End of the blog
That’s where we will leave the live blog for Monday. Here’s what you might have missed today:
- Victoria reported one new locally-acquired case of Covid-19 after a worker at the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel tested positive overnight, with no obvious safety breaches that could have led to transmission.
- NSW also reported a case in a returned traveller who had completed quarantine but returned a positive result on a day-16 test, sparking debate over whether the 14-day quarantine period needs to be extended.
- Prime minister Scott Morrison says he is still hopeful about the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine despite evidence it has limited success in protecting against the South African variant of the virus.
- Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been formally arrested in China “on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas” after being detained by Chinese authorities for the past six months.
My colleague, Matilda Boseley, will be back with you bright and early tomorrow morning, and I’ll be back at 1pm AEST. Until then, stay safe.
Updated
AAP has the latest on Covid restrictions in Western Australia:
Face masks are mandatory for teachers and secondary students, a precaution that’s part of transition arrangements for Perth and Peel, after the five-day lockdown sparked by a hotel quarantine security guard’s infection.
Authorities have identified 527 close and casual contacts of the guard, who was unwittingly out and about in Perth while infectious.
All have now returned at least one negative test result, WA Health said in a statement on Monday.
A range of restrictions remain in place until 14 February.
All Perth and Peel residents must continue to wear masks while outside their homes except during vigorous outdoor exercise.
Premier Mark McGowan has been heartened by the public’s response and does not expect mask-wearing to remain mandatory.
“What I have noticed, and I see it every single day, is everyone’s wearing a mask,” he told reporters.
“Everyone’s doing the right thing, and I think people have embraced it. It might be slightly annoying but I think people see it as a good tool to keep ourselves safe.
“If we have to, then we do it for longer but I don’t expect that will happen. But that will be subject to health advice.”
Private indoor gatherings are limited to 20 people, while a four square metre rule and a cap of 150 attendees applies to hospitality and retail venues and weddings.
Restaurants, pubs and bars can only have seated service and only essential travel is permitted in and out of the combined restricted zone.
Travellers from both NSW and Victoria remain required to isolate for 14 days and present for a coronavirus test on day 11.
Restrictions are likely to ease for NSW, but Victoria will likely have to wait longer after another hotel quarantine worker tested positive overnight.
Updated
Victoria’s health department says about 80 hotel quarantine workers at the Holiday Inn have been identified as primary close contacts of a worker who tested positive for Covid-19 last night. All are being tested and are isolating.
Seventeen people who had direct contact with the case have so far been identified as social and household primary close contacts. They are isolating and being tested. The department said this number was likely to increase.
On the Grand Hyatt hotel quarantine worker, the department said 1,266 primary close contacts had been identified, with more than 80% testing negative so far.
This number includes 21 social and household primary close contacts. All have tested negative. There are 661 workplace contacts, who also have tested negative.
There are still 14 identified public exposure sites that were visited by the Grand Hyatt worker.
As of this morning, 584 primary close contacts have been identified in connection with those public exposure sites.
Updated
In the wake of last week’s “Do Better” report on systemic racism at Collingwood football club, Linda Burney says president Eddie McGuire should consider his position, but ultimately it is a matter for the club:
There has to be ... acceptance, not just from Eddie McGuire but the whole leadership of the club. And I would hasten to say the leadership of the AFL, which I think has done some very good things in this space, to understand that systemic racism is part of Australia. It’s certainly part of Australian sport, and it is part of the AFL.
They are the issues that need to be examined, from Eddie McGuire through to Gillon McLachlan and all of the AFL, in my view.
Updated
Labor’s shadow minister for social services, Linda Burney, is up next, and was asked about plans for a digital vaccine certificate people could show on their phones.
Burney says she finds the idea attractive but there are issues around privacy, and government’s ability to roll out such a program securely:
“It’s personal information – personal medical information – that this refers to. And, you know, I have been very diligent in understanding when I can get the vaccine and what vaccine it will be, but I have to say that the digital passport has to be secure and the issue of personal information is probably the first priority that you want to be looking at.”
Updated
Queensland LNP senator Matt Canavan says he is opposed to a net-zero emissions target for 2050. He’s told ABC News he would cross the floor to vote against whatever he could in terms of how Australia implements what the government might sign up to:
“What happens is people can still fly overseas for their hauls. They tick a box and they plant some trees up where I live, in central Queensland, to offset their moral guilt about flying overseas. Their net-zero impact is not a net-zero impact up here. The gross impact is in regional Australia where if a hectare is planted with trees, that is fewer job, the farm goes, there’s no longer people at the sugar mill. There’s no longer business for the local tyre shop or the petrol station. That’s the real-world impact.”
When host Patricia Karvelas pointed out that’s only what happens if jobs are not replaced with something else, Canavan said he wanted farming to continue in Australia, and he claimed signing up to international agreements like Kyoto and Paris had “made us weaker”.
Updated
Heading into the WA election, the state’s forecast budget surplus has been revised upwards to $3.1bn, AAP reports.
Treasury’s pre-election financial projections statement, released on Monday, is headlined by a $900m boost to the state’s bottom line.
A surplus of $2.2bn this financial year had been forecast in December’s mid-year economic review.
The increase has been driven by a higher than expected iron ore price, and strong activity in the residential property market.
“We have the strongest budget management and strongest economic management of anywhere in Australia,” the premier, Mark McGowan, told reporters.
“And that is because of four years of hard work.”
Western Australians head to the ballot box on 13 March, with early voting commencing in two weeks.
Iron ore royalty revenue is forecast to surge $2.1bn higher this financial year than was forecast in the mid-year review, while taxation revenue is up $224m.
It has been partly offset by a 12-month deferral of interim dividends for large public corporations at a cost of $1.5bn – a decision the WA treasurer, Ben Wyatt, said was made to smooth the revenue intake over the next four years.
The hospitality sector has called for small businesses to be given greater support after suffering losses during last week’s five-day Covid-19 lockdown.
A $500 offset on electricity bills is expected to be taken up by about 100,000 small businesses and charities affected by the lockdown.
“Some people argued that it wasn’t enough but every time you do things like that you’re just borrowing more money,” McGowan said.
“We’ve provided some support to business, the best thing we can do is get them up and operational as soon as we can, which is what we’ve done.”
WA’s teachers union last month urged the cashed-up government to remove a public-sector wage freeze, which has remained in place since 2017.
Updated
And the last NSW hotspot will move from orange to green from tonight.
That means people coming from Cumberland into Victoria will no longer need to get tested and isolate until they get a result. But you will still need to apply for a permit.
The whole country will be considered a green zone in Victoria, save for Perth and the surrounds which is still an orange zone.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has declared that from 6:00pm tonight 8 February, the Cumberland Local Government Area (LGA) in New South Wales will move from an orange zone to a green zone under Victoria’s ‘traffic light’ travel permit system. #COVID19Vic
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 8, 2021
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has just been on Afternoon Briefing on ABC News talking about the charges against Australian journalist Cheng Lei in China.
Downer called it hostage diplomacy, where China is retaliating against Australia. He doubted the charges were credible:
“As a journalist, what access to state secrets would she have? ... She has been accused of spying and I think that is just improbable and not credible myself.”
He said the poor state of the Australia-China relationship at the moment would make it harder to negotiate a solution.
Asked whether it was appropriate that the China Global Television Network (CGTN) – the Chinese, state-owned broadcaster Cheng Lei worked for – was carried on Foxtel, Downer said he didn’t have a problem with it.
“I’m pretty much ... one of those people who remains in the minority, remains devoted to freedom of speech and expression. You don’t have to watch it if you don’t want it. In my case, I don’t watch either. I know they are just propaganda. That doesn’t particularly interest me. But, you know... I don’t have a problem so much with them being broadcast.”
Updated
Peter Greste from the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF) has called for the immediate release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei.
The Australian government says Chinese authorities on Friday revealed they’d formally arrested Cheng “on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas”.
The development comes about six months after Cheng – an anchor for the Chinese state-owned English-language news channel China Global Television Network – was first detained.
In a statement, Greste said Chinese authorities had already had ample time to gather evidence and unless they were willing to show it, they should release Cheng immediately.
Greste, an Australian journalist who spent about 400 days detained in Egypt over his reporting for Al Jazeera, said:
“China’s record on press freedom is already deeply troubling. In the absence of evidence, Cheng’s arrest only adds to the impression that Beijing does not care about the freedom of the press. Her case stands as a clear warning to other journalists to support the government or risk being imprisoned too.”
For more on this development in the Cheng Lei case, see our news wrap:
Updated
AAP has the latest on NSW deputy premier John Barilaro, speaking this morning at the NSW parliament’s public accountability committee to answer questions about the integrity of grant programs.
The inquiry reopened for submissions last week after revelations that most of a $177 million bushfire relief fund has been doled out to projects in Coalition-held electorates.
The Labor seat of the Blue Mountains and other electorates held by the Greens and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party have so far missed out.
Greens MP and committee chair David Shoebridge said in a statement he was concerned the fund was another “pork-barrelling scheme”.
Barilaro argued there was still another $250m to be allocated under the program, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments.
He says areas which saw high fire impact will receive priority under the next round of funding.
Criteria for the first round of funding were available to everyone and were focused on destroyed buildings, Barilaro said.
He added that 90% of buildings damaged in the bushfires were in Coalition seats.
Any applications from the Blue Mountains for the first round were not eligible under the criteria, he said.
In a letter to the committee, Barilaro said he felt a sense of “utter disgust” that bushfire recovery had been politicised.
“You would never mark a student’s work 25 minutes into an hour-long exam, so how can you jump to conclusions when only 40% of [grant] funding has been allocated,” he wrote.
Barilaro conceded he had sometimes been called the derogatory nickname “Pork Barilaro”.
“It’s a name that I’ve never distanced myself from because I’m actually proud of ... what it represents,” he told the committee.
“What we call pork-barrelling is investment.”
Updated
WA fire and emergency services commissioner Darren Klemm will provide an update on the Wooroloo fire at 2.30pm Perth time (5.30pm AEDT).
There seems to be a lot of interesting bits in this new post-Trump BBC documentary, including this bit involving former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Turnbull had important issues on his mind, in this case steel tariffs. Taking his chance, Turnbull collared Trump, who was obsessing about something else. “Donald said: ‘Malcolm, do you want to see my SCIF? It is so cool.’ I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought he was talking about a boat [a skiff]. We turned around a corner and there was this big steel box about the size of a shipping container.”
Trump pulled Turnbull into what turned out to be a “sensitive compartmented information facility”, an ultra-secure communications hub, with the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, also in tow.
“He said: ‘This is so cool – when you’re in there, nobody can hear you, not even the Chinese. It’s so secret.”
Updated
NSW Health is exploring the possibility of transmission within Sydney’s Sofitel Wentworth quarantine hotel as part of an “extensive investigation” over a returned traveller who tested positive to Covid-19 two days after a fortnight in hotel quarantine.
The new day-16 testing measure introduced in New South Wales successfully detected coronavirus in the returned traveller, who tested positive in Wollongong on Sunday.
A NSW Health statement on Monday morning said “the person did not have any symptoms but underwent testing as part of the recently enhanced day-16 follow-up”.
“Test results indicate that the person has a low level of infection and their household contacts have returned negative results to date.”
Later on Monday, NSW Health released a statement revealing that several returned overseas travellers in the Sofitel Wentworth hotel tested positive for Covid-19 while the Wollongong returned traveller was quarantining there, and that possible transmission within the hotel was being investigated.
This contradicted NSW Health’s initial assumption that the returned traveller had contracted Covid-19 overseas.
“All returned travellers who stayed on the same floor in the Sofitel Wentworth during this time are being contacted by NSW Health contact tracers and requested to be tested if they have not already been tested, as part of the day-16 testing program,” the statement said.
The traveller entered hotel quarantine on January 19 after arriving from South America, and left quarantine on 2 February.
NSW Health called him last Thursday to encourage a day-16 test. He agreed to take a test on Friday despite not having symptoms. A positive result was returned on Saturday, and a follow-up test confirmed the positive result on Sunday.
The person visited several locations in the Wollongong region, including Headlands Hotel in Austinmer, Bulli Beach Cafe in Bulli, and Officeworks in Fairy Meadow.
In NSW, returned travellers now receive a phone call two days after exiting hotel quarantine, strongly encouraging them to arrange an appointment at their local testing clinic.
The test is not mandatory and if a returned traveller has no symptoms and agrees to the test they do not have to isolate while waiting for results.
Updated
Defence minister Linda Reynolds has denied Victoria’s suggestion that New South Wales received more defence force help for the pandemic than it did.
Reynolds was responding to Victorian health minister Martin Foley’s claim on Sunday that NSW had “high levels of assistance” compared to Victoria.
Reynolds has told radio station 3AW that “absolutely” wasn’t the case.
“14,000 ADF personnel have assisted all states and territories over the past 12 months. 3300 of those have actually supported Victoria.”
She said Victoria had the largest contingent supporting any state or territory.
There are 266 defence personnel working in Victoria on the Covid-19 response, including 202 in 12 quarantine hotels, which will be bumped up to 430 across 22 hotels.
She said there were currently 216 defence personnel working in hotel quarantine in NSW.
Reynolds said personnel could be deployed for a variety of roles in hotel quarantine but hallway monitoring was not one of them, in part because they do not have law-enforcement powers.
Updated
South Australia has started daily saliva testing for workers at its Covid-19 quarantine hotels, AAP reports.
The saliva tests are in addition to weekly nose and throat swabs all workers at quarantine hotels must have.
The same daily testing regime will also be rolled out later this month to all people who come in contact with returning Australians, including health and security staff at Adelaide airport.
The premier, Steven Marshall, says it’s part of making it harder for the virus to escape into the community and stopping the spread should someone become infected.
“Every time there is a new infection in a quarantine hotel, either here in South Australia or any other part of the country, we all share that data,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We want to make sure that our hotel quarantine situation is as safe as possible.”
SA Health reported one new Covid-19 case on Monday in a returned traveller who is in hotel isolation.
Tests are underway to determine if it’s an old infection.
He will be transferred next week to the new dedicated facility in Adelaide catering for those with confirmed infections.
Health authorities took charge of the new facility on Monday with staff deployed before the first guests arrive from 15 February.
The facility has had ventilation systems upgraded to make it as safe as possible. It also has upgraded CCTV coverage.
The 72-bed site includes four apartment-style rooms for families and two purpose-built disability suites.
Updated
Tasmania has declared additional Victoria venues high risk after a new coronavirus case, AAP reports.
Three venues in Melbourne’s west and northwest have been added to Tasmania’s high-risk list after they were visited by a hotel quarantine worker who tested positive on Sunday.
Anyone in Tasmania who has been at the locations at certain times since 2 February must self-isolate immediately and contact public health officials.
People who have visited the venues, including returning Tasmanians, aren’t allowed into the state unless they are granted express permission from the state controller.
Fourteen premises in Victoria linked to an earlier case remain designated as high risk.
People are urged to check Tasmania’s coronavirus website for further information.
Earlier on Monday, Tasmania also declared 12 NSW sites high risk after a returned traveller tested positive for Covid-19 after completing two weeks of hotel quarantine.
Updated
Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, has announced a new rule for hotel quarantine workers that bans them from having second jobs.
WA has four private security providers among nine hotels.
The issue of insecure work requiring secondary jobs was a major issue in Victoria’s second wave, with some security guards working second jobs while infectious. Victoria resolved this issue by directly employing the security guards, and banning secondary jobs.
After the security guard infected with the UK variant of Covid-19 also worked as an Uber driver (but not while infectious) WA has decided to change the rules.
WA has not gone as far as Victoria, but has required the four security companies providing services to sign new contracts that would end secondary jobs held by employees.
Updated
Well this is definitely a thing that happened.
The PM arrives at RAAF Base Williamtown in the Hunter to make a defence announcement on the Joint Strike Fighter program, with 'Highway to the Danger Zone' blaring in the background. @SBSNews #AusPol #TopGun pic.twitter.com/gSFLg7C8ev
— Naveen Razik (@naveenjrazik) February 8, 2021
Victoria’s emergency services minister, Lisa Neville, has recapped recent changes designed to stop Covid-19 from leaking out of quarantine hotels.
The changes were announced over recent days are none are a direct response to Sunday’s case.
The recent changes include:
- All hotel quarantine staff will be tested daily, even when they have not worked. Previously they were only tested on each day they worked. This change has already begun however it is voluntary until specifics of how to compensate workers are finalised later this week. Then it can be made mandatory.
- Meal times for rooms will be staggered to avoid guests opening their doors at the same time – a precaution against Covid-19 spreading between rooms.
- Buffer zones have been introduced around family rooms to avoid transmissions like the one reported in Melbourne in late January when a high viral load from a family was blamed for spreading the virus to a guest in another room on the same floor.
- Workers at standard quarantine hotels (ie: not medical hotels where returned travellers who test positive are moved to) now have to wear surgical masks and face shields. Previously these workers wore surgical masks and goggles.
Updated
There’s another Scott Morrison press conference at 2.45pm AEDT in Rutherford, so we will keep you in the loop on that one when it happens.
A reminder of the timeline on the detention of Cheng Lei in China:
The Australian government first revealed on 1 September that Cheng, an anchor for a business show on the Chinese state-controlled China Global Television Network, had been detained in Beijing. Australia had been notified of that development on 14 August, but it wasn’t revealed publicly for a couple of weeks. Cheng was born in China but later became an Australian citizen.
Human rights observers had raised concerns about her welfare, given she had been taken into “residential surveillance at a designated location”, a form of coercive custody that allows the Chinese ministry of public security and the ministry of state security to circumvent ordinary criminal law processes and hold subjects in undisclosed locations without formal arrest, charge, trial, or access to a lawyer, for up to six months.
In early September, two Australian foreign correspondents in China, the ABC’s Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review’s Michael Smith, were urgently flown home after a tense diplomatic standoff. They both left China after being questioned by China’s ministry of state security, apparently in relation to the Cheng case. Then on 8 September, China’s foreign ministry confirmed that Cheng was being held on national security grounds but did not provide further details. Marise Payne’s statement today reveals that China has informed Australia that Cheng has now been formally arrested (on 5 February) “on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas”.
Updated
A South Australian man has been accused of escaping from his room at a quarantine hotel in Perth, and threatening to spit on security officers.
The man, who had been in Poland, arrived at Perth airport on 28 January. He was ordered to quarantine at a city hotel for 14 days but West Australian police allege he left his room last night, and refused to return.
Police say he tried to escape via an emergency stairwell, and allegedly threatened to spit in the faces of security officers.
He was arrested when he eventually returned to his room. He’s been charged with failing to comply with a quarantine direction and threatening to injure, endanger or harm someone.
He was refused bail and will appear in the Perth magistrates court on Monday.
Updated
That’s where I will leave you for today but the amazing Josh Taylor is here to guide you through Monday afternoon’s news.
Updated
When asked if the rest of the country should follow the lead of NSW and make day-16 testing mandatory for returned travellers, Greg Hunt seemed to like the idea.
I think New South Wales has been ahead of the curve. They have carried it out magnificently and I think they provided a model for the rest of the country.
Updated
The health minister, Greg Hunt, doesn’t seem overly worried about the news that the AstraZeneca vaccine may offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant of Covid-19.
On one hand, we have outstanding results out of the UK. I spoke with UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, the equivalent of the health minister for the UK – a few days ago that was.
They are very, very pleased with strong evidence which has been presented by Oxford University about the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. There are studies that have been done in South Africa so we will continue following that.
The advice, as of this morning, from the chief nedical officer of Australia ... Paul Kelly, and the head of the vaccine taskforce, Brendan Murphy, is very clear. There is currently no evidence to indicate a reduction in the effectiveness of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines [in] preventing severe disease and death.
Updated
Vaccine training rolled out to healthcare workers
Australia is progressing to the next stage of its vaccine rollout, with training modules now available for healthcare workers who will administer the doses.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking about this now:
As of today, COVID training modules for vaccinators will be made available ...
Over 1.4 million Australians have undertaken infection control training courses online and that includes over 3.6 million modules ... The next step is preparation for the vaccines ...
It is not difficult, but it is an important step and that includes content which is relevant to the vaccines that Australia will be using, in particular the use of what are called “multi-dose phials”, so instead of a single shot from one phial, what we will see is there will be multiple doses, six in the case of Pfizer or 10 in the case of AstraZeneca on provisional advice, subject to TGA approval.
Handling and storage, safety and surveillance. All of the elements which will be critical to ensuring that vaccination occurs in a safe and effective way [are included in the training].
Updated
Beijing says Australian news anchor was arrested for "supplying state secrets overseas"
Beijing has formally advised the federal government that Australian citizen Cheng Lei was arrested “on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas”.
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, has also revealed Australian embassy officials have visited Cheng six times since her detention, most recently on 27 January.
Cheng – a news anchor for Chinese state-owned English-language news channel CGTN – has been detained in China since 13 August last year.
Payne said in a statement that the government had been advised that Cheng was formally arrested in China on 5 February, after six months of detention.
Chinese authorities have advised that Ms Cheng was arrested on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas ... The Australian Government has raised its serious concerns about Ms Cheng’s detention regularly at senior levels, including about her welfare and conditions of detention. Australian Embassy officials have visited Ms Cheng six times since her detention, most recently on 27 January 2021, in accordance with our bilateral consular agreement with China.
Payne said Australia expected “basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms”.
Our thoughts are with Ms Cheng and her family during this difficult period.
Updated
Phew!
Looks like it was a genuine mistake when Victoria’s health department listed the number of Covid cases associated with the new outbreak as “2” rather than “1” on its website this morning.
Before and after. The Vic Health website has revised the number of cases associated with the Holiday Inn outbreak back down to one. What a relief! @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/zfeJ5iugwl
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) February 8, 2021
Updated
Celebrities, they’re just like us.
(And yes, chief health officers are the celebrities of our time.)
Brett Sutton wasn’t present at Victoria’s Covid-19 press conference earlier this morning and now we know why.
Not feeling well today - runny nose, sore throat and headache. Tested for #COVIDー19 and at home until I get my result. Just like 4.5 million Victorians have done. Great job by @VicGovDH test site in Wantirna South. Thanks team 🙏
— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) February 8, 2021
Updated
Morrison still hopeful about AstraZeneca vaccine
Scott Morrison has provided more details about the new F-35 maintenance milestone, which the amazing Daniel Hurst summed up for us earlier. But attention quickly turned to Covid-19.
Morrison was asked if all states should introduce day-16 testing for returned travellers, after one such person tested positive two days after finishing a fortnight in mandatory hotel quarantine in NSW.
We’ll take the medical advice, as the states will also. The length of quarantine was a topic that we dealt with on many occasions. It wasn’t that long ago that some were suggesting that we should be shortening the amount of quarantine time.
Now, we took a decision that that was the wise thing to do and we maintained that buffer of 14 days. Now, the medical evidence will guide the decisions that we make about the length of quarantine ... but at this stage, that is not the advice of the medical experts.
He was also asked about trial data suggesting the AstraZeneca vaccine appears to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant of Covid-19.
We take our advice from Professor Murphy, who heads up the vaccine’s scientific technology, science and technology taskforce. And they look at the peer-reviewed science and they make the recommendations to us. And as recently as just the last few days, it continues to be very positive.
We’re waiting for the Therapeutic Goods Administration to give their approval to the AstraZeneca vaccine, and we met with Professor Skeritt on Friday and the premiers were there on Friday, and he gave a very good report. And we’re already seeing in quite a number of countries where the vaccine is being rolled out, that not only is it delivering real results [in preventing] serious illness, but also, we’re seeing some early signs which is encouraging about its impact on preventing transmission ...
On the first one, that means that the virus in Australia could become just like many other viruses, ie: that means that, you know, they exist, but then don’t lead to the serious illness that we have seen from Covid-19. There are many diseases and viruses that are in the community that don’t require the response that we have had to Covid-19 over the past year.
Updated
We are standing by now for Scott Morrison to take the mic at the Williamtown RAAF base.
Updated
Hmmm, so a few people have sent this my way over Twitter.
It looks like the Holiday Inn outbreak is currently listed as having two cases, rather than one.
I’m putting in a few calls now.
hmm so Holiday Inn outbreak table just got updated to 2 active cases 👀https://t.co/ySOA3sOGQJ pic.twitter.com/yhElFVFx8M
— ken tsang (@jxeeno) February 8, 2021
Updated
NSW Health is treating 44 COVID-19 cases, none of whom are in intensive care. Most cases (98 per cent) are being treated in non-acute, out-of-hospital care, including returned travellers in the Special Health Accommodation.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) February 8, 2021
Hardly surprising but the Victorian opposition is having a crack over Melbourne’s new hotel quarantine case.
It is arguing against Daniel Andrews extending the government’s state of emergency power until the end of the year.
Opposition Leader @michaelobrienmp deems the latest #covid19 case “carelessness”. Also reaffirms the Liberals/ Nationals won’t support extension on State of Emergency for the remainder of the year. @10NewsFirstMelb #springst pic.twitter.com/RTpGsay7wy
— Simon Love (@SimoLove) February 8, 2021
Updated
For those just joining us, Jonathan Howcroft is on the ground for the first day of the Australian Open.
Looks like the first set of the day has gone to Rebecca Marino.
@MatildaBoseley first set of #AusOpen goes to Rebecca Marino, who serves Australian Kimberly Birrell a bagel. Cloudy, cool and quiet on the outside courts at Melbourne Park. pic.twitter.com/FDBryPKFaQ
— Jonathan Howcroft (@JPHowcroft) February 8, 2021
“Major milestone” reached in the Joint Strike Fighter Program
It’s more of a “milestone” than an “announcement”.
As Matilda mentioned earlier, Scott Morrison has dropped into Williamtown in NSW to note the first F-35A aircraft has been inducted into BAE Systems Australia’s maintenance depot.
The government describes it as the “next major milestone” in the Joint Strike Fighter Program. It also describes the F-35s as “the most advanced, multi-role stealth fighter in the world”.
If you were following the news in December, you might have seen that government announced Australia’s F-35A Lightning II fleet had been cleared to be deployed on operations (it gained the status of “Initial Operational Capability”). Australia has committed to buying 72 F-35A aircraft at a cost of about $16.6bn.
The first of these Lockheed Martin-produced aircraft arrived in Australia in 2018. The government said today that the F-35A fleet was now 33-strong. The deadline for all 72 to be fully operational is 2023, the defence department says, but the project has previously been criticised for cost overruns and technical problems.
“It’s a very successful project so far and we know it will continue on time, on budget, part of our plan to keep Australians safe,” Morrison said on Monday.
The defence minister, Linda Reynolds, said up to four Australian F-35A aircraft were expected to undergo routine maintenance at BAE Systems Australia’s maintenance depot this year. The government is keen to promote this program as a boost for the Hunter economy.
The government also says the facility has been selected as the maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade depot for the south-east Asia region, so it will host Australian F-35A aircraft and, in future, other nations’ F-35 aircraft.
Morrison couldn’t resist a pop culture reference: “And everyone who’s involved in this project is a top gun in my view because it requires all of you to perform at the highest possible standard and to be the very best at what you do.”
Updated
A second person has been arrested over a fatal crash in Townsville on Friday night – an 18-year old man who was allegedly driving the stolen car.
Police say 22-year-old Jennifer Board died at Thuringowa after being hit by a Holden Statesman, which had collided with a stolen Hyundai sedan during a suspected vigilante pursuit, AAP reports.
Officers confirmed an 18-year-old man was arrested in the Townsville suburb of Rasmussen on Monday morning. He expected to be the charged later in the day.
A 17-year-old girl who was allegedly a passenger in the stolen Hyundai has also been charged with five counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and one count of stealing.
Police are still trying to find others who were allegedly in the stolen car.
It is the second such fatal crash involving teenagers in Queensland in less than a month.
Brisbane couple Kate Leadbetter, 31, and her partner Matthew Field, 37, died after being hit by an allegedly stolen four-wheel drive at Alexandra Hills on Australia Day.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with two counts of murder as well as offences relating to dangerous driving while under the influence of an intoxicant, and burglary.
Police are waiting to determine if they will charge the teenager over the death of the couple’s unborn baby boy.
The crash has sparked widespread public debate about reforming Queensland’s youth justice system.
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Looks like Scott Morrison’s alleged “dressing down” of Craig Kelly was more of a negotiation, than any sort of decree. Which I am sure many of you already worked out.
The member for Hughes has in no way been cowed by any of the publicity he received last week and has continued to post about Covid-19 treatments not recommended by Australian health advisors.
Speaking to John Laws this morning on Sydney radio 2SM, Morrison wasn’t keen to speak about his errant backbencher.
“We dealt with that last week, I think that got enough oxygen last week,” he said.
Laws continued, pointing out, as many have, that Kelly is still posting on Facebook.
That’s OK, Morrison said. Because he’s not talking about vaccinations.
“He’s not talking about vaccinations, he’s talking about other treatments, but the chief medical officer’s advice to me is clear and only treatments that are approved should be used,” Morrison said.
So vaccinations are off limits, but posts on unproven, untested, or debunked treatments, not recommended by the CMO are fine, apparently.
Morrison wouldn’t even get into whether social media could be dangerous when it came to misinformation.
Well, they can also be used to help it and [also] pushes the official government sources information out there.
And it is important that people only go to the official government sources of the medical advice regarding these things.
You know, these are people who have responsibility for outcomes. Every man and his dog can have an opinion. But what matters is those who have accountability of those opinions, and that’s the chief medical officer, the secretary of the health department, that’s the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Professor Skerritt.
“These are people who have the trust and responsibility of getting these calls right and that’s why we listen to them.”
Except, as journalists including our own Josh Taylor and Business Insider’s Cameron Wilson have repeatedly pointed out, Kelly’s social media reach is larger than that of the official sources.
And if the prime minister isn’t willing to tell a member of his own backbench to stop undermining health advice, why would anyone listen to the beige and dry official messages?
There is absolutely no doubt that Morrison only spoke to Kelly last week in order to address the politics, once he was seen going toe-to-toe with Tanya Plibersek in the press gallery hallway. The optics became untenable for the PM. It was never about public health.
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PM says Australia will become regional maintenance hub for F-35 jets
The prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking now at RAAF Base Williamtown in NSW.
Reporter Daniel Hurst will explain the ins and out of the announcement soon but essentially there is a new program to allow for better maintenance of F-35 jets at the base. Australia has committed to buying 72 of the jets.
Today’s milestone – for the first time we’re inducting an F-35 – a Lightning fighter – to be maintained and modified right here at BAE Systems Australia Williamtown facility.
Now, this is a huge step ... it’s also an achievement for Australian industry on a global scale. Eventually this facility will maintain all F-35 aircraft in the south-east Asia region.
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Tasmania imposes travel restrictions for NSW hotspots
Tasmania has declared 12 NSW sites high risk after a returned traveller tested positive for Covid-19 after completing two weeks of hotel quarantine.
A cafe at Brighton Le Sands, in southern Sydney, as well as shops, a hotel and a beach in Wollongong are among the locations the person visited last week.
Anyone in Tasmania who has visited those places since 2 February must self-isolate immediately and contact public health officials.
People outside Tasmania who have visited any of the hotspots won’t be allowed into the island state without special exemptions.
Public health director, Mark Veitch, said Tasmania is also monitoring the situation in Victoria after a quarantine worker at a Melbourne airport hotel tested positive on Sunday.
Further clarification on border restrictions is expected later today.
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Anthony Albanese has been asked about the push by the Nationals to have the agriculture industry excluded from any commitments to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
It would be a reasonable if we had a net-zero target by 2050 from this government. We don’t.
And it’s somewhat absurd that the whole world has adopted that target and Scott Morrison hasn’t and then there’s a debate over what might happen within a target that hasn’t been adopted yet. It’s quite absurd.
The fact that Scott Morrison goes to the National Press Club, makes no new announcements, he is always smirk and mirrors when it comes to action on climate change. Australians know that and the National party, of course, are too busy fighting with each other over what they think about these issues.
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Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese has backed the Queensland premier’s call for more help for struggling tourism operators in the far north.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has urged the federal government not to cut jobkeeper payments for tourism operators.
But the call has been ridiculed by some on the opposite side of politics given her willingness to close state borders in response to Covid-19 outbreaks elsewhere.
Albanese has backed the premier, saying the far north’s dependency on international tourists is a compelling case for ongoing support.
There are other parts of the tourism industry that have done OK during the pandemic as Australians have chosen to holiday domestically. Pretty hard to get a hotel on the Sunshine Coast, for example.
But here, in far north Queensland, which is so dependent upon international visitors, it needs support. We know that that’s the case ...
The simplest way is to extend jobkeeper for those sections of industry in those locations that are doing it tough. That would be the simplest and easiest way to provide support. The systems are in place. So you can just continue it on the basis of revenue.
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NSW records no locally acquired cases
The NSW numbers have just come through and officially there are zero locally acquired cases.
This may come as a surprise for some but it seems the recent case is being counted as an overseas acquired case, rather than local.
Here is NSW Health’s statement:
As reported in a Public Health Alert issued last night, NSW Health is carrying out precautionary public health follow-up in relation to a returned overseas traveller who tested positive to COVID-19 on day 16 after being released from hotel quarantine on day 14.
The person from the Wollongong area returned two negative tests during their quarantine period, and the source of the infection is under investigation.
The person did not have any symptoms but underwent testing as part of the recently enhanced day-16 follow-up. As an additional precautionary measure, NSW Health has introduced symptom checking and day-16 COVID-19 tests for overseas travellers who have been released from hotel quarantine.
Test results indicate that the person has a low level of infection and their household contacts have returned negative results to date.
Investigations to date suggest the infection was likely acquired overseas and there is no indication at this stage that there was transmission in the hotel quarantine setting. Close contacts of the case not associated with venues have been identified and are in self-isolation.
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Wild weather warning cancelled for Perth
All right, just earlier I mentioned severe weather warnings for Perth, but it looks as though these have now been revised, although people are being urged to steer clear of swollen creeks and rivers.
Forecast of up to 100 millimetres of rain and strong winds have now been cancelled, but the state’s Fire and Emergency Services Department says some roads may still be dangerous:
Motorists are reminded to obey all road closures and take care when travelling through the area.
Keep away from flooded drains, rivers, streams and waterways.
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Health minister Greg Hunt just spoke to Sydney radio station 2GB, and has downplayed concerns about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
This comes after South Africa suspended its rollout after new data showed that it had minimal effect on mild and moderate cases of the South African Covid-19 variant. Health authorities in the country say the rollout will only be paused temporarily while authorities seek more information.
But Hunt says he isn’t worried, given more promising research coming out of the UK:
I spoke with the UK health secretary in recent days – that’s their health minister equivalent – they’re having very strong results.
In terms of particular variants, particular countries, the world is learning about those with all vaccines.
AstraZeneca is working with developers at Oxford University to try to adapt the vaccine to the South African variant, but the process could take several months.
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A teenage girl who was allegedly a passenger in a stolen car involved in a crash that killed a young motorcyclist near Townsville has been charged, AAP reports.
Police say 22-year-old Jennifer Board died at Thuringowa on Friday night after being hit by a Holden Statesman, which had collided with the stolen Hyundai sedan during a suspected vigilante pursuit.
A 17-year-old girl who was allegedly a passenger in the Hyundai has now been charged with five counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and one count of stealing.
Police are still trying to find the others in the stolen car and have called for anyone with any information to come forward.
Superintendent Glen Pointing said the Holden had been “aggressively” chasing the Hyundai at speed just before the crash and he warned people against vigilante actions:
I very strongly caution against any form of vigilante action.
Oftentimes whilst people may have good intentions it results in unintended consequences, it’s dangerous, and you leave yourself exposed if you take action yourself.
So in very strong terms, I advise people not to take the law into their own hands.
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At least one person isn’t playing it Covid-19 safe on the courts.
@MatildaBoseley nobody’s put a mask on the excellent @rodlaver statue yet. Melbourne, what’s wrong with you!? #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/uhb1cr8UEq
— Jonathan Howcroft (@JPHowcroft) February 7, 2021
A saltwater crocodile that attacked a man in far north Queensland last weekend has been killed by rangers, AAP reports.
The man suffered injuries to his hand after being attacked by the 3.6-metre reptile at Vyces Crossing near the Cape York Peninsula community Weipa last Sunday.
The 22-year-old victim told media he had managed to free his hand from the animal’s jaws by eye-gouging it.
Parks and Wildlife officers found the crocodile about 50 metres upstream from the swimming hole where the attack happened.
They had been planning to relocate the animal but it was in a poor condition, emaciated and missing several teeth, so they made the decision to kill it.
Last week a second, 2.47-metre crocodile was removed from Lake Placid in Cairns after a swimmer was bitten on the head and neck. The man managed to pry the reptile’s jaws off his head and neck before swimming to shore.
That reptile was taken to an approved crocodile farm after it was caught by rangers.
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Gates open for the Australia Open
So in the middle of this concern about the new Melbourne Covid-19 case, we notionally have thousands of people pouring into the Australian Open precinct for the first day of the international tournament.
Crowds have already been reduced due to Covid-19 but Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley said earlier today that the new case (which isn’t associated with any tennis quarantine hotels) would not affect the start of the Open.
Reporter Jonathan Howcroft is on the ground this morning and, by the looks of things, the morning is off to a slow start.
@MatildaBoseley the gates are open for the #AusOpen. Not a mad rush this year. People I spoke to were unconcerned about Covid risk or extra security precautions. pic.twitter.com/laYl9XaY7f
— Jonathan Howcroft (@JPHowcroft) February 7, 2021
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Spectators begin to arrive on day one of the 2021 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
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So coming up we have the prime minster chatting in about an hour and, although there hasn’t been an alert, NSW leaders generally stand up about 11am as well.
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When it comes to hotel quarantine infections here’s why this distinction between “guard” or “cleaner” and “authorised officer” matters.
The majority of transmissions in these hotel outbreaks appear to have occurred in the hallways. In fact, just last week at the Park Royal it seems that UK variant was able to jump from a room containing an infectious family across the hallway to the opposite room, infecting the occupants.
Guards and cleaners spend time in the hallways but authorised officers are much less likely too. They are in charge of the legal side of things, signing off on detention orders when travellers come in and approving the end of their detention when they leave.
From what Lisa Neville said at the Victorian press conference it sounds as though an authorised officer does interact with travellers as they arrive but not at a close distance and not for extended periods of time, as a guard might. This raises some worrying questions about how infectious the virus she picked up truly was.
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The worker had two days off before developing symptoms and testing positive to Covid-19, meaning she visited a number of locations across the city’s north-west.
Health minister Martin Foley says the work of contacting hundreds of potential close contacts has begun:
We have rapidly identified an initial 15 social and household primary close contacts. That number may well fluctuate as the investigation continues over the course of the day and those people are all isolating and have been tested.
As the minister has also touched on, the [hotel quarantine] staff and related group of workers who have been isolated and tested in that location ...
As as QR codes [and] text messages are sent out later today by our public health team to the targeted areas at the exposure sites, primary close contacts numbers will grow and those people will also be required to isolate and to test and to be supported in their 14-day isolation as primary close contacts.
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Lisa Neville has announced some beefed-up safety protocols to help prevent outbreaks among hotel quarantine workers.
I spoke about the review we’re doing into air conditioning. Of course, we’re still pretty confident about the engineering reports that show that there’s no sharing of air between rooms or into common areas, but again we got an occupational physician who’s coming in with the engineering team to have a look to see if there’s anything else with air conditioning or any risk there.
We have implemented the staggering of meal deliveries and other deliveries to individual doors. We have also put in place the face shields with the surgical masks for all staff, some still wear N95s when they’re dealing with infectious people and we have also got the rooms that are buffered.
We’ll also start today the testing of staff on their days off, that will commence from today.
So all these changes are about continuing to make the necessary adjustments to the program as new evidence comes to light, as we see different sorts of transmission occurring in our program.
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No obvious safety breaches led to new Victorian hotel case
OK, Lisa Neville, the minister in charge of the hotel quarantine system, is stepping up the plate and has clarified that the woman who tested positive wasn’t a guard or a cleaner, the roles we have typically seen become infected:
This person is an authorised officer. So an authorised officer doesn’t sit on the floors like our RSOs or our police do in health hotels, but is responsible for issuing the detention notices to people when they arrive from internationally.
Neville said further investigations would be conducted but there were no obvious breaches of safety directions:
It appears that there’s no breach in that engagement in terms of how close they were, in terms of touching things, in terms of not using infection prevention and control. So we will need to wait for genomics ... But at this stage, again, it doesn’t appear to be any breaches of infection prevention control procedures that has – that are shown in their engagement with anyone who was entered or exited the hotel at any point.
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So we are just standing by now for this Victorian press conference where we will learn a bit more about this new Covid-19 case in a hotel quarantine worker.
It’s due to start at 9.30am.
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South Africa suspends AstraZeneca vaccine launch
South Africa has suspended its AstraZeneca vaccination launch after a study showed the drug failed to prevent mild and moderate cases of a virus variant prevalent in the country.
Now, this raises questions for Australia as a huge portion of our national vaccination plan revolves around the production and distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The hard-hit African nation was due to start its campaign in the coming days with a million doses of the vaccine.
But the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, said on Sunday that the vaccine “provides minimal protection against mild-moderate Covid-19 infection” from the South African variant.
None of the 2,000 participants developed serious symptoms, which could mean it will still have an effect on severe illness, although health authorities say not enough data is available yet to make a definitive judgment.
Australia has contracts to purchase and produce enough AstraZeneca vaccine to immunise the entire population, but potentially lower efficacy rates, a lack of data on the vaccine’s effect on older people and now the issue with the South African variant has thrown our strategy into doubt.
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The Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has now backed calls for the federal government to permanently increase jobseeker payments as we rapidly approach the end date of the increased pandemic support program.
Joyce has just spoken on the Sunrise program:
I don’t think anyone can logically say that you can live on $41 or so a day, it’s just not possible. If you’re going to say you’re going to support people when they’re unemployed, then you’ve got to raise it.
Now you might be worried that doesn’t sound like the Joyce we have come to know, but never fear, he course corrects pretty quickly.
Hand in glove with that, there has to be a strengthening of compliance issues. I am sick of hearing stories in my office of 20 people turning up at orchard to pick fruit and that by 9am, 20 of them are gone. Or eight people turning up in an abattoir to tick the box and by 9am they are all gone. Because those people aren’t unemployed, they are lazy ...
You can’t keep them out on the street either but they should go down to food stamps and rent stamps and give them real encouragement so that the next time a reasonable job is offered to you, you will take it because this is your alternative.
For the people who are genuinely unemployed it’s ridiculous the amount of money, it’s just too small, they can’t live on it.
“I don’t think anyone can logically say that you can live on $41 a day, it’s just not possible"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) February 7, 2021
Nationals MP @Barnaby_Joyce is calling on the federal government to permanently increase the JobSeeker welfare payment. pic.twitter.com/V3DpXeFYHt
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Perth kids return to the classroom
It’s still early in the morning in Western Australia but I reckon some Perth parents are already up and about given that it’s finally the first day of school.
Classes are back on after the city’s five-day hard lockdown caused the start of the school year to be delayed for a week.
It won’t be total business as usual, with masks mandatory for all secondary students.
This rule is part of the transition plan for Perth and Peel and a range of restrictions will remain in place until 14 February.
All residents must continue to wear masks while outside their homes except for during vigorous outdoor exercise. There is a 20-person limit on all private indoor gatherings.
WA is also keeping its border restrictions in place for both NSW and Victoria.
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Victoria records one new locally acquired case of Covid
No surprises here. The Victorian health department has just put out its daily Covid-19 numbers and the state has one locally acquired case.
This is the hotel quarantine worker from the Holiday Inn at Melbourne airport who tested positive after developing symptoms while at work on Sunday.
It’s still very early days but safe to say it’s a relief no extra cases have come to light overnight.
Yesterday there was 1 new locally acquired case reported and 0 in hotel quarantine. 11,359 test results were received. Got symptoms? Get tested, #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 7, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/nYpd3NYZW4
(Also, I assume this means my friend who got tested yesterday has got the all clear, which is good news on a personal level.)
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Wild weather warning in place for Perth this morning
Just a few days after the bushfire in Western Australia was finally brought under control, Perth residents are being urged to prepare for severe wet weather as a low-pressure system moves down the coast.
Heavy rain and strong winds are expected to hit Perth, and other areas in the state’s south-west are expected to be hit this morning with up to 100mm of rainfall.
The alert has been issued for Bunbury, Busselton, Collie, Manjimup, Margaret River, Augusta, Dunsborough, Harvey and Walpole.
Flooding from this weather system has already caused extensive damage in the state’s north at the weekend, including to the north-west Coastal Highway. This closure has caused multi-hour detours and the government says it will seek federal disaster relief to help fast-track repairs.
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Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack has said that the government may consider excluding agriculture from the long-debated emissions reduction target of net zero by 2050.
Agriculture minister David Littleproud has just popped up on ABC to talk about this proposition:
I think Australians need to understand that agriculture’s already done the heavy lifting with respect to the meeting in Kyoto and putting us on the trajectory not just to meet but beat Paris.
(By “Paris” he means the global emission reduction treaty known as the Paris agreement because it was devised during a global meeting in Paris.)
As I’ve said, [farmers] have already done the heavy lifting, they should be rewarded not penalised.
We are around 13-14% of emissions. We rely heavily on the transport sectors as well and industry. So how do farmers not be penalised for this, but also be part of the solution? ...
The National party’s made it very clear: until we can be honest with the Australian public about how you reach net zero by 2050, we are signing up to platitudes.
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I mentioned before that in Melbourne the Australia Open is finally set to start (after a rocky three-week lead-up) and Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley says this new hotel quarantine case won’t impact it.
He spoke to ABC News Breakfast just before:
Our processes stay the same. [They have been] designed for these kinds of circumstances all the way along and there’s not anything that we can change.
Obviously, normally, when we come on-site, we’re going to physically distance. Outdoors, there’s no need to wear a mask. When you go inside in the concourse, you wear a mask. And in the stadium with the roof open, there’s no need to wear a mask ...
We’ve had players tested 14, 15 and 16 times, so I think that the safety of the site is going to be assured and our objective is to provide a great experience for our fans.
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NSW lists new Covid hotspots
Here is the exposure site list for NSW. Anyone who attended the following venues at the specified times should “immediately get tested and self-isolate until further advice from NSW Health”:
- Austinmer, Headlands Hotel on Tuesday 2 February between 1pm and 3pm
- Bulli, Bulli Beach Cafe on Saturday 6 February between 1.30pm and 4pm
Now in the next alert level down anyone who visited these venues at the listed time “must get tested immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative result. If any symptoms appear, get tested again”.
Brighton Le Sands, Mootch & Me on Tuesday 2 February between 10.54am and 12pm
North Wollongong, Optus on Thursday 4 February between 1pm and 1.15pm
Fairy Meadow, Officeworks on Thursday 4 February between 3.45pm and 4.05pm AND on Friday 5 February between 3pm and 3.25pm
And finally, you can find a list of venues where attendees have been asked to monitor for symptoms on the NSW Health website.
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Time set for Victoria press conference
We have a time for the press conference in Victoria, although it looks like the top man (Daniel Andrews) might not be making an appearance.
At 9.30am we can expect to see Lisa Neville, the minister in charge of the hotel quarantine system, and Martin Foley, the health minister, step up and tell us everything we need to know about this new quarantine worker who has tested positive.
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Victoria lists new Covid hotspots
So with new Covid-19 cases comes new exposure sites being added. Here are the places of concern in Victoria.
Anyone who has visited these “Tier 1 exposure sites” at the times listed must immediately isolate, get tested, and remain isolated for 14 days, regardless of a negative test result.
- Maidstone, Marciano’s Cakes on 5 February between 9.45am and 10.25am.
- Sunshine, Dan Murphy’s on McIntyre Rd on 5 February between 5.50pm and 6.30pm AND on 6 February between 6.50pm and 7.30pm
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Taylors Lakes, Off Ya Tree Watergardens on 6 February between 1.17pm and 1.52pm
Exposure sites are being identified and will be published as soon as possible at https://t.co/JAVfgxmiDO. Testing capacity near exposure sites will be scaled up from tomorrow, with details to come.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 7, 2021
(3/4)
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A search is continuing off the south-eastern Sydney cost this morning after a number of witnesses reported what appeared to be a baby floating in the water.
Police were called to Yarra Bay in La Perouse about 5pm last night after they received calls saying an object that looked like a baby wrapped in a plastic bag was seen in shallow water.
A number of teams, including the Police Marine Area Command, Polair, NSW Ambulance and several rescue helicopters scoured the area but the search was suspended at 7.45pm due to poor visibility and no further sightings.
The search was due to start again at 7am on Monday.
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Covid-19 cases in Victoria and NSW
Good morning, Matilda Boseley here to bring you all the important news this beautiful Monday morning (although as we shall see, it’s probably more beautiful if you don’t live in Sydney or Melbourne).
If you see anything that you think I should be aware of or should be in the blog send me a message on Twitter on @MatildaBoseley or email me on matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.
So first up, we have some Covid-19 cases:
A hotel quarantine worker at the Holiday Inn near Melbourne airport has tested positive, raising further concerns over whether this system is fit for purpose now the highly contagious Covid variants are spreading around the world.
The woman worked at the hotel on Sunday morning before developing symptoms. She was quickly tested and returned a positive result. This came after testing negative at the end of her shift on Thursday.
Other workers at the hotel and a number of close contacts have been quarantined and a number of exposure site alerts have been issued.
This comes just a few days after a worker at the Grand Hyatt, which housed quarantine tennis players and staff, tested positive for Covid, prompting the reintroduction of a number of restrictions.
Melbourne is set to host the first day of the Australian Open today, so safe to say the stakes are pretty high.
And in NSW authorities have introduced non-compulsory “day 16” testing for overseas travellers after someone tested positive for Covid after the two-week quarantine period.
A health alert has been issued for a Sydney cafe and venues in the Illawarra, including a cafe at Brighton Le Sands in Sydney’s south, a hotel and a beach in Wollongong and the Illawarra – I’ll bring you the full list soon.
NSW Health says anyone who visited the venues around the same time should get tested immediately and self-isolate.
The person tested positive on the 16th day after returning to Australia and returned two negative tests during two weeks in hotel quarantine.
A statement released by NSW Health overnight said the person had a low level of infection:
Investigations to date suggest the infection was likely acquired overseas and there is no indication at this stage that there was transmission in the hotel quarantine setting.
I’ll bring you all the updates on these cases (and coverage of the inevitable press conferences) here this morning, so stick around.
OK, let’s jump into the day.
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