Australia news LIVE NSW records 1220 new local COVID-19 cases eight deaths Victoria records 246 new cases NZ prepares to relax some restrictions

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Victorian Premier Dan Andrews and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton are due to address the media shortly.

Watch live below.

Meanwhile, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr is due to provide a coronavirus update around the same time.

Watch that press conference below.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has joined WA in accusing the federal government of providing New South Wales with more vaccine doses than they were entitled to following a report on ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night.

An analysis of the vaccine rollout by the program found NSW’s share had increased to 45 per cent of the nation’s doses compared to 32 per cent in June.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Getty

Speaking at Tuesday’s daily press conference, Mr Andrews said the national cabinet’s agreement was “not a national plan to vaccinate Sydney”.

“I signed up to a national plan to vaccinate the country.

“Some don’t like to see this as a race. But a race, it surely is. What I didn’t know was that Premier Berejiklian is in a sprint, while the rest of us are supposed to do some sort of egg and spoon thing.”

Mr Andrews urged federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to front up and explain how he will fix the discrepancy, which he described as a “secret” and “under the table” arrangement.

“Only the Commonwealth government can fix it.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has revealed that a 17-year-old is in hospital needing a ventilator in the state, where a total of 110 people are in hospital.

Thirty people are in intensive care and 14 are on a ventilator.

“The age range of those ventilated patients is 17 years of age, through to 76 years of age and there are people in their 40s, 50s, 60s [and] in between,” Mr Andrews said at Victoria’s daily COVID-19 press conference.

“Anyone can fall ill to this, anyone can fall seriously ill to this virus. That’s why we all have to work so hard.”

Mr Andrews reinforced the message that Victorians should not be waiting for a particular brand of vaccine, with 11,400 AstraZeneca appointments available this week.

The state will expand its vaccine program with an additional 40,000 appointments each week at state hubs and a 50 per cent increase in capacity at some sites.

There are now 61.4 per cent of Victorians who’ve received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the state is expected to beat its target of vaccinating 1 million people in five weeks.

“We are ahead of schedule so it looks like we will beat that,” the Premier said.

There were 59,000 bookings made yesterday, including by senior students.

The ACT’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The territory has recorded 19 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19. That’s up from yesterday’s 11 cases.

There are now 230 active cases of coronavirus across the territory. Eight coronavirus patients are in ACT hospitals.

Today’s numbers are off the back of yesterday’s more than 2600 tests.

The ACT’s lockdown is due to continue until at least Friday, September 17.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says fully vaccinated office workers could still be recommended to work from home once the state’s economy begins to reopen at 70 per cent full vaccination rates for people aged over 16.

The state is currently projected to hit that target in mid-October.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Tuesday’s COVID-19 update.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

“It could still be the case we recommend people work from home unless they have to at 70 per cent double dose, that could be the health advice,” the Premier said.

However, Ms Berejiklian said the hospitality industry should definitely “dust off [its] COVIDSafe plans” in preparation for the first stage of reopening.

“Let’s hope that October reopening means it’s the last time we ever have a statewide lockdown; it means in the future we’ll deal with outbreaks on a localised basis.”

The Premier was also asked if vaccination should be mandated at NSW Parliament, given the plan for it to return in October.

She declined to directly address the question but said she “wouldn’t want to be in the room with lots of people who aren’t vaccinated”.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says there will be factors beyond vaccination coverage to consider when the state hits its 70 per cent double-dose target for people aged over 16.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has flagged restrictions will ease significantly for people who are fully vaccinated once that targeted is reached.

Dr Kerry ChantCredit:Dominic Lorrimer

Asked if there would need to be a two-week lag between the state hitting the target and restrictions being eased for the fully vaccinated, given the time it takes for the vaccines to become effective, Dr Chant said there would need to be a number of considerations.

“We consider a range of factors,” she said, noting case trajectory, vaccination coverage and if it is equitably distributed and coverage of the vulnerable would all be important in informing her health advice.

“We consider a multiple of factors in giving our advice and we keep on reviewing that advice in light of those metrics as they change.”

Dr Chant maintained her previous position that NSW could hit 90 per cent vaccination coverage, noting childhood vaccination coverage in the state is above 95 per cent.

“We generally are a community that embraces the opportunities afforded by vaccines in preventing infectious diseases,” she said.

Earlier in the press conference, Dr Chant was asked if it could be possible vaccine passports might “expire” if people did not get a booster.

She said they would need to work through the details but expected booster uptake would be similarly high.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has called on the federal government to make sure other states “catch up” on Pfizer doses after it was revealed New South Wales was receiving 12 per cent more than its per capita share.

At a press conference held earlier this morning, Mr McGowan said he previously supported NSW’s extra vaccines because of the state’s current outbreak.

However, he said it was now time for other states to get their share with WA’s rollout dragging behind the nation at 35.4 per cent fully vaccinated.

“We supported the extra half a million Polish doses going to NSW, we supported each and every time the federal government brought forward supply to NSW, which they did on three or so occasions to help them deal with the outbreak,” he said.

“It was the best part of a million extra doses above their per capita share, but it’s now time for a catch-up.

“We’ve done our bit, we’d like our share of Pfizer now in Western Australia, we want to have a boost in our supply of Pfizer to make up for what we provided to NSW willingly.”

Mr McGowan said he had raised the issue of vaccine supply at the past two national cabinet meetings.

An analysis of the vaccine rollout by the ABC’s 7.30 program found NSW’s share had increased to 45 per cent of the nation’s doses compared to 32 per cent in June.

Despite assurances from the Morrison government the rollout would occur per capita, WA’s share has dropped to 7 per cent compared to its 10 per cent share of the nation’s population.

After yesterday’s release of modelling by the Burnet Institute which has informed NSW Health’s hospital surge planning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been asked if she has seen any modelling predicting the number of COVID-19 deaths over the coming months.

The Premier said she had not. “Certainly none that I’ve seen,” she said, adding “the biggest protection for us is to follow the health orders and to get vaccinated”.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Tuesday’s COVID-19 update.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Ms Berejiklian was asked a number of questions regarding the state’s planned reopening when 70 per cent of people aged over 16 have been double dosed with the vaccine.

She declined to confirm the government was working with an October 14 date for the easing of restrictions, or that a pilot of the Service NSW vaccination certificate â€" which will work alongside the existing Medicare record â€" would focus on wealthier areas of Sydney with high vaccination rates and low case numbers.

“We’ll get advice from Health as to where the best locations are for that,” she said. “I’m sure there will be a variety of locations to make sure we get it right.”

Pauline Deweerd, the executive director of Aboriginal health at St Vincent’s Health Network, has addressed the NSW press conference this morning, appealing to the state’s Aboriginal people to get vaccinated as soon as they are offered a shot.

All Aboriginal people aged 12 and over are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

“Family and connections are a huge part of our culture, being with our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, sister and brothers, and extended families, is important to us, and our identity and belonging,” Ms Deweerd said.

“I know what is being asked of us to do is sometimes hard. I also know we want to come together and have the freedoms of what we have always enjoyed in coming together with mob. But right now, our mob need to survive this pandemic.

“Staying home and getting vaccinated is the way that we’ll get through this. It is how we will make sure that no-one is missing when we have the opportunities to get together again.”

Ms Deweerd recalled a case of an Aboriginal man who had received treatment from St Vincent’s staff, spending many weeks in intensive care.

“He’s on the mend now and doing OK now, but he’s scared and hopes he never gets the virus again and is now asking for a vaccine to prevent this ever happening to him again,” she said.

“That’s why, right now, for all Aboriginal people across NSW, we need to listen to the Premier, and the health professionals, and we need to protect each other, especially mob, from this virus.”

On Monday, Western Sydney Local Health District announced the death of an Aboriginal woman in her 70s from the remote community of Enngonia, near Bourke. She is understood to be the second Aboriginal person to die from COVID-19 in NSW.

New Zealand’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The country has reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 in the community, a similar figure to the past three days.

All of today’s new cases were detected in Auckland.

There are now 841 cases linked to the outbreak which began on August 17 following the discovery of a single case from an Australian returnee.

The NZ government is relaxing coronavirus restrictions outside of Auckland from 11.59pm today, stepping down from level three restrictions (which is one step down from a lockdown) to level two. This will enable people to return to work and school, but masks must be worn in most indoor settings and strict caps apply on numbers in venues.

Auckland, the country’s largest city, will remain in a strict lockdown until at least next Thursday.

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