Australia COVID LIVE updates Cases grow across the nation as demonstrations poised to continue in Victoria

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has lambasted anti-vaccine advocates who may have been booking COVID-19 jab appointments and then not showing up.

Mr Andrews said he had not been directly briefed on reports that doses were being wasted by those who opposed vaccination in Victoria, but it was “not the sort of behaviour we want to see”.

“You might have a view, but don’t stand in the way of other people expressing their view by pretending to take an appointment,” he said.

“That means that someone who wants to turn up and get vaccinated so that they can save their life and the life of others can’t get an appointment. That just doesn’t make any sense.

“That’s the wrong thing to do, if in fact it is happening.”

Mr Andrews noted there were more than 3400 Pfizer vaccine doses available over the next week which can be booked online, with almost 7000 AstraZeneca booking available.

When it comes to Australia’s internal borders, Mr Andrews said he “certainly hoped” state and territory borders would open once the country hit the 80 per cent double dose target, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged premiers and chief ministers to allow interstate travel.

But Mr Andrews said ultimately it was not Mr Morrison’s call, and the “the national plan, which we are faithfully delivering, doesn’t really go into these issues”.

“No one’s locked into having borders open,” Mr Andrews said.

“I want them to be open, I want people to be able to travel across the state, interstate travel and overseas if they think that’s something that they want to do.”

Victoria’s government has announced a series of ‘vaccinated economy’ trials to begin from October 11.

Major Events Minister Martin Pakula said businesses in regional Victoria would able to flag their interest in operating at the eased restrictions they would otherwise enter once 70 per cent of the population are double-vaccinated.

There will be 20 trial sites in regional Victorian areas with high rates of COVID-19 vaccination. The council areas where the trials will take place are Buloke, Pyrenees, Bass Coast, Bendigo, East Gippsland and Warrnambool.

The trials will begin around a fortnight before Victoria is expected to hit the 70 per cent double dose threshold, on around October 26.

“This is a really important step on the path towards becoming an open vaccinated economy,” Mr Pakula said.

“We need these trials to ensure that we understand all of the potential issues that might arise.

“Moreover, we need people to get vaccinated so that they can, once we get to 70 and 80 per cent, attend these venues, attend these events, attend these concerts safely and ensure that they don’t catch the virus or pass the virus on to others.”

There were 961 new local cases and three cases acquired overseas recorded in NSW in the latest reporting period.

Some of Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions will ease on Tuesday night, with metropolitan Melbourne’s travel limit to increase to 15km and certain outdoor sports like golf to resume.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the state was likely to reach the 80 per cent single dose limit by Tuesday, meaning from 11.59pm on that day, restrictions would change in both regional and metropolitan parts of Victoria.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Asanka Ratnayake

Those in Melbourne will be able to shop and exercise further away their homes on Wednesday, with outdoor exercise like golf, tennis and boating to reopen.

Five people who are fully vaccinated plus a vaccinated trainer will be able to complete personal training outdoors in Melbourne, with changes also being made to playgrounds from Tuesday 11.59pm.

In regional Victoria, the outdoor venue cap will increase from 20 to 30, with other changes to rules around hair and beauty services.

“[80 per cent single dose] is a very important threshold, and of course I think that our double dose numbers will go beyond the 80 per cent mark which is very good,” Mr Andrews said.

“They are modest things, it’s not Freedom Day, it’s not the end of the lockdown. That is getting closer every day though.”

Watch Victoria’s COVID-19 update live here:

NSW has recorded 961 new local cases and nine deaths linked to COVID-19.

The nine deaths include six men and three women. Eight of the nine people were unvaccinated and one person had received one dose of a vaccine.

Three of the people were from south-western Sydney, four were from western Sydney, one person was from Sydney’s inner-west and one was from the eastern suburbs.

The state is expected to reach a 60 per cent double-dose vaccination rate in the next 24 hours, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Sunday.

Ms Berejiklian said the government would this week release its roadmap for easing restrictions once 80 per cent of the state is fully vaccinated.

“There is not long to go before NSW starts approaching that 70 per cent double dose figure and I ask everybody to please hold the line, it’s really important we work hard now so that when we do start opening up at 70 per cent, we are able to do so safely and by bringing everyone together,” she said.

“I do want to foreshadow that the NSW government is very close to finalising our roadmap for 80 per cent double dose but also our roadmap as to when unvaccinated people will be able to participate in greater activity and we will be releasing back this week.”

Ms Berejiklian said case numbers have been trending down in western and south-western Sydney.

However, cases are rising in Illawarra and Central Coast, with people in those regions being asked to “remain vigilant”.

Watch the NSW update live here:

Digital COVID-19 vaccine exemption certificates will be available for those with a legitimate medical reason from next month, the federal government has revealed.

But the national body for GPs has flagged concerns about patients demanding vaccine exemptions when they don’t qualify, amid ever expanding vaccine mandates for workplaces and flagged “no vax, no entry” policies.

Legitimate exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines can only be assessed and lodged to the Australian Immunisation Register by GPs, paediatricians and infectious disease physicians on behalf of a patient. Patients can’t access the register themselves.

The federal Department of Health said digital exemption certificates would be available through Services Australia next month as vaccine certificates are already.

Both NSW and Victoria have said Services Australia vaccine data will be added to state check-in apps, with a two-week pilot program starting on October 6 in NSW and similar trials flagged for regional Victoria.

However, Karen Price, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said many people with chronic illnesses or auto-immune conditions still incorrectly believed they couldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Read the full story here.

The Matildas will play on home soil for the first time in more than 19 months after the NSW government approved Football Australia’s landmark biosecurity measures and accepted hosting rights of a two-game friendly series against Brazil in October.

The decision by the state government to host the games means football will be a test case for the gradual reopening of Australian borders to major international sporting events after the COVID-19 outbreak that has put much of Australia into lockdown in recent months.

The Matildas played in Tokyo in August.Credit:Getty

It will begin with the Matildas two-match series against Brazil on October 23 and 26 at Commbank Stadium in Parramatta and opens the door for the Socceroos to also return home for November’s World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia.

Football Australia is understood to have been given the green light by the federal government to by-pass the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine after proposing unprecedented biosecurity measures, including the requirement for all travelling players, staff and coaches to wear proximity tracking wristbands.

Read the full story here.

Isabella and Nicola Christou, 15-year-old twins going stir crazy in their Guildford home these school holidays, can’t wait until Monday, when they can have a dip at their local pool, the Granville Swimming Centre.

“Like most teen girls in strict lockdown they have been going berserk in their bedrooms, mainly doing online activities for fun or walking our dog as their only form of recreation,” says their father, Cumberland mayor Steve Christou.

Cathy Chianese enjoys a swim at Granville Swimming Centre which she would normally swim in everyday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

As of 7am Monday, they will be able to make the five-minute trip to the 1936-built Granville Pool, the state’s fourth oldest Olympic-sized pool, formerly known as the “Wimbledon of diving”, where Paul Hogan once worked as an attendant.

“Lockdown has been hard on everyone here but especially the kids and families, who don’t live close to the coast … it is a 45- to 55-minute drive to the nearest beach for us, so to have a place to swim five minutes away will be magic,” Cr Christou said.

“Most of the people here can’t take their laptop and work from home; they’re in retail, hospitality or manufacturing and have to still travel to work, so to have a pool to go to again will be a real treat.”

When Cr Christou, along with other western Sydney mayors, met Premier Gladys Berejiklian earlier this month, along with the request for curfews to be lifted they asked for local pools to be reopened.

Granville, along with a host of other outdoor pools across NSW, will reopen on Monday, a reward for the fully vaccinated, especially those in local government areas (LGAs) of concern.

Read the full story here.

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