That’s it for today – thanks for reading
Here’s the main news on Monday, 5 July:
- NSW records 35 new Covid-19 cases, as more than 600 hospital staff are forced into isolation, leading to visitor restrictions across Greater Sydney;
- Four new Covid-19 cases recorded in Queensland;
- Western Australia and South Australia both ease Covid-19 restrictions, while the Victorian authorities discuss moves to ease restrictions there after recording a fifth straight day without a locally acquired case;
- It was a record week for Covid-19 vaccinations, with the Therapeutic Goods Administration also considering an application from Pfizer for a dose suitable for those aged 12 to 15; and
- Huge fines and suspensions have been dished out by the NRL to St George Illawarra players who breached Covid-19 restrictions on the weekend.
Updated
Dragons player Paul Vaughan suspended for eight games for house party
Circling back on that story involving the NRL penalties handed out to St George Illawarra players for attending a party in breach of Covid-19 restrictions.
Sure, there’s enormous fines totalling $305,000 for the 13 players. But the suspensions are also fairly significant, ranging from eight matches handed down to Paul Vaughan, who hosted the party, to one match for some of the attendees.
Basically half the team has been suspended, so the NRL will allow the bans to be served over four rounds to make sure the club can field a side.
The NRL said in a statement:
The NRL alleges that player Paul Vaughan invited players to a gathering at his home on Saturday 3 July which was attended by 12 teammates, in breach of NSW Public Health Orders and the Game’s biosecurity protocols. It’s alleged a number of players hid or fled the residence when NSW Police attended the home after complaints from neighbours.
It’s also alleged that a number of players gave or were involved in giving misleading information about the event during the NRL’s investigation into the breaches and that some of the players conspired to withhold key information from the NRL. The notices allege that all players involved knowingly breached the game’s biosecurity rules by attending the premeditated gathering. They were made aware of the game’s Biosecurity Protocols by the club and admit they knew they were breaching the game’s rules.
The players have five days to appeal the penalties.
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It has been very hot in New Zealand, which is not a great sign for the planet (but worth considering if you’re planning on travelling there now the bubble has reformed):
Here’s some very Covid-19 tangental news: Violet Town full-forward and former Fremantle player Josh Mellington has kicked 53 goals in three games since Victorian restrictions lifted and allowed community sport to return. Mellington booted a cool 27 goals on Saturday. Thank you for indulging my love of country footy spearhead stories.
Updated
The NRL has confirmed it has dished out a total of $305,000 fines to the St George Illawarra players who attended that gathering mentioned below.
It would have wanted to be a fairly good party.
Updated
Fourteen people fined by police after gathering involving NRL players
NSW police have fined 14 people who breached public health orders at a gathering in Shellharbour on Saturday night $1000 each.
This is the famed party involving NRL players.
One woman and 13 men, aged between 21 and 30, have been fined for ignoring stay at home directions, police said in a statement.
The 14th person, a 30-year-old man was identified earlier today.
The deputy commissioner Gary Worboys said most people were respecting the public health directions.
“I’d like to thank everyone who is doing the right thing and complying with the directions – these people are aware of the risks and are demonstrating they care for their community and are making the job of police easier,” he said.
There were 125 infringements issued in the past 24 hours, many of them to groups.
Ten men were also fined $1000 each after they were found at a home in Fairfield Heights at the weekend.
Updated
There’s been a shark attack at Crescent Head in NSW. This just in from NSW police:
A man has been injured in a suspected shark attack on the Mid North Coast this afternoon.
Police have been told the man, believed to be aged in his 20s, was attacked by a shark while surfing at Crescent Head Beach about 4.30pm (Monday 5 July 2021).
He was assisted from the water and remains at the scene being treated by emergency services for a serious arm injury.
The man is expected to be airlifted to John Hunter Hospital.
Officers from Mid North Coast Police District will liaise with the Department of Primary Industry to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The beach has been closed by Surf Life Saving NSW.
Updated
Here’s a story from Katharine Murphy on how things are going (or not) with the vaccine program, taking in those fairly extraordinary comments from the (Liberal) NSW health minister Brad Hazzard. He said earlier that getting dose supplies from the (Coalition) federal government was like the Hunger Games:
Visitor restrictions at all state-run hospitals in Greater Sydney
Earlier, we reported Sydney’s Royal North Shore hospital is on “red alert”, as it struggles with staffing shortages resulting from its 500 staff who are isolating.
To clarify, all state-run hospitals in Greater Sydney are on “red alert” as of today, meaning there are restrictions placed on visitation.
Visitors are permitted only by exception and must meet certain conditions, including: seeking medical treatment, obtaining medical supplies, fulfilling carer’s responsibilities, end of life visits and attending an appointment to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.
This appears to have created confusion about hospital visitation for birthing.
Western Sydney Health district has set up an online exemption form, and used its social media channels to warn that partners of women giving birth are not allowed to visit hospitals in the district without gaining an exemption.
The strict controls in Western Sydney follow the listing of a string of exposure sites across the area, including the SummitCare Baulkham Hills aged care facility outbreak. Infected residents have been transferred to Westmead hospital, which is inside the health district.
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As someone who was very much watching the clock earlier while waiting for the WA premier, this seems eerily relevant:
Would just like to report back that someone has sent @abcperth a pic of their McGowan clock. cool cool https://t.co/TLMnpbG5dT pic.twitter.com/IHPSKxOdY2
— Gian De Poloni (@GianDePoloni) July 5, 2021
The chair of the Bowman branch of Queensland’s Liberal National party has resigned after a man accused of fat-shaming women in past social media messages was preselected to replace Andrew Laming.
The ABC has an interesting story on the government’s contract for AstraZeneca supply not being released under FOI laws because it was deemed that doing so would pose a risk to national security.
Man dies after he was pulled from the sea in NSW
Sad news on the south coast of NSW (from AAP):
A man has died after he was pulled from the water at Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast.
Emergency services were called to Surf Beach just before 1pm on Monday to respond to reports a man and child were missing in the water.
A man, 48, and a girl, 9, were pulled from the ocean by surf lifesaving staff. Paramedics performed CPR on the unresponsive man but he died at the scene.
He is yet to be formally identified.
The girl was taken to Batemans Bay Hospital in a stable condition.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
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Here’s a full story from AAP on that Covid-19 case on the bulk carrier in WA, which we mentioned earlier.
A bulk vessel crew member has been hospitalised in Perth after testing positive to coronavirus as Western Australia prepares to further ease restrictions.
The MV Emerald Indah docked in Geraldton, 420km north of Perth, overnight after the man became ill and “deteriorated quickly”, with bad weather preventing a helicopter evacuation.
Premier Mark McGowan says the man was taken to Geraldton Hospital and subsequently flown to Perth after returning a positive test.
“While this is less than ideal, we want to reinforce there is no current health risk to the Geraldton community,” McGowan told reporters on Monday.
Staff who treated the man in Geraldton had been fully vaccinated and wore protective equipment.
The MV Emerald Indah has set sail for Kwinana, south of Perth, but McGowan said he wanted the empty bulk carrier gone.
“We are currently working with federal authorities to try to ensure the ship sails away immediately,” he said.
The vessel is registered as flying under a Singaporean flag and had most recently been in Indonesia.
None of the other 21 crew members are reported as being unwell.
With the man’s case set to be included in Tuesday’s official numbers, no local cases were detected overnight from 5177 tests.
It has paved the way for Perth and the Peel region to move to a second phase of transitional restrictions from 1201am on Tuesday.
Face masks won’t be required outdoors where physical distancing is possible and hospitality venues will return to a two-square metre capacity and a limit of 150 patrons.
Major venues including Optus Stadium and RAC Arena can operate at 50 per cent capacity.
The restrictions are due to expire next Monday, when Perth and Peel are slated to return to pre-lockdown life.
McGowan said it was encouraging no further cases had been linked to the northern suburbs cluster that plunged more than two million people into a four-day lockdown last week.
But he urged West Australians not to get complacent about getting tested.
“It’s telling that many of the cases in this cluster tested negative before eventually testing positive ... they were already designated as close contacts and that’s why we tested them multiple times,” he said.
“But for people in the community, even if you’ve already been tested once, don’t hesitate to get tested again, especially if your symptoms worsen.”
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA has estimated Perth’s third lockdown in five months will cost WA businesses about $245 million.
Details of a business support package are set to be unveiled later in the week.
Victoria is set to be reclassified as a “very low risk” state from Friday, removing quarantine requirements, if there are no new cases this week.
Police are meanwhile continuing to hunt for a Tasmanian man who allegedly fled quarantine after being denied permission to enter WA.
Kyle Stephens travelled from Tasmania to Sydney, while the city was in lockdown, and continued on to Perth on Thursday.
He fled after being formally denied permission to enter the state and told to stay in hotel quarantine while waiting for a flight out, police said.
Authorities believe the 32-year-old may be travelling with another man from Perth to the Geraldton area.
WA recorded one new local case of Covid-19 on Sunday. The man is the partner of a previous case, a woman who was exposed to the virus at a gym in Perth’s north.
The man, aged in his 30s, has been isolating since June 26 and is not believed to pose any public health risk.
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We have received an update from NSW Health regarding a post from earlier that outlined the huge number of hospital staff who have had to isolate because of Covid-19 outbreaks.
In a statement, NSW Health said Royal North Shore hospital was now operating “under a red alert”, which means “visitors are restricted unless in exceptional circumstances”.
There is restricted movement on five wards – renal vascular, neurology, cardiology, a general medical ward and a surgical ward.
These wards are not accepting any new patients and are closed to visitors. All staff working in these wards are wearing an enhanced level of personal protective equipment.
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The trans-Tasman bubble has reopened (I find this an odd turn of phrase, because how does one open and close a bubble, but regardless), AAP reports.
As the trans-Tasman bubble reopens, the New Zealand government will offer a lifeline home to Kiwis stranded in New South Wales by the latest COVID-19 outbreak.
On Monday morning, New Zealand allowed half of Australia to resume quarantine-free travel across the Tasman Sea.
Residents of Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT can now make their way across the ditch without the need for a fortnight in quarantine.
Jacinda Ardern’s cabinet has also approved a reopening to Western Australia and the Northern Territory from Saturday.
An assessment on whether Queensland can rejoin the quarantine-free travel bubble will come on Wednesday, while NSW remains some way off.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced 35 new cases on Monday, and Ardern said there was “no clear date in mind” to reopen to the state.
“So long as there are extensive restrictions in place, you can expect that we will not change our position, which is a pause,” Ardern said.
“Even if those restrictions were to lift, we will very much make our own assessment.”
The Bondi-originated outbreak has trapped many visitors from New Zealand in NSW.
Ardern’s government has warned travellers they must shelter in place during outbreaks, but last month, in response to the Victorian outbreak, NZ allowed citizens to return after they had spent a fortnight isolating at home.
The same deal will be offered to Kiwis in NSW from Saturday, with further details to be released on Tuesday.
“If we start getting up to that 12-14 day mark ... that means people have been in a form of lockdown. It means they’re safer for us. They’ve been isolating,” Ardern said.
From this week, New Zealand will ask Australians to test negative to COVID-19 within 72 hours of travelling to Aotearoa.
New Zealand is on a 127-day streak without community transmission of COVID-19.
Updated
Team, a little more info (again) from NSW: there are a couple of public transport routes that are linked to a case of Covid-19. They are the 827 bus and the T5 Cumberland line (check below for exact details).
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT - TRANSPORT ROUTES⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 5, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of new venues of concern and transport routes associated with confirmed cases of #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/qvEMGnTuff
More than 620 hospital staff deemed close contacts, isolating
Isolation orders related to an unvaccinated student nurse who worked across two Sydney hospitals while infectious with Covid-19 are continuing to wreak havoc on staffing levels, with more than 600 health professionals deemed close contacts so far.
Guardian Australia understands that more than 500 staff at Royal North Shore hospital and more than 120 staff at Fairfield hospital are now isolating and unable to work after being identified as a close contact of the 24-year-old student nurse who worked from 24-28 June across the two hospitals while infectious.
Nurses, administration staff and other healthcare workers are among the isolating workers.
The situation is so severe at Royal North Shore hospital, where five wards are affected, that health authorities are understood to be trying to move nursing staff from nearby hospitals to help fill the shortfall in services.
The number of isolating close contacts related to the student nurse has swelled since Wednesday, when about 100 initial staff and patients were sent into isolation following a positive result being returned late on Tuesday.
Brett Holmes, general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, said the isolation orders have had “a large burden” on an “already strained” workforce.
Taking 500 staff out of Royal North Shore has a massive impact on the workloads of our members.
Our health system was already at extraordinary high activity, and there was minimum staffing available because casual staff who might’ve backfilled absences are being absorbed at vaccination and testing centres.
Clearly the hospital has done the sensible thing and stopped all but emergency surgery, and has diverted patients to other facilities where possible, but nurses were already strained and having experienced for some time shortages in their normal working day. The necessary steps that have been taken [isolation orders] certainly leave a large burden on the staff.
NSW Health has been contacted for comment.
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Frydenberg has finished speaking in Melbourne, but it is also worth noting his response to a question about the Coalition’s controversial car parking scheme, which was found to be ineffective and not merit-based:
We were responding to the need where there is congestion on our roads because people are taking the driving option as opposed to public transport ... Infrastructure Australia has said about nearly 40% of people in the city of Melbourne not living within walking distance of public transport ... putting in place these car parks, it can help alleviate some of the pressures on our roads and get people to work sooner than later and also getting them home safer. That is what has been the overriding focus of our infrastructure program and we look forward to delivering those car parks right around the country.
When Frydenberg was questioned about whether their location - mostly in Coalition seats - was a factor, he responded:
Every dollar we spend is designed [for] more jobs and to generate more economic activity. The auditor general made a number of recommendations and [...] those recommendations have been accepted.
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When asked about whether the ongoing international border closures would hurt the economy, Frydenberg said:
We will open the borders when it is safe and that is why the vaccination rollout is important and that is why it is pleasing to see more people getting vaccinated each and every day. Our economy has shown itself to be remarkably resilient and our economic recovery has been faster and stronger than our most optimistic forecast and expectations over the course of last year and early this year, and ahead of what the rest of the world has experienced. As I said, the Australian economy today is bigger than it was going into the pandemic. There are more Australians in work today than going into the pandemic.
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I’m not sure why, but both health minister Greg Hunt and treasurer Josh Frydenberg have been at pains to state today that “more people are getting vaccinated”. Quite difficult for fewer people to get vaccinated, I would have thought.
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Frydenberg’s full comments:
For the first time, we have an agreed national roadmap for the pathway forward. This will help give businesses the confidence to plan and deliver. It will give governments the ability to open up. Importantly, this roadmap, this plan agreed at national cabinet, will see the relegation of lockdowns as a method of last resort. We need, as a nation, to move our focus from the suppression of the virus, ultimately, to living with the virus and preventing hospitalisation, fatalities and serious illness. That is the pathway set forward in the roadmap.
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Ahh, he’s mentioned the “roadmap for the pathway forward”. Get it? We’re going somewhere! Just have to look at the map to find the path first.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is having a chat in Melbourne. It seems to be about the economic support provided to people during the pandemic.
The Human Rights Law Centre has released its submission to the Australian National Audit Office’s inquiry into pandemic border policies.
The Human Rights Law Centre told the watchdog that a range of restrictive policies were keeping families apart, including:
a narrow definition of ‘family’ that prevents people from seeing close relatives, including parents and fiancés;
that people on temporary visas have no right to reunite with family members at all; and
the suspension of the humanitarian resettlement program that has stopped many Australians from welcoming family members to a new life in safety.
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The full list of NSW exposure sites - which now include the Meriton Suites in Waterloo and Rams Food in Homebush West - can be found here.
Updated
There’s been an interesting update from NSW, where 35 cases were reported today.
The entire Meriton Suites in Waterloo is now an exposure site, after a party was held there that resulted in several infections.
NSW Health says anyone – including guests, staff and contractors – who was on any level of the Meriton Suites at 30 Danks Street, Waterloo, for any amount of time between 7pm on 26 June and 8am today must immediately get tested and isolate until they receive further advice from NSW Health.
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Western Australia is set to open to Victoria again on Friday, McGowan said, if Victoria continues its run without any new Covid cases.
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McGowan is concerned, however, about a bulk carrier off the coast of Geraldton, where one crew member has tested positive to Covid. The crew member has come onshore and been transferred to Perth for treatment, but McGowan is trying to get the ship to leave Australia waters.
I’m advised he was managed with the appropriate infection prevention and control precautions and I understand he was only attended to by fully vaccinated staff. He’s been transferred to Perth today and his case will be included in tomorrow’s case numbers. While this is less than ideal, we want to reinforce there is no current health risk to the Geraldton community. All other crew members are reported as being well. We understand the ship is currently en route to Kwinana. However, it is my preference the ship is turned around and leaves Australian waters. We are currently working with federal authorities to try to ensure the ship sails away immediately. This is the outcome we want and it needs to happen. We will continue to receive updates on this fast-developing situation. Both a timely reminder of the risks, dangers and challenges this pandemic presents to the health of our community.
Updated
Western Australia to ease restrictions beyond forecast
McGowan says the Covid-19 situation has improved so much that Western Australia will ease restrictions further than planned (it was supposed to be a nine-day, three stage easing):
Given we have recorded no new cases, with a strong number of tests, we are confident we can move to our much lighter transitional restrictions at midnight tonight as planned. We have received updated health advice from the chief health officer to move to lighter restrictions than we announced at the end of last week.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, McGowan doesn’t make any comparisons with other states when he mentions the testing numbers:
5,177 tests were conducted yesterday, which is not bad for a cold, wet weekend. However, we still need as many West Australians as possible to get themselves tested. Even if you’ve already returned a negative result, if you develop symptoms, or your symptoms worsen, we need you to get tested again.
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McGowan said:
West Australians have done so well looking after each other and keeping ourselves safe. Police have only been required to hand out a very small number of [fines] over the lockdown period. Just as an example, police have had to hand up 15 infringements in Perth and Peel over the four days. As a point of comparison yesterday alone, New South Wales had to issue 125 infringements. I wanted to say thank you to West Australians for doing the right thing. It’s why we’re in the strong position we find ourselves in today.
Here is WA premier Mark McGowan! He is already comparing WA with NSW.
Updated
We’re waiting on a Covid-19 update from WA premier Mark McGowan, but the good eggs at AAP already have some of the news for us:
West Australians will be allowed to resume large gatherings and stop wearing face masks outdoors after recording no new local coronavirus cases.
Premier Mark McGowan has confirmed Perth and the Peel region will move to a second phase of transitional restrictions from 12.01am on Tuesday.
Face masks won’t be required outdoors where physical distancing is possible and hospitality venues will return to a two-square-metre capacity and a limit of 150 patrons.
Major venues including Optus Stadium and RAC Arena can operate at 50 per cent capacity.
The restrictions are due to expire next Monday, when Perth and Peel are slated to return to pre-lockdown life.
No new local cases were detected overnight from 5177 tests.
“This is really encouraging news - but we need to keep these testing numbers up to make sure we don’t miss any potential cases in our community,” McGowan said in a Facebook post on Monday.
“So if you’re feeling unwell, please get a test and isolate until you receive a negative result - even if you haven’t been to a exposure site.”
More than two million residents emerged on the weekend from a four-day shutdown, the third in Perth and Peel in five months.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA has estimated it will cost WA businesses about $245 million.
McGowan has promised a business support package will be finalised as soon as possible.
Police are meanwhile continuing to hunt for a Tasmanian man who allegedly fled quarantine after being denied permission to enter WA.
Kyle Stephens travelled from Tasmania to Sydney, while the city was in lockdown, and continued on to Perth on Thursday.
He fled after being formally denied permission to enter the state and told to stay in hotel quarantine while waiting for a flight out, police said.
The 32-year-old’s current location is not known but police believe he may be travelling with another man from Perth to the Geraldton area.
WA recorded one new local case of COVID-19 on Sunday. The man is the partner of a previous case, a woman who attended a gym in Perth’s northern suburbs that is listed as an exposure site.
He has been in self-isolation since June 26 and Health Minister Roger Cook said the man, aged in his 30s, did not pose any public health risk.
Updated
This is an interesting piece that is worth some of your afternoon:
We’re expecting the WA premier Mark McGowan to provide an update on the Covid-19 situation there soon.
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This is the best and most obvious Olympic vaccine event:
Shot put @ninobucci pic.twitter.com/bjQiYgakWM
— shrug lord (@lord_shrug) July 5, 2021
Therapeutic Goods Administration considering Pfizer application for child vaccine
Health minister Greg Hunt confirms that Pfizer has made an application to the TGA regarding vaccinating children aged 12-15 against Covid-19. There has been concerns that children, who were considered relatively low-risk under other variants, should be vaccinated, given the infectiousness of the Delta strain. Hunt said:
I ... respectfully won’t pre-empt that. But that’s the only application of which I’m aware at this stage for children. Others may be forthcoming. But I believe they’re looking at 12- to 15-year-olds. But again, that will be a TGA process and they will run to the point of working through all of the safety assessments, all of the efficacy assessments, and then making their independent findings.
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Clever. Perhaps also synchronised syringing?
Jabelin, @ninobucci? pic.twitter.com/ubprr7WUhb
— Heath (@HeathC) July 5, 2021
Just to wrap up Hunt’s press conference.
On anti-vaxxers:
Let me outrightly condemn the anti-vaxxers in Australia. I had them protest outside my office on different occasions. But the real damage they do is by spreading falsehoods and undermining people’s confidence.
On work regarding a vaccine for children:
Look, in relation to children, the TGA is currently assessing an application from Pfizer. They are very – whilst they work at the fastest possible pace, they work to the fastest possible safe pace. And so they’re doing that assessment and once they have completed all of their safety assessments, then they’ll make their decision. And so I will respectfully won’t pre-empt that. But that’s the only application of which I’m aware at this stage for children. Others may be forthcoming. But I believe they’re looking at 12- to 15-year-olds.
And finally, on the fracas regarding a quarantine facility in Queensland (whether there should be one in Toowoomba, specifically_:
That’s not deemed a suitable facility at Toowoomba. And indeed, I have spoken with the local member Garth Hamilton, who has reaffirmed the strong overwhelming view of the local community against it. We’re working very constructively with Queensland. The Pinkenba base is being considered. Queensland has stepped forward on that.
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Hunt added (while also confirming Australia is part of the world):
Look, in relation to vaccines, it is the most competitive global environment imaginable. And through the course of this, we’ve been fortunate to ensure that there was sovereign domestic manufacturing and that’s seen at this point in time over 5 million AstraZeneca vaccines delivered, including 4.3 million of those as first doses.
And that means that we’re in a very strong position to have absolute security of supply over the rest of the AstraZeneca program and then internationally we have 40 million Pfizer due this year. We have 10 million Moderna. That are due this year. And we have an order of 51 million Novavax and we’re expecting the first arrivals of that to occur in the last quarter of the year at this stage. We are hopeful for earlier. But we put the conservative expectations of the last quarter of the year.
And it is incredible the result – we had 880,000 doses last week with what we have in Australia. That shows the distribution system is working. It’s a global challenge. Australia is part of it.
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On questions about vaccine supply into Queensland and NSW (NSW health minister Brad Hazzard likened it to the Hunger Games), Hunt said:
We work very constructively with all the states and territories. In terms of Queensland, we’ll go from 232,000 doses of Pfizer in June to 430,000 doses. So an increase of almost 198,000 over the course of July. And I think that’s a really significant increase. So an increase for Queensland of almost 198,000. And if I may, I will give you the numbers for New South Wales. For New South Wales, we’ll go from 400,000 in June to 682,000, an increase of 282,000. Some additional supplies provided to New South Wales in June and so those figures were higher than the baseline might otherwise have been.
Updated
“The truth is, Australians are great vaccinators,” Hunt says.
I’ve not checked, but is vaccination one of the sports being contested at the Tokyo Olympics? Maybe we should try and get it on the program for Brisbane 2032?
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Hunt is asked about comments from the former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who reportedly said Hunt should resign because of his failures in the portfolio. Hunt reckons he hadn’t “read the article” (it wasn’t clear from the question that it was in an article, but anyway).
Updated
The Navy’s Commodore Eric Young, the operations coordinator for the commonwealth’s vaccine rollout, says: “It took us 47 days to get us to our first million (doses), and 8 days to reach our most recent.
In addition to reflecting on where we’ve come, the milestone also gives an opportunity to reflect on what we need to do. This week we’ll see a boost to our program through two primary fronts. Firstly, we’ll be increasing community pharmacy rollout. The community pharmacies are specifically designed to provide access in areas where there’s little to no GP support, in remote, rural and regional areas. We’ll have 65 community pharmacies administering vaccine across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and that will ramp up to 300 by the end of July. Secondly we’ll see a ... transition of our commonwealth sites to administering the Pfizer vaccine.
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A record week of Covid vaccine doses
Hunt is happy with the rollout (surprise!). He says a record 880,807 people were vaccinated last week.
There’s an increase of 48,000 over the previous best week and that shows that Australians have confidence in the vaccination program. Australians are keen to be vaccinated and Australians are coming forward to be vaccinated. This is, I think, a very important step. In particular, we have now passed 8.25 million vaccinations in Australia.
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Oh and here is health minister Greg Hunt with a Covid-19 update.
Dancing back as SA eases Covid restrictions
I am absolutely thrilled to report that the lifting of restrictions in South Australia means you can now dance (or stand up while drinking), according to AAP. Just don’t be one of those people who stands at the edge of the dance floor drinking by yourself watching while everyone boogies. That’s weird.
AAP reports:
South Australia has dropped its local Covid-19 restrictions put in place about a week ago in response to growing virus numbers in other states.
The premier Steven Marshall says the measures will be removed immediately.
The change returns SA to a general density rule of three people to every four square metres.
Public gatherings can increase from 150 to 200 people and drinking while standing up and dancing can also return.
Marshall says the increased restrictions were necessary, given the situation SA faced with some local cases and increasing infections in other jurisdictions.
“We weren’t wanting to take any chances with the escalating numbers right across the country,” the premier said.
“But we think people will be very pleased with this.
“We said we didn’t want to keep the restrictions in place for any longer than necessary.”
At the same time, SA will also lift its testing requirements for travellers from Victoria but will keep hard border closures in place for Western Australia, Queensland, NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory.
The state’s transition committee will meet again on Thursday to consider easing those rules, particularly in relation to WA, Queensland and the NT.
Updated
There’s some anger at the situation unfolding at a nursing home in Sydney, where most staff were unvaccinated against Covid-19. Here’s the full story:
Updated
A bit more information on the lay of the land in South Australia, where restrictions are being eased immediately.
1 new COVID case detected in SA, a child in a medi-hotel
— Harvey Biggs (@HarveyBiggs) July 5, 2021
2 people are in hospital with the virus, a man in his 60s & a man in his 20s
There are 16 active cases
9,400 tests yesterday @9NewsAdel https://t.co/yAb1YdAVQP pic.twitter.com/ki8b9YX4yO
A university student has admitted throwing red paint, brussels sprouts and tomatoes at the prime minister Scott Morrison’s car during a protest at a university research centre, AAP reports.
Sharai Elizabeth Lancaster was charged with wilful damage, common assault and public nuisance over the incident, which occurred when the prime minister visited Queensland during the state election campaign on October 12.
Morrison was supposed to greet people before taking a tour of the University of Queensland’s Covid-19 vaccine lab, but instead moved inside due to the action about refugees in detention.
The 23-year-old and other protesters splashed red paint on the glass doors of the university building before smearing it with their hands, Brisbane Magistrates Court heard on Monday.
Some red liquid landed on a university security officer who tried to stop her.
Lancaster also squeezed red paint from a bottle onto the windscreen and bonnet of the prime minister’s car before smearing it all over the vehicle.
She was also among protesters who threw brussels sprouts and tomatoes at the car.
Morrison had to be “exited” from the building, as the “aggressive and angry” protesters got into the foyer, using a megaphone to make loud siren noises, the court was told.
Lancaster was ordered to serve 60 hours of community service. No conviction was recorded.
Updated
The good people of South Australia will now be enjoying a less restrictive existence. Also, a rare but (to my mind) welcome change: the immediate easing, rather than the at-midnight treatment.
BREAKING #covid19 restrictions immediately easing back to levels imposed a week ago before latest #coronavirus scare including on licensed venues, home gatherings and public activities. Victorian borders easing#Adelaide pic.twitter.com/gV4DAvgUQ2
— Andrew Hough (@andrew_hough) July 5, 2021
Updated
AAP also have a natty take on the situation in Victoria, which recorded it’s fifth straight day without a locally acquired Covid-19 case:
Victoria will know by Thursday what Covid-19 restrictions will be eased as the state continues its streak of no locally acquired cases.
There were no local cases for the fifth straight day, with the state health department confirming there were just two cases of Covid-19 recorded in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours to Monday morning.
Lifting of Victoria’s restrictions was put on hold because of outbreaks around the country.
Crowd capacities at Victorian sporting events and theatres were supposed to be raised late last week, but those plans were paused.
New acting chief health officer Danny O’Brien said health officials were meeting on Monday to assess crowds.
Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar also confirmed that any changes to restrictions would be announced by Thursday.
“We’re obviously reviewing ... the epidemiology and the developments, both here in Victoria and interstate,” Weimar said.
“Certainly by Thursday of this week, I’d expect us to issue another announcement about what the future of our restrictions is going to be.”
Some 20,690 tests were processed and 13,086 vaccine doses were administered at state-run hubs in the 24 hours to Monday morning.
It comes as a St Kilda venue was fined more than $10,000 for breaching COVID-19 restrictions at the weekend.
Police arrived at Riva bar in St Kilda about 10.15pm on Saturday and found about 1000 patrons “in clear and blatant breach” of the chief health officer’s directions.
Footage posted on social media showed the maskless crowd dancing under a marquee.
Under the latest round of eased restrictions, dancefloors remained closed, patrons must remain seated and a strict cap of 300 people per venue applies.
Victoria had planned to move out of its remaining Covid restrictions on July 8, but this will now depend on how the latest outbreak in NSW is managed.
Police have fined the licensee of the premises $10,904 and the matter has been referred to the health department for further investigation.
Updated
Afternoon all. Here’s a little story the crew at AAP have just dropped in regarding the situation in Queensland, where four new Covid cases were reported this morning:
Queensland has recorded four new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, all of which are linked to existing infections, as it moves ahead with plans for a purpose-built quarantine hub.
One case reported on Sunday is a close contact of a worker at a Greek community centre in Brisbane, and another is their child.
The other two cases are the partner and a colleague of a 29-year-old man who tested positive after travelling to the Noosa area last week.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says contact tracers have linked almost all active cases in the state.
“All of these are the Alpha strains, so another piece of good news is that we do not believe that the Delta variant is circulating in our community,” the premier told reporters.
Most of the existing cases are related to a superspreader event at a Portuguese club, the Greek community Centre or the Zeus Street Greek cafe at Westfield Chermside, the chief health officer Jeannette Young said.
One of the cases, a man in his 60s linked to the Portuguese club, is now on a ventilator in hospital.
The only outstanding case is a DFO worker who tested positive two weeks ago, Dr Young said.
“I expect to see a few more (cases) still come through, which is why until we get it totally under control, we do need to continue to wear our masks, to check-in, that is so critical,” she said.
Three new cases were also reported in hotel quarantine.
The Queensland government has provided Canberra with specifications for a new quarantine facility near Brisbane Airport.
The commonwealth last month offered land currently occupied by the Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba, following months of campaigning by the state for an alternative site at Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba.
Queensland wants a Brisbane facility to have 1000 rooms, initially able to host 800 people per fortnight and eventually rising to 1450.
Capital funding will come from the Commonwealth, and the state will provide the services once the facility is built.
Palaszczuk said she will continue to push for the 1000-bed Wellcamp facility, which together with arrangements at Pinkenba, would allow the state to double its intake of returned travellers.
She said Wellcamp could be “up and running” in two months, and building both sites would eliminate the need to use quarantine hotels which have been held responsible for cases entering the community.
But Wellcamp’s distance from an international airport and “necessary” health facilities means it doesn’t fit the Federal Government’s selection criteria, the finance minister Simon Birmingham told ABC radio.
With another quarantine site in the works in Victoria, Birmingham said the construction process can be sped up by “essentially duplicating some of the contractual and planning arrangements”.
It’s hoped the Queensland facility will start taking arrivals by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the health minister Yvette D’Ath is urging people to be patient as Pfizer vaccine supplies are running low.
She said state clinics would be able to administer 10,000 doses of vaccine per day once supplies arrived.
“As long as the Commonwealth can guarantee that we’ll be getting a lot more vaccines from October, we can start vaccinating a lot more people from October,” D’Ath said.
Updated
With that, I shall leave you for the day, with the amazing Nino Bucci stepping in to guide you through the afternoon.
Covid Commander Weimar says there’s just 5 active local cases in Vic now.. and he expects an “announcement by Thursday” on what next stage of restrictions will look like.
— Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) July 5, 2021
Dan O’Brien is the name of the new acting Victorian CHO!
And he says authorities are spending the day considering increasing capacity at footy games and theatres.
Acting CHO Dan O’Brien says meetings are being held today re increasing capacity at footy and & theatres. Stadium crowds were due to increase to 85% and theatre 100% last week, but were put on hold because of interstate outbreaks. Masks in offices also being discussed #springst
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) July 5, 2021
Updated
Victoria records no Covid cases for fifth straight day
Time for a quick update from Victoria, who held their press conference in the last hour.
Victoria recorded its fifth consecutive day of no local Covid-19, and today’s update was delivered by the acting chief health officer, a man I have never seen before, and whose name I will try to find:
Two cases from interstate remained stable. Of more than 200 primary close contacts linked to the Sandringham workplace, 67, or 30%, have been cleared as of yesterday.
As for the remaining (in) quarantine, they are safely and effectively isolated. I can confirm all primary close contacts linked to the Epping private hospital outbreak last month have now been cleared.
Updated
Sloane says, until recently, SummitCare was not legally able to exclude staff who chose not to be vaccinated.
In regards to vaccinated staff, I want to say that up until seven days ago we were unable to insist our staff are vaccinated, and the government mandated it on June 28. The law had prevented us until then and in fact they were not even obliged to advise us if they had had it.
Updated
Sloane:
I’m confident of the fact that 96% of our residents are vaccinated.
I can’t predict that more residents won’t test positive. What I can predict is that at the moment they are all asymptomatic and comfortable, and that is a great sign.
Updated
OK, so until September it isn’t technically mandatory for aged care workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, but what does SummitCare actually know about how many people in the facility right now have had both jabs?
Sloane:
We know that every staff member is vaccinated for flu. We know that they are all following protocol as far as donning and doffing is concerned. The answer to that is I don’t know at the moment who is coming in that is or isn’t. Frankly there is no time for that. We are more intent on looking after the residents’ care.
In hospitals there are unvaccinated staff, in every kind of business there are unvaccinated staff. If we said to all of our unvaccinated staff, don’t come to work, then there’d be no one to care.
That is not just us but every aged care business across Australia and every hospital across Australia ... We take the right precautions with the right masks and the right protective gear, those residents are as safe as our staff are safe.
Updated
Here’s the thing – there are currently still unvaccinated workers in the aged care home, helping care for residents while in lockdown. Which seems like not a great idea, to be honest.
But Sloane says she is confident that they will not spread the virus further:
Well, we have been advised by the public health infectious control people that as long as we are our donning and doffing correctly there is no risk.
We have been running day and night education sessions for all staff. Any new staff entering the facility in the surge workforce go straight from being signed in to a workshop to showing them how to don and doff properly.
There have been two trainers on site every day. We have set up a buddy system where you don and doff with two and each one checks the other.
I would say any facility or business with Covid in it, of course it is a high risk. But we are professionals. They are trained and they are being constantly trained. Right now we have public health officials on site that are purely infectious control. They’re looking at everything.
Updated
Sloane has been asked if she is confident that the SummitCare company applied enough pressure on workers to take up vaccination opportunities:
I am. I mean, over a number of months since the program began I have been attending staff meetings, as I said, in each of the homes and urging them all to go and be vaccinated – but we couldn’t insist.
Clearly, I’m extremely disappointed. We didn’t want to be the nursing home that had Covid come in.
Updated
Sloane says the unvaccinated resident hadn’t refused the vaccine but had simply come into the facility after the federal vaccine program had already passed through.
It was the fact that she was admitted into our home once the vaccine program had been completed.
We had been arranging for any remaining residents to receive vaccination and that has come about in between times.
Now the public health are looking after those residents and they will be vaccinated.
Updated
Reporter:
Why do you think that there wasn’t a great uptake from your staff, is it because it wasn’t mandatory?
Sloane:
That is probably one aspect but the second aspect is it is a new vaccine and like everybody in the community there was apprehension about having it. I think that’s probably the main reason.
Look, on the days of the [federal] vaccinations there were at times leftover doses. The program was intended for the residents only at that time and the staff vaccinations were going to occur at a different date.
When there were vaccines left over they were offered to staff for sure.
If anybody ever comes to us and says they need to leave work to go and be vaccinated of course we allow them to go, there is no question.
Updated
OK, no need to wait – here is the SummitCare chief operating officer, Michelle Sloane, speaking from outside the Baulkham Hills facility.
She says she doesn’t know why two thirds of the staff at the facility chose not to take up the offer of vaccinations:
I’m unsure of that. I haven’t spoken to each one individually. There is quite a lot of them.
I have actually gone around personally and at staff meetings once the vaccine was available and urged all of our staff to have it.
Updated
We are also expecting to get an update directly from the SummitCare aged care home in the next couple of minutes, where, fingers crossed, we can actually drill down on exactly why one of the five infected residents wasn’t vaccinated.
And Berejiklian has closed the press conference by calling for the commonwealth government and other state leaders to come together and attach tangible timelines and targets to the country’s four-stage Covid-19 exit plan.
I would be happy with whatever target the experts decide but what is important is for the people of our state and nation to have a sense of what the next few months, the next six months, looks like. I am always happy to have that conversation.
I have faith if everybody signs up to the timelines. I think what is really important is the concepts we put forward in the four phases are no-brainers.
It really comes down to what targets we are prepared to set and what the timelines are. That is what our citizens want from us.
Updated
A very *diplomatic* exchange about the federal rollout failures here from Hazzard.
Reporter:
NSW Health offered the vaccinate aged care staff because you were effectively didn’t think the federal government was doing enough to get those staff vaccinated?
Hazzard:
We were there to help.
Reporter:
You were there to help, how many staff did New South Wales vaccinate?
Hazzard:
Those staff were coming in – I can’t give you that specific number at the moment but certainly a lot of staff did come forward and I think that’s a positive. So we will work with that.
Updated
But Hazzard has stopped short of truly condemning his federal Liberal counterparts ... and also seems to be a Suzanne Collins fan:
Look, it is easy to be critical in hindsight but the federal government I think did their best to try and get the vaccine when we were – we didn’t know what vaccines would become available.
Of course the choice of AstraZeneca has had its challenges and Pfizer supplies haven’t been great. So accepting that the federal government did their best at a difficult time to get as much vaccine as possible, it is almost a sense now of The Hunger Games, of people chasing vaccine, and until we get enough vaccine and enough GPs actually at the front line able to provide that vaccine into arms, we will continue to have effectively The Hunger Games going on here in New South Wales.
I think the focus should be at the moment, and the federal government appears to be doing this, to try to roll out as much vaccine as they have available.
Updated
The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, has echoed the premier, saying that ultimately vaccinating aged care workers was a commonwealth job.
Obviously, aged care is the federal government’s responsibility and the federal government engaged a number of private companies to go and vaccinate aged care residents.
In the course of that the federal government didn’t prioritise at that point the staff in the aged care facilities. So what NSW Health did was to reach out through our 15 local health districts to each of the aged care facilities.
In fact I think the instruction was: ‘Get to know your aged care facilities like they are your brothers and sisters. Get to know exactly the layout of the aged care facilities.’
This was months and months ago. We made very clear in that process that any aged care staff, albeit that they were federal responsibilities, could come forward and we would actually vaccinate them. So the only limitation on that has been the supply of vaccine. I have to say that’s been the single biggest constraint.
Updated
The premier has been questioned over whether the NSW government could have done more to make sure all aged care workers were vaccinated. (It’s worth remembering that this is, at its core, a federal responsibility.)
Berejiklian:
We already offered our assistance. That was the responsibility of the commonwealth and we have already offered our assistance in that regard. National cabinet has made directions in that regard as well.
Reporter:
If New South Wales offered assistance to get aged care workers vaccinated, why are unvaccinated aged care workers still working in the system?
Berejiklian:
The bottom line is that New South Wales has made that offer. We asked the national cabinet to give us advice on whether we could make it mandatory. national cabinet has said mid-September is the deadline.
Updated
Now, I hear you asking if teachers might be put on the priority vaccine list. Well, lucky for Berejiklian has just answered ... kind of.
A number of teachers, I understand, have already been vaccinated but all of us, any one of us, in and around the community, have the potential to spread the virus. We have to be very clear about that.
There is a high risk among a number of categories of people and I just say that as soon as we get those extra doses, of course, we’ll continue to make sure that we provide the vaccine.
But it is really important to note that there are many people who would like to get the vaccine that currently don’t have access to it.
The New South Wales government has expressed its frustration along the process but what we have to do is work with what we have and make sure that we’re doing our bit as the commonwealth is in relation to their responsibility in getting the vaccine out.
Updated
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian hasn’t shot down a suggestion that NSW could “go it alone and take on more vaccinated [returned international travels]” now that the national cap is set to be slashed in half.
We have really carried the burden on behalf of the nation. More than half of all Australians that came back were through Sydney airport.
In fact, New South Wales has processed thousands and thousands of citizens from other states. We have taken on that risk and we did so on behalf of the nation and we did so gladly.
That is why I was the lone voice in saying that I was disappointed in what happened because it doesn’t necessarily reduce the risk.
What it does is it reduces the number of Australians coming back home but doesn’t necessarily reduce the risk because we know it only takes one error or oversight or issue for the virus to get out. But as a national cabinet, that was the decision taken.
I also say that New South Wales would consider exceptional circumstances where we did have a compassionate approach but they’re conversations I need to have with thepPrime minister.
Updated
Come on NSW press pack! Someone ask about the fact that a woman who entered aged care after the initial wave of vaccinations managed to go unvaccinated for months!
Did she choose not to be vaccinated? Has the state government spoken to the federal about this? I want to know!
Updated
OK, we moved off aged care a bit faster than I would have liked!
Now Chant is chatting about the government’s back to school plans on Monday.
Just to be clear, I will provide my advice through the government processes but we have worked hand in glove with education right throughout this, we have engaged also with the independent and Catholic sectors and we will be keeping them updated.
Clearly those decisions are yet to be made but as a general sense, some of the things that we have looked at are things that we have had in place earlier. We try to minimise parents coming to drop off at the schools. We try to prevent parent functions and gatherings on schools.
We try and minimise mixing across school grades so that if you have one case you don’t infect a broader group.
All of those strategies, that I think parents will have remembered from various points in the response, are some of the strategies that have stood us in good stead and I think they’re the sorts of things that would be informing policy thinking.
Updated
Chant seems surprisingly positive towards the federal government this morning, given it’s arguable the commonwealth’s failure to vaccinate aged care staff is to blame for five elderly people, including an unvaccinated woman in her 70s, having now caught Covid-19.
There has been an incredible amount of work. The commonwealth has been working in aged care and the fact we have high rates of vaccination in aged care amongst the residents is a really pleasing thing to see.
When I heard about this and the vast majority of residents were vaccinated that was a very positive outcome.
We do know that the commonwealth has been progressively* vaccinating the aged care workforce and I’d like to see that increased. But in terms of the response, we’ve had infection control experts from the district, we’ve had infectious disease experts, we’ve been working across plans, supporting the facility, and the patients have been offered transfer and the majority – all of them – have accepted that. And we are pleased to support the home in any way we can.
There is a lot of attention to doing everything we can to prevent any further transmission, but as you know, until we’re past that 14 days since those residents were last exposed to the infectious staff we are not out of the woods
*Progressively isn’t really the word you want used to describe the vaccine rollout in the highest priority group, is it.
Updated
Back to the aged care home outbreak for a second.
Reporter:
In relation to SummitCare, is there concern given the numbers of residents that we are now seeing positive? Do we believe they were all exposed by the initial staff members that tested positive there or is there a chance that it is now spreading still within that aged care home?
Chant:
The advice we’ve got and the team out in Western Sydney is working very closely with the facility and the commonwealth, so every day there are multiple connections to continually reassess the situation – those concerns have not been raised.
My understanding is the cases are arising in the area where we would expect the cases to occur and there’s quite robust infection control measures put in place, and staff that may have been working at the time have been identified and put into isolation for 14 days.
Updated
As expected, the premier won’t say just yet if lockdown will be lifted on Saturday but urged everyone to follow physical distancing rules in order to help make that possible.
Berejiklian:
I’m making no comment until I’ve looked at all the data. Every day brings a new set of data and a new set of challenges and what we think in the morning can change in the afternoon.
I’m really pleased to see that we’ve had some people come forward for testing over the weekend, which has allowed us to link unlinked cases and the more certainty we have that we have tracked down every single case of transmission.
That really does provide us with a lot more confidence in advising government. So we need to make those links that have happened over the weekend, reassess and reanalyse the data and that will be our focus today but as I said, the situation can change.
Updated
OK, we are diving in with some questions about this gathering at the Meriton Suites hotel, and Chant is urging anyone who was there to come forward and get tested (which, if there was a breach of lockdown orders, I assume might be a bit of a hard ask).
At the moment the public health unit is following up with those individuals. We do believe it was a gathering at the Meriton Suites. What we are looking at is ascertaining and tracking down everyone who was at that event.
What our focus is at the moment we are really focused on locking any chains of transmission. Hence why it is so critical that everyone continues to come forward and get tested. As we have done, you would expect us to do, we have done extensive testing around that facility.
We will update our public health advice but we just want to ask the community to continue to come forward in testing and highlight how we are – as we want to give the best information to the government to inform our response we do need that community to continue to come forward for testing.
Updated
Chant:
We are also asking the household contacts of those who attended these three construction sites to also immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result. We are doing this because what we are trying to do is get ahead of the spread, because some of these exposures date back to Monday, 28 June, there’s sufficient time for someone to become infectious and then passed on to the household.
Updated
The CHO has also highlighted a number of new exposure sites of concern:
Anyone who worked at the construction site at 59 “A street”* in Auburn from 11.30am to 2.30pm between Monday 28 June until Friday 2 July is a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless if they receive a negative result.
Anyone who worked at the construction site at 74 Aurelia Street at Toongabbie from 7am to 12pm from Monday 28 June until Friday 2 July is a close contact and must immediately get tested and iceate for 14 days regardless of whether you have a negative result.
If you worked at this Toongabbie site at any of these dates and a time outside of the 7am to 12pm you are considered a casual contact and must get tested immediately and isolate until you receive a negative test result.
*Trying to confirm the spelling of this street name.
Updated
It seems that some cases may have also come out of a party that occurred during the Greater Sydney lockdown.
Chant:
There was an event at 8pm on Saturday 26 June at Meriton suites Waterloo, a gathering. We have three new cases linked too.
We are going to be looking intensively at that event and will provide some updated advice later today. We are reviewing the results from extensive testing around those cases overnight.
Updated
And we have a bit more information on that school student case.
Chant:
In terms of Rose Bay Public School, we issued an alert that there was one new case to 8pm last night, is a student at Rose Bay Public School.
The case is a close contact of another previous case and for the abundance of caution, we are not exactly sure about the full infectious period but that person may have been infectious at school, and hence the usual process around investigations and calling the close contacts for the child’s year group.
Updated
One infected aged care resident not vaccinated
One of the two new SummitCare aged care residents who tested positive to Covid-19 overnight was not vaccinated, Chant has confirmed.
There are two new cases in residents of SummitCare Baulkham Hills aged care facility bringing the total number of cases associated with this facility to five.
Of the two new cases, both women in their 70, one was a resident, is fully vaccinated and one has not been vaccinated, and the resident who has not been vaccinated entered SummitCare in mid-May.
The three previously reported cases were fully vaccinated. Out of the abundance of caution all of the five residents have been transferred to Westmead Hospital for observation and an additional wife of one of the cases has also been transferred.
Updated
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant is up to give us the breakdown of those 35 local cases.
33 cases are linked to a known case or cluster and 20 of these are household contacts. Again, highlighting the risk within households. Two cases are under investigation and two new cases were acquired overseas.
Berejiklian:
We expect the case numbers of people in isolation to keep going up. We know how transmissible or how contagious the virus is. If you live in the same household as someone or are a close contact in isolation, yes, of course we are worried about your health but we also expect that you will develop the virus because of how contagious it is.
What we are really looking at are the number of people who have still been infectious in the community and what impact that will have in the next few days.
Updated
Berejiklian:
Unfortunately, having a party when you’re not supposed to have a party is not doing the right thing and we know, and Dr Chant will comment, that some of the cases today are a result of issues or result of incidents where people have done the wrong thing. I do implore everybody to keep at it. Let’s not give up.
Updated
The NSW premier is remaining tight-lipped on whether the Sydney lockdown will be extended past Saturday.
I know everybody is keen to know what is going to happen beyond Friday’s lockdown, as am I, but what I can tell you with certainty is that the next couple of days will be absolutely critical in allowing our health experts to collate the data that we’ve had in the last week and then to present their advice to government.
I can say that the lockdown certainly has been effective in not doubling and tripling the figures that we were worried about. It has given our contact tracers the ability to maintain control over the virus but what it has foreshadowed is that unfortunately when a small number of people do the wrong thing it does result in extra cases.
Updated
Berejiklian:
I foreshadowed a few days ago that the numbers were likely to bounce around. That is what we have seen overnight. There were 35 cases of community transmission although 24 of those were in isolation for the entire period.
So health is obviously more concerned with the cases that were in the community during their infectious period for the entire time that we understand they were infectious. That is what health will be monitoring in the next few days.
Updated
NSW records 35 local Covid-19 cases overnight
The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian says the state has recorded 35 locally acquired cases overnight.
Pleasingly 24 of those 35 were in isolation for that entire period.
Updated
Keen to catch up on how Australia is going with the vaccine rollout?
Check out the inimitable Josh Nicholas and Nick Evershed’s daily jab tracker below:
All four locally acquired cases are linked to the Greek Orthodox Community Centre cluster.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 5, 2021
Reporter:
Should unvaccinated vulnerable people still stay home?
Young:
Yes, if someone is over the age of 70 and they haven’t got vaccinated, they should think about what their risks are and what they should do, yes.
Here is chief health officer Jeannette Young on feeling “more confident” that the Delta variant of Covid-19 isn’t spreading widely through the Queensland community.
Absolutely.
We had a lot of potential outbreaks there, so we had the two workers at the airport. Then we had the flight attendant whose co-worker became positive and we had the worker at Prince Charles.
We have done an enormous amount of testing around all of those miners as well. We have done a lot of testing around all of those and not found any cases.
We know that Delta virus tends to transmit fairly quickly. We have got an incubation period of 14 days and we could see that but we know that the vast majority would transmit fairly early on in their incubation period and we have done all that testing and not found any cases. We are not totally out of the woods yet but I am fairly comfortable.
Updated
The Queensland health minister has been asked about the status of a 69-year-old man who contacted Covid-19, and unfortunately, it seems his condition has worsened.
D’Ath:
He is on a ventilator now but he is being well looked after and yes, we are all hoping he will do very well.
Ooooh, I’m not sure if we knew this publically already but, in case we didn’t, the Queensland premier has just dropped that the first “at-home quarantine” trial for fully vaccinated international arrivals will take place in South Australia.
They have said that they are looking at a trial in Adelaide, firstly, to see if it works. You need to have mechanisms to ensure that people are staying at home and don’t forget, you can still have the virus and you can still transmit the virus. That has to be the work that is being done by AHPPC, and national cabinet.
Updated
So you might be wondering “why is Queensland being so funny about the new Covid-19 quarantine facilities? Didn’t they get what they want with the federal government offer to build the Pinkenba centre?”
Well, it all comes down to how many people you can hold, and how fast you can set the facility up.
Here is what Palaszczuk had to say about it:
If we had both quarantine facilities, if we had the one near Pinkenba and the one near Toowoomba, we wouldn’t need to use the hotels.*
It is fully costed and ready to go. It could be built in two months. It could be up and running. The one in Pinkenba will not be up and running until early next year and the proposal in Toowoomba could be up and running within two months and there would be flights that would be willing to fly there.
*It’s worth remembering that, not only does the federal government WANT states to keep hotel quarantine operating, they REQUIRE it as a condition of coughing up the dough for an additional, purpose-built facility.
Why that is the case is anyone’s guess.
Updated
The health minister has urged any Queenslander who has had their first Pfizer dose but is now finding it hard to get a booking for a second dose to call 134 COVID.
It is really important that everyone who is due for their second dose comes forward and gets their second dose.
Updated
D’Ath:
We need to make sure we are prioritising everyone who already has a booking, all of our frontline health workers and frontline staff and anyone who is due for a second dose.
Updated
Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath says supplies of Pfizer doses from the federal government have stagnated, despite the state’s vaccination capacity increasing every week.
We have almost another 140,000 people who have registered their interest who want to make a booking.
We will be contacting those people shortly to advise them that we will be opening up new booking slots but those booking slots will be from October on, when we get the additional vaccine.
Right now, our vaccine administration is going up, every single week we are vaccinating more people but our supply is stagnant. The amount of vaccine we are getting from the commonwealth every week throughout July/August is the same.
We have asked for some of that supply to be brought forward but we’re waiting on an answer for that.
Updated
Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young has stepped up to give us all the details on these four new locally acquired cases:
One of them we announced late yesterday. That is the woman who is staying in Tarragindi with family and she tested positive. She is a close contact of one of the cases in the Greek community centre ... Now her child has tested positive. That is to be expected.
Then the third case is a colleague of the man who travelled up to Eumundi and he lives in Sinnamon Park. We are talking to him this morning for more information.
The fourth case is the partner of the man who travelled to Eumundi, so that is to be expected. Most of the venues he has been at were the same as his partner’s around that Sunshine Beach area in the northern part of the Sunshine Coast, in Eumundi. They are all closely linked, the four cases, and we can work through those and we will put out any additional venues following discussion with those people.
Updated
As I mentioned earlier in the blog, the Queensland government has now delivered detailed plans to the federal government for a 1000-bed quarantine facility near Brisbane airport.
Last month the federal government offered land currently occupied by the Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba for a hub, but the state has been pushing for an alternative site at Wellcamp airport, near Toowoomba.
Palaszczuk said she would keep fighting for both to be built:
My position still remains that we need both.
We are working cooperatively with the federal government about the site near the Brisbane airport and the deputy premier will update everyone about that. If we are going to get to the stage where we stop using the hotels, we need both centres.
We need the one at Toowoomba and the one at the Brisbane airport. That is our position. We are going to keep working with the commonwealth on both of those but we are having very productive discussions with them around the Brisbane airport one.
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Palaszscuk:
We can see that Queensland Health can do nearly 100,000 vaccines a week, which is great news, but the supply into the future before that big dose of supply comes in in October is around 65,000 a week.
The commonwealth has started some of the GP networks with the Pfizer as well today. Our aim is to get everyone vaccinated safely and as quickly as possible but that depends on supply.
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No new Pfizer bookings until October in Queensland, says premier
The premier may be more cheery this morning, but don’t let that fool you into thinking she isn’t ready to go head-t0-head with the federal government once again.
Palaszczuk says Queenslanders booking for Pfizer this week will have to wait months for an appointment due to shortages in supplies.
We have 139,875 Queenslanders who have registered to get the Pfizer vaccine.
What I want to say to those people out there is that you will be given a booking but the booking may not be until October or November because that is when all the supply comes in from the federal government.
I just need everyone to be patient and if we do get extra supply in, Queensland Health will contact you and we will be able to move your appointment forward.
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Premier says Delta variant is no longer circulating in Queensland
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is now confident the Delta variant is not circulating in the community.
All of these are the Alpha strain. Another piece of good news is that we do not believe that the Delta variant is circulating in our community, which is excellent news.
It is now two weeks since the Portugese restaurant outbreak. At this stage, it’s all systems go. We are feeling pretty good at where we are at the moment and we just need everyone to keep doing the right thing.
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All four new Queensland cases are linked to the current Alpha outbreak, which is considerably less contagious than the Delta strain that state leaders feared would become embedded in the community.
Palaszczuk:
In relation to the four cases... they are all linked. That is really good news.
The first person was the person of interest reported late yesterday, they were a close contact of a worker at the Greek community centre. The second person is a child of that worker. The third is the partner of the case who travelled to Eumundi and the fourth a colleague of the case that travelled there.
The last one is a significant case because our contact tracers have done some good detective work and they think they have worked out ... how this clusters link together.
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Queensland records four local Covid-19 cases overnight
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has stepped up to speak now.
She says Queensland has recorded seven cases overnight, four locally acquired.
Even though the numbers might seem a little bit large, it is good news. We have got seven new cases, three overseas-acquired, detected in hotel quarantine, four locally acquired.
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We are expecting to hear from the Queensland leadership any minute now.
BREAKING: Queensland Premier and Chief Health Officer providing a COVID-19 update. #covid19 https://t.co/Y7JzGMmilc
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 5, 2021
We have just got confirmation that we will be hearing from Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at 10am AEST.
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Just a bit more information on the number out of Victoria today, after it recorded its fifth consecutive day with no new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.
The state health department confirmed there were just two cases of COVID-19 recorded in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours to Monday morning, reports Benita Kolovos, from AAP.
In all, 20,690 tests were processed and 13,086 vaccine doses were administered at state-run hubs during the same period.
It comes as a St Kilda venue was fined more than $10,000 for breaching Covid-19 restrictions at the weekend.
Police arrived at Riva bar in St Kilda about 10.15pm on Saturday and found about 1000 patrons “in clear and blatant breach” of the chief health officer’s directions.
Footage posted on social media showed the maskless crowd dancing under a marquee.
Under the latest round of eased restrictions, dance floors remained closed, patrons must remain seated and a strict cap of 300 people per venue applies.
Victoria had planned to move out of its remaining Covid restrictions on Thursday but this will now depend on how the latest outbreak in NSW is managed.
Police have fined the licensee of the premises $10,904 and the matter has been referred to the health department for further investigation.
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A man has died and a pilot is in a critical condition after a light aircraft crash in the NSW Hunter Valley.
The recreational light aircraft crashed at Goorangoola, near Singleton, after 1pm on Sunday.
The 40-year-old passenger died at the scene. The 46-year-old pilot was airlifted to the Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition.
Authorities are yet to determine the cause of the crash.
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Tran-Tasman bubble partially restored
New Zealand has restarted the trans-Tasman bubble to some Australian states, with residents from Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT once again allowed to travel to the country, quarantine-free, from this morning.
A pause to the bubble remains in place for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory as they deal with various amounts of community cases, AAP reports.
The return of travel to the three less-populous jurisdictions will be assessed by Kiwi officials, but prime minister Jacinda Ardern told TVNZ mounting cases in NSW would keep the bubble shut for now.
NSW looks like it’s going to be in its position with the lockdown restrictions for a time...
We’ll discuss today what we’ll do to support New Zealanders who have been there for quite a while now.
Since the creation of the bubble, Ardern’s government has warned travellers they would need to shelter in place during outbreaks.
Last month, in response to a Victorian outbreak, she allowed NZ citizens to return to Aotearoa after they had spent a fortnight isolating at home.
If we start getting up to that 12-14-day mark ... that means people have been in a form of lockdown. It means they’re safer for us. They’ve been isolating.
From this week, New Zealand will ask travelling Australians to undertake a pre-departure test for Covid-19 within 72 hours of travel and show proof of a negative result.
New Zealand is on a 127-day streak without community transmission of Covid-19, but with low vaccination rates it is currently highly susceptible to the fast-spreading Delta variant.
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Make sure you are up to date with all the Queensland hotspots, with new locations in Eumundi, Noosaville and Noosa Heads added yesterday.
⚠️ Public Health Alert ⚠️
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) July 4, 2021
A public health alert is being issued for more contact tracing locations in Eumundi Noosaville and Noosa Heads.
Contact tracing venues and flights can be found at https://t.co/rujm8F3qL4 pic.twitter.com/qp9w8POoHW
If you want the full list of hotspots, see Guardian Australia’s breakdown of all the exposure sites below:
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Student tests positive at Sydney school
Nine News is reporting a student from Rose Bay Public School in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has tested positive to Covid-19.
Reportedly all staff and students are being asked to self-isolate while the health department contacts them with further advice, despite being on school holidays.
I’ll bring you more on that as soon as I can.
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Oh, and we will probably hear from federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese from Toowoomba at some point today as well.
After 15 days in Canberra headed straight to Queensland for this week - see you soon Toowoomba ✈️
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 4, 2021
What's to come this morning?
Gosh, compared with last week, the news really is moving slower today.
But we still have interesting things to look forward to.
We are just waiting for an official time, but it’s likely that the Queensland premier will step up today and given an update on the state’s Covid-19 numbers. Yesterday Annastacia Palaszczuk was sounding pretty optimistic that all the outbreaks in the state were under control. Let’s see if that’s still the case!
Then about 11am we will hear from the NSW leader, Gladys Berejiklian, and therefore get an update on the SummitCare aged-care home outbreak. Two more residents have reportedly tested positive overnight, bringing the cluster’s total to seven, including five residents and two nurses.
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If there is one thing beef cattle farmer Ted Rowley has learned while trying to manage feral deer on his property, it is this: for every deer that you see, there are at least another 10 that you can’t.
“In the beginning you see a few deer and think that’s pretty cute,” he says. “But what you don’t see is the very large number that are across the landscape.”
Australians have increasingly become used to the idea that deer will turn up in places they shouldn’t, including near and in major cities. Last week, two men were reportedly startled by a deer while sunbathing on a beach in the Royal National Park south of Sydney – an event that prompted them to flee into the bush, get lost, need rescuing and end up fined for breaching coronavirus restrictions.
Last month a deer was seen running through the streets of Fitzroy, a short stroll from the Melbourne CBD, during the city’s lockdown. It was later captured and euthanised. Back in October, two deer roamed through streets in the inner-Sydney suburbs of Leichhardt, Balmain and Annandale.
While they may have been in the headlines recently, feral deer have not had the same profile as other invasive species – think cats, foxes and pigs – but they have had a similarly destructive impact on vulnerable ecosystems. They also pose a biosecurity threat as potential carriers of disease and are a road safety risk in and around towns and cities.
You can read the full (and fascinating) story below:
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Victoria records no local Covid-19 cases
Woohoo! A fifth consecutive doughnut day for Victoria with no local Covid-19 cases recorded overnight!
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 4, 2021
- 13,086 vaccine doses were administered
- 20,690 test results were received.
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/V1zvTXlfqq
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Qld plans new 1000-bed quarantine facility
The Queensland government has provided Canberra with specifications for a 1000-bed quarantine facility near Brisbane airport, reports Marty Silk from AAP.
Last month the federal government offered land currently occupied by the Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba for a hub, but the state has been pushing for an alternative site at Wellcamp airport, near Toowoomba.
But three days after convincing national cabinet to halve international arrivals due to leaks of the Delta variant of Covid-19 from hotel quarantine, Queensland is reconsidering the Pinkenba project.
The state wants a Brisbane facility to have 1000 rooms, initially able to host 800 people per fortnight and eventually rising to 1450.
Queensland has provided specifications to the federal government but it is understood the commonwealth still needs to conduct a feasibility study on its land, and provide the funding.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a statement this morning she would continue to push for the 1000-bed Wellcamp facility, which, together with arrangements at Pinkenba, would allow the state to double its intake of returned travellers.
Since September, I’ve argued that we need an alternative to hotel quarantine...
It was great to see that finally the prime minister is starting to listen.
We’ve worked around the clock with the federal government on this proposal.
A fit-for-purpose facility at Pinkenba working in conjunction with another quarantine facility in regional Queensland could be a game-changer in keeping coronavirus out of our community in the future.”
The Wellcamp facility was first proposed by the Wagner Corporation in January, but the state and federal governments have been at loggerheads over the plan.
AAP understands the site near Wellcamp airport does not meet federal expectations because it is about 150km from an international airport and existing hotel quarantine venues.
If international flights were allowed to land there, the commonwealth would have to fund and staff airport firefighting services, international passenger screening and customs.
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International airlines claim they could be forced to suspend services to Australia from next week after national cabinet agreed to halve the number of people allowed to enter the country – and say any suggestion of price gouging is “insulting and bizarre”.
From 14 July, overseas arrivals will be slashed from 6,070 to 3,035 a week – crushing the hopes of thousands of Australians stuck overseas and looking to get home.
Barry Abrams, the executive director of the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, said on Sunday he sympathised with those caught overseas. But he said airlines still flying to Australia and struggling to break even would face tough choices.
“It is going to be a very difficult situation for many airlines to maintain their frequency of flights to Australia,” Abrams said.
“Many will be asking whether or not it makes more sense to suspend their passenger flights or just run cargo flights. I wouldn’t see it as cutting Australia off [but] I would see reduced connectivity and availability of flights to and from Australia.”
You can read the full story below:
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SA committee reviews COVID-19 restrictions
Virus restrictions in South Australia could soon be eased as authorities continue to monitor Covid-19 cases in other states, reports Tim Dornin from AAP.
SA’s transition committee will provide an update to the current situation on Monday afternoon after deciding against making any changes at a meeting on Sunday.
Police commissioner Grant Stevens says the committee is “closely examining” the situation in all states and territories.
SA beefed up its coronavirus measures about a week ago after cases emerged in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
An NT miner, who returned to Adelaide, also tested positive and passed the infection to the rest of his family.
SA’s virus measures include a reduced-density requirement for most venues, mandatory mask-wearing in high-risk settings and a limit of 10 people at family gatherings.
The crowd at Saturday’s AFL game between the Adelaide Crows and the Brisbane Lions was limited to half the usual Adelaide Oval capacity.
At the same time, SA has hard border closures in place with Western Australia, NSW, Queensland and the ACT.
Some of those arrangements are also expected to be reviewed.
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The top US diplomat in Australia has declared both countries need to set “more ambitious climate goals” and tackle the climate crisis “head on”, as international pressure mounts on the Morrison government to act.
Mike Goldman, who is chargé d’affaires at the United States embassy in Canberra, emphasised that the US and Australia had a shared obligation to protect the planet.
The Australian government is facing growing international pressure to formally commit to net zero emissions by 2050 and to ratchet up its 2030 target in the lead-up to this year’s Glasgow climate conference, despite resistance from the Nationals.
The United Kingdom – which is the host of the Cop26 conference in Glasgow – has also made clear it wants Australia to join other countries in lifting their medium-term targets to align with the Paris goal of seeking to limit heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
You can read the full report below:
Meanwhile, in New South Wales, health and education officials are reportedly finalising return-to-school plans to ensure all primary and secondary school students are back in the classroom when school holidays end.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting there will be strict pick-up and drop-off procedures and school events and sports will be paused. They also suggested that the government will consider tailoring restrictions in schools dependent on case numbers in particular areas.
Yesterday chief health officer Kerry Chant wouldn’t be drawn on whether schools would open up straight away when the lockdown for greater Sydney is currently scheduled to end on Saturday.
Fingers crossed we can get a bit more information when the NSW leaders step up for their press conference today, which is usually held at 11am.
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Welcome to Monday
Good morning and welcome to Monday, and what I can only assume will be a fantastic week. (Well it can’t be a shocking as last week, surely.)
Although that being said, it’s not off to a fantastic start.
The biggest news this morning is two more residents of a northwest Sydney nursing home reportedly testing positive to Covid-19 after two nurses, at least one unvaccinated, unknowingly brought the virus into the facility, according to the ABC.
Yesterday, three residents at the SummitCare home at Baulkham Hills tested positive to Covid-19, raising concerns that the virus could spread throughout the home, even though 96% of its highly vulnerable residents are fully vaccinated.
These new cases bring the total number of infected residents to five.
Yesterday we learned that only one-third of the staff at the facility had been vaccinated, leaving families furious.
Kathie Melocco, the daughter of one of the infected men, spoke with ABC radio this morning:
We assumed they were [vaccinated]. I think it’s a disgrace...
If I had known, that would’ve meant I would’ve made other decisions around my parents. I’m just so angry.
With that, why don’t we jump into the day and I’ll bring you all the updates as soon as they come.
If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.
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