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

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Once again, we’ve got both the NSW and Victorian press conferences scheduled for 11am. You can watch both below.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty provide their update on the COVID-19 outbreak:

Premier Daniel Andrews and Victorian COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar provide their coronavirus update:

Both streams should begin at about 11am. Please refresh your browser window if you’re having any technical difficulties.

NSW has recorded 1218 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours - its highest daily toll.

Six people died, including three people in their 80s and three people in their 70s. Four were unvaccinated and two had one dose.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of those six individuals,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

“Obviously western Sydney and south-western Sydney remain those areas of concern in greater Sydney, and western NSW remains the greatest area of concern in regional NSW.”

Sixty-five per cent of the state’s population have now had a first dose of the vaccine, and 35 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated.

“So we are halfway to that magic 70 per cent number across the state in order to have those extra freedoms,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We expect that to land somewhere during October. But the next big target that I want us to achieve as a state is that 70 per cent single dose vaccination, because then we will have confidence as to when we are going to [achieve] that double dose.”

Queensland has reported one local case in home quarantine, as authorities announced a new mass vaccination hub to open on Brisbane’s north within weeks.

The case was a household contact of previous cases and had been in isolation for their entire infectious period, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “So we have absolutely no concerns about that.”

In an effort to boost the state’s lagging vaccination rate, Ms Palaszczuk said a new mass hub will open in Boondal from September 8.

The facility will offer 1500 bookings initially before ramping up to 3000 a day.

The new infection takes the state’s active caseload to 26 active cases. A total of 6500 tests were carried out in the past 24 hours, and Queensland health authorities administered 14,843 vaccine doses on Saturday.

Federal Labor health spokesman Mark Butler says vaccinating children aged 12 to 15-years-old should be “a very urgent focus of this government”, and questioned why they weren’t included in the 70 to 80 per cent vaccination targets set in the national plan.

Appearing on ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Mr Butler said children had become the “front line” in the Delta outbreaks, saying one in every 30 teenagers who caught COVID was ending up in hospital.

“I’ve been very clear, as have a number of premiers, that 12 to 15-year-olds who are now eligible for the vaccine should be counted as part of the national plan,” Mr Butler said.

His comments prompted Insiders’ host David Speers to point out that health experts, including Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly, have said that COVID-19 was far less severe in children than in adults and there were far fewer hospitalisations from children with the Delta variant in Australia.

The national reopening plan, based on modelling by the Doherty Institute, has set a 70 per cent vaccination target of Australians aged over 16 as the point at which lockdown restrictions can be eased, with further relaxation to occur at 80 per cent.

The modelling plan, agreed to by the national cabinet, concluded that including 12 to 15-year-olds in the vaccine roll out as an early priority group “would not materially change the expected overall health outcomes at each key vaccination threshold.”

Mr Butler said he had spoken with parents who have children with COVID-19 “and for many of them it’s been a very, very severe disease”. For a thorough explainer on how Delta is affecting children, read this by science reporter Liam Mannix.

Asked whether he disagreed with the Doherty modelling, Mr Butler said no. “We need to work with the plan we’ve got, but I do say that [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison needs to tell parents when their 12 to 15-year-old children will be vaccinated.

“If they are not counted as part of the national plan, at the very least he needs to make a separate commitment to parents: ‘this is when your children will be vaccinated’,” Mr Butler said.

As we reported earlier, Minister Greg Hunt told parents their children in that age group could be vaccinated from September 13.

The number of exposure sites in Victoria has almost reached 900, with some residents of another inner-Melbourne apartment building being expected to isolate for 14 days after a positive case visited the building every day for almost a week.

The latest sites of concern across the state include in Newport, Dandenong, West Melbourne, Hoppers Crossing, South Melbourne, Werribee and Tarneit.

A Dudley Street apartment complex in West Melbourne has been listed as a tier-2 exposure site across six days, with some residents being asked by the Health Department to isolate for a full 14 days.

The apartment complex, which is near the corner of Spencer Street, was listed between August 23 and August 28 after a case attended the building.

New tier-2 exposure sites â€" which require attendees to get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative test â€" include a 7-Eleven and Cellarbrations in Newport, a Chemist Warehouse and a Coles supermarket in Dandenong, and an IGA in Hoppers Crossing.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt this morning also outlined the country’s progress toward the 70 and 80 per cent adult vaccination thresholds that are critical for life to return to normal in Australia.

He said 18.9 million vaccination doses had been administered in total, and that 57.5 per cent of the population had received their first dose.

“To put it another way, to get to the 70 percent from where we are, it’s less than 2.7 million additional Australians stepping forward,” Mr Hunt said.

“To get to the 80 per cent on first doses, it’s less than 4.7 million Australians, and we’re already over the 80 per cent mark for everybody over 60. Within the week, we will be over the 80 per cent mark for everybody over 50.

“That shows it can be done. We are on the pathway, we are getting there.”

Mr Hunt said COVID zero was not an option, and that no country could avoid the virus forever.

“There is no scenario under which any credible epidemiologist or advisor that I have seen says that any country can avoid this forever. And so, therefore, vaccination will save lives,” he said.

NSW Health this morning 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 at 1 Karella Avenue, Villawood 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 been a popular activity for young people during lockdown, which has caused some councils in south-west Sydney to remove hoops and 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.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says the death rate from COVID-19 in NSW is 10 per cent of that in Victoria across the states’ protracted outbreaks in 2020 and 2021, showing that vaccinations are critical to saving lives.

“The numbers of infections in the Victorian wave and the NSW wave are almost even at this point of time. Yet, the rate of loss of life in NSW is 10 per cent of that, approximately, in Victoria,” Mr Hunt said on Sky News this morning.

“Just over 800 lives lost, agonisingly, last year [in Victoria]. Just over 80 lives lost, at this [similar] point in NSW. And there will be more, but the difference between those two is the vaccination rates, that’s what has saved lives.”

Mr Hunt said the government was “very confident” that every 12 to 15-year-old would have access to the vaccine this year. He said Pfizer had been approved as “safe and effective for kids” and he anticipated the Therapeutic Goods Administration would give the green light for the Moderna vaccine in the next two weeks.

“This fortnight, we’re expecting to get advice from the TGA on Moderna for 12 to 17-year-olds. It’s currently approved for 18 plus and I’m hopeful that will be added, which will give a second vaccine,” Mr Hunt said.

He said children aged 12 to 15 years old would get access to the Pfizer vaccine from September 13.

Victoria’s daily case numbers have been released: the state recorded 92 new local cases yesterday from 51,030 tests.

Today’s tally is the highest total since September 3 last year, when Victoria recorded 112 new cases in one day.

Of the 92 cases, 61 have so far been linked to existing cases and outbreaks - which means the source of 31 is yet to be established. The Department of Health did not report how many new cases were in the community during their infectious period, with further information to be provided later this morning.

There were 31,436 vaccine doses administered in the same period. Read more here.

In Victoria, a group of Labor government MPs believe the toughest lockdown rules may need to be lifted because driving Delta cases close to zero may not be attainable.

A senior government source, speaking anonymously to detail internal thinking, said there was no realistic prospect of the lockdown easing on Thursday, and some MPs argue the government may need to ease some rules and consider freedoms for those fully vaccinated in coming weeks.

Another 64 cases were recorded in Victoria yesterday including 15 with an unknown source. New clusters continue to emerge and a call by prominent University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely last week to consider a lighter lockdown sparked conversation among ministers and MPs dealing with increasingly despondent constituents.

People line up outside the Melbourne Exhibition Centre vaccine hub.Credit:Getty Images

Seven of the 10 Labor ministers and backbenchers who spoke to this masthead yesterday said current settings â€" including a curfew, ban on playgrounds and clamps on essential sectors â€" should remain until no newly infected people spent any time infectious in the community.

But three MPs have turned their mind to the prospect that, as a number of epidemiologists have argued, the state will not be able to extinguish this outbreak and the potential for new introductions from NSW meant Victoria would need to keep managing fresh outbreaks.

They argue some rules may be able to be eased without risking a major spike in cases. Read the full story here.

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