Australia news LIVE COVID-19 cases continue to grow across the nation New Zealand prepares to relax some restrictions

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A Woolworths supermarket in Melbourne’s south east and offices in Port Melbourne have been added to Victoria’s growing list of tier-1 exposure sites.

In Victoria, “tier 1” means you are considered a close contact and need to isolate for 14 days if you visited a site at the times listed.

The tier-1 sites added late last night include:

The Woolworths at 31-33 Bath Street, Chelsea, on Saturday, September 4 between 12.30pm and 1.30pm;

Plummer Street buildings one and two in Port Melbourne for all of last Tuesday, August 31, last Wednesday, September 1, and September 2, 3, 4 and 6;

Kong Chinese Bistro on Somerton Road in Roxburgh Park, in Melbourne’s north, on Friday, September 3, between 6.15pm and 7.20pm;

The Highlands Medical Clinic in Craigieburn, also in the northern suburbs, for Friday, September 3, 9.40am to 10.40am;

The Yarra Youth Centre in Fitzroy for August 27, 1pm to 5.10pm; and

Simultech Australia (an equipment supplier) in Lilydale, in Melbourne’s north east, for Thursday, September 2, between 8.30am to 4.30pm.

Many new tier-2 sites have also been listed online, requiring anyone who visited to immediately test and isolate until returning a negative result.

Those can be viewed here.

In case you missed it, NSW Health released a couple of new exposure sites in regional NSW last night.

Anyone who visited the following venues is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days:

The Reject Shop on Galena Street in Broken Hill for August 29, between 10am and 5pm, and September 4 between 11am and 5pm; and

The Dubbo IGA on Victoria Street for August 31, between 5.45am and 6am.

A number of new casual-contact venues across NSW that are associated with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have also been added to the exposure list.

They are available to view here.

Doctors are urging Victorians not to wait for the Pfizer vaccine, warning that many people who have had blood clots or strokes still wrongly believe the AstraZeneca vaccine is unsafe for them.

On a day when Victoria recorded 246 new coronavirus cases, the highest number since August last year, Health Minister Martin Foley revealed that most people who are sick with COVID-19 in Victorian hospitals had not received any vaccine, despite being eligible.

People queue at the Royal Exhibition Building vaccination centre in Carlton on Saturday.Credit:Joe Armao

General practitioners say there is still a lot of misinformation about who cannot get the AstraZeneca vaccine, meaning vulnerable people with underlying conditions that put them at much higher risk of dying of coronavirus were unnecessarily waiting for the Pfizer vaccine.

They say the number of people who could not have the locally manufactured AstraZeneca jab for medical reasons was actually “very small”.

More on the situation in Victoria here.

Sydney’s worst-affected COVID-19 areas will have 2000 cases a day by next week as hospitals prepare to implement emergency plans to call back nurses from vaccination hubs and turn operating theatres into intensive care units.

New modelling from Melbourne’s Burnet Institute shows projections for the next three months in Sydney’s COVID-19 hotspots, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian has not made public the full modelling.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the health system’s “surge capacity, we estimate, is in excess of what we will need”.Credit:Edwina Pickles

Instead, she has released “worst-case scenario modelling” for only the 12 local areas of concern, which projected rising case numbers based on mask-wearing, social distancing and increased vaccination rates.

Read the full story here.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the widespread easing of COVID-19 restrictions across New Zealand as the nation appears to have largely contained its Delta outbreak.

From tonight, all of New Zealand outside Auckland will move from level 3 to level 2 restrictions, allowing people to return to work and school.

“We’ve done so well to get this outbreak under control,” Ms Ardern said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Credit:AP

Auckland will remain at the most restrictive level 4 setting, which allows people to leave their home only for essential work and to buy essential supplies, until at least next Thursday.

Read more about the situation in New Zealand here.

Good morning and thanks for reading our live coverage.

It’s Tuesday, September 7. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be on deck for the first half of the day.

Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.

Sydney’s hospital system is preparing for coronavirus cases to peak as early as next week. The city’s hotspots could have 2000 cases a day by the middle of this month, according to modelling released by Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Yesterday, NSW recorded 1281 new cases of COVID-19.

Victoria reported 246 new coronavirus cases yesterday, the highest daily number in more than a year. The state is set to hit its 70 per cent first dose vaccine target in less than a fortnight, with expectations that this will lead to not only lead to a 10km travel radius but perhaps some additional outdoor freedoms.

The ACT recorded 11 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 yesterday. On the vaccination front, 70.6 per cent of Canberrans have now received their first jab.

Both Queensland and WA reported zero local cases yesterday. WA Premier Mark McGowan says states without local coronavirus cases will want to “stay as COVID-free for as long as we can” and that the rest of Australia should welcome his tough border measures because it has helped the national economy.

New Zealand yesterday reported 20 new cases of COVID-19 in the community for the third day straight. Later today, everywhere outside Auckland will shift to alert level 2 â€" which means people can once again gather indoors with capacity limits, but masks will remain mandatory in settings such as public transport.

And in non-COVID news, Victoria could have a new opposition leader today. Former leader Matthew Guy, who lost the 2018 state election to Dan Andrews, hopes to topple his replacement Michael O’Brien (who is from the party’s moderate faction) in a vote to be held as soon as this morning. Victoria is due for a state election next year.

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