Australia COVID LIVE updates NSW records 319 new cases Victoria records 29 and Queensland records 13

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If you’re just joining us, welcome. I hope you’re enjoying your Saturday at home (presumably in lockdown).

I am shortly going to hand the blog over to my colleague Carrie Fellner, but before I go here is a quick snapshot of today’s COVID news:

NSW has reported another record day with 319 new COVID cases and five deaths. Canterbury-Bankstown LGA is causing the greatest concern for health authorities with rising case numbers and poor compliance in smaller workplaces and shops.

Armidale in the NSW Northern Tablelands has recorded two cases, sending the local government area into a week-long lockdown akin to that of the Newcastle and Hunter region. Residents of Dubbo have also been placed on alert after sewage detections of the virus strain that causes COVID.

Up to 4000 authorised supermarket and food distribution workers can roll up their sleeves for a vaccine on Sunday at Sydney Olympic Park.

Victoria has recorded 29 new cases. All are linked to known cases but were not in quarantine during their infectious period. Contact tracers are scrambling to get on top of the outbreak and the exposure sites continue to grow, now reaching over 80.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said too many people are hosting gatherings, pleading with Victorians to abide by the state’s COVID-rules that ban home visits.

Seven Victorian patients are in hospital with COVID and two are in ICU - both cases are on ventilators. The state is set to receive 150,000 extra doses of vaccine from the federal government.

Queensland has recorded 13 new cases in the past 24 hours. Twelve cases were isolated during their infectious period and one is under investigation. There are now 102 cases linked to the Delta outbreak. The government on Saturday said a decision about the lockdown in Queensland would not be made until Sunday.

Thank you for joining me through the day. There is plenty more news to come.

Stay with us.

There are now 100 active exposure sites in Victoria, 21 of those were added around the same time as today’s press conference.

An infected staff member, reflected the 29 new local cases reported on Saturday, worked at Spectacle Hub in Caroline Springs on Monday and Wednesday. The store is now listed as a tier-1 site.

There are a number of tier-1 and tier-2 sites in Caroline Springs after a case attended a shopping centre and a number of shops on Wednesday.

A Flemington public housing tower has also been added to the list of tier 2 exposure sites after eight members in a single-family household tested positive for the virus.

An infected case visited Taylors Hill Village shopping centre on July 31 - a bottle shop, pharmacy and a lottery retailer are now listed as tier-2 sites. Another positive case visited Shell Coles express on Wednesday which is now a tier-2 site.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews today said those who are hosting gatherings and haven’t been caught are “lucky” and pleaded with Victorians to abide by the state’s COVID-rules that ban home visits.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Eddie Jim

“There’s a lot of other visiting going on. This isn’t about a particular group or a particular postcode,” Premier Andrews said.

“Other people across Melbourne and Victoria, were doing some visiting on the sly thinking it’s all innocent and fine. They’ve [been] lucky... Others have not been so fortunate“.

“We’re all human, we’re all part of families, we’d all dearly love to say the people that we love the most ... concern needs to be turned to doing the right thing”.

Mr Andrews said apartment blocks had been an issue in the past but he said that he is working with community leaders to manage the outbreaks.

“In recent times we’ve had a number of apartment blocks where [the virus] has got in there,” he said. “I did a Zoom meeting with a number of multicultural leaders ... the responses are very positive.”

Back to NSW, where a total of five patients have now died after catching COVID-19 in the geriatric and vascular wards at Liverpool Hospital, after the announcement of three additional deaths today.

The new deaths were a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s, all from south-west Sydney, NSW Health announced on Saturday morning.

The cluster began when two fully vaccinated nurses and one partially vaccinated student nurse tested positive.

Liverpool in lockdown. Credit:Sam Mooy

Deputy Chief Heath Officer Jeremy McAnulty on Saturday described the hospital’s cluster as a “tragedy”. He said 29 patients had now tested positive after contracting the virus in the hospital, in addition to four staff members.

“The hospital takes this very seriously,” he said. “This is a tragedy to occur and everyone is working very hard at the facility, and across NSW Health, to protect patients and staff members”.

He said a careful review of infection control took place after any COVID-19 exposure in a NSW hospital.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said although “a doughnut day is always terrific,” a day where every positive case is isolating while infectious is the goal.

“You could have four, five, or 20 cases but if they were all tucked away from other people, isolating and can’t have given it to anyone else, that’s as good as a zero-day,” he said.

The Premier would not say if the week-long lockdown would be extended.Credit:Scott McNaughton

“Zero is always the aim, but it’s not zero cases. It’s zero cases that were out and about potentially infecting others.

“The mysteries are a concern to us but we’re all working to try and solve the puzzle to find out where these cases were.”

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said of most concerning was how many exposure sites are now active.

The list grew to over 100 during the course of the press conference.

“We’re seeing a very significant number of cases coming through and it’s a number of significant transmission sites that are now are now active,” he said.

“The other biggest priority for us is to establish how many more cases we may have had upstream so that we can establish all those different chains of transmission.”

Quickly back to NSW to bring you an important venue update: John Hunter Hospital Emergency Department in Newcastle has been listed as a close contact venue.

Anyone who attended the hospital’s emergency department from Thursday August 5 at 8.42pm to Friday August 6 at 1.50am is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they were there, regardless of the result.

You can stay up to date with all venues of concern on the NSW Government website.

During the Victorian update, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar revealed eight of the state’s 29 new local coronavirus cases are located in a single-family household in a Flemington public housing tower.

“Those eight positive cases relocated, two days ago and last night and they are now an alternative and safe accommodation,” he said.

“The residents have been informed this morning, I will continue that work over the coming days”.

“We will provide full food and welfare support for the community to enable them to play their isolation part to get tested, and to do the right thing.”

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar provided a summary of Saturday’s cases:

25 cases are linked to the Hobsons Bay outbreak which centres around a teacher at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina and her husband. Four are linked to Spectacle Hub, including one staff member, one customer, and two household members.

Four new cases are family members and eight cases are now linked to the Maribyrnong cluster. There are now 5,520 primary close contacts.

One case is associated with Newport Football Club.

The remaining cases are staff and students from Al-Taqwa college, including one staff member, fourteen students, and two household members.

A case who attended Warringa park specialist school.

Two cases are old infections, which include two family members from the Maribyrnong outbreak which may be reported as historical cases.

One case is related to an exposure site in Altona North.

More than 600 vaccinations have been administered in the Al-Taqwa pop-up testing site.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said on Saturday there were seven COVID-19 patients in hospital and two in ICU - both on ventilators.

Beginning the state’s daily COVID-19 update, he welcomed news from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that 150,000 extra vaccine doses would arrive from the federal government.

He described Saturday’s daily tally - 29 new local cases - as a “significant” number of cases, especially given they involve “mystery” cases.

“[The cases] are linked to outbreaks and we don’t know where those two outbreaks started,” Mr Andrews said.

“So many of these transmissions, and others that we will find in the coming days, will have been because people were visiting others,” he said. “They shouldn’t have been doing that.”

A number of exposure sites were added before the press conference started and Mr Andrews urged people to check the list regularly for updates.

A public housing tower at 130 Racecourse Road in Flemington is now listed as a tier-2 site, after a positive case attended the building from Tuesday to Friday.

Anyone who visited the tower during the times listed must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Victoria recorded 29 new local cases on its second full day of a statewide lockdown.

Premier Daniel Andrews said at least two mystery cases are driving two chains of transmission in an outbreak that has spread to a Melbourne public housing tower.

If you missed it, you can catch the daily briefing here:

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