecting the fact that the disease burden in those areas is significantly higher.

We are seeing a lot of the pattern that most, most are households. Once we find one case in a household, the remaining cases are soon positive at the time of the text and also become positive.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant. Photograph: Jenny Evans/AAP

Updated

Berejiklian says two-thirds of today’s cases still came from Sydney’s south-west.

I am convinced if we work together, we will see that number go down. We will not see the effects of the harsh, even though we have been in hard lockdown, we will not see the effect of the harsh restrictions for another four or five days. But I know they are there to be had if all of us stick together and work hard.

Updated

I’m hearing the Victorian presser will be held at 11.30 AND I AM FUMING WITH RAGE!

Luckily the amazing Nino Bucci is joining us to bring us all the updates from Victorian will I continue covering NSW.

NSW premier warns families not to meet for Eid

Berejiklian has warned families not to meet up this week for Eid celebrations.

Can I please get that message out as strongly as I can. I also know this week there are special celebrations arounds Eid. Please note families – I haven’t seen my parents for a month and I know that is small compared to what other families are going through. I ask everyone to think about their loved ones ... We need families to stay in their family home and not move from household to household.

Updated

RIP the reputation of Tiktok NSW Covid-19 case numbers man.

Updated

NSW records 98 local Covid-19 cases overnight

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now.

She says there were 98 cases overnight, but 20 were still out in the community.

Unfortunately, New South Wales still recorded 98 cases of community transmission, 20 of those were infectious in the community. Please remember, that 20 number is the number we are really keen to nudge. We need to get ahead of that number in order to reduce the cases in the community and the closer we get that number to zero, the sooner we can end the lockdown.

Petrol and diesel cars must be phased out by 2035 if Australia to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – report

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars should be phased out by 2035 if Australia is to have any chance of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a new report by the Grattan Institute.

The influential thinktank recommends making zero emissions vehicles exempt from stamp and import duties and luxury car taxes.

It suggests getting rid of stamp duty alone would cut the price of new electric cars by 6.5%. Dropping import duty would remove another 5% for some models.

It says the phase-out of fossil fuel cars could be achieved by gradually tightening a new emissions limit imposed on light vehicles. It calls on governments to help the rollout by requiring all new buildings with off-street parking to have the capability of hosting EV chargers and ensuring all residents without off-street parking have access to convenient local vehicle charging by 2030.

Transport emissions have risen significantly since 2005, the benchmark year against which the Morrison government has pledged to cut emissions. Government projections suggest this will not change by 2030 under current policies.

The government has rejected emissions vehicle standards despite being advised they would be good for consumers, and resisted calls to introduce the sort of national EV subsidies available in other countries. Scott Morrison attacked Labor policies to support EVs before the 2019 election as a plan “to end the weekend”.

Australia trails the developed world in EV takeup. They made up just 0.75% of new car sales last year.

The transport report is the first in a series of five the Grattan Institute plans to release before the Cop26 Glasgow climate summit in November. Tony Wood, the institute’s energy and climate change program director, says the series will identify “sector-specific policies Australia should implement to set us on the path to net zero”.

Updated

We are just standing by now for NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to stand up for the daily Covid-19 update.

The TikTok guy says we will have 109 cases, Nine News says just under 100. Let wait and see.

Updated

Move aside TikTok NSW case number leaker, it’s time for the professional leakers to take over – journalists!

(The government leaking to the press is somehow more socially acceptable apparently. I don’t make the rules.)

Nine news is reporting that case numbers will be just under 100 today. We will know for sure in about five minutes.

Updated

This is pretty all right as far as vaccine ads go.

I mean, it doesn’t really know if it’s trying to be totally silly or heartfelt or informative, but it’s better than “arm yourself”, that’s for sure!

Updated

Reports of positive Covid-19 case in South Australian hospital

Adelaide newspaper the Advertiser is reporting that the emergency department of Modbury hospital is in lockdown after a positive Covid result.

Reportedly there is a chance the patient may have a historic case of Covid-19, but further testing is being conducted today to confirm.

In the meantime, a number of hospital staff have been placed in isolation, and patients have been told the hospital’s emergency department is closed for undisclosed reasons.

I’ll bring you more as soon as I can.

Updated

OK, there may be been a plot twist in the TikTok NSW number predictor saga.

NSW Health reportedly put out a false number (109) to “smoke out” his source.

Time shall tell if this is the case, only 22 minutes until we know for sure.

Updated

The ABC has made a surprise announcement that Q+A host Hamish Macdonald is leaving the ABC.

The program which has been struggling in the ratings will continue with rotating ABC hosts.

In a statement released by the ABC, Macdonald said he was “moving on to a new opportunity”:

I am enormously grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given to host Q+A and to work alongside wonderful, talented and passionate people.

I am really proud of what we’ve achieved together during these extraordinary times ...

I’m really excited to be moving on to a new opportunity, and working more with the ABC in the future.

The ABC says a rotation of the network’s hosts will fill his place:

With lockdowns continuing, Q+A will continue to be hosted where it’s possible to have a studio audience, with a rotation of the ABC’s very best live presenters.

Updated

Victoria's construction industry hit by Covid cases

Master Builders Association of Victoria has confirmed that there are “some cases of Covid-19” at construction sites in the state.

It has released a statement with details of which sites have been affected:

These [sites] are being efficiently managed, consistent with COVID-19 Industry Guidelines implemented at the start of the pandemic.

A Multiplex site is currently under Department of Health outbreak management after a consultant engineer visited three of its Melbourne CBD sites late last week.

As a result of the implementation of the Covid-19 Industry Guidelines including temperature testing, workplace mapping, and mandatory wearing of face masks, Multiplex was quickly able to provide key contract tracing information to Department of Health officials ...

Given the limited interaction with other Multiplex staffand subcontractors, there is little to no likelihood of cross-contamination from this outbreak to other subcontractors in the industry.

There has also been a positive case lined to the West Gate Tunnel Project:

A V/line employee who attended the project last Thursday has since tested positive.

This case is under review but again there is little to no risk of cross contamination to other projects.

Another construction site affected is Lendlease’s works at HMAS Cerberus where multiple work sites were declared exposure sites due to a serving naval person testing positive.

Updated

Former opposition leader and current Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten spoke to the Today show this morning and slammed Gladys Berejiklian’s approach to the Syndey lockdown.

He said different restrictions for different areas were a blow to morale:

Yeah, listen, I don’t understand why you are getting two different messages in Sydney. I know no one wants to hear advice from Victorians at the moment but just clear up the confusion, Gladys.

Nothing will kill morale more than a sense of in some suburbs you’re doing it hard, the businesses aren’t open, the perishables foods being thrown away, and yet in other suburbs, people seem to not be affected at all.

You know, this line that we’re all in it together, if we’re not all in it together, if we’re not all in it together, that will stuff things up unbelievably. I think Gladys just needs to toughen up a bit here. The gold class contact tracing is clearly not gold class at the moment despite their best efforts.

Updated

The Australian government has cancelled Katie Hopkins’ visa after the far-right commentator boasted about breaching hotel quarantine conditions.

The cancellation was announced by the home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, on Monday – and follows a decision by Endemol Shine Australia to cancel her contract to appear on Seven Network’s Big Brother VIP. Hopkins will now be required to leave the country.

Katy Hopkins in Australia in 2007 for the UK version of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here
Katy Hopkins in Australia in 2007 for the UK version of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features

Hopkins, 46, broadcast a live video from what she claimed was a Sydney hotel room on Saturday morning, describing Covid-19 lockdowns as “the greatest hoax in human history” while joking about elaborate plans to breach quarantine rules. In the Instagram video, which is no longer available to view, she said she was trying to “frighten” security guards by answering her hotel door naked and maskless.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

As expected, the NSW update is set for 11am.

We don’t have a time for that Victoria press conference yet, but knowing our luck it will probably be at the exact same time as NSW again. (Yes, I am still salty about this.)

1m Pfizer vaccine doses arrive in Australia

Australia’s troubled vaccine rollout has been given a much-needed boost with the arrival of 1m Pfizer doses, reports Daniel McCulloch from AAP.

Similar-sized shipments are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months, speeding up the sluggish vaccine program.

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews said the precious cargo was ready to be rolled out. But while speaking to the ABC this morning, she was reluctant to set any vaccine targets or deadlines after earlier milestones were missed:

We want to make sure we’re not giving false promises to people.

The minister agreed it would be months – not weeks – before people aged under 40 become eligible for Pfizer:

This is not a situation that is going to be resolved overnight.

Updated

New exposure sites in Coffs Harbour

It appears that a Covid-19 positive person has been in the Coffs Harbour community while infectious.

New exposure sites have just been added for the Park Beach Plaza Woolworths, Big-W and the Hoey Moey hotel and pub.

I’ll bring you more information as soon as I can.

Updated

Queensland records no local Covid-19 cases

There are no new local cases in Queensland today.

The premier must be breathing a sigh of relief from Tokyo right about now!

Updated

Seems there is a chance we won’t be getting an answer about Victoria’s lockdown today.

Updated

Speaking of Queensland, we are expecting to hear from the deputy premier Steven Miles for the daily Covid-19 update at 10am.

Updated

The former NSW premier and foreign minister Bob Carr has written to Unesco urging it to send a mission to the Blue Mountains to assess its world heritage status, warning it could be badly affected by the proposed heightening of the Warragamba Dam.

Carr, who was premier when the greater Blue Mountains region was inscribed on the world heritage list 21 years ago, said the area had been badly affected by the 2019-20 bushfires – which he described as “by far the worst in Australia’s history” – and parts would be flooded if the dam wall was raised, as proposed by Gladys Berejiklian’s government.

The letter is dated 14 July, two days before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization world heritage committee began a two-week meeting in which it will consider a recommendation to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is on her way to Tokyo, hoping to seal the deal with Olympic officials to have the 2032 Games hosted in the sunshine state.

Brisbane is already all but assured to win the coveted hosting position but the premier has argued it is imperative to have representatives from all three levels of government at the Games to prove Australia’s commitment.

But many, including federal home affairs minister Karen Andrews, have labelled the premier a hypocrite after she pushed last month for international arrival caps to be cut due to people making non-essential trips in and out of the country.

Here is what Andrews had to say earlier to the ABC:

Well the Games are very important, and the economic benefit to Queensland, particularly south-east Queensland, but all of Australia, is considered to be significant.

There was a lot of concern about the hypocrisy of the Queensland premier while she was, on one hand, arguing that hotel quarantine caps should be reduced, that she is taking herself off overseas and will be bringing herself back in over the quarantine caps and going into hotel quarantine.

That’s a matter now for her to respond to. But many Australians are unimpressed with the hypocrisy.

Updated

A cargo ship carrying seven crew members unwell with suspected Covid-19 symptoms is set to dock in Fremantle.

The BBC California left Egypt on 8 June and has since visited three ports in Indonesia.

Seven of the 14 crew members aboard became unwell on or about 12 July and the captain has asked for the crew to be medically assessed.

West Australian premier Mark McGowan says the ship will be able to berth in Fremantle on Monday for medical assessment and a special medical team will go on board:

We are assuming Covid-19 is on board this ship, so every precaution will be taken.

The sick crew members are six Filipinos and one Russian, with the rest of the crew from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia. They are isolating in separate cabins and do not require medical help.

But McGowan said there was a risk of a sudden deterioration in their health, which could lead to a maritime emergency:

I would have liked this ship to return immediately to Indonesia but this wasn’t possible considering the number of ill crew members on board ...

If all the crew get sick and can’t operate the ship, can’t function out on the high seas ... who knows what could happen?

He said WA had successfully dealt with about 10 similar situations since the start of the pandemic.

The BBC California operates under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

Updated

Victoria records 13 new local Covid-19 cases overnight

The Victorian numbers are out early this morning.

The state recorded 13 cases overnight but one had already been announced yesterday – a man who tested positive in the regional town of Mildura.

All new cases have been linked back to current outbreaks.

Updated

Australians have marked down the federal government for its handling of the pandemic over the course of the past year, while backing the more assertive approach taken by the states, new research shows.

The findings are contained in a paper published by the Australia Institute which has been polling voters about the level of government they think is doing a better job of managing the Covid-19 crisis since August last year.

While the states were viewed as doing the better job at the outset – 31% compared with 25% for the federal government – the gap has substantially widened in recent months.

You can read the full report below:

Remember last week, when each day a little before the NSW press conference I used to share with you the tweets of a reporter from Channel Nine who seemed to have a good source within the health department and was getting a rough estimate of the case numbers early?

Well, those days are done. Now I will be bringing you the extremely unofficial, extremely unconfirmed predictions of this dude off TikTok.

He has accurately “guessed” the numbers five days in a row now, and today he is predicting there will be 109 cases.

Updated

OK, so looks like we are bringing the Hunger Games metaphors back? I thought we left those in June.

Here is what Labor frontbencher Kristina Keneally had to say about home affairs minister Karen Andrew’s interview.

Updated

Sunday-like public transport timetable for greater Sydney

Back to the NSW lockdown for a moment: public transport services will be significantly reduced as movement around the city (hopefully) drops.

From today, trains and buses will run on something similar to a Sunday timetable.

Here is what the NSW Department of Transport has to say when we asked about the cuts:

To support [the new Covid-19 restrictions], Transport for NSW will be running a reduced timetable similar to what customers would experience on a Sunday.

These changes will be in place from today (Monday 19 July). Customers using the network for essential trips should expect that services will not run as frequently as usual and they will need to plan ahead.

School kids who are still going into the classroom may also need to reconsider their route, with many dedicated school student services also slashed:

While there has been a significant drop in students attending class in person due to at home learning in greater Sydney, we do not want to see any child left by the road, so we need parents and carers to consider all their travel options for students. Please plan ahead as your child’s regular school service may not be running. Transport for NSW will continue working with the Department of Education and monitor the network as these changes roll out.

Please use your private vehicle if you can and for those essential workers needing to use the network, please plan ahead as there will be changes to your usual trip. As always, wear a mask and find a green dot to stay Covid safe.

A Sydney bus at a bus stop
Public transport services will be cut back while Sydney is in lockdown. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews also spoke on ABC radio this morning, where she was asked how soon Katie Hopkins would be leaving the country:

As soon as we can possibly have her out of the country she will be gone.

So the visa she came in on has been cancelled. I don’t have specific flight details at the moment, but she’s certainly on my radar to make sure that she leaves as soon as we can possibly have her out.

Host Fran Kelly:

But why did she get a visa in the first place? She’s got form as a divisive racist troublemaker.

She’s called Islam “disgusting”, migrants “cockroaches”, she called for a “final solution” after a terror attack in Manchester.

Why was she allowed in to [be] given a visa, into this country in the first place?

Andrews:

She was supported by a state government so the exemption was granted on the basis that this was to be of economic benefit to that state.

Updated

Digital news and streaming services enjoyed a boost in the last financial year but the pandemic has been a disaster for movies and outdoor advertising, a report on the media sector in 2020 has found.

PwC’s annual Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook says the Australian entertainment and media sector has been hit hard by the pandemic and is down by an unprecedented 3.6% overall.

While news websites and free-to-air channels enjoyed bigger audiences, the advertising revenue did not follow.

Some sectors grew under the extraordinary conditions of the past 12 months. Streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Stan expanded their content libraries and new ones, Binge and BritBox, entered the market.

Revenue for catch-up TV or broadcast video on demand, such as 9Now and 7Plus, grew 38.8% in 2020, as did interactive games and esports revenue.

But both outdoor advertising and movies fell by 40% each as people were forced to stay home.

The 20th edition of PwC Outlook revealed that by the end of last year the total Australian advertising spend had contracted by 8% to $15.4bn, and consumer spending had dropped by 1.9% to $42.5bn.

Updated

Here is more from home affairs minister Karen Andrews, who was asked how Katie Hopkins was allowed into the country in the first place:

She actually came into the country with the support of a state government. This does happen from time to time and actually, it happens reasonably regularly. That state governments approach the federal government on the basis that there is an economic benefit to some people coming in over the quarantine caps, and the quarantine caps are a matter for the states to handle. So she came in here on the basis of potential benefit to the economy.

Host Michael Rowland:

Right. But the government had to sign off on the visa, though? And how on earth was she deemed a person of good character?

Andrews:

Well, she’s clearly not someone that we want to keep in this country for a second longer than we have to ...

There are very well established processes and procedures for people to enter this country. And many decisions are made on the basis of economic benefit.

Now, for all those Australians out there who are watching this – I’m with you. It’s appalling that this individual behaved the way that she did, and she will be leaving. Without a doubt. I will continue to work with state and territory governments.

We do need people to be able to come into this country where there is an economic benefit for them to do so. And people will be supported to come into the country where states are sponsoring them, effectively, on the basis of economic benefit.

Updated

British far-right commentator Katie Hopkins to be deported

In other news, this morning far-right British personality Katie Hopkins will be deported after the Australian government cancelled her visa overnight.

She had arrived in the country at the request of Channel Seven, joining the cast of Big Brother VIP, but she was dumped from the show after she posted a video from the hotel where she was quarantining where she boasted about flouting the facility’s Covid-19 safety protocols.

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews told ABC News Breakfast that Hopkins’s visa had been cancelled:

I thought that it was shameful. The fact that she was out there boasting about breaching quarantine was appalling. It was a slap in the face for all those Australians who are currently in lockdown, and it’s just unacceptable behaviour. So, personally, I’m very pleased she’ll be leaving ...

The Australian Border Force acted quickly to make sure that the visa on which she entered was cancelled. There was a bit of a process to follow with that. We will be getting her out of the country as soon as we can possibly arrange that. So I’m hopeful that it will happen imminently.

Katie Hopkins
Katie Hopkins has had her visa for Australia cancelled. Photograph: Newscom/Alamy

Updated

Hello and welcome to the new week. It’s Matilda Boseley here, ready to bring you all the news this frosty Monday morning.

Construction sites have ground to a halt across greater Sydney today as tougher Covid-19 restrictions begin.

NSW Labor is calling on the federal government to reintroduce jobkeeper as construction is shut down in the state for the first time in the pandemic, potentially costing the economy at least $700m a week and expected to affect at least 250,000 workers.

All authorised workers living in the local government areas of Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool can leave the area for work, but need to get tested for Covid every three days.

On Saturday Gladys Berejiklian said only those working in healthcare or emergency services in those three local government areas would be allowed out but on Sunday, in an extraordinary backflip and under pressure from business and unions, she reversed that decision to include all workers.

Further south, Victorians are waiting with bated breath this morning, hoping to learn if the state’s stage four lockdown will end midnight tomorrow as planned.

Yesterday Andrews said it was still too early to tell whether the lockdown would be extended. On one hand, case numbers were still in the double digits, with worrying exposure sites like the MCG cluster, but on the other, the vast majority of cases have been successful linked back to known clusters.

We should find out more information on the status of both states at this morning’s press conferences. I’ll bring you all the updates here.

If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley.

Updated

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