Australia news LIVE Medical regulator considers COVID-19 rapid antigen testing in workplaces homes ACT lockdown extended as infections rise in NSW Victoria

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Long queues have formed at current testing sites in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat after two popular restaurants and a Big W outlet were listed as tier-1 exposure sites on Tuesday.

Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney said another testing site would be set up shortly to cater for continued high demand in coming days. A walk-in testing centre has been established at the Ballarat respiratory clinic, and a drive-through site has been set up at Skipton Street.

Ballarat will go into lockdown from 11.59pm tonight until midnight on Wednesday, September 22. Credit:Penny Stephens

Cr Moloney said the Lake View Hotel at Lake Wendouree and The Forge Pizzeria were popular with Ballarat residents, so it was little surprise the city was going back into lockdown after they became exposure sites.

“When people saw those locations on the exposure site list everyone was fairly resigned to the fact that it will get worse before it gets better,” he said.

In case you missed it, the Lake View Hotel at Lake Wendouree has been declared a tier-2 site on September 9 and 10 between 7.15am and 7.55am. The almost two-hour window between 9.45am to 11.30am on September 10 has been identified as a tier-1 exposure.

The Forge Pizzeria is a tier-1 site, with a case attending the venue from 2.50pm to 3.30pm on September 11. Big W Ballarat, on Greenville and Curtis Street, is also listed as a tier-1 site from 4.45pm to 5.30pm on September 10.

Premier Daniel Andrews says health bureaucrats making decisions about issuing permits to allow Victorians to return home were doing the best they can.

His comments followed an announcement from the Victorian Ombudsman this morning that she was investigating the interstate travel permit system after 80 complaints from Victorians stranded in NSW.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass.Credit:Penny Stephens

They include children wanting to come home to be with their parents after their school in NSW closed, and a woman trying to return home to care for her adult daughter after she was permitted to travel to NSW for a funeral.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton declared all of NSW an “extreme risk zone” and Victoria closed its border on July 9.

Mr Andrews said he welcomed the Ombudsman’s investigation, but said the public servants behind the permit system had a difficult job.

“To try and strike that balance is an incredibly emotional and challenging thing,” Mr Andrews said.

“The teams of public servants who make those decisions, they take their responsibilities very seriously. They’re all doing their best.”

Mr Andrews said “more positive announcements” were to come about getting Victorians home from NSW.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the state should hit the target of 70 per cent of people receiving one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by tomorrow.

Mr Andrews said there were no announcements yet on outdoor gatherings in the state, and reiterated that any easing of restrictions this week will be modest. He said the rate was currently at 68.3 per cent.

The state was originally expected to reach the vaccine target on September 23. Credit:Eddie Jim

“We should hit 70 tomorrow,” Mr Andrews told the state’s COVID press conference this afternoon.

Mr Andrews said he could announce an easing of restrictions sooner than Sunday, which is when he originally expected to outline a road map for the state. But he said any easing will be modest.

“I’m not overselling this. It’s modest. The notion of extra time and extra distance to be able to travel from home for exercise, if we can go further than that with some social interactions as well...we’ll get those announcements as soon as possible,” he said.

The government committed weeks ago to increasing the travel limit from five kilometres to 10 kilometres and the exercise time limit from two to three hours when the 70 per cent first-dose target was hit.

This was initially forecast to be September 23, but quicker vaccine uptake means it should be reached sooner.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says national cabinet will likely confirm that healthcare workers will be subject to mandatory vaccinations.

Mr Andrews has told the state’s COVID-19 press conference this afternoon that he anticipated national cabinet would confirm health advice for a vaccine mandate.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says healthcare workers will likely be subject to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. Credit:Kate Geraghty

NSW, Queensland and Western Australia have already announced compulsory vaccinations for the sector and aged care workers are already required to get fully vaccinated in order to work.

Earlier today, St Vincent’s Health announced it would require its staff in three states, including Victoria, to get the vaccine.

A further 10 cases have been added to the cases out of an outbreak from a construction site at Box Hill in Melbourne’s east.

Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar told the state’s press conference this afternoon a total of 146 cases have now been linked to the worksite.

Another five cases have been linked to the Fitzroy Community School, the principal of which has been accused of telling parents that their children could still come to school in lockdown.

That outbreak is now at 38 cases in total, Mr Weimar said, and 76 primary close contacts.

“Eight out of 10 of those have now returned negative test results, so hopefully we’re starting to see the bottom of the barrel in terms of the number of cases we expect to see with that particular outbreak,” he said.

The number of Victorians in hospital with COVID-19 is at 173, 44 are in intensive care and 22 are on ventilators.

A woman who booked a COVID-19 vaccine appointment more than six weeks ago has been refused entry to the Qudos Bank Arena vaccination hub in Sydney after arriving for her booking with her seven-week-old baby.

Eleanor Hillard, who travelled from Como in southern Sydney for an appointment on Wednesday morning, said it was distressing to be turned away at the vaccination centre because she was with her newborn.

Eleanor Hillard on Wednesday.Credit:Janie Barrett

Ms Hillard said she had called the vaccination hotline on Tuesday to confirm she could bring a child along to the appointment.

“I was told that I couldn’t come in to get my vaccination this morning because I had a baby in arms. And there were three other women in the exact same position, all with babies. We were told that we couldn’t come in,” said Ms Hillard.

“I called the COVID helpline yesterday to double-check I could come with a baby and I was told there shouldn’t be a problem, and that people were coming in with older children. And so it was quite distressing this morning to be told that I couldn’t come in.”

Ms Hillard said while it was suggested she have a vaccination hub staff member care for the baby during the appointment, she was reluctant to do so.

“The person at the door said that they didn’t want to be liable if something did happen to me in there, and that it would be a risk that they didn’t want to take on with my child.”

“I left home at 8:30am, travelled 30 kilometres to get here this morning, so this is really disappointing.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says with half of the state not yet fully vaccinated, it would be irresponsible and dangerous to open up.

Mr Andrews told the COVID-19 press conference this afternoon about 68.3 per cent of Victorians have had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, but less than 50 per cent had received two doses.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Paul Jeffers

He has so far resisted making any announcement of an easing of restrictions for Melburnians, but said Sunday will be the day he will outline a road map for the state.

“We’re not yet at 50 per cent double dose...the notion of opening up now is not only irresponsible, it is dangerous,” Mr Andrews said.

“It is not what the national plan calls for, and it is not what our government will do.”

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has suggested NSW’s road map to easing coronavirus restrictions once 70 per cent of people aged 16 and over in the state are fully vaccinated is not consistent with the plan agreed by national cabinet.

He told a press conference earlier today that the Berejiklian government’s plan was also “heavily caveated” and “not a detailed road map for the future”.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced some restrictions will ease for fully-vaccinated people once 70 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received both doses of a coronavirus vaccine. This milestone is expected to be reached in mid-October.

The freedoms extended to fully-vaccinated people in NSW will include small gatherings in homes and trips to the pub and other eateries. Masks will still be required in indoor public venues.

The NSW government is still working on the plan for a further easing of restrictions once 80 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated.

Mr Barr had this to say about the plan:

NSW have put in place a range of measures that are a month away. [The plan is] heavily caveated, based on local circumstances and variances within their own state. It’s not a detailed roadmap for the future. It’s a guess about what might happen in four weeks’ time.

He said that the agreement in the national plan was that the 70 and 80 per cent vaccination targets, which are expected to trigger a staggered easing of restrictions, were related to the national average.

“I don’t know exactly when those thresholds will be passed because there are a number of variables there,” Mr Barr said.

“We have greater visibility and certainty in relation to our own vaccination trajectory, but we do note that the Australian average will be very heavily determined because of the sheer weight of population by NSW and Victoria, with the next largest state being Queensland.”

He said it did not appear that NSW was acting “consistent with the national cabinet agreement”.

“Now, [if] national cabinet chooses to wind back and undo or abandon the national plan in any form, that would happen at a national cabinet meeting, it wouldn’t happen from this podium or indeed from the NSW Premier’s press conference or a prime ministerial press conference.

“I recognise that the Prime Minister is the most senior political figure in the country and the NSW Premier leads the biggest state. But we are all equal members of the national cabinet.”

A number of exposure sites have been identified ahead of the regional Victorian city of Ballarat going into lockdown from midnight tonight.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has told the state’s COVID press conference that anyone who was at the Lake View Hotel at Lake Wendouree on September 9 and 10 between 7.15am and 7.55am on both days to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Credit:Joe Armao

The almost two-hour window between 9.45am to 11.30am on September 10 has been identified as a tier 1 exposure.

Big W has been identified as an exposure site on September 10 and The Forge Pizzeria on September 11.

“So if you’re in Ballarat, please stay alert, be aware of symptoms, get tested if you’ve been to any of these exposure sites or if you’ve got even the mildest of symptoms,” Professor Sutton said.

“If you’ve got that opportunity to get vaccinated and you’ve got no symptoms, and you haven’t been to exposure sites, please step up for the vaccine.”

A walk-in testing centre has been established at the Ballarat respiratory clinic, and a drive-through site has been set up at Skipton Street.

A full list of Victorian exposure sites can be found here.

Two men, one aged in his 40s and another in his 70s, have died with COVID-19 in Victoria.

Premier Daniel Andrews told the state’s COVID press conference a short time ago that the man in his 40s was from Whittlesea and the other man, in his 70s, was from the Wyndham area.

“We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences,” Mr Andrews said.

The death of the man in his 40s was first reported by the Australian Services Union on Tuesday, with the union confirming that one of their Victorian members, 46-year-old Martin “Marty” Blight, had died with COVID-19.

Mr Andrews said Mr Blight was otherwise healthy and though he had been booked in for a vaccination, he hadn’t received it yet.

The state recorded 423 new cases of COVID-19, and two further deaths in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday, with 149 cases linked to current outbreaks.

The number of new cases was 22 fewer than Tuesday, and 50 fewer than Monday.

The Department of Health said 36,615 new vaccines were administered, and 42,694 tests were received.

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