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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Lisa Cox (now) and Naaman Zhou, Matilda Boseley and Nino Bucci (earlier)

Victoria extends lockdown; SA announces shutdown – as it happened

What happened today, Tuesday 20 July

Thanks everybody, we are going to wind things down for the evening. A big day:

  • South Australia moved to a full lockdown after the number of local Covid-19 cases reached five
  • Victoria recorded 13 new cases and has extended its lockdown by seven days. Victoria said from midnight there would be no more travel permits for people arriving from NSW, except for authorised workers or on compassionate grounds.
  • NSW recorded 78 new Covid-19 cases
  • There are several new exposures sites in Orange in the central west of NSW and a pet food factory in Blayney has also closed after a confirmed Covid-19 case in a worker
  • Queensland has made South Australia a hotspot with travel limits in place from 1am Thursday. Tasmania has shut its border to South Australia and there are new quarantine requirements in WA for people arriving from SA.
  • Legendary TV boss David Leckie has died, aged 70
  • Australia joined other countries calling out China over hacking activities
  • A list of celebrities, including Joanna Lumley and Hollywood star Jason Momoa has backed calls for the Great Barrier Reef to be given a Unesco world heritage in danger listing

And that’s all for now. Stay safe and we will see you again tomorrow.

Updated

McGowan also mentions another container ship, Mattina, which was berthed in Fremantle between the 10th and 12th of July after sailing from Jakarta in Indonesia.

It has sailed on to New Zealand and health officials there have advised the WA government that nine of 21 crew have tested positive for Covid-19.

“I want to stress that it is standard operating procedure to treat every ship that visits Western Australia as it may be carrying the virus,” he says.

“All workers who have contact with any vessel must wear appropriate PPE, masks and gloves, and take all necessary precautions.

“The chief health officer advises if there is any risk involved with this ship, it is low.”

The WA premier Mark McGowan
The WA premier Mark McGowan. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

On the BBC California, McGowan says the state has prepared a plan to put to the ship’s agent to “handle the situation in a manner that protects the health of the crew, the health of the public of Western Australia, and ensures the ship can operate safely and sail as soon as practicable.”

“I can assure the public this situation has our full attention.”

Updated

The WA premier Mark McGowan is speaking.

He has confirmed there are now 10 cases linked to the BBC California cargo ship.

He is also reiterating the new low-risk designation for South Australia, which means arrivals from the state will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

He says some travellers who had arrived today had elected to board a flight straight back to South Australia and he expects arrivals to drop in coming days.

“My advice to any West Australian who is currently in South Australia is to come home now. Things can change rapidly and it is not worth the risk,” he says.

Updated

New exposure sites in Orange in regional NSW

NSW Health has alerted to several new exposure sites.

Five of the new venues for close contacts are in Orange in the state’s central west, including the Pizza Hut on Bathurst Road, the Woolworths in North Orange and the Officeworks on Byng Street in the city’s east.

A Coles Express in Goulburn is also on the list.

In Sydney there are venues in Lakemba, Auburn and Bondi Junction.

Updated

We are standing by for the WA premier Mark McGowan’s press conference in Perth. We’ll bring that you shortly

The Advertiser is reporting that a branch of Meals on Wheels in Adelaide has closed because a worker at the site is among South Australia’s confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Updated

Police in NSW hand out 160 infringements in past day amid lockdown

NSW Police have reminded the community of the their operation to enforce all public health orders after “a number of concerning breaches in the past 24 hours”.

There were 160 penalty infringement notices issued in the past 24 hours, including 55 to people who were not wearing masks.

Police issued $7000 in fines to seven people who had a birthday party at an office on George Street in Sydney.

Deputy commissioner Mal Lanyon said police would continue to enforce the health orders in every district across the state.

“Not only are we continuing our high-visibility compliance operations, but we’re following up every single report to Crime Stoppers too,” he said.

“If you are a repeat offender, or we receive information retrospectively, we will go back and fully investigate every piece of information we receive to ensure community safety.

“Never has compliance with these health orders been more vital to the safety of our community, so I would urge everyone to stick to the health order and work together to stop the spread.”

Updated

Queensland declares South Australia a hotspot

And a little more on Queensland – the state is also declaring South Australia a hotspot.

From 1am Thursday, anyone who has been to South Australia will not be allowed to enter Queensland unless they are a returning Queensland resident, except for a limited range of people who can enter for an essential purpose.

Queensland residents, and anyone who is allowed to enter Queensland from these locations, will be required to go into 14 days mandatory hotel quarantine.

“The situation in South Australia is concerning, and as they’ve announced a state-wide lockdown, we have declared the state a hotspot,” the chief health officer Jeannette Young said.

“And as an additional precaution, I’m requiring those entering Queensland from South Australia before 1am Thursday to immediately get tested and quarantine at home if they have been to any exposure venue in South Australia.

“We will continue to monitor the situation in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, and act accordingly, in line with the risk level and their own local restrictions.”

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Updated

The WA premier Mark McGowan will hold a media conference at 3.30pm in Perth (that’s 5.30pm on the east coast). We’ll bring you that when it happens.

Updated

There is a new public health alert in Queensland for exposure sites on the Sunshine Coast visited by a Covid-19 case that was announced earlier today.

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said the new case in Queensland was acquired in Victoria and linked to an interstate tier one exposure venue prior to Victoria being declared a hotspot for Queensland.

“The new confirmed case went to Young and Jackson located in Victoria on 10 July and once contacted by Victorian health authorities on 15 July, immediately got tested and returned a negative result the following day,” Young said.

“On 17 July, this person started displaying Covid-19 symptoms and was issued a Quarantine Direction by Queensland Health. On 18 July, a second Covid-19 test was facilitated which returned a positive reading yesterday.

“The person has been in the Sunshine Coast and Mareeba communities while in their potentially infectious period and has ventured to Rice Boi and Sunshine Plaza so I urge Queenslanders to continue to check the contact tracing locations website and follow any health advice.”

Updated

Actors join call to place Great Barrier Reef on in-danger list

My environment colleague Graham Readfearn continues his excellent reporting on the draft Unesco recommendation to give the Great Barrier Reef a world heritage ‘in danger’ listing.

An international line-up of actors, conservationists and scientists, including Joanna Lumley and Hollywood star Jason Momoa, has backed calls for the Great Barrier Reef to be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger.

“The scientific evidence is beyond doubt: the Great Barrier Reef is in danger and it is time to act,” the group said in a global statement released to Guardian Australia.

Later this week the 21-country world heritage committee will be asked to put the world’s biggest reef system on its danger list after global heating caused mass coral bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020.

Updated

Tasmania shuts border to South Australia

Tasmania has shut its border with South Australia in response to a growing coronavirus outbreak in the mainland state, AAP reports.

The directive will be implemented from 4pm on Tuesday, Premier Peter Gutwein has announced.

It means no one from South Australia can enter Tasmania unless approved as an essential traveller.

Anyone in Tasmania who has been in South Australia since July 8 is encouraged to check the health department’s list of high-risk premises and immediately isolate if they’ve been to any of the venues.

South Australia is implementing a seven-day lockdown from 6pm on Tuesday after a cluster of local COVID-19 cases grew to five.

“Our thoughts are with those in NSW, Victoria and now South Australia,” Mr Gutwein said.

Tasmania has a hard border in place with Victoria and NSW and has also declared a host of high-risk hotspots in Queensland.

Mr Gutwein said the travel ban with Victoria would remain in place for at least as long as the mainland state’s lockdown, which was on Tuesday extended for a week.

Updated

And just a little more in relation to the newly confirmed case in Blayney, near Orange, in central western NSW.

The Western NSW Local Health District is introducing temporary visitor restrictions at the Orange and Bathurst hospitals and at health services in Blayney and Molong. This includes aged care facilities.

The health district said on its Facebook page that visits would only be permitted in limited circumstances, and all family members, carers and support services will require masks:

“As a precaution, to ensure the safety of our patients and staff, visitors to hospitals and Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) in Bathurst, Orange, Blayney and Molong have been restricted.”

“This decision has not been made lightly. As a priority, we must always ensure we are not putting our vulnerable patients and critical health services at risk of a COVID-19 exposure.

“There are however local arrangements in place to allow visitors in very limited circumstances for caring and compassionate reasons such as supporting women in labour, providing care for children in hospital, and for palliative care.

“Thank you for helping keep our communities safe.”

Updated

Nestlé pet food factory in regional NSW closed after Covid case

Nestlé says it has been advised of a confirmed Covid-19 case in a worker at a pet food factory in Blayney in the central west of NSW.

The person is a close contact of a delivery driver who tested positive after visiting the site last week.

The new case has been in isolation since Sunday, Nestlé says.

All close contacts have been tested, and all have been directed to self-isolate by NSW Health. In addition, NSW Health has asked that we close the site.

Our immediate concern since becoming aware of the possibility of contact at the site has been to protect our workers and the community.

For this reason, we decided to close the factory on Sunday, and commence professional deep cleaning of the site.

We also instructed everyone who works on the site to have a Covid-19 test and only return to work following a negative result. We have actively traced movements of people on site and continue to provide every assistance to NSW Health.

Updated

A 54-year-old man from Picton in Sydney’s south-west has been arrested on the back of intelligence provided by the Australian Federal Police.

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported the man is a former member of the defence force, and was arrested as police seized chemicals they will allege could be used to manufacture explosives.

The man has been taken to nearby Narellan police station and police say further details are still to come.

In a statement NSW Police said:

A police operation is currently underway at Picton, in Sydney’s south-west, following an investigation by Camden Police Area Command into firearm offences and forensic intelligence provided by the Australian Federal Police.

The Herald reports the search of the premises allegedly found a stockpile of chemicals, bulletproof plates that could be used in body armour, and $200,000 in cash.

Updated

A lot of people in Melbourne have been confused about how to apply for the Covid-19 disaster payments. If you try to apply through Services Australia, and give a Victorian address, it will say you are not eligible.

Victoria is also not listed in the eligibility rules. Don’t panic. Victorians are eligible.The payments are retrospective.

This system was put in place for fairly nonsense political reasons but means you cannot apply until this Friday, 23 July — seven days after the Victorian lockdown began.

This is what the joint press release from prime minister Scott Morrison and Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said last week:

Payments will be made in arrears on application to Services Australia 7 days after the commencement of the lockdown (that is from Friday 23 July 2021).

Payments of $600 will be made to Individuals that lose 20 hours or more of work during the period of the lockdown (the next five days).

Payments of $375 will be made to Individuals that lose between 8 and up to 20 hours of work during the period of the lockdown (the next five days).

It seems extremely likely that people affected by the South Australian lockdown will run into the same issue — they will be able to apply for a disaster payment on the last day of lockdown, but not before.

A rainy and quiet Melbourne in lockdown on Tuesday
A rainy and quiet Melbourne in lockdown on Tuesday. Photograph: Diego Fedele/EPA

Greens leader Adam Bandt has received a number of worried calls to his office. It sounds like he is trying to get Services Australia to change the application system, so people can apply straight away.

Updated

Queensland police say they’ve charged a second man with the murder of Gold Coast mother Kelly Wilkinson who was set alight at her home in April.

Police are scheduled to hold a press conference about the charge at 3.30pm.

They say a 25-year-old Pimpana man has been charged with murder – a domestic violence offence – in relation to Wilkinson’s death.

Wilkinson’s estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnson, has previously been charged with her murder.

He appeared in court last week. His lawyers said outside court that Johnson had been unable to give detailed instruction and could “barely speak” since the incident.

The 25-year-old is scheduled to appear in Southport court on Wednesday morning.

Updated

The Western Australian government has also issued advice for travellers who have recently returned from South Australia.

The state is now a ‘low-risk’ jurisdiction due to its lockdown.

The WA government says people must follow this advice:

  • Before travelling to WA, complete a mandatory G2G PASS registration and declaration.
  • Complete a health screening on arrival.
  • Scan your G2G PASS and then verify you have suitable premises for self-quarantine.
  • If you have suitable premises, enter self-quarantine for 14 days. If not, you will be directed to enter a government-approved quarantine facility at your own expense for 14 days.
  • You must wear a mask from when you enter WA until you arrive at suitable self-quarantine premises or government-approved quarantine facilities. In addition, if travelling by air, you must also wear a mask on the flight while in WA airspace and while inside the airport (with some exceptions – e.g. children under the age of 12 are not required to wear a mask).
  • You must present for a Covid-19 test on day 12 if still in WA.

Updated

WA records eight new Covid cases, all linked to cargo ship

Afternoon everybody, Lisa Cox here to take you through the afternoon.

Western Australia has just released its daily Covid-19 update, reporting eight new cases, all of which were announced yesterday afternoon.

The cases are crew members linked to the BBC California cargo ship. Two more crew members have also returned a positive test this morning and will be included in tomorrow’s reported numbers.

WA Health says it is continuing to monitor 17 active Covid-19 cases: the 10 linked to the BBC California that docked at Fremantle on Monday, six cases in hotel quarantine and one who remains in a Perth hospital in a stable condition.

All crew members from the ship have been tested and will remain on board isolated in their rooms until further notice.

The cargo ship BBC California remains docked at Fremantle
The cargo ship BBC California remains docked at Fremantle. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Updated

Used car prices have continued to rise this year, but could fall in the later half of the year, AAP reports.

Moody’s Analytics says prices jumped by 34% over the past year and by 10% in the first half of 2021 as the level of growth slowed.

The increase has been fuelled partly by greater demand across both the used and new sectors but also by the limited supply of some new vehicles as a result of a computer chip shortage.

But the analysis has found the end of used cars as an appreciating asset “is upon us”.

“It took a confluence of unpredictable circumstances – a highly transmissible virus, a surge in demand for consumer electronics, a fire at a major auto chip producer, and a rapid recovery in world-wide new-vehicle sales – to flip the market on its head,” Moody’s Analytics said on Tuesday.

“It will not take that much for the market to return to normal.”

Updated

Hi all, it is indeed Naaman Zhou here on the blog with you.

Thanks to Nino Bucci and Matilda Boseley for their great work earlier.

Our full wrap of today’s Victorian news has just launched, courtesy of Josh Taylor.

And I’ll now pass you over to Naaman Zhou, an afternoon delight if ever I’ve seen one. Stay masked.

Some cheery news about half of Australia being in lockdown, brought to you by AAP:

More than half of Australia’s population will soon be in lockdown as health authorities continue to battle coronavirus outbreaks of the infectious Delta strain.

South Australia will enter tough restrictions for one week from 6pm on Tuesday after five cases of the variant were detected in Adelaide.

Nine new local cases in Victoria have sparked a seven-day extension to the state’s lockdown which is now set to stretch until at least next Wednesday.

Victoria is also banning all travel from NSW for two weeks under new rules which will only exempt authorised workers and people with compassionate reasons.

NSW recorded 78 new local cases spread across Sydney with 29 spending part or all of their infectious period in the community.

While the Sydney and surrounds lockdown is slated to end on July 30, there’s increasing concern an extension may be needed as the virus circulates in the nation’s biggest city.

Reimposing restrictions in SA means more than 13.5 million people will be living under harsh stay-at-home orders across the nation.

Australia’s vaccine rollout continues to lag behind much of the developed world with just 13.7 per cent of people aged over 16 receiving both jabs.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese attacked Prime Minister Scott Morrison for previously declaring the program was not a race.

“The fact that we’re losing that race compared with other developed countries is the reason why half of Australia is locked down today,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Launceston.

There are renewed calls for welfare recipients to be made eligible for federal government coronavirus disaster payments of up to $600 a week.







Melbourne on Tuesday morning, shortly before the Victorian government announced a week-long extension of its lockdown
Melbourne on Tuesday morning, shortly before the Victorian government announced a week-long extension of its lockdown. Photograph: Diego Fedele/EPA

Updated

Here is a full story on the death of television executive David Leckie:

There’s 90-hour wait for some Covid-19 test results in Sydney

Updated

And that is it from Greg Hunt. I’ll just run though some of his other top-line vaccination statistics.

  • 975,716 vaccinations last week, 10.2m doses in total;
  • 169,911 on Monday (highest Monday figure recorded);
  • About 60% of over 50s, 68% of over 60s and 75.5% of over 70s received one dose;
  • 2.9 million people who are fully vaccinated, and 7.3 million with one dose; and
  • Now more than 6000 places offering the vaccine.

Hunt is asked about whether vaccine supply could be prioritised for Covid-19 hotspots, therefore assisting in certain states or regions to emerge from lockdowns faster.

His answer is probably going to be a little triggering for those of us who are trying not to obsess over the constant Victoria v NSW comparisons:

The New South Wales outbreak now is I think making real progress. We’ve saw it reach 100 cases. On this day a year ago, where I’m standing in Victoria, there were 275 cases and not long afterwards, only a couple of weeks later, there were approximately 700 cases in one day. The difference now is that New South Wales has stabilised. That is the most important real sign of hope in Australia today. There’s more work to do, as the premier said today, with regards to the infectious cases in the community. They are stable, they are in no significant way either decreasing or increasing at this point in time, so that process of mopping up is under way now. What they have done is put in place, arguably, some of the hardest restrictions Australia has ever had and they’ve done it at a very early time. The advice I have is that the lockdown measures in New South Wales came in on I think day 11. We’ve learned from a year ago here in Victoria, and the whole country has learnt, I think the lockdown measures there were day 29, day 39, day 45, so by acting early, by taking that knowledge, but also by putting in place some of the hardest restrictions, I’m not aware that construction has been halted anywhere else during the course of the lockdowns over the last 18 months, that gives us the best chance.

We saw runaway growth a year ago once cases hit 100. Now they’ve stabilised and we know that there is a lot more work to do and there will be good days, and there will be bad days, we need to be honest, good days and bad days, but they’ve stabilised and now they are working on those challenging cases of community transmission. They won’t go away overnight but they’ll get there.

Updated

Hunt is asked what I think is a really interesting question. It is about comments made by Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton yesterday which suggested that because the Delta variant is far more dangerous than other Covid-19 variations, Australia may have to rethink its stance regarding the restrictions that have become commonplace over the past 18 months.

Hunt doesn’t really address the question, but in essence he seems to suggest that Australia will fare better with Delta than other countries have (as this has been the way throughout the pandemic):

It is important to step back and look at what the world is doing as well as Australia. The world is dealing with something that we haven’t seen in 100 years. The difference is that while we have had agonising losses around the world, and tragic losses here in Australia, the scope and scale between the rest of the world and Australia are immeasurably different and we shouldn’t lose sight of what has been achieved on an extraordinary level in Australia. What does that mean going forward? With over 4 million lives, 4.1 million lives lost worldwide and sadly, tragically, 915 here in Australia, what it means is that we will continue to use the different rings of containment which have led to the vastly different results here in Australia.

Updated

Hunt is asked: will teachers be prioritised at any stage in the rollout?

That is for Atagi. There are many that are assessed by the Australian technical advisory group on immunisation. Around the world and in Australia, what we have done is follow the greatest risk which has been about aged based vaccinations and that has led, I would say, to a very important result ... what we see is that the number of people over 70 in Sydney who have suffered is vastly less than might have been the case when you compare it with the Victorian outbreak from a year ago.

Updated

Hunt on the developing situations in South Australia and extension of the Victorian lockdown:

To the latest news from South Australia and Victoria today, these are difficult decisions, but I understand they are recognised as necessary. It’s challenging for so many people too – I know the chief medical officer has been meeting with chief health officer and he will be considering a Commonwealth hotspot definition in ... South Australia.

Updated

Health minister Greg Hunt speaks in Melbourne

Oh and here is health minister Greg Hunt. He says 35.7% of the eligible population has now received a first vaccine dose.

The SA Health folk are making it official. Lockdown to start in South Australia in about four hours and 15 minutes:

For all those fast rail wonks out there (I know there’s plenty):

And now for something completely different.

Just the 500-odd.

For any of you who are concerned about the condition of Matilda Boseley (our regular blogger who I have just relieved) I can provide this update:

Message for those in Sydney's Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown or Liverpool LGAs

Are you living and/or working in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown or Liverpool local government areas? Full Story podcast wants to hear about how the lockdown is affecting you. Call (02) 8076 8550 to leave a voicemail and tell us your story.

Not a heap more of interest came out of that South Australian update, other than a slightly eyebrow-raising number of tests yesterday (7,500) that health authorities are expecting to climb significantly today, following that news there are five cases of the Delta variant in the state.

The test result turnaround for the cases yesterday was 12-24 hours.

Updated

The Chinese embassy in Canberra has accused the Australian government of “following the steps and parroting the rhetoric of the US” on the issue of cyber attacks.

Late last night the Australian government joined with the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries to accuse China of “malicious cyber activities”.

As we reported last night, senior Australian government ministers said in a statement:

In consultation with our partners, the Australian government has determined that China’s ministry of state security exploited vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange software to affect thousands of computers and networks worldwide, including in Australia.

The home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, told reporters this morning that “many of our partner nations have worked together to make sure that we have very high levels of confidence that this was the Chinese Ministry of State Security that was behind this attack”.

In response to requests for a response, the Chinese embassy in Canberra hit back at what it described as “groundless accusations made by the Australian government on cyber issues”.

A spokesperson for the embassy said in a statement that China “always firmly opposes cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms”:

It is well known that the US has engaged in unscrupulous, massive and indiscriminate eavesdropping on many countries including its allies. It [the US] is the world champion of malicious cyber attacks. Australia also has a poor record, including monitoring the mobile phone of the president of its biggest neighbour country, not to mention acting as an accomplice for the US’ eavesdropping activities under the framework of Five Eyes alliance. What the Australian government has done is extremely hypocritical, like a thief crying ‘stop the thief’.

With that I shall pass you over to the amazing Nino Bucci, to take you through the rest of the SA press conference recap.

If you need me, I’ll be lying face down on the ground.

See you tomorrow!

SA chief health officer Prof Nicola Spurrier says one of today’s cases is highly infectious.

We were informed late yesterday of another person, a man in his 60s, who was positive. His test came back, and we can have bit of an idea looking at the test result how infectious people are. This man is considered highly infectious. He is part of the family unit of our original case, the man in his 80s. That was obviously a test that we prioritised.

Now this morning, really just before 9am I had the result come through of another man in his 60s. This is somebody that has dined at the Greek on Halifax ...

I don’t have all the details but my understanding is there was a birthday function or a celebratory function at the Greek on Halifax and it was a private function room and this gentleman was in the same private function area as one of our cases ...

Our team are very concerned about this transmission because the particular site is a restaurant. People tend to speak loudly in restaurants and there might have even been some singing there at the birthday party but it’s not usually a well-ventilated area.

Updated

Marshall says elective surgeries cannot continue over the next seven days.

No. We’re trying to significantly reduce movement to give ourselves the very best shot on top of this and stopping this disease dead in its tracks.

The reality is we’re dealing with a different variant [than we] were at this time last year and with the Parafield cluster. This is highly transmissible. We have seen in in Victoria. It’s been moving extraordinarily quickly.

We don’t want this moving across our state at the sort of exponential speed we have seen in other jurisdictions and that’s why we take this action today.

Updated

Reporter:

Is there any provision for essential workers what they do with their children for childminding facilities?

Marshall:

I leave that up to the police commissioner to answer, I don’t have that information at the moment. In the first wave we did have a situation where a limited number of schools would stay open for that purpose.

Updated

It looks like the business support for SA will be a mix of the established federal government payments for individuals and state business support.

Marshall:

Obviously, I have spoken with the prime minister today and we should be very comfortable in expecting the same level of support that has been offered to both Victoria [and NSW].

In addition to that, the treasurer will be looking at providing more immediate support to businesses here in South Australia affected and we’ll have more to say about that in the coming 24 hours.

Updated

Marshall has confirmed that schools will close from tomorrow and move to at-home learning for the next week.

Marshall:

We are using every single opportunity to get in touch with every person in all of the exposure sites that we have and there will be other expose sites added today. As of this morning we had 13 exposure sites.

The Greek restaurant on Halifax was already one of those exposure sites. We used QR code check in data. We used CCTV data, speaking to the owners of frailties right across South Australia on their exposure site, and – as well as credit card details. We’re not leaving a single stone unturned in our best to slow and stop the spread of this virus.

Updated

From 6pm South Australians will only be allowed out of their homes for essential care, essential work, to purchase food and essential goods, for medical reasons and to exercise with only one other person.

Premier Steven Marshall confirmed the current cases were the Delta variant of Covid-19.

We hate putting these restrictions in place but we have one chance to get this right.

We are moving as quickly as we can to slow and stop the spread of this cluster.

We know these restrictions will take a heavy toll. But we’ve always had a situation where we go hard and we go early in South Australia.

We’ve got to stop movement around this state and we’ve got to stop it immediately.

Updated

OK, here we go! A South Australia recap!

A reminder SA is moving into a full seven-day lockdown after a cluster of local Covid-19 cases grew to five.

The fifth case, a man in his 60s, is someone who dined at a restaurant in Adelaide at the same time as other infected people on Saturday night.

Those people had all attended a birthday party in a private function room which authorities said had the potential to act as a super-spreader event.

The lockdown rules come into effect from 6pm on Tuesday with South Australians only allowed out for five reasons.

Updated

Testing commander Jeroen Weimar is given us a bit more detail about that new case in Roxburgh Park.

Roxburgh Park was detected yesterday. It was already in our plans to talk about this morning and now we have a positive case.

What I’m concerned about is to see if there’s any other seeding into the Roxburgh Park community or adjoining suburbs in the north. Craigieburn in particular, it’s been a while since we’ve had to talk about them.

I’m very concerned and very keen to understand if there’s anybody there who’s symptomatic. We have to use these precious days we have.

The lockdown is a burden across Victoria and it’s a heavyweight. We want to identify any of those chains of transmission.

Updated

Also, my South Australia friends, I will be doubling back to make sure I got all the important points from that Steven Marshall lockdown press conference.

Updated

Andrews says it is too early to talk about if large events, such as the football, in Victoria will be restricted to those who have been vaccinated.

I know there is a genuine interest, ‘why don’t we move to a situation where only vaccinated people can go to things?’.

There’s a couple of points. One, no vaccine that’s been developed prevents it 100% getting it or giving it. They all suppress that, they all reduce the likelihood of that but you’re not 100% protected from getting it or giving it to others. That’s the first point.

The second point is let’s get people vaccinated first before we start telling them what they can and can’t do as a result of getting the jab.

Updated

Here is an updated graph showing the recent NSW cases based on their isolation status.

NSW had to issue a correction mid-press conference with the new isolation numbers.

Here is a breakdown of today’s numbers:

  • 37 in isolation
  • 8 partially isolating
  • 21 were infectious in the community
  • 12 cases under investigation.

And here is the full outbreak:

This is from the very very start of the press conference but it’s worth ensuring it’s included.

Students with special needs will be allowed to return to campus under some circumstances.

Andrews:

We know for some families of kids that have got special needs, educating at homes, homeschooling is incredibly difficult. Where that is causing real hardship then schools will be open for those kids.

Updated

Reporter:

You don’t believe teachers should be included in priority vaccinations.

Andrews:

No, I don’t say that. I think this is not for me who gets priority access. It’s not like I’m sitting on a stockpile of this stuff. That’s a matter for the commonwealth government and we should have a national approach and I think, to this point, we have had a national approach.

The representations that the teachers’ unions and teachers have made, and school staff, I’m sure they’ll be taken very seriously and they’ll be looked at seriously.

Certainly, I would take them seriously but I don’t allocate the vaccine and I don’t order it. I don’t do the purchasing, the commonwealth does that.

It’s not until September, October, November* that we’re due to see millions more doses which is exactly what we need.

* Worth noting we are expecting one million Pfizer doses a week in August.

Updated

Victorian premier won't push for priority teacher vaccinations at national cabinet

Reporter:

The education union is pushing to have teachers part of the priority group for vaccinations. I know you touched on this yesterday. Given national cabinet is this Friday, is that something you’re going to be pushing?

Andrews:

Not specifically. But we get an update from General Frewen at each national cabinet meeting.

I think every union, peak body, every group within the community want to be vaccinated and they want to be at the front of the queue.

That’s reasonable but we have a national framework and it’s not for me to go it alone.

Again some of this is a little bit moot. Until or kind of – it’s not real in some ways until we get adequate supplies to be able to give those people the vaccinations they want.

Updated

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews did not confirm reports that NSW would be receiving the lion’s share of the new Pfizer shipment, but he said he would not begrudge NSW if it were true.

Reporter:

There are reports Sydney is receiving 800,000 [Pfizer doses] and Victoria will receive 100,000, do you think that’s fair?

Andrews:

I have seen those reports, whether they’re accurate or not, I can’t attest to that.

I will say New South Wales is a very different situation to us and I wouldn’t begrudge them more vaccine than us out of the 1 million. I wouldn’t begrudge Sydney access to additional vaccines.

We’re dealing with an outbreak that we think we are running alongside it. We need to get in front of us and we need more time to do that.

That is not the conversation they’re having in Sydney. They’re in different circumstances. We wish them well.

If extra vaccines are a way to stabilise the situation they’re in, that’s great nor Victoria, Adelaide, it’s terrific for all of us.

Updated

Andrews has been asked if there is any chance support payments will be extended to those on welfare, who are currently ineligible for the commonwealth rescue package, despite many also losing a significant amount of work.

I’m in constant conversation with the prime minister about all the things we can do. I’ll give you an example. We have an iso payment for people who have no leave and to do the right thing for us they have to stay away from work for 14 days. That started in Victoria and it’s paid by the national government to everybody ... lots of things have become national as a result of us sitting down and talking about these things on a regular basis.

So we’re always looking to try to do more and [the minister for business precincts] will be out tomorrow to talk about additional business support.

It will be our effort, it won’t necessarily tie in the federal arrangement given that the federal business support ... kicks in I think after 14 days. We’re doing everything we possibly can as a government, as a public health team, as has Victorians, to have this over and be out of lockdown before the 14th day.

Updated

Heads up the NSW press conference has ended so the posts from now on will be about Victoria unless I state otherwise.

Premier Daniel Andrews has been asked when individuals will receive their support payments, citing comments from the boss of Services Australia who noted some people have still not received them.

The support payments for individuals who lost work in Melbourne is being paid by the federal government (because the city is a declared hotspot) and, from memory, those in the regions are being supported by the state government.

Andrews:

They are paid if arrears, so you would need to have demonstrated that you had between eight to 20 hours of lost [work] or more than 20 hours of lost [work] and you would be [paid] respectively $375 or $600, they would be the payments available to you under arrangements negotiated with the prime minister.

I can’t speak to how many people have applied, but the process is as simple as it can be, I think. The eligibility criteria are pretty well-known. This is essentially the return of jobkeeper for those who have lost.

Updated

Victorian press conference

Here is what Sutton has to say about Victoria handballing a Covid-19 case to Queensland today.

That doesn’t materially change our view either.

My understanding is there is an individual who was a primary close contact who travelled to Queensland. They have tested negative initially. They subsequently tested positive. They were messaged from us as soon as we were aware of them as a primary close contact and that has prompted the testing.

Whether or not they transmit to anyone else, that is all in Queensland Health hands. I had some communication with the chief health officer this morning on that and obviously we have our fingers crossed for them there is no further transmission from that case.

Updated

Victoria press conference

Sutton says it’s unclear how many Victorians are still in NSW and therefore will likely be locked into the state as of midnight tonight when the border tightens.

It is hard to know. Obviously if they are not applying for a permit we don’t know they are there. We’ve had hundreds of new permit applications on a daily basis.

We’ve had over 10,000 permit applications all together. There may well be hundreds, if not thousands, remaining.

Some of those will want to see it out and are happy that they are remaining. Obviously, they have been given weeks and weeks of notice about the opportunity to return to Victoria so I imagine there isn’t a great urgency for them.

Circumstances change for people. That is what the exemptions process is for.

Updated

Victorian press conference

Chief health officer Brett Sutton says he expects Victoria to be in single digits by the end of next week.

We are expecting it will be in single figures. There is a reasonable chance that we will have no new individuals who are out in the community during the infectious period.

Reporter:

So there have to be zero cases or no new cases to stop the lockdown?

Sutton:

It is really about the cases that we identify as having not been out in the community for any period of time.

Again, going back to how this started, how it started in Sydney, how it has evolved in Adelaide. A person who is out in the community for any time with this Delta variant could transmit to one person, could transmit to know people, but could transmit to 20 people.

So you have to be sure that you have got the response around that risk.

NSW press conference

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she is confident construction will resume after 30 July in the state.

NSW has shut down construction – a huge sector of the NSW economy – to reduce mobility.

Berejiklian says the government is in constant discussion with the industry, and realises how difficult it is. She says they need to reduce mobility for now, but gives a strong indication that construction will be up and running at the end of the month.

She says there are “green shoots” showing, but employers of essential workers need to pay attention to social distancing and ensuring their workers are apart in the workplace and in break rooms.

Updated

'Victory against [this outbreak] within reach', says Victorian premier

Premier Daniel Andrews is laying out why Victoria is locking down for seven days, not another five.

To have 18,000 contacts, close contacts of just 85 cases, to have them spread across the entire state. To have this thing go from the centre of Melbourne at the MCG to Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Mildura and so many places in between shows you how fast it moves and how challenging this is.

But, a victory against this is absolutely within reach. We just need a little bit longer.

Updated

NSW corrects today's case isolation status numbers

The NSW health department has just reissued a corrected press release on cases that were in isolation and out in the community.

The new numbers are as follows:

  • 37 in isolation
  • 8 partially isolating
  • 21 were infectious in the community
  • 12 cases under investigation

Berejiklian says they are focusing on the number of cases in the community, but obviously partially isolating is not good either.

Updated

Victorian press conference

Weimar:

So, first of all, Miss Frankie’s restaurant, now a total of 29 cases associated with that restaurant, 18 of whom were in the actual restaurant at two separate times, 840 primary close contacts associated with that cluster. 69% of those have now returned a negative test result.

With regards to the MCG, 14 cases associated with the MCG, that is an increase of two today. Nine of the cases were actually at the game for the Carlton v Geelong game way back on the 10th. We have 3,800 primary close contacts, about half of, just over half of whom have returned a negative test result.

At Trinity Grammar, nine cases are associated with that outbreak, an increase of two today. 2,500 staff and students are in isolation at that school. Two-thirds of whom have returned a negative test result.

Phillip Island now has a together of five positive cases. This is one social group. Encouragingly we have not soon any spread out into the wider community at this point in time ... We have 700 primary close contacts associated with that outbreak, some of whom are on the island. 43% have returned a negative test result.

We would like to see more of those people come forward and ensure they stick with their isolation protocols after testing.

Then finally, we have also the Roxborough Park, the new positive case today. We believe there are strong connections to the city of Hume outbreak we have been discussing over the last week or so. Now we have a total of 11 cases associated with that outbreak. 280 primary close contacts, 70% of whom have returned a negative test.

Updated

Victorian press conference

Victorian testing commander Jeroen Weimar is breaking down the current cluster in Victoria.

In terms of the new cases that we have, seven are linked to Miss Frankie’s, the restaurant. Of those seven, three are staff, two are patrons and two are further household primary close contacts. People we already know about from previous positive cases. So that is seven cases of our cases today.

We have two new cases linked to the Trinity Grammar outbreak. One is a staff member and one is a student at Ruyton’s girls’ school. She was already a close contact. That is nine in total.

We have two household contacts connected to the MCG. So this is a household where one individual was already a positive case from the MCG. Their two family members are now also positive. That is 11. One is a member of the group that travelled to Phillip Island, that makes it 12.

Lastly, late last night we identified a positive case from Roxborough Park, a woman in her 20s. We are working through her connections at this moment in time. We have very strong indications that she’s connected to the city of Hume outbreak.

Updated

NSW press conference

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant says that it is her understanding that “care was offered to the family” of the woman in her 50s who died of Covid-19 at home in south-west Sydney on Monday.

She says the health of Covid patients “can deteriorate rapidly” but does not elaborate on the case.

Updated

One-third of Victorian close contacts are in regional Victoria

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton says there are significant concerns about regional Victoria.

We have seen significant and stand-alone outbreaks in regional areas in Phillip Island, in Bacchus Marsh, Barwon Heads and as far away as Mildura.

Around a third of all of our primary close contacts are right across regional Victoria.

This outbreak has [spread through] the whole state and that was in a way that the [Kappa] outbreaks didn’t do back in May and June. Much of that is due to the super-spreading events early on in this outbreak that took place in the M CC members’ reserve for the Geelong v Carlton game.

It is something that brings Victorians from far and wide and back home far and wide across Victoria.

Updated

NSW press conference

Health minister Brad Hazzard is explaining why NSW’s health orders have changed in the space of 24 hours.

He says the latest orders to restrict work in the offices had been amended at 10.45pm to make it clear that the orders don’t apply in regional NSW.

Nonetheless, Hazzard says regional employers should allow people to work at home where possible.

Hazzard says the orders have been drafted very quickly by parliamentary counsel and sometimes they need fine-tuning.

Circular Quay in the central business district in Sydney
Circular Quay in the central business district in Sydney. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Victoria press conference

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton says nine of the 13 new cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period.

So, as the premier said, it certainly is really positive we are starting to see the effects of strong contact tracing and the effect of lockdown come to bare on this outbreak.

We have got nine cases who have had their entire infectious period not in the community. That is a really strong sign.

Of the four cases who have had infectious time in the community, the movements of three of those have been very substantially limited because of the effect of the lockdown.

Can’t say yet whether we are ahead of this thing, but I do know that ... it is going in the right direction.

To lift restrictions now on another day of new cases who have had some time in the community, and double figures of cases before we have fully wrapped ourselves around this outbreak, while we are still seeing curveballs of cases potentially not yet linked, will put all of the sacrifices of Victorians at risk and make it all for naught. We do not want that to happen. It is too early today to lift restrictions.

Updated

NSW press conference

Workplace transmission is also leading to cases popping up in other local government areas, Chant says. It then leads to household transmission and more cases in the community.

“We are asking people to limit their movement,” she says.

She says only urgent dental and healthcare should be sought.

Updated

More business support coming for Victoria, premier says

Andrews:

We know that businesses and families will do it tough over these next seven days. There will be further announcements tomorrow in relation to business support.

I can confirm for you that more than 90,000 businesses have had payments made to them already. They, without having to fill in any forms, they will be automatic payments.

That will be very soon, as soon as tomorrow morning, the minister will take you through that. Again, that won’t require people to fill forms in.

As I said, about 90,000+ businesses have received that payment. Whether they can access it is a matter of who they bank with. We have pressed the button and sent the money. It is just a matter of who they bank with and how many business days it takes for that to be deposited in their account.

A woman wearing a face mask walks along Bourke Street mall in Melbourne, Tuesday, July 20, 2021.
A woman wearing a face mask walks along Bourke Street mall in Melbourne, Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

Updated

Victoria press conference

Premier Daniel Andrews confirms the new hard NSW border will be in place for the next two weeks.

NSW press conference

In the wake of the woman in her 50s dying at home, Dr Chant says that anyone who needs urgent care can get urgent care.

If they have symptoms and are worried, they should ring their GP, she advises. Chant also warns that people can be infectious with the Delta variant without symptoms.

She says people have been “surprised when they test positive.” But this is why they are urging workers to stay home when they can and for employers to let them stay home.

While most transmission is in the household, she says transmission via the workplace “is setting off little fires”.

Updated

NSW press conference

Deputy commissioner Gary Worboys says there have been 160 penalty notices issued in NSW. One included a party in an office suite in the CBD involving seven people. Worboys says there was alcohol and birthday cake in a small space.

Updated

No more travel permits for Sydney to Victoria

Premier Daniel Andrews says from midnight the only Victorians with compassionate exemptions or are essential workers will be allowed back into the state from Sydney.

Sydney has been a declared red zone for the purposes of travel. That is, if you do get a permit, you have got to come here, isolate for 14 days, as well as getting tested.

For four weeks, we have been saying to people from Victoria who are in Sydney and now in broader New South Wales, not the bubble, but beyond that border bubble, we have been saying come home, come home because the rules may chain.

We, the rules are changing today. The only people that will get a permit to travel from a red zone into Victoria are those who are authorised workers and those who apply for and get a compassionate exemption to the new rules I am announcing today.

There will be no further, as of right now, red zone travel for the next two weeks. What I cannot have happen is hundreds and hundreds of people who were warned weeks ago to get back here who have not done that.

I can’t cope having hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Victorians coming back to Victoria while the situation further deteriorates and we see more and more cases,.

Updated

Victoria press conference

Daniel Andrews:

As I said, we have 85 total active cases, 13 new today. Nine of those 13 isolating 100% of their time. But we now have around 18,000 close contacts of those 82 cases.

That shows you how challenging this is. It shows you that we have made good progress, but we still have a way to go and more time is required for us to be certain and to be confident that we have, in fact, extinguished this and can begin the process of opening up against.

Updated

Victorian lockdown will be extended for seven days

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews:

As promising as our progress has been, avoiding a New South Wales-style long, lengthy, very challenging lockdown, where you just lose control of cases, we have avoided that. But we need more time.

That is why on the advice of the chief health officer we will extend these lockdowns for a further seven days. We are all going to work very, very hard to have Victoria begin the process of opening up at midnight next Tuesday, 27th.

So seven days from midnight tonight. We wish we could bring this in earlier, but we can’t run the risk that there are cases out there that we don’t know about.

There are chains of transmission that are not yet contained that we don’t know about and if we would open up we would see how quickly this runs, we see how challenging this can become in a very short space of time.

Updated

SA press conference

Premier Steven Marshall has been asked why the lockdown will affect all of SA.

He pointed to how fast the virus in Melbourne has spread to the state’s regions, including Mildura, which is close to the SA border.

Updated

NSW press conference

Dr Kerry Chant has warned there are unlinked cases, which means there are chains of transmission which have not been identified. She has called on residents of Canterbury Bankstown, Hurstville, Kogarah, Guildford, Rooty Hill and Greystanes to come forward.

Of the 78 locally acquired cases reported to 8pm last night, 52 are from South-Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD), 11 are from Western Sydney LHD, three are from Sydney LHD, 11 are from South-Eastern Sydney LHD, and one is from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD.

Updated

Crown Melbourne licence should be cancelled, royal commission hears

Crown Resorts is not presently suitable to hold the licence to Melbourne’s casino, counsel assisting a royal commission in Victoria into it has told the hearing.

Counsel assisting the commission, Adrian FInanzio, SC, said it was “open for this commission to find that the program of corporate rebirthing that Crown says is underway is insufficient”.

In this commission for the first time, a sense of the true depth and breadth of misconduct has come to light.

The evidence reveals serious misconduct, illegal conduct and highly inappropriate conduct, which has been encouraged or facilitated by a culture which has consistently put profit before all other considerations.

He said that “this is not a case of isolated or trifling indiscretions or breaches, capable of easy and quick rectification”.

This is a case where it would be open to find that the misconduct of Crown has been so flagrant and so well publicised and detrimental to Crown’s reputation overall, that no amount of restructuring can restore confidence in it as a profit and proper person to hold a licence.

He says Crown’s licence should be cancelled, despite the disruption this will cause.

Any decision to allow Crown to remain the licensee would be akin to placing in that trust and confidence of the kind, which has already been portrayed in such a comprehensive way and which only came to light under the eye, or under the scrutiny of this commission and the Bergin inquiry. In all the circumstances, it’s counsel assisting’s submission that it would be open for the commission to recommend that the licence be cancelled.

Updated

In NSW, one woman in her 50s has died in south-west Sydney of Covid-19. This is the well-publicised case of the mother of the removalists who travelled to western NSW.

Of these 78 locally acquired cases, 49 are linked to a known case or cluster – 45 are household contacts and four are close contacts – and the source of infection for 29 cases is under investigation.

Thirty-seven cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and 11 cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period. Twenty-seven cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of three cases remains under investigation.

Updated

SA lockdown will last seven days

SA premier Steven Marshall says there will be no intimate partner exemption during the SA lockdown which will last seven days.

We’ve moved very quickly, very decisively to stop the spread, every single day that you let this go, you put yourself in a more difficult situation to bring it back under control.

It will certainly slow and put a stop to this variance breeding any further, but it’s only going to happen with the cooperation of all South Australians. We’ve got to stop movement around this state, and we’ve got to stop it immediately.

That’s why, as of 6pm tonight, we move into a seven-day stay-at-home order in South Australia with very few reasons why people can leave home.

Updated

On the SA lockdown, premier Steven Marshall says:

From 6pm tonight, South Australia moves into lockdown, there will now be just five reasons why people can leave their home.

From 6pm ... life care and compassion reasons such as taking care of a loved one.

Number two, essential work.

Number three, purchase of essential goods, such as food for medical reasons, including vaccination and testing.

And the fifth and final reason is exercise but that has to be limited to people from the same household.

We hate puting those restrictions in place but we believe we have just one chance one chance to get this right.

I want to thank the people of South Australia for their response since we announced this yesterday. This is moving very quickly. We first got a positive confirmation at 2.30am yesterday, and we’re moving as quickly as we can to slow and stop the spread of this particular cluster.

Updated

NSW records 78 local Covid-19 cases

There were 78 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Monday. There were 63,000 tests.

Authorities are now asking people from Canterbury Bankstown, Hurstville and Kogarah areas to get tested.

Updated

SA will lock down after new Delta cases

South Australia premier Steven Marshall:

Unfortunately, not too much good news today and we have confirmation in the last half hour now that this is the Delta variant that we’re dealing with here in South Australia. For those reasons we’re extremely concerned about developments.

We’re extremely concerned about developments this morning, we now have a fourth and a fifth case report. The fourth case was one of the 16 close contacts that we announced yesterday they had been in quarantine and the Communicable Diseases Control branch has been working through with this person, to identify any further exposure sites which will continue to announce throughout the morning.

Worryingly though, a fifth case has developed.

For these reasons, and for the fact that we know that this is moving quickly, we have no alternative but to impose some fairly heavy immediate restrictions to take effect.

Updated

Not independently confirmed but Nine news is reporting a small improvement in today’s NSW numbers.

Updated

OK, I’m back, double shot coffee in hand. Let’s go my dudes!

Just a reminder we are standing by for the NSW press conference and the SA press conference both at 11am.

Fifteen minutes after that we will hear from the Victoria premier, who is set to announce when the state’s lockdown will be extended to.

Updated

I’m going to make myself a coffee. Strong. Golly gosh.

Government officials to quarantine at ANU campus

Government officials returning to Canberra from abroad will have to quarantine at the Australian National University because the capital lacks any dedicated quarantine facility.

The Canberra Times reports officials will be kept in ANU apartments near the centre of Canberra, overseen by health authorities and police. The ACT government described the apartments as the “most suitable accommodation facilities available”.

“The ACT government’s strong preference is for the Commonwealth government to establish and manage a dedicated and fit-for-purpose quarantine facility in the ACT,” a government spokeswoman told the paper.

STEVEN MARSHALL!!!!!! What do you mean your press conference is on at 10.30am Adelaide time, which is ... wait for it ... 11am AEST!!!!!

Three very important press conferences at once people. Buckle in.

Updated

DANIEL ANDREWS! WHAT DID I JUST ASK YOU SO SO NICELY!

Yep, the Victorian press conference will be held at 11.15 today. Just 15 minutes after the NSW press conference starts.

I’ll prioritise Victoria today given the expected lockdown announcement but will try my darndest to still bring you both!

The NSW building industry will be a “basket case” if the two-week Covid lockdown is extended, a building union official says, reports AAP.

CFMEU state secretary Darren Greenfield told Sydney radio 2GB this morning that if the shutdown continues into August “businesses will start to collapse”.

Subcontractors cannot sustain a third or fourth week of this. Our industry will be a basket case.

Over the past 16 months all elements of the industry had worked together to put procedures in place to mitigate the virus and on Friday night “we were still told the industry would keep going”, he said.

However, on Saturday the industry was blindsided when premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the unprecedented shut down, costing the NSW economy at least $700m per week and forcing 250,000 tradies to down tools.

On Monday, NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said she did not advise the government to shut down the industry, insisting the decision was made by the crisis cabinet.

Berejiklian said the decision was taken to prevent the risk of workplace transmission and to stop “thousands and thousands of people” moving around the community.

Updated

Legendary TV boss David Leckie dies aged 70

David Leckie, the former boss of both Nine and Seven networks, has died this morning after “a long illness”, his wife Skye and sons Harry and Ben said in a statement.

With immense sadness, we advise the passing of our adored and much- loved husband and father, David Leckie.

David passed away at Mulberry Farm, Robertson, after a long illness this morning. He was surrounded by his loving family.

David Leckie was a profound force in the Australian television industry, with an executive career spanning 40 years from 1977 to 2017.

Due to Covid restrictions, David will be farewelled at a small, private funeral. The service will be live-streamed. A celebration of David’s life will be held as soon as possible, following the lifting of restrictions.

Updated

'Come home': QLD leaders urge their residents to return from SA

Both Young and health minister Yvette D’Ath have urged Queenslanders in South Australia to come home as soon as they can, presumingly anticipating that the border may soon be closed.

D’Ath:

So just to remind people, if you are in South Australia, they have put in restrictions across the entire state and we’re waiting to hear whether there’s any new community transmission cases today.

This could change very quickly in South Australia so we say to any Queensland residents in South Australia at the moment, you should consider coming home sooner than later.

Of course, we’ve already got restrictions in place, in relation to Victoria, and many of the local government association areas of New South Wales as well.

Young:

Please holiday in Queensland. We don’t know where the next case might be. Specifically today, anyone in South Australia should reconsider whether they should come home and people should not be going to South Australia given the restrictions the South Australian government has just put in place.

People should reconsider their need to travel to South Australia at this point in time.

Updated

So far there hasn’t been any talk about restrictions in Queensland being tightened.

Young:

Of course I’m concerned, and we’ll just have to see how it flows out over the next few days.

I’m most concerned about her household contacts in Maroochydore and up in Mareeba, so as soon as we’ve got those results, I don’t have them yet, that’ll give me a sense of what the risk is.

Young has confirmed that Queensland Health believes she is infected with the Delta variant of Covid-19.

I’m just trying to get clarity on if the Young and Jackson hotel was a tier-one site as Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young says. If so, it’s unclear why this woman continued to move around the community after testing negative.

Updated

Young:

She then went out and about in Maroochydore.

So on the first day, she was staying with friends emerge she’d all and then that afternoon from 3.55pm till 4.15pm.

She went to the Sunshine Coast Plaza, and specifically visited the universal store there, we’re just getting additional details now, what other movement she had then from 6.45pm to 8pm that night – and this is very important – she attended Rice Boi at the wharf at Mooloolaba.

It is really critical that anyone who attended the Rice Boi restaurant at the wharf at Mooloolaba between 6.45pm and 8pm, that night, first a 15th of July to immediately come forward and get tested and isolate until contacted by public health.

Then the following day on Friday, the 16th of July, she travelled by Uber at 12.50pm to Maroochydore station then caught the 6.15 [unclear] a station, then went from by train from Lansford to Eagle junction then caught the air train to Brisbane Airport, and then caught Virgin flight VA7912 to Cairns.

She arrived in Cairns where a relative picked up at the airport, and she drove home from Merida* and has been at home, isolating from then until she went to the Atherton* fever clinic at 10.30am, on Sunday, the 18th when she was tested and we got that positive result, late last night.

So she did have some symptoms so we’ve been her infectious period, back to the 15th of July, and that’s when she had a negative test as well in Maroochydore. So that was reassuring.

*I haven’t got the full transcription of this yet, so will need to double-check some of these location names and spellings.

Updated

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young says the infected woman travelled from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast, after unknowingly visiting a hot spot.

Three new cases in Queensland overnight. Two of them in hotel quarantine, acquired overseas.

And then the third one is a community-acquired case. Now this third case is not linked to any of the other clusters that we currently have active in Queensland. It’s brand new.

So it is a woman in her 20s, who lives up in Maroochydore and is studying down in Victoria, at the moment. So she came home for the holiday break.

So she travelled from Melbourne to Maroochydore on the 13th of July, and she received an SMS from Victorian health authorities on the 15th of July, because he had been at the Young and Jackson pub on the 10th of July and that was declared a tier-one site by Victoria, so she then immediately went and got herself tested, and she tested negative.

Updated

The infected woman spent two days in the community while potentially infectious, travelling through the Sunshine Coast and Cairns.

Queensland records one local Covid-19 case

I missed the first few seconds of this Queensland press conference but deputy premier Steven Miles has confirmed the state recorded one local Covid-19 case.

This was a woman who travelled while potentially infectious, but she was fully vaccinated.

The Australian government shelled out more than $11,000 a day on flights as the former finance minister Mathias Cormann spent a month crisscrossing Europe and South America to drum up support for his successful bid to lead the OECD.

The flights aboard a Royal Australian Air Force special purpose aircraft over the course of 34 days cost a total of $380,000, Guardian Australia can reveal after analysing the defence department’s quietly released flight records.

The records confirm that a Dassault Falcon 7X flew out of Canberra on 7 November and picked up Cormann the following day in Perth before heading towards Europe via the Maldives and Oman.

The RAAF plane flew to Turkey, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary and France, the latter being the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the place where formal interviews were done with candidates for secretary general.

You can read the full report below:

As expected, we will hear from NSW leaders at 11am.

Daniel Andrews, I am speaking to you directly now. Please. Please. Please do not put your press conference on at the same time. I am BEGGING you.

Regional NSW is still on high alert today after a number of exposure sites were named in popular stores and locations in Coffs Harbour.

Scott Morrison has taken a significant hit with voters since March with the latest Guardian Essential poll revealing the prime minister has suffered a 15 percentage point drop in public perceptions that he is good in a crisis.

The latest opinion survey of 1,100 respondents was in the field while major Australian cities were locked down in an effort to contain a new winter wave of Covid-19 infections amid escalating public concern about delays in the national vaccination rollout.

This fortnight, voters were asked to share their opinion about the prime minister’s attributes. Since March 2021, when the attributes questions were last put to respondents in the Essential poll, Morrison has suffered an eight point drop on voter trust, a nine point drop in perceptions that he is in control of his team and a nine-point drop on vision.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Labor leader Anthony Albanese agrees that Australia had a responsibility to call out China its global hacking activities.

He is speaking from Launceston in Tasmania today:

We have a responsibility to draw attention in Australia to the threats that they pose.

I have received briefings on these issues of a private nature, but what we know is that they have been increased – the number of cyber security issues – in Australia in recent years.

Companies need to be vigilant. People need to be aware of those issues, they need to seek the advice of the appropriate authorities. Australia has magnificent authorities and expertise, and areas like the Australian Signals Directorate, and others related to the cyber security issues are there to give advice to Australians to make sure that companies and, indeed, other interests including government interests are looked after.

Updated

Victoria records 13 local cases overnight

There they are! And not too terrible!

Victoria has recorded 13 cases overnight, but I believe four were previously announced yesterday.

All but one have so far been linked back to known clusters.

If anyone was wondering how I’m going with the delayed release of Victoria’s daily Covid-19 numbers:

Updated

Western Bulldogs gun Josh Dunkley has been forced into a 14-day home quarantine after visiting a tier one coronavirus exposure site in Victoria, reports AAP.

Dunkley had visited his local cafe on 14 July, which was later declared a tier one exposure site, and was directed to self-isolate for 14 days from that date by the Victorian Department of Health on Sunday.

The 24-year-old made his return against Gold Coast on Saturday – after missing 10 games due to a shoulder reconstruction – but has now been ruled out of the Bulldogs’ top-of-the-table clash with Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.

“Since July 14, Dunkley has received two separate negative coronavirus test results,” the Bulldogs said.

Updated

Hmmm, no Victorian numbers so far today. Usually, they come out by 9am. I’ll bring them to you as soon as I can.

This tweet is nearly a year old, but I am feeling it deeply right now.

Updated

Counsel assisting the Victorian royal commission into Crown Resorts will deliver closing submissions this morning.

Commissioner Ray Finkelstein is tasked with, among other things, deciding whether Crown is fit and proper to hold the licence to the Melbourne casino, the group’s largest and the biggest single-site employer in Victoria.

Saying yes has been made more difficult by revelations at the hearings including that it poured pressure on the commission itself not to make a negative finding due to the potential economic impact on the state.

Premier Daniel Andrews called the royal commission after a NSW inquiry found in February that Crown wasn’t fit to hold the licence to its new casino at Barangaroo, on Sydney Harbour, but set out a pathway through which it could clean itself up.

The effectiveness of that clean-up project has been called into question by the Melbourne hearings.

Updated

Summer Hill IGA takes on NSW Health

Now something rather ... interesting is happening at a Summer Hill IGA in Sydney’s inner west.

Romeo’s IGA was originally listed as an exposure site on the NSW Health website, but it seems this was a mistake.

Rather than waiting for NSW to officially take it off the list (it has since been removed, although a cafe next door remains) the supermarket posted a “public apology” featuring the NSW Health logo at the front of the store and distributed it by email:

Romeo’s IGA Summer Hill was NEVER exposed to Covid-19 and is to be REMOVED from the NSW Health and NSW Government websites as a Covid-19 location.

The ministry of health has made an administrative ERROR and PUBLICLY APOLOGISES for all the inconvenience caused.

This error will be rectified on all websites as soon as possible.

Romeo’s IGA Summer Hill is a Covid-19 safe location.

On Facebook, the supermarket posted the statement again (this time sans-NSW Health logo). Underneath it commented:

Hi NSW Health, can you please confirm the statement posted, to put the public at ease that the store is not a hotspot?

Updated

Karen Andrews:

We can’t allow this criminal activity to become a significant handbrake on our economic growth and our digital security.

We continue as a government to deliver on our $1.67bn cyber-security strategy and this is the single largest investment in cyber-security in this nation’s history. Now, just last week I announced that the government is considering reforms including stronger cyber-security standards for the digital economy, more transparent information about cyber-security, and stronger legal remedies for consumers.

And the government continues to progress our reforms to protect our critical infrastructure with legislation in the parliament right now to secure the essential services all Australians rely on, including everything from electricity through to water, to healthcare and even to groceries.

Karen Andrews at question time
Karen Andrews in parliament. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews:

The Australian cyber-security centre identified targeting and compromises of Australian organisations as part of this malicious activity. This compromise primarily affected businesses and organisations rather than individuals.

If you are affected, we would encourage you to contact the Australian cyber-security centre, go to cyber.gov.au and they’ll be able to provide you with the practical support that you need to deal with this and other cyber-related matters.

Australia calls out China over hacking

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews is speaking at a press event now after Australia overnight joined the US and other allies in calling out China over its global hacking activities, saying it has undermined international security:

In consultation with our partners, and that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, the government has determined that China’s ministry of state security exploited vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange software.

This targeted thousands of computers and networks worldwide, including in Australia. It opened the door for cybercriminals to exploit the private sector for illicit gain. All countries, including China, should act responsibly in cyberspace. In the past, Australia has publicly attributed malicious cyber-activity to Iran, China, North Korea and Russia.

Australia publicly attributes cyber-incidents when it’s in our interests to do so, especially those with the potential to undermine global economic growth, national security and international stability.

Updated

And those huge lines in Adelaide aren’t any shorter this morning.

Things are really ramping up in Adelaide, with 60 people from the Modbury hospital placed in hotel quarantine (known as medi-hotels in SA) overnight.

Updated

Speaking of long testing site queues in South Australia, here is a look at the situation from last night:

Updated

This is where Steven Marshall announced this fourth case:

The SA premier told Adelaide radio station FiveAA that the new case was a close contact of the infected family and said he would provide more updates at his press conference later today.

He also announced that more testing sites would open by Thursday, with additional staff put on to help break down the long queues that have developed at sites around the city.

Updated

SA records a fourth Covid-19 case

Authorities have confirmed that a fourth Coivd-19 infection has been identified in South Australia.

South Australians were hit with tough new coronavirus restrictions after three cases were discovered and the list of exposure sites in the state grew.

The new case is reportedly a close contact of an 81-year-old man who tested positive after being taken to the Modbury hospital in Adelaide. The other two cases are also close contacts.

I’ll bring you more as soon as I can.

Updated

Last night we reported that a woman in her 50s from south-western Sydney had died in her home after contracting Covid-19.

The death was announced on Monday afternoon after emergency services discovered her body earlier in the day when attending a home in Green Valley. Officers had responded to reports of a “concern for welfare”.

Sydney media reported that the woman was the mother of two of a group of removalists who allegedly travelled to Molong in the state’s central west for work after one had initially tested positive to Covid. The men were escorted back to Sydney.

The exact circumstances surrounding the woman’s death remain unclear.

You can read the full report from Elias Visontay and Mostafa Rachwani below:

Updated

Good morning. Matilda Boseley here with you this morning, ready to take you through the day’s news.

First up, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian says Australia needs to rethink making Covid-19 vaccines available to children once there is enough supply:

In previous strands, we had not seen younger people get the virus in the way they are [now] or transfer the virus in the way they are.

That is why vaccination in relation to the Delta strain won’t necessarily just mean adults. It will also mean younger adolescents and younger children.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has yet to approve any Covid-19 vaccine for use in people under the age of 16 in Australia but NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said it was encouraging to see other countries had already approved some jabs for school-aged students.

The ABC reports the Pfizer has already made an application to the TGA to have their vaccine considered for use in people aged 12-15.

NSW leaders made it clear they were not suggesting that high school aged students be prioritised for vaccination before the adult population, but instead school vaccinations be considered once Australia’s vaccine supplies issues ease.

Below the border, Victorians are waiting anxiously this morning, with the premier promising yesterday that he would announce the end day for the state’s snap lockdown at the next press conference.

The Victorian lockdown was slatted to end at midnight tonight but this was pushed back after the state recorded multiple days with case numbers in the double digits.

Yesterday Daniel Andrews said health officials needed more time and more data to figure out exactly when the lockdown should continue until.

There is plenty to get through, so why don’t we jump into the day. If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley.

Updated

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