What happened today, Sunday 3 January 2021
We’ll leave it there for now. Thanks for reading today. Before I let you go, here are the headlines:
- NSW recorded eight new local cases as concerns grow about an outbreak in Berala linked to a BWS bottleshop.
- NSW authorities warned that from tomorrow police will begin to hand out fines for people who flout mandatory mask rules in greater Sydney.
- Victoria recorded three new cases, all linked to an outbreak at a Thai restaurant in Black Rock. Authorities there are pleading with Victorians to be patient amid massive queues at testing stations yesterday.
- They also revealed 60,000 people had rushed over the border from NSW before it closed. About 1,500 exemptions have been applied for so far since the border was shut. Victoria’s state of emergency was also extended.
- Queensland imposed new restrictions on people from Victoria, preventing them from vulnerable facilities, including aged care facilities, hospitals, disability accommodation and correctional facilities. However, officials said there was no need to extend border restrictions to Victorians at this stage.
- South Australia recorded its second case of the virulent UK Covid strain.
With that, we’ll say goodbye for today. See you tomorrow.
Labor’s health spokesperson, Chris Bowen, has renewed claims the Morrision government is acting too slowly to roll out Covid-19 vaccines, while insisting the opposition’s stance still hinges on approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
In December the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, called for a faster, larger rollout of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in Australia, saying if it was approved by the TGA in January the jabs should begin urgently.
The recent toughening of state border restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the Australian community - and emergency rollouts of vaccines in the UK and US - have prompted some calls for the Australian government to act more quickly.
For now, the government is sticking to March as the start date for the rollout in Australia, with Scott Morrison declaring last Friday that “public health is our number one priority on the vaccine” and “there will be no short cuts”. The prime minister argued that approval standards must be upheld to ensure public confidence in the vaccine – something that was crucial to ensuring the uptake was as high as possible.
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Bowen rejected the notion Labor’s position could undermine public confidence in the vaccine as “a complete furphy by the government to try and provide a distraction from their slow rollout”.
“Labor has been crystal clear, and I say it again today: we support the independence of the TGA. We are not calling on the TGA to do anything more quickly than they otherwise feel inclined to do. We are not calling for an emergency authorisation. What we are saying is that as soon as the TGA has approved the Pfizer vaccine as being safe and effective, it should be rolled out. There is nothing there which undermines public confidence - it will only be rolled out when it has the tick of approval from the TGA, not a day before.”
At the moment, Bowen said, Australians were relying on the Pfizer vaccine, but “that won’t be out [in Australia] until March and we only have 10 million doses”.
Updated
An Australian ex-Muslim women’s rights activist faces “politically motivated” charges in Tanzania, including for a tweet allegedly critical of the country’s president, according to her supporters.
The Australian government is providing consular assistance to Zara Kay, 28, the founder of Faithless Hijabi, a group set up two years ago to support women who are ostracised or face violence if they leave or question Islam.
Kay tweeted on 28 December she was “going into the police station because someone reported me in for blasphemy” and a few days later told her supporters she was out on bail but “still quite traumatised from everything”.
“Please don’t stop fighting for me,” she wrote. “They can try shaking me, but they won’t break me.”
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Sunday it was “providing consular assistance to an Australian in Tanzania”. But a spokesperson said Dfat would not provide further comment “owing to our privacy obligations”.
The case was first reported by the ABC on Sunday.
The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims issued a statement saying Kay had been held in police custody for 32 hours from 28 December “without an initial clear indication of charges” and had her passport confiscated.
It said she would be required to return to the police station in Dar es Salaam, the administrative capital, on Tuesday.
Victoria's state of emergency extended
Victoria has extended its state of emergency until 29 January.
The Department of Health and Human Services said the decision was taken because the “remains a serious risk to public health”.
It said in a statement:
The Chief Health Officer has made the recommendation to the Minister for Health, who has consulted with the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and the Commissioner for Emergency Services, who have all approved the extension based the advice from the Chief Health Officer.
The state of emergency was due to expire at midnight. It must now be reviewed every four weeks.
According to Justice Connect, the state of emergency gives the chief health officer broad powers to impose the public health directions that have been in place during the pandemic.
This includes detaining people, restricting movement, preventing entry to premises or providing any other directions considered reasonable to protect public health, slow the spread of infection, reduce the pressure on the health system and minimise the risks of Covid-19.
MEDIA RELEASE: From 1am Monday 4 January, anyone who has been in Victoria on or since 21 December will be restricted from entering vulnerable facilities, including aged care facilities, hospitals, disability accommodation and correctional facilities.https://t.co/xd8p24VvdZ
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) January 3, 2021
Some more details on that cyclone warning from AAP.
A severe weather warning has been issued for far north Queensland as a tropical cyclone is expected to develop in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
A tropical low is expected to intensify becoming a tropical cyclone on Sunday, according to a warning issued by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Meteorologist Matt Marshall said gale force winds, abnormally high tides and large waves, as well as heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding were expected from Mornington Island to Poormpuraaw.
The system is forecast to move towards the east-southeast, stalling over the Cape York Peninsula before moving towards the north tropical coast.
“The system’s going to move over to land and it’s going to weaken as it does so, but it’s going to hang around and bring some significantly heavy rainfall to the north tropical coast,” Marshall added.
A severe weather warning has been also issued for heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding over the next few days from Cooktown to Ingham as well as inland parts of the Cape York Peninsula.
The heavy rain is expected to continue on Monday and into Tuesday.
“Isolated falls of a few hundred millimetres are possible on each day in coastal areas,” Marshall said.
Severe thunderstorms are also expected across northern Queensland and the south-eastern interior on Sunday.
The developing Tropical Low in the Gulf of Carpentaria is expected to reach category 1 cyclone intensity later today, making landfall tonight. After landfall the winds will weaken, but heavy rain will continue as the system moves over #FNQ. Warnings: https://t.co/85sUctvnDM pic.twitter.com/aLsjKknaX8
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 3, 2021
Wearing a mask helps protect our community from the spread of COVID-19. It’s important masks are worn safely and correctly. Watch this video to learn how.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 3, 2021
Thank you for playing your part in helping stop of the spread of COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/HDXVNbI6fx
Young says she believes the fourth Test between Australia and India can go ahead at the Gabba.
“I think the cricket match can go ahead with the proposal that Cricket Australia has put to us, and with the protocols that we have in place,” she says.
“I’ve got no concern about the match going ahead, as we’ve been working through the details that [Cricket Australia] has put forward.”
Young says Queensland Health has “almost completed” protocols that the teams will be required to adhere to. She says it will then be up to Cricket Australia to decide if it is happy with those rules.
Young says that under the proposed plan there would be a “cricket hotel”. “No one can leave that hotel” other than to train or play, she says.
No need to extend border restrictions, Queensland says
Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, says authorities will review restrictions in place for people from greater Sydney in about a week’s time. But she says things are starting to improve in NSW.
On Victoria, she says there has also been “some reassuring information”. She says it’s “very good news” that all cases from the Thai restaurant in Black Rock are “all closely linked”.
She says at this stage there is no need to extend the current border restrictions to Victoria. But things could change quickly.
Anyone travelling in Victoria should keep a close eye on the situation and be prepared to come back to Queensland quickly.
Updated
The ABC is reporting that an Australian human rights campaigner has been arrested and charged in Tanzania, the country of her birth.
It says the supporters of Zara Kay say she was summoned to a police station in the city of Dar es Salaam on 28 December then held in custody for 32 hours.
The broadcaster reports that Kay founded Faithless Hijabi, an organisation that supports women who have been ostracised or abused for leaving Islam.
Updated
Queensland authorities are scheduled to provide a Covid-19 update in about 20 minutes.
Police records provided to a parliamentary committee in South Australia show 99 breaches by private security guards working in the state’s medi-hotel system.
The Labor opposition has branded that “unacceptable”.
The State Opposition says 99 breaches by medi-hotel private security guards is “unacceptable”.
— Kate Lambe (@katelambe_) January 2, 2021
There were:
5x breaches resulting in instant dismissal a including a guard smelling of alcohol
35x PPE Breaches
30x using mobile phone on duty
22x sleeping on duty@9NewsAdel pic.twitter.com/wcP6eZun31
A bar and bottle shop in Melbourne’s south-east says one of its staff members has tested positive for Covid-19.
Moorabbin’s Grape & Grain said in a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon that it would not open due to the confirmed case:
Sadly we will not be opening today as our team member has returned a positive test.
I thought it best to get on the front foot and inform you of the details as I am yet to hear from the [DHHS]. The only shift he worked in the past 10 days was Tuesday 29th from 12-4.
If you were in the store at that time, please monitor for symptoms. The good news is the first results coming back from other team members are negative and our infected staff member and family are showing no symptoms. Please take care out there and hope to see you soon.
Updated
Hotel quarantine case reported in WA
WA’s Department of Health reports one new Covid-19 infection overnight – a man in his 30s in hotel quarantine.
Updated
Just looping back to Greg Hunt’s press conference earlier. This is what he had to say about the Victoria’s hard border measures:
I think the important thing and we’re beginning to see this from Victoria, is that a pathway is found to help bring people home to Victoria. There are no domestic passports in Australia and that’s one of the features of this country and it’s one of the great hallmarks of who we are in terms of being a single, united Australia. We recognise that there have to be proportionate responses but they have to be compassionate. And I am confident that Victoria is working on ways to help bring their citizens home in a Covid-safe way as soon as possible.
Updated
Readers will remember the federal government was highly critical of the Victorian government amid the second wave last year, including its contract tracing capacity.
Asked today whether he had confidence the Victorian government could get the current cases under control, the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, said: “I do have confidence in the Victorian government and the response.”
Hunt said there had been a huge increase in testing numbers in Victoria but contact tracers were dealing with human uncertainty, because people had to reconstruct all of the places they had been.
“Our view, our belief is that Victoria is far better placed now … The systems are dramatically improved.”
I asked whether he thought the NSW government had been too slow to introduce its mask mandate.
Hunt essentially backed the NSW response, saying he had received advice that the cases in NSW could potentially have led to outbreaks on a vastly greater scale than Victoria’s second wave but for speed of the response and the contact tracing.
He said NSW had been responding to its circumstances but even before the mandate it had been encouraging people to wear masks.
“I think both NSW and Victoria are responding and responding well,” he said.
Updated
No new cases in Queensland
Another Covid-free day in Queensland.
Coronavirus (#COVID19) case update 03/01.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) January 3, 2021
Detailed information about COVID-19 cases in Queensland can be found here: https://t.co/kapyXpSIAP pic.twitter.com/Puu40LY1mb
Updated
What has happened so far today
Thanks to Graham for his work this morning. This is Luke Henriques-Gomes and I’ll be with you for the afternoon.
I hope you’re having a relaxing Sunday.
Here are the headlines today:
- NSW recorded eight new local cases as concerns grow about an outbreak in Berala linked to a BWS bottleshop.
- NSW authorities have warned that from tomorrow police will begin to hand out fines for people who flout mandatory mask rules in greater Sydney.
- Victoria recorded three new cases, all linked to an outbreak at a Thai restaurant in Black Rock. Authorities there are pleading with Victorians to be patient amid massive queues at testing stations yesterday.
- They revealed 60,000 people had rushed over the border from NSW before it closed. About 1,500 exemptions have been applied for so far since the border was shut.
- South Australia recorded its second case of the virulent UK Covid strain.
Updated
I’m going to handover blogging duties for the rest of the day to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes.
Thanks for being with us so far.
Graham Readfearn signing off. Wash your hands and don’t touch your face.
Police recover bodies of two women swept beneath waters of a whirlpool
What sounds like a tragic story is emerging from a canyon in the Blue Mountains of NSW.
The bodies of two women swept into a whirlpool were recovered by police divers about 90 minutes ago.
NSW police say one of the bodies is that of a 39-year-old serving police officer who, according to witnesses, had tried to rescue a 24-year-old woman.
A police statement says the younger woman, thought to be an international student living in Sydney’s inner west, was tipped off an inflatable after it was swept into the whirlpool at Wollangambe Canyon about 2.30pm on Saturday.
The 39-year-old officer, Senior Constable Kelly Foster, tried to rescue the woman but was also swept into the waters. The body of the younger woman is yet to be formally identified, police said, adding that the family and friends of both women have requested privacy at this time.
You can read our full report here:
Police provided a picture of Senior Constable Foster.
Updated
For NSW coronavirus contact tracers, a bottle shop in Western Sydney is the focus of intense efforts.
The state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, says there are 13 cases now linked to the Berala BWS on Woodburn Road – five of them reported in the past 24 hours.
Chant revealed this morning that genomic testing showed the cases were linked to a patient transport driver.
She said the theory was that driver caught the virus from an overseas family they were driving to a medical facility. That driver passed it on to a colleague, who then went to the BWS. She couldn’t say though if that person was “patient zero”.
Now about 2,000 people have been contacted and asked to isolate and get tested. Chant said earlier:
We know that there were many – I think there was an estimate of about 1,000 customers that were served on New Year’s Eve – sorry, Christmas eve, that gives you an idea of the volume of people that – and that may have been a peak trading time.
Here’s a picture of the BWS, which looks like all the other BWSs I’ve seen.
Updated
Addressing reporters in Melbourne, health minister Greg Hunt said he wanted to communicate a level of “perspective and hope and optimism about what Australia is achieving the middle of a global pandemic”.
The health minister cited large cases numbers around the rest of the world and contrasted that to the fact he had been advised there were now no Australians with Covid-19 on ventilators.
There were, he said, “incredibly important indicators of our national progress”. Hunt said given the number of cases around the world, it was inevitable there would be moments of transmission.
Australia’s first line of defence was its international quarantine arrangements, he said:
We are winning but we have not won.
Hunt has spoken to the head of the Victorian aged care response centre. He said 218 aged care facilities in the state had been tested or were being tested for Covid cases.
At this stage, he said, there had been no positive cases recorded at those aged care facilities. Further facilities would be tested over the course of this week.
Updated
The health minister, Greg Hunt, is addressing the media after speaking to chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly.
Hunt reported that Kelly was “heartened” by the level of testing (about 51,000 tests across the country in the last 24 hours) – and also by the results.
The three new cases in Victoria and eight in NSW reported today were “all known and linked to clusters”. Hunt says his message to Australians is as follows:
Although the times are challenging, when we look around the world and we look at the extraordinary results of in the new year in the holiday break testing on a major scale, [we have] results that see significant containment both in NSW and Victoria, to use the advice of the chief medical officer.
Updated
My colleague Daniel Hurst has a story about some new government medical funding for coronavirus research that’s just been announced, including a plan to test 3D-printed face guards.
Updated
There are more queues of people getting tested for coronavirus, this time in Queensland.
Hospitals in the state’s south-east are seeing long lines of people waiting for hours.
My husband and kids at the Gold Coast Hospital waiting for tests just told the wait will be 7 hours @qldhealthnews pic.twitter.com/pPukasuiRe
— Madeleine Morris (@Mad_Morris) January 3, 2021
Just the first section of people waiting at the Prince Charles Hospital fever clinic in Brisbane after Qld Health request to get tested if you’ve been in Melbourne. Queue winds around behind me. Probably about 100 people waiting at the moment. It opens in 45 minutes. pic.twitter.com/IE1CEZ1Z89
— Melissa Brown (@MelissaBrownABC) January 2, 2021
The COVID-testing queues outside the Royal Brisbane Hospital snake outside the grounds and around the block again. Can't say Victorian visitors aren't taking advice seriously!
— Jen Dudley-Nicholson (@jendudley) January 3, 2021
Updated
South Australia confirms second case of virulent UK Covid-19 strain
South Australia’s chief public health officer, Prof Nicola Spurrier, is now holding a media conference.
There are no new cases for the state but she says genomic testing has revealed a traveller from the UK had the more transmissible variant of coronavirus. That’s a second case of the new variant confirmed in the state, Spurrier says.
She wants South Australians to rethink any planned travel to Victoria but there are no changes to the state’s border at the moment.
She seems happy with the way the state is identifying the cases.
Updated
The NSW acting premier, John Barilaro, has just said anyone from the area around the Berala cluster and “the broader Cumberland area” should rethink going to the cricket test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
He hinted that NSW Health and the government may have more to say in the next day or so on that.
Updated
Genomic testing links bottle shop cluster to patient transport driver
The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has just revealed that genomic testing shows the coronavirus cases from the Berala BWS are linked to the previous case of a patient transport driver.
She says a family had come from overseas and were being transported to a health facility. The patient transport driver of that family picked up the virus, passed it on to a colleague “and that person had been at the BWS in Berala” on 20 December:
That’s our current best available information.
Chant says the virus was spread despite a brief encounter in the bottle shop.
More than 2,000 people have been contacted in relation to the BWS case, she says, and are being asked to self-isolate and get tested.
There are now 13 people who have caught the virus from that cluster.
Updated
Here’s some more information on the eight new cases reported in NSW.
Five of them are linked to the growing cluster associated with a Western Sydney BWS bottle shop on Woodburn Road in Berala. There are now 13 cases associated with that cluster.
Two of the new cases are linked to Avalon cluster and one is a contact of a previously reported case from Wollongong.
NSW records eight locally acquired coronavirus cases
NSW has recorded eight new cases of locally acquired coronavirus and three cases in returned travellers in hotel quarantine. The NSW government is giving a press conference now.
Updated
We’re still going with the press conference in Victoria, where a lot of questions from reporters have been pressing the government on its capacity to test all the people who returned to the state.
All those returned people – and there were about 60,000 of them – have been asked to get a test.
The acting premier, Jacinta Allan, says more staff are being added to the ranks, and some have returned from holidays:
Yes it has been a challenge over a holiday period, a holiday weekend, after a year where we wanted to make sure that our hard-working health workers had the chance to have a bit of a break.
We have called so many of them back and we thank them for coming back from their leave to assist over this weekend and yesterday, today, tomorrow there is additional capacity being added to our testing sites across the state.
Updated
60,000 Victorians rushed to beat new year border closures
Victoria’s Covid response commander, Jeroen Weimar, says about 60,000 Victorians made the rush back home from NSW to beat the border new year border closure.
The Victorian government sent a text message to them on Saturday night telling them what they needed to do next, based on the information they had given to get the permit to get home.
Recently returned from NSW into Victoria? You’ll shortly receive an SMS alert that contains info about what you need to do to get tested and isolate.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 2, 2021
More info is here: https://t.co/p4J9UJxONZ
(1/3) pic.twitter.com/fdEXPj49CM
Updated
Some more from Victoria about that cluster around the Smile Buffalo Thai cafe in the bayside suburb of Black Rock in Melbourne.
The deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng says there are are 21 cases linked to the cafe or from family gatherings of people linked to the cafe:
As yet, we haven’t found the source, but we are looking at several lines of investigation, including one person that had been in Sydney, but outside the northern beaches area.
He has given an insight into the contact tracing interview process. One interview took more than five hours and revealed more than 200 close contacts.
He also said authorities now had a “long list” of potential exposure sites.
Updated
Victoria’s health authorities are talking now about the importance of testing and asking people to bear with the long queues.
Jacinta Allan says:
Saturday was a very, very busy testing day across our testing centres across the state. I want to acknowledge upfront that people did have some long waits for their tests, and we want to thank people for their patience.
It does show that Victorians are understanding the real importance of going and getting tested, wether they are returned travellers, wether they’ve got any symptoms, it is a really great response for the Victorian community.
Jeroen Weimar, Victoria’s Covid response commander, is saying there are 8,000 more results from Saturday Covid-19 tests he’s expecting to get today. He’s asking people to persevere despite the queues.
It’s important we do everything we can to identify any possible sources of transmission elsewhere in the state and therefore the testing effort that everyone is putting in, the efforts of thousands of people coming forward to get tested every single day is incredibly important so that we make sure we can flush this out once and for all. Once we get it up expected zero, we will be in far better place.
Updated
Victoria’s acting premier, Jacinta Allan, is speaking now.
She says the three new locally acquired cases are all linked to the cluster associated with the Black Rock Thai restaurant.
Updated
We’re waiting for a live press conference from the Victorian government to get under way. Any minute. We’ll hear from the acting premier, Jacinta Allan.
Updated
US President-elect Joe Biden has clearly heard of this morning’s new mask rules in greater Sydney and has sent out a message.
Mask up, folks.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 2, 2021
Updated
People in greater Sydney have to wear masks in most places indoors from today.
There’s a $200 fine if people don’t follow those rules but the government has said the fines won’t come into force until tomorrow.
Kids under 12 aren’t included in the rule but health authorities are encouraging those smaller people to still wear masks where they can.
Victorians know a bit about face masks. For more than three months last year Victoria had a mandatory face mask rule.
In greater Sydney, here’s the situations where people will have to wear masks:
- shopping (retail, supermarkets and shopping centres)
- public/shared transport, indoor entertainment (including cinemas and theatres)
- places of worship
- hair and beauty premises
- Staff in hospitality venues and casinos and patrons using gaming services.
Here’s a bit of a “how to” guide for mask wearing.
Australian health advice on face masks shifted back in July 2020.
Essentially, they slow the spread of the virus by reducing the amount of respiratory droplets getting out of our nose and mouths and into the air and landing on surfaces.
They also reduce the risk of the wearer breathing those droplets in.
Updated
Victoria records three new coronavirus cases
Victoria has recorded three new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the 24 hours up to midnight last night.
Some 22,477 tests results were received over the same period. We’ll have more details on these cases when we get them.
Yesterday there were 3 new local cases reported. 22,477 test results we received - thanks to all who were tested, #EveryTestHelps us #StaySafeStayOpen.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 2, 2021
More information coming later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv
#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/EjaLedIMeD
Updated
Here’s some more detail on that western Sydney bottle shop in Berala.
Last night NSW Health said anyone who had been to the BWS store on Woodburn Road between certain times on nine different days from 22 December to 31 December was considered a close contact.
That means a lot of people will now have to get tested and then self-isolate for 14 days. Authorities say they’ve increased capacity at testing clinics in the area to cope with demand.
You have to hope those testing clinics will be busy today.
@NSWHealth has revised its advice for a western Sydney liquor store visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/y8kp55KNsc
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 2, 2021
Updated
You can also follow our global live coronavirus blog, with news of the latest cases numbers, vaccination efforts and other news (like the Italian nurse who used his PPE to propose to his girlfriend).
Happy Sunday morning. Graham Readfearn here, taking you through the first chunk of our live coverage for the day.
Today delivers some changes for people in greater Sydney. People now have to wear a mask indoors in most places, with $200 fines coming in from tomorrow if they don’t.
Masks are shown to slow the virus spread by reducing respiratory droplets from spreading and being breathed in – protecting the wearer and the people around them.
Folk in the southern part of Sydney’s northern beaches are out of their home lockdowns and going to nice places, including cafes (where they’ll need to wear a mask).
Later this morning we’ll be getting updates from health authorities in New South Wales and Victoria about any new coronavirus cases and those growing lists of exposure sites.
Last night NSW Health added a list of times to the Berala BWS bottle shop when people with the virus visited between 22 December and 31 December.
Here are the main developments from yesterday:
- NSW recorded seven new Covid-19 cases and Victoria recorded 12.
- Genomic analysis linked the Victoria outbreak to the NSW outbreak.
- Queensland confirmed one new case but didn’t change any of its border restrictions.
- Tasmania closed its borders to people who had visited a list of nine hotspots in Victoria.
We’ve summarised border restrictions and keep a list of hotspots that we update as things change.
Let’s go.
Updated
