Australia COVID LIVE updates NSW and Victoria cases continue to grow as states ramp up vaccination measures

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More than two-thirds of Australians support vaccine passports, mandatory jabs for high-risk workers and locking people out of workplaces and hospitality venues if they refuse to get the jab, political correspondent James Massola reports today.

Vaccine passports and in some sectors mandatory vaccinations are shaping as a key element of the path out of lockdowns and a return to normal life, and an exclusive Resolve Political Monitor survey for The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age indicates majority support for such moves.

The poll found 82 per cent of people agreed or strongly agreed that “high-risk occupations, like aged care or quarantine, should require workers to be vaccinated”. Aged care workers will need to have at least one jab from September 17, while in NSW it will be mandatory for teachers from November.

Vaccine passports enjoy similar strong support, with 73 per cent of people either agreeing or strongly agreeing that “a vaccine passport or certificate to prove you have had a jab is a good idea”.

Sixty-seven per cent agreed or strongly agreed that “if people choose not to vaccinate, venues or workplaces should also be able to not let them in”. And 63 per cent agreed or strongly agreed hospitality venues such as restaurants, cafes and pubs should be able to insist customers were vaccinated before they were allowed to enter.

Australians are more cautious about making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for everyone, with 48 per cent of people agreeing or strongly agreeing with that statement, 24 per cent undecided and 28 per cent of people disagreeing or strongly disagreeing.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and welcome to today’s COVID-19 live blog. My name is Natassia Chrysanthos and I’ll guide you through the day’s news until early afternoon.

Before we begin - here’s where we left off yesterday:

NSW has recorded 1035 locally acquired cases. Two people died in hospital due to COVID-19: a woman in her 70s died at Nepean Hospital and a woman in her 80s at Westmead Hospital.

Victoria recorded 64 new locally acquired cases. The state’s health authorities are still trying to decipher the source of 41 mystery cases in the current outbreak. There are now 701 active cases across Victoria.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said that from Friday this coming week, couples who wish to marry will be able to with a maximum of five guests allowed to attend, “in addition to those obviously necessary for the actual service”. Mr Hazzard said the fine print would be ironed out in the coming days.

Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Michael Kidd told a press conference this afternoon the Commonwealth was working with states and territories who wished to roll out school-based vaccination programs for adolescents, with 12 to 15-year-olds eligible from mid-September.

New Zealand recorded 82 new COVID-19 cases in the Auckland community, taking the national total of the current outbreak to 429.

NSW Health has issued a new alert for anyone who was at basketball courts in Villawood, western Sydney, late last weekend.

People who were at the Koonoona Park Basketball Courts in Villawood on 1 Karella Avenue between 1pm and 6pm last Sunday, August 22, are now considered close contacts who must isolate for 14 days since they were there - so the next seven days.

Basketball has become a popular activity for young people during lockdown, which has caused some councils in south-west Sydney have removed hoops to prevent them gathering in parks. Playgrounds are mostly open, however.

People playing basketball in Tasker Park in Canterbury.Credit:James Brickwood

There are also new casual contact venues of concern. You can find them on the NSW government website.

Those who have checked in at a close contact venue are now receiving text messages from NSW Health, with a follow-up call to discuss isolation requirements coming after.

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