Summary
With that we will be closing the blog for today – but we will be back with the latest national news early tomorrow morning.
Here is what happened today:
- NSW reported 30 new locally acquired cases, the Northern Territory reported four new cases, Queensland reported three new cases, and Western Australia reported one new case, as multiple states and territories reported new outbreaks for the first time this year.
- The NT declared a lockdown for 48 hours for Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield, and WA introduced stage-one restrictions for Perth and the Peel region. The ACT introduced masks in some indoor settings.
- South Australia closed its borders to Queensland, WA, the NT and the ACT. The premier, Steven Marshall, said he was “thinking of” introducing restrictions and could announce them tomorrow.
- In the NT, the four new cases have the Delta strain of the virus, and are linked to a mine worker at the Granites gold mine 540km north-west of Alice Springs. This worker is believed to have contracted the virus in hotel quarantine in Brisbane. This Delta variant is different to the Delta variant spreading in Sydney.
- In Queensland, two of the cases were reported in the morning with the Alpha, not Delta, variant. A third case was reported on Saturday evening, and it is unclear what variant the person has.
- In WA, the new case was a woman who visited Sydney and returned to Perth. It is assumed she has the Delta variant.
- In other news, Bridget McKenzie was promoted back to the cabinet and Darren Chester was demoted to the backbench in the Nationals cabinet reshuffle after Barnaby Joyce returned to the party leadership.
- Victorian premier Daniel Andrews released a video where he described how he injured his back vertebrae, and his wife Catherine said she thought he was “going to die”.
Updated
The WA premier, Mark McGowan, is also scheduled to give another press conference at 4.30pm local time – ie: in 30 minutes.
Updated
Queensland reports another Covid case
Queensland has just reported a further locally acquired case of Covid-19.
Earlier today, the state reported two new cases.
The latest case is a miner who had returned from working in the Northern Territory, transited through Brisbane airport on Friday night and travelled to the Sunshine Coast.
The mine worker was infectious in the community for around a day, Queensland Health said.
MEDIA RELEASE: Further #COVID19 case identified in Queensland
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) June 27, 2021
This afternoon, Queensland Health has identified a further case of COVID-19 in the community.
More details can be found here: https://t.co/hZZ29x7Xuc
Updated
Oppositions MPs have reacted to the demotion of former veterans affairs minister Darren Chester from the cabinet.
Labor MP Chris Bowen said Chester served with “distinction and respect” and his demotion was “shocking”.
.@DarrenChesterMP served as Veterans Affairs Minister with distinction and respect. That he has been sacked to allow an egregious rorter to return to Cabinet is a shocking but not surprising error of judgment from @Barnaby_Joyce
— Chris Bowen (@Bowenchris) June 27, 2021
Labor MP Andrew Giles paid tribute to Chester and used the reshuffle to attack the government.
What sort of government could sack Darren Chester, and promote Bridget McKenzie?
— Andrew Giles MP (@andrewjgiles) June 27, 2021
Only an outfit heedless of integrity, and utterly focused on themselves - rather than on the Australian people.
A Morrison-Joyce government.
Victoria designates Darwin a red zone
Victoria has effectively closed its border to Darwin, effective from 8pm today.
It includes Palmerston and Litchfield as well, which were included in the NT lockdown today.
The Greater Darwin area will be designated a red zone under Victoria’s travel permit system, effective 8:00pm AEST Sunday 27 June. Greater Darwin incorporates the Local Government Areas of City of Darwin, City of Palmerston and Litchfield. [1/6] pic.twitter.com/rlPC6qF6iE
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 27, 2021
More potential exposure sites in NSW:
PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT - VENUES OF CONCERN pic.twitter.com/XEoJeTwP2J
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 27, 2021
The A-League final is being played tonight at AAMI park in Melbourne.
I’m hearing reports the all tickets for NSW and ACT addresses have been cancelled, unless people provide a negative result.
Some media, such as Vision Australia, are currently still unable to enter the stadium.
You can follow the game here:
Updated
NSW Health wrongly listed Crossroads Hotel exposure site
Quite a large correction has just been issued by NSW Health.
On Saturday, NSW Health incorrectly listed the Crossroads Hotel in Casula as a venue that had been visited by a confirmed case of Covid-19.
It turns out it was actually the Crossways Hotel, 482 Liverpool Road, in Strathfield South.
The two pubs are about 25km apart.
The Crossroads Hotel in Casula is a large, heavily frequented pub in the area that many may remember was at the centre of a previous outbreak last year.
The correction means potentially hundreds of people may have been wrongly told to isolate.
Anyone who was at the Crossways Hotel in Strathfield South on Wednesday 23 June, 7pm–10.30pm must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.
Updated
Darren Chester, the former veterans’ affairs minister who was just demoted in the Nationals reshuffle, has said he hopes the government continues to support veterans in the upcoming royal commission.
“There was still plenty of work to be done but that task will fall to the incoming minister,” he said.
“As a backbencher, I want to see the Coalition government maintain the momentum for reform, and build on all the good work we are doing while the royal commission runs its course.”
He also thanked all the veterans and members of the defence force who he worked with during his time as minister.
“It’s been the greatest honour and privilege of my working life to spend time with you and represent your interests within the federal government,” he said.
He finishes with: “I love Gippsland, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Updated
ACT introduces mask restrictions
The Australian Capital Territory has made wearing face masks compulsory inside shops, hospitality venues, hairdressers and gyms, despite recording no new cases.
Wow - with zero COVID cases, the ACT is now making face masks compulsory inside - shops, hospitality venues, hairdressers and gyms pic.twitter.com/4o3xZX7ZcU
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) June 27, 2021
Scott Morrison has issued a statement on the Nationals cabinet reshuffle, welcoming the new changes under Barnaby Joyce’s leadership.
Morrison said:
The deputy prime minister the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP will continue our strong legacy of infrastructure investment as the minister for infrastructure, transport and regional development.
Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie will return to the cabinet ... She will have a clear focus on service delivery in regional Australia and be responsible for the continued work developing Australia’s disaster management capability.
These changes will provide the strongest female representation in an Australian government cabinet on record, building on the previous record also achieved under my government.
Morrison thanked former Nationals leader Michael McCormack for his “faithful commitment to a strong Coalition government”, and thanked Darren Chester, Keith Pitt and Mark Coulton, who were demoted in the reshuffle.
Updated
Three NSW residents who breached border restrictions and flew into Coober Pedy have been arrested, SA police commissioner Grant Stevens says.
They were refused entry to the Northern Territory. They came to Coober Pedy, a smaller airport. We were able to get on top of that.
Stevens says all three have been tested for Covid.
Updated
Spurrier says that modelling shows that, if the Delta variant entered South Australia, it would have a reproductive rate (R0 value) of 3.5.
The R0 value in the first wave was 2.5.
“That’s because we have very few restrictions in place but also we’re dealing with this Delta variant,” she says.
“Our community is a bit of a tinderbox. We’re very concerned if we get undetected cases it will take off very rapidly.”
Spurrier also refuses to pass comment on NSW, and whether the state should have locked down earlier.
“Vaccination is the best way of preventing the spread in our community,” Prof Spurrier says.
She says she is concerned for the APY lands given the potential spread in central Australia from a mine worker in the NT.
She says there were 3 new internationally acquired cases in SA yesterday.
South Australia’s chief health officer, Prof Nicola Spurrier, said about 2,000 people had entered the state from NSW between 21 and 23 June, before the border was closed.
Those people were SMSed yesterday and our team will be continuing to locate and contact them.
Those people have to isolate.
Updated
SA premier 'thinking of' restrictions, to make announcement tomorrow
Marshall says restrictions in SA may be brought in tomorrow.
He says:
With the very low level of restrictions we have in South Australia, we need to look at those. We’ll be looking at those over the next 24 hours. There will be a further announcement tomorrow.
We are thinking of moving to a higher level of restrictions internally in South Australia for a one week period.
Updated
SA closes borders to Queensland, WA, NT and ACT
The South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, is speaking now.
He says:
There has been a significant deterioration of the situation in Australia, over the past 24, 48 hours.
South Australia needs to take decisive action to make sure we can keep our state safe.
Effective immediately, South Australia will be closing its borders to Queensland, Western Australia, the NT and the ACT.
The border to NSW was already closed.
Marshall says the SA-Victoria border will stay open, but everybody entering the state from anywhere in Victoria will need to be tested.
The border with Tasmania remains open.
Updated
Bridget McKenzie promoted in Nationals reshuffle
Barnaby Joyce has shifted old foes out of cabinet and rewarded key supporters who helped him in his leadership return with plum positions in the latest Morrison government reshuffle.
After days of speculation, Joyce announced his picks for the ministry, shifting Queensland’s Keith Pitt to the outer ministry and dumping Darren Chester altogether, while promoting Bridget McKenzie and Andrew Gee.
Pitt will retain the resources and water portfolios but will no longer sit in the cabinet, making it the first time in five years a minister holding those portfolios was moved to the outer ministry. Pitt also lost the key northern Australia portfolio in the reshuffle.
Chester, a longtime critic of Joyce and key Michael McCormack backer, was prepared for his move out of the ministry, despite pleas from veterans and their families to retain him in the portfolio. With the royal commission now getting under way, veterans had called for consistency.
Gee will become the fifth minister to head the portfolio since 2015.
Mark Coulter, another strong McCormack backer, is also out of the ministry, while Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has lost emergency management, with McKenzie now the regions minister, with control of “regionalisation”, regional health and education and emergency management.
The emergency management portfolio is seen as one of the higher profile rewards, with the minister often included in big government announcements around Covid and natural disasters.
Updated
Andrews also confirmed that he would be “on the ballot” and running at the next election in that video.
Daniel Andrews' wife thought he was 'going to die', she says as he tells of injury
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has released a long video detailing the sequence of events leading up to his injury this year where he broke multiple ribs and his T7 vertebrae.
His wife, Catherine Andrews, said the premier had turned blue when she found him, and they both thought he was going to die.
Daniel Andrews said:
We’d been down the beach having a family weekend. It was a bit of a chance to have some time together.
I was making my way to the car to head off to work. It had been raining ... As I put my foot on the first step, I knew I was in trouble.
I didn’t really connect with the step, i just slid straight off. I became airborne almost .. and all I could hear was this almighty crunch.
When I heard the crunch I thought: ‘This is serious. We are in trouble here’ ... It felt like an eternity, I couldn’t breathe.
Catherine Andrews said:
You were going blue. I was thinking ‘you are going to die’ ... and you were looking at me and you felt the same.
Before I come back to work tomorrow, I thought I would share what happened. In my own words. pic.twitter.com/RkJcvPTYyu
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) June 27, 2021
The premier’s injury has attracted a fair number of conspiracy theories, and the Victorian opposition recently issued a long list of unanswered questions over what happened.
Andrews says in the video today:
We’ve seen some really vile stories being put around about what happened.
Updated
The ABC has just reported that the woman in Perth who tested positive after a trip to Sydney had received her first dose of AstraZeneca.
The WA health authorities are hopeful that will limit the spread of the virus in Perth.
It is believed the woman contracted the Delta variant that is spreading in Sydney.
Updated
We are also expecting a press conference from the newly returned Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, at 3.30pm (AEST) to announce a Nationals cabinet reshuffle. It’s all happening today, isn’t it?
Updated
The South Australian premier, health minister and police commissioner will be speaking at 2.45pm local time – in about 40 minutes.
We’ll bring you that when it happens.
The whole gang’s back together for a covid presser today. The Premier, Health Minister, Police Commissioner & CPHO talking at 2.45pm. DETAILS @9NewsAdel
— Georgia Westgarth (@G_Westgarth) June 27, 2021
Covid news recap
That concludes health minister Greg Hunt’s press conference.
To recap what has happened over a very hectic few hours:
- In the Northern Territory, Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield have gone into lockdown for 48 hours after the territory recorded four new Covid-19 cases.
- In Western Australia, new restrictions were announced for Perth and the Peel region – but no lockdown – after a new community case was discovered, with a likely source from Sydney.
- In Queensland, two new cases of Covid were detected – but of the Alpha, not Delta, variant.
- Meanwhile, NSW has recorded 30 new Covid-19 cases on the first full day of its lockdown.
In the NT:
- The four new cases have the Delta strain of the virus, and are linked to a mine worker at the Granites gold mine 540km north-west of Alice Springs.
- This worker is believed to have contracted the virus in hotel quarantine in Brisbane. This Delta variant is different to the Delta variant spreading in Sydney.
- Of the four cases, one has travelled to NSW, two are on the mine site and one flew to Darwin and Palmerston.
- Chief minister Michael Gunner said some of the close contacts of these cases “remain unaccounted for” and some were “uncontactable”.
In WA:
- A woman from Perth has tested positive after she visited Sydney to see her son, who lives there.
- Health minister Roger Cook said the state was assuming she also had the Delta variant.
- Cook said the woman was a physiotherapist who visited shopping centres and saw clients, including at some schools, over the past week in Perth.
- He said she “did everything right” and abided by all rules.
- Stage-one restrictions, not a lockdown, have been implemented in Perth and the Peel region. That includes masks indoors and outdoors where social distancing is not possible and limits of 30 people in homes. Spectators were immediately banned from today’s AFL match between the Bulldogs and the West Coast Eagles.
In NSW:
- There are now 110 cases linked to the Bondi cluster.
- Ten new cases were today linked to the Great Ocean Foods seafood wholesaler in Marrickville. Two cases remain under investigation, but both are at least geographically linked to Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian defended the government’s decision to delay a full lockdown of Sydney, saying she had followed health advice. She rejected the assertion that it was done to protect her reputation. She did “not regret a single decision we have taken” during the pandemic, she said.
- NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant said a close contact of the NT mine worker had tested positive in the Hunter New England area of NSW. He was in isolation.
In Queensland:
- Two new cases of community transmission were announced. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said they were a couple who were believed to be linked to the previous hotel quarantine breach in the state. The cases were not linked to the Delta strain.
- Some easing of restrictions in Queensland have been pushed back, meaning, for example, that patronage limits in hotels and bars will not be wound back for at least a fortnight.
- On whether the state will see further restrictions, Queensland chief medical officer Dr Jeannette Young said: “We’ll just have to see how all of this evolves over the next few days.”
Updated
Hunt is asked whether AstraZeneca supplies should be opened up to younger people to take if they wish to.
He says:
AstraZeneca is recommended at 60 years and over, and under 59 not recommended, and the situation is that in particular Pfizer is the preferred vaccine, and there is Moderna and Novavax potentially coming on board.
At this stage, no change in the advice.
Updated
Hunt is asked about whether there will be a deal for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The health minister says the scientific and technical advisory group says there is no need for additional supplies of that vaccine.
Hunt says that issues with blood clots “may well apply to the J&J vaccine – that is a matter they are reviewing”.
He says the J&J vaccine “is unlikely to provide any additional protection or to have additional safeguards” to the vaccines Australia already has.
He also says there are an additional 50,000 vaccines being provided to NSW.
Hunt says the average amount of Pfizer supplies will “increase significantly” through July for all states.
Updated
Hunt says the advice from Australia’s chief health officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is to focus on protecting remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, after a mine worker tested positive in central Australia.
Hunt says:
The Northern Territory is responding magnificently, as is New South Wales.
But our primary concern, on the advice that I have from Paul Kelly and Professor Brendan Murphy, is to ensure that everything that can be done to protect remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.
The mine worker is believed to have caught the virus while in hotel quarantine in Brisbane. The strain has been identified as Delta, but is different from the Delta variant spreading in Sydney.
Updated
Hunt says 100% of 410 residential aged care facilities across Sydney have had their first dose of vaccinations.
He also says the Commonwealth has offered New South Wales support “if they need it” for contact tracing.
Updated
35 new Covid local cases across Australia
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, is speaking now.
There were 35 new locally acquired cases across the country until midnight last night, he says.
He also says that there is “very positive news” on vaccine take up, especially of second doses of AstraZeneca.
Updated
Here are the latest NSW exposure sites.
PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT - VENUES OF CONCERN pic.twitter.com/ccKmBnFNPx
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 27, 2021
The WA chief health officer, Dr Andrew Robertson, says the woman in Perth was potentially infectious between 22 and 24 June.
He says:
She visited a small gym called Mobius strength and conditioning and later in that day, in the evening, went to the Coles at Ocean Keys. And on the 23 June she saw some clients and at that evening attended the Indian Ocean Brewery.
On the 24th she attended the Burbridge special skills school and she saw some clients there, and in the afternoon she attended the Connolly Primary School.
Robertson says she might have also visited an Ikea – but that will be confirmed later.
Updated
Because it’s all happening today ... NSW Health has just released some additional exposure sites.
They include the shopping centres of Pacific Square in Maroubra and the Marrickville Metro. I’ll bring you some more on that soon.
The WA presser is still continuing.
Updated
Cook says he believes the husband of the woman has so far tested negative.
Residents of Perth and Peel are not banned from travelling – ie this is not a lockdown.
But, Cook says, anybody who is currently in the Perth and Peel regions will have to abide by the restrictions, even if they more to another region.
If you’re in Perth and Peel today and you’re travelling tonight, you will be required to wear a mask indoors or outdoors when you cannot physically distance.
Updated
Cook says there is no medical advice yet that they need to close schools. He also defends the decision to ban spectators from today’s AFL match.
He says:
We’ve got every reason to believe that this is the Delta variant. We need to move quickly and deliberately and aggressively.
So you might ask the other question: what if we let the footy go ahead even with mask and there had been an outbreak? Obviously people would be highly critical of us if we allowed it to go ahead in that context.
Updated
Some more details on the new case in Western Australia.
Cook says the case is a woman in her 60s, from Perth, who went on a trip last week to Sydney to visit her son, who lives there.
On Saturday 19 June she had lunch in the Lyfe cafe in Bondi with her husband and son. She and her husband then returned to Perth on 20 June, and the cafe was not listed as an exposure site at that time.
“This person did everything right,” Cook said, adding that she abided by all rules.
On 21 June she returned a negative result and was allowed to return to the community. On Friday she realised the Lyfe cafe had now been listed as an exposure site.
The woman, who is a physiotherapist, had seen some clients on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week and visited a shopping centre.
Cook also says there are 252 close contacts in WA from the Granite mine, where a worker in the Northern Territory also tested positive earlier this week.
Updated
The new restrictions in Perth and Peel mean that masks will be worn indoors and outdoors where physical distancing is not possible.
Spectators will immediately be banned from the upcoming West Coast Eagles v Western Bulldogs AFL match at Optus Stadium.
Homes will have a 30-person limit.
Hospitality venues, gyms and places of worship will remain open, but must comply with the two square metre rule and a maximum of 150 patrons.
Updated
Restrictions announced in Perth after new local case
The WA health minister, Roger Cook, is speaking now.
He announces that a physiotherapist from Perth has tested positive to Covid-19 after a trip to Sydney.
He says the assumption is that the woman has “the very infectious Delta variant”.
Perth and Peel will go into stage-one restrictions from 12pm today.
Updated
That’s where I will leave you for today. My colleague Naaman Zhou will guide you through the afternoon. Thanks for reading. It’s been a journey.
Western Australian health minister Roger Cook is due to begin a press conference soon.
Seven News in Perth is reporting that Western Australia has recorded a Covid-19 case. Footy news at the top, obviously.
No crowd allowed to attend today’s @WestCoastEagles @westernbulldogs clash @OptusStadium.
— Ryan Daniels (@FootyRhino) June 27, 2021
Game going ahead at this stage.
There’s a new COVID case in Perth’s northern suburbs. Details coming up @SevenPerth now.
What we've learned so far:
Let me quickly break down what’s happened in the past couple of hours in NSW, the Northern Territory and Queensland:
- NSW has recorded 30 new Covid-19 cases. Of those, 16 were not in isolation before their diagnosis. All of them are linked to the Bondi cluster, which is now at 110 cases. Of the new cases, 10 are linked to the Great Ocean Foods in Marrickville.
- Two cases remain under investigation, but both are at least geographically linked to Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian defended the government’s decision to delay a full lockdown of Sydney, saying she had followed health advice. She rejected the assertion that it was done to protect her reputation. She said she did “not regret a single decision we have taken” during the pandemic.
- NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant said a close contact of the NT mine worker had tested positive in the Hunter New England area of NSW. He was in isolation.
Shortly after that, NT chief minister Michael Gunner held a snap conference and told us:
- The areas of Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield would enter a snap 48-hour lockdown after the territory recorded four new Covid-19 cases.
- The four new cases were from the Delta strain of the virus.
- While those new cases (including the one now in NSW) are in isolation, Gunner said one of the cases had flown to Darwin from the mine before travelling to Palmerston.
- Gunner said that 15 people who travelled from the mine to Darwin and are now considered close contacts “remain unaccounted for”. And, he says, two of the close contacts of the first case recorded yesterday “agreed to isolate, but are now uncontactable”.
- He called it a “scary and uncertain” time for the Territory.
In Queensland, the premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced two new cases of community transmission.
- The new cases were a couple who are believed to be linked to the previous hotel quarantine breach in the state. The cases are not linked to the Delta strain.
- Some easing of restrictions in Queensland have been pushed back, meaning, for example, that patronage limits in hotels and bars will not be wound back for at least a fortnight.
- On whether the state will see further restrictions, Queensland chief medical officer Jeannette Young said: “We’ll just have to see how all of this evolves over the next few days.”
Updated
Choose your fighter et cetera.
Delta variant according to...
— Mary Ward (@marywardy) June 27, 2021
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard: “formidable foe”
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner: “tricky bugger”
Gunner is talking – for quite a while – about whether alcohol stores are “essential” for the purposes of the lockdown.
I absolutely understand there can be debate about whether alcohol is an essential good. Alcohol stores will remain open on consultation with the police commissioner. Closing could increase social order problems which we do not want to have and they are the things we work through and have done in our scenario testing.
Updated
Gunner says contact tracers in NT are working through “a significant call list” as a result of the plane movements from the mine.
The workload is huge. I am very mindful of the impact it is having on others. This was not a decision made lightly. We interrogate numbers a lot. We made sure we had absolute clarity of what we knew and what we did not know and squared away the things we did not know, we made this decision reluctantly but we know hard and early is better than late and so we have made this decision now about locking down.
Updated
The NT’s chief health officer Hugh Heggie says while the lockdown is only covering those three areas at the moment, there are exposure sites in other areas including Alice Springs.
“There will potentially be exposure site that implicate others in the territory, particularly in Darwin but also Alice Springs,” he says. Calls it a “critical” period for the Territory.
Gunner has also introduced a mask mandate for people in Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield.
Gunner calls this outbreak the NT’s “biggest test”.
It is scary and uncertain, I know that.
This is not something we ever wanted to happen here. We did not want to happen but we have always planned and prepared for the chance that it could happen. We have tested this scenario over and over again and we will do the hard things now to stay safe. We know how infectious this can be. One case turns to two, two into four, we know what happens. I would rather regret us going too hard to early then go too easy and risk it all.”
Updated
Close contacts of NT case 'uncontactable'
So this is moving very quickly but Gunner says the reason for their concern is that the mine worker’s flight to Darwin had 80 other passengers. They are all deemed “high-risk contacts”.
Of the 211 mine workers who have flown from the mine to Darwin, only 196 have been contacted. Gunner says 15 people who travelled from the mine to Darwin “remain unaccounted for”. And, he says, two of the close contacts of the first case recorded yesterday “agreed to isolate, but are now uncontactable”.
Updated
NT chief minister announces 48-hour lockdown for Darwin after four new Covid cases
Gunner has announced a 48-hour lockdown for Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield.
I cannot rule out the lockdown being longer.
Updated
NT chief minister Michael Gunner – who is holding a press conference right now – says the Palmerston case is a 64-year-old man.
He travelled by plane from the mine to Darwin on 25 June and was picked up by his wife.
His only other travel was to collect his adult daughter from her workplace.
He did not leave the car. His wife and daughter had no additional movements. When interviewed yesterday as part of a contact tracing he was isolating at home with his wife and daughter and reported to us that he had developed symptoms.
Updated
The Northern Territory has recorded four new positive Covid-19 cases. They are linked to the mine worker who had previously tested positive.
- One has travelled to NSW and is the case in NSW that Kerry Chant referred to in her press conference.
- Two are among those currently in isolation at the mine.
- One other lives in Palmerston and has been in the community.
Updated
Berejiklian is asked whether a two -week lockdown is long enough. The reporter makes the point that the Avalon outbreak over Christmas peaked at about 30 daily cases and rumbled on for much longer than two weeks. She passes it off to Chant, saying that was her recommendation.
Chant says:
Obviously we want sufficient time, to bring this outbreak under control and two weeks we deemed as necessary ... we want to get to no community transmission as soon as possible, basically extinguish it.
Chant then points out however, that during the Avalon outbreak there were actually two separate clusters, one of which had an unknown source which meant there were a number of unidentified cases associated with it.
The missing case was the key to the puzzle but what that missing case did was identify these whole chain of transmission which is what we have to mop up at this moment. Obviously, we have to be very cautious and look at the data everyday but that is why I indicated that, if we all take this very seriously, we maintain those testing numbers, then, two weeks may be sufficient to have that comfort but what I would [like to have in] the final week, basically, is for a significant period of time, having all of our cases totally in isolation and the close contacts already in isolation.
Updated
Berejiklian is asked about vaccine eligibility and whether she will change the rules for 30-39-year-olds who want to get vaccinated but cannot. She makes the not-so-subtle point that the NSW government can only deliver the number of vaccines that they are given.
The challenge is, we have literally millions of people in NSW wanting the vaccine. The NSW government cannot control how many doses we get. I want to assure the community whenever we get doses we get them in arms.
Whether we are in an outbreak, lockdown or otherwise, the NSW government has always said, give us more vaccines. That has always been our position ... no matter how good your systems is, it is not until the vast majority of the population is vaccinated that we will be able to protect our citizens. It is the bottom line.
Updated
Berejiklian is asked whether delayed introducing a lockdown because she wanted to maintain her reputation “as a premier that keeps open and looks after the economy” (the journalist’s words). She’s also asked whether she regrets criticising other states for locking down.
She says she doesn’t regret any decision she has made during the pandemic.
She says:
Can I say very, very confidently and strongly, any success NSW had had to date is because our government has to the letter followed the health advice ... the health advice changed very quickly yesterday and I made sure that, as soon as Dr Chant and the experts indicated concerns, we ... adopted the full health advice.
We are balancing the health advice with making sure our citizens were given that information and can I say these decisions are big decisions. It is not a decision you take lightly when you literally lockdown millions and millions of people but it is based on health advice and I am happy for any health expert to be asked any time of the day whether or not NSW government has followed their advice.
I have never cared about what people think about me but I care about keeping people safe and not putting burdens on them unless we absolutely have to.
Updated
Chant is asked about the chain of transmission to the original limousine driver. While authorities believe he caught it transporting a FedEx crew before 11 June, he himself has reportedly disputed that and believes he caught it at a Vaucluse cafe.
Chant says authorities don’t know “and I’ve got to say we may never do so”.
She seems to suggest the crew might have returned negative tests while they were in Australia. Chant says NSW Health has asked FedEx to ask “whether any flight crew had tested positive and we haven’t to my knowledge received any advice that any have”.
Updated
In a big 2020 throwback, Chant points out there has been a positive case at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula. That pub became the centre of a long-running outbreak last year.
A positive case linked to the Ocean Foods cluster attended the hotel between 7.30pm and 10.30pm on 23 June.
The Virgin air crew member was a close contact of a worker at Marrickville Great Ocean Foods. She stresses the crew member did not have symptoms and was not aware that they were a contact when they worked the shifts.
Chant is asked about how many people were on the five Virgin flights where a member of the crew has now tested positive. She doesn’t have the numbers but points out that because of state restrictions they “may not have been full flights”.
She’s also asked about the two cases which are still under investigation. Chant says they were “in an area where there were cases, and what we haven’t found is the exact contact point of linkage. But geographically they were in that area”.
Updated
On the pony club family who travelled from the eastern suburbs to the Hunter Valley that I told you about earlier:
No matter how much people think that they have to attend some of these events with their children or need to go on holidays, public health orders are clear.
NSW deputy police commissioner Gary Worboys is speaking now. Points out some examples of panic buying, in particular at a Woolworths in Kellyville where police had to be called.
People should not do that.
When we look at some of this panic buying, again we shake our heads. It is simply not required ... we ask the people be sensible in that regard from here on in.
Updated
On that exposure at the vaccine centre at Westmead Hospital which I told you about earlier, the person attended on the 22nd and, Chant says, was “unaware they were positive”.
They subsequently turned out to be a close contact of another case, she said, and were tested a few days later. She says NSW Health has been “conservative” in its approach by notifying people who attended the vaccine centre before and after the case, as well as healthcare staff who may have been close contacts.
She says all staff were wearing mask and the clinic employs social distancing.
Updated
Just to quickly break down those numbers.
- 30 new cases.
- 11 of those were already in isolation when they became infectious.
- Three of them were in isolation for part of their infection.
- 16 were not in isolation.
- One person is being treated in intensive care.
Updated
Chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant is speaking now.
She says 10 of the new cases are linked to the Great Ocean Foods wholesaler in Marrickville. That outbreak, which emerged yesterday, is of particular concern for NSW Health.
Chant reiterates that any person and household contacts who attended or directly received a delivery from Great Ocean Foods from Monday 21 June to Friday must immediately get tested and isolate.
There were 53,048 tests yesterday. She think the run of testing over the past few days is above even the northern beaches outbreak.
There is currently one person is being treated in an intensive care unit.
Updated
Berejiklian tells people to prepare to see Covid case numbers rise in the coming days.
Given how contagious [this strain] of the virus is we do anticipate over next few days case numbers are likely to increase even over what we have seen in the last few days,” she says.
Updated
Berejiklian is responding to some of those reports of people gathering around Bondi and Coogee. She makes the point that if you are outside exercising or walking you don’t need to wear a mask as long as you are socially distancing.
Gladys Berejiklian is speaking now. She says there have been more than 52,000 tests over the past 24 hours, resulting in those 30 new cases.
She says 11 of the new cases were already in isolation, and the rest of them were linked to the Bondi outbreak.
While that’s positive, she says “a number of those cases, even though they are linked, health understands a number of people were in the community while potentially infectious”.
She says there will be new exposure venues.
Updated
NSW records 30 new cases of Covid-19
NSW has recorded 30 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. All of them are linked to the Bondi cluster.
Updated
Before this highly anticipated press conference begins in Sydney, here’s our updated list of exposure sites and venues:
Updated
Rapid fire press conferences!
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant and NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys press conference at 11am.
— Benita Kolovos 🐯 (@benitakolovos) June 27, 2021
Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino, Housing Minister Richard Wynne and COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar up at 11:30am.
Eastern suburbs man and woman fined for travelling to Hunter Valley for pony club
Police in NSW have fined a man and woman from Sydney’s east who travelled to the Hunter region to attend a pony club trial.
Police say that about 3.20pm on Saturday officers from the Hunter Valley police district attended a pony club in Denman, north of Newcastle, following a report by a member of the public about three people from Sydney who were at a horse trial event.
Police said:
Police located a 56-year-old man, a 22-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl in the carpark who were not wearing face masks.
Inquiries revealed the man and girl, from Paddington, and the woman, from Maroubra, had travelled to Denman in breach of the stay-at-home order issued for Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick and City of Sydney local government areas at the time.
The man and woman were each issued a $1,000 PIN for travel from metropolitan Sydney area to NSW outside area and a $200 infringement for failing to wear a fitted face covering.
The girl was issued a warning.
In total, NSW police say they issued seven $1,000 fines yesterday and a further eight $200 infringements for failing to wear a fitted face covering.
Updated
Some of the Brisbane journalists at this presser are working hard to get Palaszczuk to say she wants game three of the State of Origin to be held in Queensland.
She doesn’t want to bite, and, as a New South Welshman I have to say, sounds more concerned about the Maroons getting belted again tonight in game two.
“In terms of the third match we have had no discussions with the NRL about that at the moment,” she said.
Someone asks her whether she thinks the Gold Coast could host game three, she says it would be a “great opportunity” but sounds lukewarm. ..
“It would be a huge economic boost but what would be great too is if our team wins tonight,” she says.
Unlikely!
Just reiterating, two new cases of Covid-19 in the community in Queensland.
Sunday 27 June – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 27, 2021
Two new locally acquired cases recorded overnight.
One new overseas acquired case recorded, detected in hotel quarantine.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/Pw73W4YBQd
Young says that while some restrictions are being introduced to align with the period of the NSW lockdown, the government is watching and waiting to see whether more cases appear in Queensland.
She doesn’t rule out the possibility of a lockdown if more cases develop:
We’re not winding them back as far as NSW has because we don’t have those outbreaks here. If we were to get outbreaks, we would – as we have always done – consider what we need to keep people safe.
We’ll just have to see how all of this evolves over the next few days.
Updated
Anyone in Queensland who has been in any of the 35 metropolitan LGAs across Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong or Shellharbour must follow the NSW lockdown rules for the next fortnight, or from 14 days since they left the area, Young announces.
Updated
Young says Queensland Health is also going through the process of contacting people who may have been fly-in fly-out workers at the Northern Territory mine where a worker tested positive on Friday.
The man was asymptomatic, and only discovered the infection when he was alerted to a potential hotel quarantine breach in Queensland through a message from interstate authorities.
The man had travelled from Bendigo via Brisbane, where he was ordered into a quarantine hotel on 17 June.
Young said:
If any of those people are in Queensland, we’re currently contacting them. We’ve already got hold of several and are testing them and they’ve gone into quarantine. There is a lot happening here but the straightforward message is please, if you are sick, it is absolutely critical that you immediately come forward, get tested and isolate till you get a negative result for Covid. That is just critical.
Updated
Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeanette Young, says the state’s health authorities are still working through the two community cases.
One of the cases is a worker at a direct factory outlet in Queensland, where there have previously been cases, but Young said authorities believed it was likely the person caught the virus through a contact who contracted the virus at a previous outbreak at a Portuguese restaurant in Brisbane.
We know that they are known to friends of some of the people who attended that Portuguese restaurant. So we’re just working that through.
We suspect that’s where the linkage has happened. They themselves did not attend that function at that restaurant. We’re just working through what’s happened there. So we suspect it will be the Alpha variant, the UK variant, but we’ll need to get genome sequencing back to confirm that.
The person did not have symptoms and attended “several gyms, several shopping centres”. The full list of venues will be released soon.
The second case is the person’s partner. They did develop symptoms but have also attended a number of venues and work on the Sunshine Coast.
Updated
Palaszczuk says the Queensland government has decided to pause the easing of some restrictions over the two-week lockdown in NSW. It means that bars and cafes will go back to limits of one person per 2 sq metres, and household visitor limits of 10 people.
On the flight attendant who travelled from Sydney, she says the “good news” is that the flights “weren’t very full”.
Updated
Two cases of community transmission in Queensland
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is speaking now. The state has recorded two new cases of community transmission of Covid-19. One of the cases included a person without symptoms who has been out and about in the community.
It is not the strain currently circulating in Sydney, she says. It is the ‘Alpha’ strain of the virus.
Updated
Just before 11pm last night NSW Health listed a few new exposure sites. Anyone who attended the following venues is considered a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days.
They are:
- Lyfe Cafe, Bondi: all day on Thursday, 24 June;
- Reading Cinema in Auburn: the screening of Fast & Furious 9 on Sunday 20 June at 6.30pm;
- Adora Handmade Chocolates, Earlwood: on Tuesday 22 June between 3.20pm and 3.45pm.
Updated
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian will hold a press conference at 11am.
Labor’s shadow environment minister, Chris Bowen, is speaking on the ABC’s Insiders program. He’s not criticising premier Gladys Berejiklian for seeking to hold off on a lockdown.
Sydneysiders know that this lockdown is necessary. I’m not here to criticise Gladys Berejiklian. On the contrary, I think all premiers deserve our support, regardless what party they’re from, in these tough decisions.
Instead, maybe unsurprisingly, he takes aim at the federal government. The lockdown is necessary, he says, because of Australia’s “pathetic vaccination record”.
Updated
South Australia has backdated its isolation rules for people from greater Sydney.
SA Health has announced that anyone who arrived in the state since Monday must now isolate for two weeks and get a Covid-19 test on days one, five and 13.
Previously, that group had to isolate only until their first negative test.
Updated
In State of Origin news, deputy premier John Barilaro insists New South Wales “will not be giving up our right to host” game three despite, you know, the spiralling Covid-19 outbreak.
Seems to have erroneously called it a decider, though. As if NSW isn’t going to easily win game two tonight.
Despite the growing risk of COVID-19 in Greater Sydney, we will not be giving up our right to host the State of Origin decider.
— John Barilaro MP (@JohnBarilaroMP) June 26, 2021
I’ve spoken to @pvlandys and indicated we could host the game in Newcastle if the health advice recommends it not be held in Sydney.
Updated
In case you missed it yesterday, the New Zealand government has paused quarantine-free travel from all Australian states and territories until 9:59pm on Tuesday.
NZ’s Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, said the “precautionary step” would be reviewed on Monday.
He said:
I acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience that comes with this pause, but given the high level of transmissibility of what appears to be the Delta variant, and the fact that there are now multiple community clusters, it is the right thing to do to keep Covid-19 out of New Zealand.
The government said the “short pause” would give the country a chance to understand what it called a “developing situation”, and flagged the possibility of introducing pre-departure testing for flights from Australia.
Updated
New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro speaking on Sky this morning.
DP John Barilaro speaking w @Kieran_Gilbert this morning: “In hindsight there’s a lot of things we could have done differently, we could have managed Ruby Princess differently, we could have mandated the mask on that limousine driver.
— Charlotte Mortlock (@CMMortlock) June 26, 2021
Possible Covid exposure at Sydney vaccination hub
NSW Health has also begun contacting people who were at the Covid-19 vaccination hub at Westmead.
The venue is not on the exposure list as yet, but the Guardian understands people who were at the vaccine hub on 22 June have been contacted by the health department and told to isolate until 6 July.
“You may have Covid-19 and could give it to others,” the text message seen by the Guardian states.
Updated
Some good news: Victoria has reported no new cases recorded yesterday.
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and 3 new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 26, 2021
- 14,982 vaccine doses were administered
- 20,698 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco
#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/f8OXi4IsaM
The five Virgin Airlines flights that the infected aircrew member worked on are as follows:
- VA939, Friday 25 June: departed Sydney at 11.51am and arrived in Brisbane at 1.25pm;
- VA334, Friday 25 June: departed Brisbane at 2.59pm and arrived in Melbourne at 5.16pm;
- VA827, Saturday 26 June: departed Melbourne at 9am and arrived in Sydney at 10.14am;
- VA517, Saturday 26 June: departed Sydney at 11.14am and arrived in Gold Coast at 12.40pm;
- VA524, Saturday 26 June: departed Gold Coast at 1.26pm and arrived in Sydney at 2.47pm.
Victoria has been alerted to a positive case who travelled to Melbourne on Virgin Flight 334 from Brisbane on 25 June, landing 5:20pm. The case, who left VIC on 26 June, was a close contact of a NSW case. The result was processed interstate and won't be in Victoria’s numbers.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 26, 2021
Here’s Virgin’s full statement on the case:
The crew member is now in isolation and Virgin Australia is rapidly contacting all team members who are close contacts. Virgin Australia is requiring those crew members to cease flying, get tested and isolate.
All passengers on flights the crew member operated will be contacted by health authorities and advised on the correct protocol. The aircraft this crew member has flown on are being deep-cleaned overnight, as are any Virgin Australia spaces the crew member visited. Virgin Australia is working with the relevant airports to ensure all public spaces are also being deep-cleaned.
The affected crew member is a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case from a known cluster in Sydney. Virgin Australia understands the crew member was not aware they were a close contact of a positive case until after they completed their last flight today.
NSW Health advises that five flights ... on which the crew member flew from 24 June 2021 are of concern. The crew member may have been infectious during that time.
The crew member also had an overnight layover in Melbourne on 25 June 2021, staying at the Holiday Inn Express Southbank. While in Melbourne, the crew member remained in hotel isolation under prescribed Covid protocols for overnighting crew members from New South Wales.
Updated
Good morning. My name is Michael McGowan and I’ll be bringing you all of today’s developments as much of Sydney wakes to its first full day of this Covid-enforced lockdown.
The troubling news overnight is that health authorities have confirmed that a Sydney-based flight attendant who worked several shifts for Virgin Airlines has tested positive for the virus.
The crew member worked on five services while potentially infectious on 25 and 26 June, including Brisbane, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
Virgin said in a statement that the crew member was a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case from a known cluster in Sydney, but was not aware they were a close contact of a positive case until after they completed their last flight on Saturday.
The cluster grew to 83 cases on Saturday, prompting the state government to expand the previously limited lockdown to all of greater Sydney and extend it to midnight on 9 July.
Updated
