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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Luke Henriques-Gomes (now) and Royce Kurmelovs (earlier)

NSW reports 210 cases as protesters a no-show; Queensland announces snap lockdown – as it happened

NSW police check vehicles on the M4 motorway heading towards the Sydney city centre
NSW police check vehicles on the M4 motorway heading towards the Sydney CBD. Police
set up an exclusion zone and threatened fines of up to $100,000 a person for attending a Covid anti-lockdown protest. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

What happened today, Saturday 31 July 2021

We’ll leave it there for today.

But before we leave you, here are the main developments of the day.

  • Eleven local government areas in south-east Queensland entered a snap three-day lockdown from 4pm, after six new cases were recorded. Authorities were bracing for an “enormous number” of exposure sites, and said the lockdown would be the state’s “strictest” of the pandemic.
  • New South Wales recorded 210 new cases, as the Sydney continues to reel from the current outbreak. Authorities are particularly worried the virus is spreading among the young, with two-thirds of the new cases in people under 40. In better news, a planned anti-lockdown protest in Sydney did not materialise, amid a massive police presence in the area.
  • Victoria recorded two new cases. The state government has decided to increase the time between Pfizer doses from three to six weeks, in an effort to boost the number of first doses administered.
  • The new lockdown in Queensland threw sporting competitions into chaos, with the AFL, NRL and Super Netball forced to cancel fixtures this weekend.
  • The lockdown in Queensland prompted border closures, with Tasmania shutting to people from south-east Queensland and 11,000 people who have entered the state required to self-isolate. Victoria also signalled it was likely to update border rules.
  • Labor leader Anthony Albanese backed the vaccination targets endorsed by national cabinet and unveiled by Scott Morrison last night.

We’ll see you tomorrow. If you’re under lockdown, please stay safe. We’re all thinking of you.

Bye for now.

Updated

Queensland visitors to Tasmania ordered to isolate

Tasmania’s premier, Peter Gutwein, has been a providing a Covid-19 update this afternoon.

The state has closed its borders to south-east Queensland. About 11,000 people who entered the state from Queensland will need to self-isolate.

Updated

Here’s is my colleague Royce Kurmelovs’ wrap of the Sydney press conference today:

Updated

Matches in both the AFL and NRL have been postponed as south-east Queensland prepares to enter a snap three-day Covid lockdown, reports AAP.

The Super Netball competition, relocated entirely to south-east Queensland for its remaining rounds, is also facing problems, with three games scheduled for Monday and Tuesday that will have to be rescheduled.

Saturday’s AFL games between Gold Coast and Melbourne and Essendon’s clash with Sydney at the Gabba have been deferred, along with Sunday’s game between GWS and Port Adelaide at Metricon Stadium.

The NRL will reschedule St George Illawarra’s clash with South Sydney that was to have been played in Rockhampton on Saturday at 3pm but is yet to make a call on the remainder of its fixtures this weekend, including Saturday’s double-header at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

Sunday’s AFL clash between Hawthorn and Brisbane in Launceston will go ahead as scheduled with the Lions having flown out of Queensland on Saturday before the lockdown.

The NRL’s hopes of keeping round 20 alive look slim, however, with Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, adamant there would be no sporting events in the 11 affected local government areas during the lockdown.

“No community sport, no professional sport, nothing for the next three days,” Young said.

In response to the lockdown decision, the NRL has placed all 16 clubs on level-four biosecurity protocols with players to return to team hotels and stay there until further notice.

Options include moving matches to Townsville and other regional areas, provided the teams have not been based in the Brisbane hub.

Matches could also be moved interstate if their borders are open to Queensland, with the ACT shaping as a potential option.

Updated

No new cases have been recorded in South Australia today.

Police block Sydney anti-lockdown protest

Anti-lockdown protests planned in Sydney on Saturday have so far failed to materialise, with police confident that a city-wide crackdown on movement and checkpoints entering the city prevented a repeat of the lockdown-violating mass gatherings seen last weekend.

As NSW health authorities announced 210 new cases in the Delta outbreak on Saturday morning, the deputy police commissioner Mick Willing set the scene for an operation involving mounted police, helicopters, harsh fines and an exclusion zone to keep potential protesters from gathering where planned.

Taxi and rideshare companies were banned from taking passengers into Sydney’s central business district between 9am and 3pm, with fines of up to $500,000 for businesses and $100,000 for individuals who failed to comply.

Police check cars heading into the city
Police check cars heading into the city on Saturday during the operation to block the anti-lockdown protest in the CBD. Photograph: Jane Wardell/Reuters

There were 1,000 police officers across the city, aided by 300 defence force personnel, who set up roadblocks on key roads across the city, with the exclusion zone stretching from the Bradfield Highway at Milsons Point, north of the Harbour Bridge, to the City West Link at Lilyfield, to South Dowling Street near Todman Avenue at Zetland, and east to New South Head Road near Ocean Avenue at Edgecliff. The Harbour tunnel was also closed.

Police were also stopping cars at Prince Highway and Sydney Park Road trying to enter the city via Newtown, and checking if there were more than two passengers in a car and if they were more than 10km from their home. Similar checks were conducted on Oxford Street in Paddington.

Mounted police also gathered in Hyde Park in case some protesters entered the city centre.

But a police spokesperson told Guardian Australia the operation on key roads appeared to have prevented a mass gathering.

Minutes before the exclusion zone ended at 3pm, the spokesperson said police were considering the operation a success, and had reports of only isolated incidents.

Police conduct roadside checks on drivers heading onto the Anzac Bridge
Police conduct roadside checks around Pyrmont on drivers heading on to the Anzac Bridge leading to the city centre. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Earlier, groups on Telegram that coordinated the thousands-strong gathering last Saturday were urging followers not to attend today’s event, warning it “lacks an established ground team and has been given insufficient promotional time and effort”.

The organisers instead called on followers to gather for a protest scheduled for late in August.

A handful of members of the Telegram channels used to organise protests sent pictures of police checkpoints on roads and in Hyde Park, warning others not to join. Others warned the event would be a “media trap”.

Updated

Michael Kidd also provided more data on the vaccine rollout:

Good news today: 40% of people aged 16 years and above in Australia – 40.5% to be exact – have now received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. This is a significant milestone in our response to Covid-19; 18.7% of people aged 16 and above have now had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and are fully protected.

More than a 200,000 doses of vaccine have been administered over each of the past three days. Over the past five days, 990,000 doses of vaccines have been administered.

Updated

Responding to the case numbers in Sydney, Kidd says authorities are “very concerned” about the outbreak.

He says of particular concern is the number of people who’ve been in the community while infectious.

Updated

Michael Kidd says the federal government will provide support to the Queensland government, including provision of personal protective equipment from the national medical stockpile and assistance with staffing in aged care settings.

He says Queensland has requested assistance with contact tracing.

Queenslanders in affected areas will also have access to the federal government’s disaster payments if they lose work due to the lockdown.

Updated

Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, Michael Kidd, has started a press conference in Canberra.

He notes that south-east Queensland will enter a lockdown at 4pm. He says the outbreak announced today is “concerning”:

I remind members of the public of the increased risk of the highly transmissible Delta variant. I request that you follow the directions of the Queensland government, due to the increased risk posed by the Delta variant, the unknown source of acquisition for the initial case, and ... cases having been infectious in the community providing opportunities for further onward transmission.

Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd says the Queensland lockdown is ‘concerning’. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian


Updated

Coalition MP George Christensen has criticised the lockdown announced in south-east Queensland, posting to Facebook that the measures do not “destroy viruses”:

Last week Scott Morrison sought to defend Christensen for anti-lockdown activism in Queensland, stating Australians have “free speech” and can attend rallies where public health orders allow, while condemning rally goers in Sydney as “selfish”.

In addition to attending a lawful rally in Mackay, Christensen has appeared to endorse the rally in locked-down Melbourne, arguing on social media that civil disobedience was “moral” and “the only response to laws that restrict freedom”.

Updated

Albanese backs vaccination targets but criticises delay

Anthony Albanese has told a press conference he supports the vaccination targets agreed by national cabinet and unveiled by the prime minister yesterday.

Asked if the thresholds of 70% and 80% vaccination for Australia to move beyond the “suppression” phase were “too high”, the Labor leader said:

I’ve said that we should listen to the experts. In this case, the government, that took them 18 months to do a report from the Doherty Institute. But now that it’s there, then we should listen to those experts. And the whole way along, I’ve said we shouldn’t second guess people. The Doherty Institute was tasked with that job. I’m amazed it’s taken 18 months to come up with a figure of 70%, and then 80%, for further opening up.

Albanese also backed calls for people in Sydney who are to get the AstraZeneca to do so as soon as possible.

He said he would “certainly hope” Australia could reach the 70% vaccination coverage target by the end of the year. Scott Morrison has said it is “entirely possible.”

But Albanese said vaccine supply remained an issue.

The problem is there hasn’t been enough supply. People have been trying to get vaccinated. I’ve said a number of times, and it’s still the case, that there are people in my electorate who will log on, try to get vaccinated, try and make an appointment and can’t. That’s not good enough.

Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese says Australia’s supply of Covid vaccines remains a problem.
 Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

My colleague Anne Davies tells me a police helicopter has been flying overhead, telling people not to linger at Gordons Bay, and saying police on foot are on their way to inspect.

Updated

Police in Sydney appear to have set up checkpoints on the highways.

This is at Artarmon, in Sydney’s north, on the highway heading into the CBD.

Updated

Asked to address hesitancy about the AstraZeneca vaccine, Scott Morrison said in the same interview:

First of all, if you get the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the safe and effective vaccine that has been vaccinating the whole world and saving millions of lives, you’re less likely to get it [Covid]. You’re less likely to pass it on to someone, particularly someone who’s very vulnerable, like an elderly relative or someone like that. You’re less likely to get a serious disease and end up in hospital on a respirator. I was talking to a woman just the other day who had that terrible experience and she just said to me how awful it was and how fearful she was. And you’re less likely to die.

The PM also linked the vaccine to “getting us back to normal”:

The next thing I’d say is that by getting vaccinated, you’re getting a step closer every single day to getting us back to about as normal as you can be when you’re living with Covid-19. So people can go and visit their ... relatives in aged care, that we can get back to stadiums, that we can get back to live entertainment and all of these sorts of things, that people can travel overseas and return, that we can get more of our people who are overseas. And we’ve had to reduce the number of people who can come into the country at the moment because of the Delta variant. It is a big national program.

It’s great for you personally, your own personal health, but the sooner we do this, the sooner we’re able to get into that phase of life where we all want to get to. So everybody wins from you getting vaccinated. But you, most important of all.

Updated

The prime minister appeared this morning on 2GB, where he said it was “entirely possible” Australia could hit the 70% vaccination rate by Christmas.

Scott Morrison last night unveiled new vaccination targets that will dictate when Australia moves out of the “suppression” phase of the pandemic, therefore reducing the need for lockdowns and other measures.

Asked by Chris Smith if we could hit 70% by Christmas, Morrison said:

I believe that’s entirely possible. There’ll be enough vaccines. There’ll be enough pharmacies, enough GPs, enough clinics, enough of all of that to achieve that. So it’s all up to all of us now.

The government has been reluctant to set dates as targets after failing to hit those set out in the initial vaccine rollout plan.

Updated

The Department of Defence has issued a statement about its deployment to Sydney to help police with the ongoing outbreak. Up to 300 defence personnel will be deployed from today.

Brigadier Michael Garraway said:

Defence members will commence deploying today to undertake training over the weekend and start working under the direction of NSW police.

Our tasks will include assisting NSW police with conducting isolation and welfare checks, supporting NSW police presence patrols, transportation support and logistics assistance.

This will be in addition to approximately 250 Australian defence force personnel who are already supporting state authorities in New South Wales, with tasks such as quarantine compliance management at hotels and airports.

ADF officers have no power to enforce health orders and are not authorised as law enforcement officers, the statement noted.

Updated

Hi everyone. This is Luke Henriques-Gomes, steering you through your Saturday afternoon. Thanks to Royce for his great work this morning.

If you want to get in touch, you can send me an email at luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or I’m on Twitter @lukehgomes.

With that, let’s get going.

Updated

All right! That’s it from me this morning. I’m going to hand over now to Luke Henriques-Gomes, who’ll take it from here.

Updated

As Queensland announced it would be entering a snap lockdown, prime minister Scott Morrison has been spruiking his latest roadmap out of the pandemic.

Speaking to 2GB this morning, Morrison said the plan rested on the country achieving a 70% vaccination rate, AAP reports.

About 18% of Australians have been fully vaccinated so far.

Morrison said AstraZeneca has been “talked down for a long time” but the vaccine was especially vital in greater Sydney.

He also said there would be enough vaccines for the country to reach the 70% level by Christmas.

Updated

Police are visible across Sydney today as they try to stop anyone travelling to the anti-lockdown protests in the CBD.

We’ve previously reported the exclusion zones being enforced by police that will see rideshare and taxi companies fined up to $500,000 if drivers deliver passengers to the CBD between 9am and 3pm.

Police are also stopping cars at key roads into the city. At the intersection of Princes Highway and Sydney Park Road they are checking if there are more than two passengers in a car and if they are more than 10km from their home.

Guardian Australia understands fines have been issued at this location, and that about 1,300 officers are working at various points checking vehicles entering the city.

Elsewhere, traffic reports show police are stopping vehicles on Southern Cross Drive heading towards the city.

Police helicopters have also been seen circling suburbs including Bondi Beach.

NSW police patrol George Street in front of the Sydney Town Hall in anticipation of an anti-lockdown rally
NSW police patrol George Street in front of Sydney Town Hall in anticipation of an anti-lockdown rally. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
NSW police stop cars on the Bradfield Highway on the lower north shore
NSW police stop cars on the Bradfield Highway on the lower north shore. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
NSW police before the expected anti-lockdown rally
NSW police before the expected anti-lockdown rally. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Queensland Health has this handy infographic with what we know so far:

Updated

Some supermarket workers in Sydney will wear bracelets that alert them to social distancing breaches as part of increased efforts to limit the risk of transmitting Covid at their stores and distribution centres.

It’s part of a range of new safety measures in place in response to the outbreak of the Delta variant, and comes as the first supermarket workers in hotspots in Sydney’s south-west are to get vaccinated within days under a new deal giving them priority access to Pfizer.

The four majors – Woolworths, Aldi, Coles and Metcash (LGA stores) – have negotiated with the NSW and federal governments to ensure their workers within the hotspots can continue to work and get priority access to vaccines, like other essential workers.

Read the full story from Anne Davies.

Updated

For those who followed the data, Nick Evershed has visualised the numbers for New South Wales:

And the situation is not ideal:

Updated

Victoria to 'front-load' first doses of vaccine

Victoria will push out the time between first and second doses of Pfizer from three weeks to six weeks in a bid to “front-load” first doses of the vaccine.

The change, announced by health minister Martin Foley today, won’t apply to people who’ve already got a booking for their second Pfizer vaccine, or hotel quarantine and border workers, frontline workers, correctional services staff and clients, or commonwealth vaccinations, such as those administered by GPs.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said:

That does front-load the first doses for Victorians and allows more to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in coming weeks.

One dose does give you strong protection, especially against Covid illness and against hospitalisation, and that change to six weeks is consistent with the Atagi [Australian technical advisory group on immunisation] guidelines.

But Sutton said he did not expect the change to allow the state to open up the Pfizer vaccine to people under 40. He encouraged a greater take-up of the AstraZeneca vaccine, noting there was “plentiful supply”.

We’ve still got just under 20% of people in that 70s age group who haven’t received it and could receive it tomorrow. So I want to be entirely clear in my messaging that AstraZeneca is a terrific vaccine. It is a safe vaccine.

Responding to the news about the lockdown in south-east Queensland, Sutton said he expected he would need to change the border rules but that no decision had been reached yet.

AstraZeneca doses in a mass Covid vaccination hub at the Melbourne showgrounds
AstraZeneca doses in a mass Covid vaccination hub at the Melbourne showgrounds. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP

Updated

Brad Hazzard fields a question about elective surgery in hospitals, whether the system is overwhelmed and where the bulk of patients are being treated:

The real issue is that, as I said a number of times in these conferences, each time there is a positive case that comes in, for example, to an emergency department or intensive care unit, quite a number of staff have to be taken offline. At Royal North Shore a couple of weeks ago we had nearly 200 staff taken offline; Fairfield around 100 staff. The message is that with the increasing numbers of people coming into hospital but also being managed in their home, managed by medical staff, hospital staff, remotely, it is putting a lot of pressure on the health system.

The presser wraps up with a question about whether the state has procured HSC rapid antigen testing – Hazzard says he “assumes they have”.

Updated

Asked about the specific circumstances faced by the man who died, Brad Hazzard doesn’t answer directly but suggests the situation may have related to the man’s work:

We talked briefly about that gentleman yesterday but what we are seeing, and it is a terrible situation, is that families for a variety of reasons, particularly in the south-west, are not coming forward when one of their number is ill.

Why is it happening? There is a variety of reasons. One possibility – it was put to me yesterday by people on the ground there – was that people are worried about their income. And if there is one person in the household who is the main income earner, they don’t want to come forward, they don’t want to tell anybody that they have actually got the virus in the household, and that is very problematic.

Brad Hazzard
Brad Hazzard says work concerns may be a reason some Sydney families are not coming forward when a member is ill. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Updated

Again on contact tracing, Brad Hazzard stresses that it is not a straightforward process:

One of the challenges, particularly in south-west and western Sydney, that we have found, as they did in the north-western suburbs in Victoria, is a lot of the community do need us to come to them. They need help to come to them. They come from very disempowered circumstances overseas, they are often refugee populations, they may not have been treated at all well by their own governments. In some cases there is a fear of coming to government or her going to anyone, even hospitals or health facilities.

Asked about the portion of the construction industry who can’t yet go back to work, he says:

Nothing is easy in a pandemic and this is one of the really difficult decisions that government has had to make. Again, I talked to the other ministers around the country, and the other Liberal and Labor health [ministers] in other jurisdictions, particularly in Victoria, they have the same challenges. And they have done similar things to what we have done and will continue to do.

Updated

Hazzard is concerned about anti-lockdown protest leaders who are urging people not to get tested for fear the police may come knocking:

Quite simply, those people who went to the demonstration should get tested. They should. Can I assure them that the health team is there just to get the health results. If the police come knocking at your door for other reasons, that is a matter for the police to do and I am supportive of the police doing that as well ... It is exactly the same is going to your own doctor. You will be treated confidentially.

Updated

Hazzard is asked about the vaccination thresholds needed to keep lockdowns from happening and the apparent difference of opinion between Western Australia and NSW over whether lockdowns should still be used to control any outbreak. He says:

The WA premier has always had its own way of dealing with things. I think the important message to the community is that if we all get onboard and get vaccinated, our life will go back to being much more like it was before. Obviously, the Delta variant has turned our lives upside down; we’re all desperate to get back to some degree of normalcy. My message to the community more broadly is we will get closer to normalcy if we all get vaccinated. I don’t want to comment any more than that on the WA premier.

Asked whether contact tracers are struggling, he says the process is not easy:

When you have a number of successive days of test numbers, particularly in communities where it is sometimes very hard to get simpler answers, it can take a while. I met last week with the senior people amongst the tracer team and the case interviewers and what they were indicating was that translation is an issue for us.

We need to have translators and we do have them, of course. And we have the need in some cases to revisit on multiple occasions, and one interview with one person can take over a period of time up to eight hours. It is quite substantial.

Updated

Brad Hazzard is asked about NSW Health staff who allegedly attended past lockdown protests. He says:

Investigations are currently continuing with both health and the police. I understand there was one paramedic and I think two either assistants in nursing or nursing staff and one other I am not sure about this stage ...

In a democracy people are entitled to demonstrate legally, but it was not a legal demonstration. It was not approved by police. It has consequences both under public health orders and potentially under the Crimes Act.

Updated

Deputy police commissioner Michael Willing is taking a moment to speak to anti-lockdown protesters heading out in Sydney today:

Do not do it. Our policing operation has been in place since early this morning. Up to 1,000 police officers including a range of specialist resources on the ground already, so don’t go into the city to protest. Strike Force Seasoned investigators have been in continuing investigations into the events of last week’s protests, with 85 people charged to this date. Over 300 infringement notices have been issued and last night a 49-year-old man from the Central Coast was charged with criminal offences relating to the incitement of last week of a protest online.

Updated

Dr Jeremy McAnulty is speaking now, giving a breakdown on the hard numbers:

There were 212 cases of Covid reported in New South Wales. Of these, 210 were locally acquired and two cases were acquired overseas ...

There have been 3,190 locally acquired cases since 16 June, when the outbreak began. There were 105,963 just reported to 8pm last night. It is up on the previous day’s total of 95,446.

McAnulty says a new death was reported yesterday and confirmed overnight:

This is a man in his 60s who was confirmed overnight. He was a resident of south-western Sydney and passed away at home. This is associative death sadly in New South Wales related [to] Covid-19 – [the] 70th, 14 in the current outbreak – and will be included in tomorrow’s official numbers.

Updated

The numbers are also putting pressure on the hospital system:

The continuing numbers are impacting on our hospital system. I want to emphasise that and I want to thank the nurses, doctors, cleaners, people putting themselves at the frontline day after day to care for people who are becoming positive with Covid-19 and needing hospitalisation. Currently we have 198 people in hospital. In New South Wales, 53 of those are in intensive care, 27 are requiring ventilation.

Young people are also increasingly taking the place of older patients:

In intensive care at the moment, I think a lot of young people would be surprised to know that there are six people in their 20s in intensive care. There are four people in their 30s and there is one person in their 40s. At the moment we have 11 people in intensive care who are all 40 years old or under. That is extremely concerning.

We have another nearly 39 cases, also, in other parts of the intensive care system and I want to stress we have 18 cases in their 50s, 14 cases in their 60s, nine in their 70s and one in their 80s, and the older age brackets are actually having less numbers now. It is the younger people who are actually taking up places in our intensive care units in our hospitals.

Updated

Hazzard says two-thirds of today's new Covid cases are in people under 40

Brad Hazzard asks people to “just stay home”:

Just stay at home unless you must go out, unless it is essential that you go out. Stay at home. Definitely do not go and visit another household. I know you want to visit your aunts and uncles and cousins. We all do, but unfortunately that is continuing to be a very dangerous exercise and the virus is continuing to spread in that south-western Sydney and western Sydney area.

He also speaks directly to young people who are increasingly being hospitalised:

Can I say the Delta variant is partial to younger people as well. It definitely is circulating in the younger community and I want to stress that another 210 locally acquired cases, two-thirds – two-thirds, 138 cases – where people are under the age of 40 years old. So my message to younger people is, please, understand this is a virus that you can be susceptible to.

Updated

NSW records 210 new local Covid cases

NSW has reported 210 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus. Two of those came from overseas. As of 8pm last night, 105,963 tests had been carried out over the previous 24 hours.

Here’s health minister Brad Hazzard:

The majority were in south-west Sydney and western Sydney. We had 81 cases acquired in south-western Sydney and 72 cases acquired in western Sydney.

Updated

Now to Sydney ...

Updated

Meanwhile, the state is trending down:

There are currently now 6,654 Victorians isolating as primary close contacts. That’s down quite substantially from our peak of over 23,000. And the cumulative total for primary close contacts and secondary close contacts over the course of this particular outbreak is now well and truly over 43,000.

I want to thank all of them, but particularly reinforce to the 6,654 Victorians who are primary close contacts and isolating that we’ll continue to support you through these important yards that you’re putting in to keep us all safe.

Updated

Speaking of the Newport apartment complex – more good news:

At that Newport apartment complex, all remaining 30 residents have returned initial negative tests. And the residents on the particular floor where this case resided remain in isolation and are cooperating with our public health teams out there at Newport to make sure that they do everything that they need to do to both stay protected, and are working really closely with our public health team.

There is, however, an additional exposure site that was added last night:

That site is the Woolworths in Devon Plaza, Doncaster, which was listed as a tier one public exposure site late yesterday. So, please, if you have visited Woolworths in Devon Plaza, Doncaster, on Wednesday 28 July between 10.20am and 11.25am, you must immediately get yourself isolated for 14 days, and you must get tested.

Updated

Good news from Victoria: the number of cases has fallen from 20 yesterday. The state saw just two new cases identified overnight. Of the current cases, seven are in hospital and two in the ICU.

While the cases numbers are trending down, authorities want people to keep getting those tested to be absolutely sure there are no surprises:

Can I again take this opportunity to encourage anyone who’s showing even the slightest symptoms, please come forward and get tested. It will allow us to run this outbreak down into the ground. And as all the cases – particularly in recent times – who have come forward have shown, getting tested early is really important in helping us run these cases down.

Updated

NSW Covid update at 11am, Victorian presser begins

For the Queenslanders in chat, I’ll post any official information when it comes.

In the meantime, we wait now for both the Victorian and Sydney pressers which will overlap – so we’re going to be juggling.

Updated

Will more cases be detected?

Extremely likely. That’s why we need to go into a lockdown and that’s why the lockdown has to be the most restrictive we’ve ever been in, because this is the most infectious virus we’ve ever had.

Jeannette Young goes on to say that authorities can’t give any information about whether the lockdown will be extended or a threshold for cases as there are too many unknowns and it depends on events over the next few days.

That wraps up the highlights from the presser, as we go now to Victoria.

Updated

Jeannette Young gives more detail about how the medical student became infected:

We’ve had two cases in hotel quarantine that arrived in Brisbane on 29 June. So, they both flew – one flew from Indonesia, one flew from the UK – they both ended up in Singapore, they were both on the same flight, but they were three rows apart, opposite sides of the plane, those two people. Then they flew into Brisbane and went into hotel quarantine at the Rydges South Bank. Now, one of them tested positive day one after arrival. The second tested positive day five after arrival. And they both have exactly the same genome sequence. So, I think the first person’s given it to the second person.

From these people, it then jumped to medical workers:

Then one person was transferred to Gold Coast University hospital for care, because, as you know all, positive cases we admit to hospital. So, one went to the Gold Coast University hospital for care. Once he finished his treatment, he went home to WA. The second person was admitted to the Sunshine Coast University hospital. Once he finished his treatment, he went home to Buderim. So, I think that one of those two cases has led to transmission to someone – who I don’t know – who has then led to further transmission and eventually I think the most likely scenario is this medical student has acquired it.

This sequence of events really shows how potent the Delta strain is and why authorities are so keen to move quickly.

Updated

Answering questions, Young makes clear there are a lot of unknowns:

At the moment, I don’t know where this virus is in the south-east Queensland. It could be anywhere. It could be in the Sunshine Coast, because we had one of those original cases up there, and they live in Buderim. It could be down in the Gold Coast, because we had one of those original cases down there when they were being managed. We know it’s in Taringa, and we know it’s in Indooroopilly, and we know that two members of that family went out to Ipswich to attend the vaccine clinic. We know that this medical student has travelled widely through Brisbane …

I don’t know today where this virus is in the south-east of Queensland. But wherever it is, I don’t want it to go further.

Updated

Police commissioner Katarina Carroll is speaking now, asking people to follow the guidelines:

What we need is everyone to do the right thing for the coming days. What we don’t want to see is the situation, as we saw yesterday, where police had to hand out 127 masks and fine three people for failing to wear masks when told to. And, indeed, in one incident at a Coolum cafe, having to arrest a person who simply refused to comply with our directions when they were operating a business and not wearing masks.

People are asked to carry ID:

Please make sure that you do understand what those exemptions are that you can leave your house for. And if you do have to go and do that, please make sure you take your mask and wear it as you are required. Also, I suggest that you can carry identification that proves where you reside, so you can verify you are within the 10km.

On plans for protests in Brisbane tomorrow:

I’m also informed through our intelligence that there are people planning to protest in the CBD of Brisbane tomorrow. Can I say really clearly now is not the time. Now is not the time for protests in our community. We ask that you do not go ahead with those protests.

Updated

New South Wales is very much a cautionary tale:

I want to remind people why we need to do this. New South Wales had one case on 16 June. Thirty-eight days later, they are at 3,000 cases. From that one person. Thirty-eight days, 3,000 cases. Sadly, 13 people have died just from that one cluster. We have to get this right. We know Queenslanders will do the right thing. We’ve been here before. We know what we’ve gotta do. We’ve gotta be more vigilant, more compliant than we’ve ever been before.

Support is available:

If you need any assistance whatsoever, please ring 134 COVID and we will get you the support that you need, but you must stay home. If you are going out to get a test, go straight back home. Do not go anywhere until you’ve got your result, wherever you are in Queensland. So, if you are outside of those 11 LGAs, it is not OK to go to the shops after you get a test. You must go straight home and stay there until you get your results.

Updated

Young ends with a direct message:

Please go and look on our website and that will give you specifics and detailed information, and there are a lot of frequently asked questions there, so please go through there if you have any questions. But this is essentially quite straightforward. For the next three days, I need everyone in those 11 LGAs that have been wearing masks, those 11 LGAs, to stay home and not leave unless it’s absolutely critical.

Health minister Yvette D’Ath speaking now:

We know how dangerous Delta is. We know it can spread quicker than any other variant we have dealt with over the last 18 months. National cabinet and the health ministers were presented this week with the Doherty Institute modelling, and it now shows if you want to manage this, if you want to stop the spread, you must go hard and you must go fast. We have one chance to get this under control and we need everyone – everyone – to work with us to make this happen. No movement. Stay home. If you are unwell, even with the slightest cough or sore throat, go get tested.

Officials really trying to drive home the messages that this is short, sharp and quick to get the outbreak in check.

Updated

Young:

Please, don’t have visitors to your home. Don’t go and visit anyone else unless you need to, because that person is a vulnerable person and actually does need you to go and see them. Otherwise, if you can delay, we’re hopeful this will be three days. Let’s all hope it is three days. And stay home. And the more people who stay home and the more people who limit their movements, the more likely it is that it will only be three days.

One of the reasons to leave is to get a vaccine:

It’s about minimising your movements. And if we do that and we do it how we’ve done it so well before, if we do it with those enhanced restrictions, then hopefully it will only be for those three days. The one reason that I do want to encourage people to absolutely leave home, if you’re well – leave home and go and get a vaccine.

Updated

Queensland expecting 'enormous number of exposure sites'

Jeannette Young:

I expect there are going to be an enormous number of exposure sites all through Brisbane and probably as well through the Sunshine Coast and further. So, it’s really important people, check. Then, of course, the most important message of all: if anyone has any symptoms at all, this is the time you must come forward and get tested immediately.

On the restrictions:

This is one of the most restrictive lockdowns we’ve had since the start of the pandemic, which makes sense because this is the most infectious variant we’ve had since the start of the pandemic. So, for the next three days, I just ask everyone: stay at home. The only real reason you need to leave home is for healthcare or to provide support to a vulnerable person.

Updated

Chief health officer Jeannette Young is speaking now, giving details on the outbreak. There’s seven in the cluster, with six new cases, including a five-member family and a medical student.

We had six new community-acquired cases yesterday, so there are now seven in that cluster. And they are related to two people who returned from overseas and were in hotel quarantine. So, there are now nine linked cases. I still don’t have the direct link from one of those two cases through to these new seven cases, but I know through whole genome sequencing that that is where the transmission has occurred.

Young says Delta is spreading fast:

We now have all five people in one household have been infected. So, all five of those household members. We know that Delta is a particularly infectious strain. Then we know that we have another person today who is a medical student at the University of Queensland who is a tutor for that 17-year-old that we announced yesterday.

More bad news:

Now we are rapidly contact tracing the medical student. She has been to a lot of venues, a lot of places, at Royal Brisbane and women’s hospital, at the University of Queensland, at the Translational Research Institute at the PA, and also she has a sibling who works in a hospital. So, we are urgently working through all of those. But there are a lot of places she’s been.

Updated

Steven Miles:

Our message to people in the south-east is: we have been here before, but this time it’s different. We cannot afford to be complacent just because we have done so well so far. We all have to comply with these restrictions.

The Queensland government wants this to be a short lockdown and is working on a compensation package:

It is our intention that this is a short lockdown and that we can deal with this outbreak within days. Because we know that that’s the best way for businesses to recover, the best way to keep people in work, the best way to keep our economy going. But we also acknowledge that this lockdown has come not long after the last one, and that’s why for this lockdown we will seek to have a compensation package in place. We will work through the details of that today.

Updated

You can leave home to exercise with only one person who is not from your household, but you must do so within your local area, so that 10km restriction applies to exercise.

And, of course, you can leave home for healthcare, to care for somebody who needs assistance, to get your Covid-19 vaccination or to get a Covid-19 test. There will be no visitors to homes within those 11 LGAs. Funerals and weddings will be restricted to 10 people within those 11 LGAs from 400pm today.

Steven Miles is telling people to stay home:

While the lockdown commences at 4pm today, we would urge anyone in those 11 LGAs to go home and stay at home, if you can. So, if you are thinking about going out, please stay home if you can. If you are out and about now, please go home, if you can. Grocery stores will stay open throughout the lockdown. So, please don’t think that you need to rush to get essential items. You will be permitted to leave your homes for essential items. Please don’t rush our grocery stores. That creates a risk of infection that we want to avoid. We have been in contact with the supermarkets – they are all well-supplied.

Updated

Eleven Queensland LGAs locked down from 4pm

Bad news, Queensland, it’s a lockdown, Steven Miles saying:

We received the advice of the chief health officer, and the premier has ordered that we move strongly and implement all of the restrictions advised by the chief health officer. We must go hard and go early. And so from 4pm today, the 11 LGAs that currently have mask-wearing requirements will go into lockdown.

This will be the strictest lockdown that we have had. We can only, in these 11 LGAs, leave home for four reasons: to obtain essential goods – for example, groceries and medications – but only within 10km of our homes. So, that is a stricter geographic movement restriction than we’ve had in the recent lockdowns. You can leave home for essential work, school, or childcare. School or childcare is only for essential workers or vulnerable families. High schools will, for the first time, have masks for teachers, students and everyone in the school.

Updated

Six new Queensland Covid cases

Here we go, Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles giving an update and says there have been six new additional cases:

That means there’s six confirmed locally acquired cases – all linked to the case that we notified yesterday, the Indooroopilly state high school student who lives in Taringa. The new cases are their family members – both parents and two siblings – and a medical student who tutors the student, as well as a staff member from Ironside state school, which is where one of the siblings attends.

Updated

In a few minutes we’ll be going into the first of this morning’s press conferences, but in the meantime Nick Evershed has the daily charts out of Victoria.

Here’s the trend:

And here’s cases by isolation status:

Updated

The Labor MP for Blaxland, Jason Clare, and the Liberal MP for Mackellar, Jason Falinski, who were both appearing on the ABC, just had some clear messages for people considering protesting against the lockdown in Sydney:

Falinski:

Don’t do it. It’s stupid and you are being idiots. If your goal is to get back to normal life, then by going to that protest, you are putting that goal further away. Do not go to these protests. It is only going to make the situation worse.

Clare:

If you go to Sydney and protest, you are not going to make the lockdown any shorter, you risk making it even longer. You also risk getting the virus yourself and potentially passing it on to your own family and friends and do you really want to have a conversation with your brothers and your sisters about who is going to go to your mum or dad’s funeral? Seriously, don’t go to the protest.

Also, in a somewhat heated exchange, Falinski defended the distribution of vaccines:

We have had this week alone, the NSW government divert 50,000 doses from country and regional and rural NSW to south-west Sydney. The ACT government, through the national stockpile, has donated or has redirected another 50,000 Pfizer doses to south-west Sydney.

Updated

The Australian government still doesn’t know how many people with disabilities have contracted Covid-19, despite a royal commission saying eight months ago that its failure to collect national data on cases was inconsistent with UN obligations.

As Sydney reels from Australia’s worst Covid outbreak since Victoria’s second wave, a second outbreak at a disability group home in Sydney’s south-west has put the focus on the risk the virus poses to the disability community, particularly given lagging vaccination rates in group homes.

Officials confirmed at hearings in August that eight national disability insurance scheme participants had died from Covid, but they were unable to say how many people with disabilities had caught the virus, or died from it, prompting scathing criticism from the royal commission.

Luke Henriques-Gomes has the full story.

Updated

The Queensland presser is scheduled for 10am:

Updated

FYI: NSW Health just posted a quick a correction to their list of exposure sites at Baulkham Hills.

NSW police to set up exclusion zone and threaten fines over protest

AAP is reporting that taxi and rideshare companies face fines of up to half a million dollars if they take passengers into Sydney’s CBD on Saturday, as NSW police try to prevent a sequel to last weekend’s anti-lockdown protest:

AAP understands that NSW police will set up an exclusion zone around the city to last from 9am to 3pm on Saturday.

Police have issued a prohibition notice to seven taxi and rideshare services banning them from taking passengers to the CBD over the six-hour period.

Companies who fail to comply with the notice risk a maximum penalty of $500,000, and individuals could be fined up to $100,000, NSW police say.

The large zone stretches from the Bradfield Highway at Milsons Point north of the Harbour Bridge, to the City West Link at Lilyfield, to South Dowling Street near Todman Avenue at Zetland, and east to New South Head Road near Ocean Avenue at Edgecliff.

Updated

Nine bars in Bondi have reportedly been stopped for trading for a week after they allegedly coordinated to sell cocktails to people in an impromptu bar crawl.

Authorities say they took action because the bars were encouraging people to break public health orders but the owners say they have been made scapegoats for badly communicated restrictions.

Updated

As we await this morning’s run of Covid-19 press conferences, now might be a good time to mention that if you’re all about the Olympics, you can also follow the Guardian’s coverage over at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics live blog.

Updated

Those two new local cases in Victoria are linked to known cases:

Updated

Victoria reports two new Covid cases

With the nervous wait for the latest figures from New South Wales, Victoria has just reported two new local cases:

Updated

And speaking of the protests, the Guardian’s Donna Lu has this report up this morning:

People who do not comply with Covid-19 pandemic restrictions are mostly male, more extroverted and more likely to put their own self-interests above those of others, suggests a new study of behaviours internationally.

University of Sydney researchers assessed behaviours and attitudes towards Covid regulations in 1,575 people in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US between April and May last year, during the first wave of the pandemic.

Their study, published in the journal Plos One, found that about 10% of people reported being non-compliant with restrictions. These individuals were less agreeable in personality and were also less open to new experiences.

Read the full story here.

Updated

With hospitals beginning to triage patients, New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian warned yesterday that the anti-lockdown protests planned for today could be a “death sentence” for participants and their families:

Can I please warn against anybody taking up illegal activity and protesting tomorrow. You could be taking the disease home and passing it on to your parents, your siblings, your brothers and sisters or anybody you might have limited contact with. Do not give those you love the most a death sentence.

Updated

Via AAP:

Sydney’s public hospitals have begun postponing non-urgent elective surgeries to cope with the growing outbreak.

Fifty-eight Covid-19 patients are being treated in intensive care beds, with 40% needing ventilation.

While the state has 500 ICU beds, NSW Health said stopping some elective surgeries from Monday would increase capacity for other health services in greater Sydney.

The change will not affect theatres in Illawarra or Central Coast hospitals.

NSW Labor wants the postponed surgeries moved to the private sector to ensure waiting lists don’t blow out.

NSW last halted elective surgeries in March 2020, in response to a projected shortage of personal protective equipment. Elective surgery restarted about a month later.

The measure is expected to take effect from Monday.

Updated

Calla Wahlquist has this great feature this morning looking at how, 18 months down the line, a divide has grown between the states:

“Australia was hit by the pandemic in what seemed a moment of national unity. Large stretches of the east coast had been on fire all summer and the nation had pulled together to help. Volunteers – from firefighters to helicopter pilots to fence-fixers – drove across state lines to the areas of greatest need.

“Eighteen months later, the nation – or at least its two largest cities – appear to be pulling apart. Requests for additional vaccines, first from Victoria, then from New South Wales, were rejected. The political rhetoric is pernicious.

“On Twitter the debate has become toxic. Friends and colleagues in different states are in open argument. Beloved broadcasters have joined the fray. Reactions – both the frustration of Victorians and the upset of their NSW counterparts – are being policed. No other state can get a look-in.”

Read the full story here.

Updated

NSW Health lists new exposure sites

NSW Health has updated their list of exposure sites this morning:

Updated

It’s back to work today for Sydney’s tradies but ongoing restrictions mean the construction industry will be operating at a fraction of its capacity.

Workers will be allowed to return to non-occupied building sites with Covid-safe plans in place after a two-week slumber left them out of action.

But the sector still cannot call on 68,000 workers from eight council areas worst-hit by the city’s coronavirus outbreak.

Most cases are in the eight council areas subjected to the locked-down city’s tightest restrictions, including mandatory mask-wearing outside the home and distance limits on movements for shopping and exercise.

Construction workers living in the area, making up about 42% of the industry’s citywide workforce, also cannot work.

Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest welcomed the end of the industry’s shutdown in other parts of the city but urged the government to exempt some workers living inside the council areas “to avoid bringing the industry to its knees for the long term”.

“This is a highly limited return to work for the construction industry, but something is certainly better than nothing at all,” Forrest said.

SafeWork NSW has said it will visit construction sites to ensure public health orders are being complied with.

Good morning

Good morning and welcome to Guardian Australia’s coverage of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. This is Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be piloting this thing through the morning. If you see something you think I’ve missed, feel free to get me on the Twitter machine at @RoyceRk2.

Speaking of, without further ado:

All eyes will be on Sydney today, where up to 1,000 police officers will be on duty to meet anyone attending an anti-lockdown protest.

NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller warned on Friday that police “expect there’s going to be a protest” after monitoring online activity.

“It appears it will not be in the same numbers [as last week],” he said. “But ... [it] can still be violent.

“Please don’t come into Sydney ... If you do, you will be met by up to 1,000 police who will be ready to deal with you, whether that be via the health orders or other laws.”

Yesterday Scott Morrison said vaccinated Australians would be able to head overseas again to visit family and friends when 80% of the adult population is fully vaccinated under a national pandemic exit plan.

But there’s no target date for when that might happen and Western Australian premier Mark McGowan has already suggested the state might not follow the revamped roadmap agreed to by state and territory leaders on Friday.

Australia is now in phase A of this roadmap. Lockdowns will be “less likely” under phase B, which will be triggered when 70% of the adult population has been vaccinated against Covid. That could happen by the end of 2021, the PM said, “but that is entirely up to how the nation responds to this challenge we’re setting for ourselves”.

For more details on the plan, read Naaman Zhou and Daniel Hurst’s explainer here.

Yesterday NSW recorded 170 locally acquired cases and Victoria three.

Updated

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