Australia news LIVE NSW records 1288 new local COVID-19 cases seven deaths as state hits 7 million vaccination target Victoria records 176 new cases
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Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has again tightened its borders to New South Wales to restrict the risk of COVID-19 cases crossing states with permitted workers.
In Thursday night’s daily statement, Professor Brett Sutton said the specified worker list would be reduced and testing obligations for those who still qualify would be ramped up.
“With over one thousand cases per day and a trajectory of exponential growth, the risk that NSW poses to Victoria is greater than ever,†Professor Sutton said.
“It’s crucial that our quarantine and testing obligations are adequate for the workers travelling in and out of NSW extreme risk zones.â€
Professor Sutton said the specified worker list would be reduced, but did not specify which would be affected.
Permitted workers will now need to be tested within 72 hours of entering Victoria, on days 6, 7 or 8 after entering, and again on day 13 or 14.
The new rules come into effect from 6pm tomorrow.
Yesterday, the CHO similarly announced that towns would be removed from a bubble with parts of NSW from 11.59pm Thursday.
Six local government areas â€" Bendigo, Shepparton, Benalla, Buloke, Loddon, Yarriambiack â€" and two NSW council areas â€" Broken Hill and Edward River â€" will no longer be included as a cross border community.
Residents from those areas will no longer be able to enter Victoria from NSW using the permit.
Low-rise public housing units in Richmond in Melbourne’s inner suburbs have been listed as a tier one exposure site.
Anyone who has been to the building, at 127 Elizabeth Street, at any time between Sunday and Wednesday is considered a close contact and needs to isolate for 14 days.
The person who tested positive has been moved into the state’s quarantine system.
Wraparound services, including COVID-19 testing, have been provided to residents.
There are now 892 exposure sites listed in Victoria. A bodyworks car repair shop in Bundoora, the Northern General Bodyworks at 25 The Concord, has been identified as a tier one exposure site for last Friday between 8am and 5pm.
A number of tier two sites have also gone up. People who visited the sites at the relevant times must get tested urgently and isolate until receiving a negative result.
Have you and your family been infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Victoria’s latest outbreak?
Our reporters at The Age are interested in speaking to you about your experience. Please provide your contact details so that we can get in touch.
A school in Sydney’s outer west has been forced to close after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19.
NSW Education said Werrington Public School will shut on Friday to allow for contact tracing and cleaning.
Camp Australia onsite after-school care will also be closed.
“The NSW Department of Education will continue to work closely with NSW Health to ensure the health and safety of all students and staff is maintained,†the department said in a statement.
The medical regulator says a 59-year-old woman from Queensland and a 54-year-old man from NSW have died after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, now known as Vaxzevria.
In a report released today, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said “since last week’s report, a further 9 reports of blood clots and low blood platelets have been assessed as confirmed or probable TTS [thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome] likely to be linked to the first dose of Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca).â€
TTS is a “rare event involving serious blood clots with a low blood platelet count†which is “triggered by the immune system’s response to Vaxzevriaâ€, the TGA says.
“Sadly, two people died this week â€" a 59-year-old woman from Queensland with confirmed TTS and a 54-year-old man from NSW with probable TTS. The TGA extends its sincerest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are in close communication with the Queensland authorities who are undertaking further investigation of this case.
“More than half of the new cases of TTS reported this week were in individuals aged 60 years or over. We are closely monitoring cases of TTS as Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) is now being used more frequently in people aged under 60 years. To date, we have not observed a significant change in the rate of TTS in this age group.â€
Former federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly â€" newly an MP with Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party â€" is using the tail end of the sitting fortnight in Federal Parliament to make another stand against COVID-19 vaccines.
He attempted to move a motion similar to the private member’s bill he introduced on Monday morning, railing against what he believes is the coercion of people to get immunised. He’s also opposing the idea of vaccine passports being required to cross state borders.
Craig Kelly in Parliament this week.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
He’s seconded by the outspoken Nationals MP George Christensen, who also voted with Mr Kelly. However, Labor and the rest of the government MPs voted against them and they lost.
A total of 81,683 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Victoria yesterday, and of those 46,436 were people receiving their first shot.
It will take about 645,000 more Victorians rolling up their sleeves for the state to reach its target of 70 per cent of it eligible population (those aged 16 or above) having received their first dose.
This is a milestone that has now been reached in NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said today.
Over the past week, about 37,500 people a day statewide have been receiving their first vaccine shot, and if that pace continues then Victoria is set to reach that 70 per cent target around September 20.
Once that target is met, some of the changes to restrictions will include the five-kilometre limit being expanded to 10 kilometres, exercise time being extended from two hours to three hours and childminding for school-aged children being permitted.
You can see how Victoria is tracking towards the 70 per cent target in the graph below:
Five COVID-19 cases have been acquired at a northern Sydney hospital, health authorities have confirmed, including a fully vaccinated patient whose death was announced this morning.
The man, in his 80s, was one of three patients who caught the virus while receiving treatment at Hornsby Hospital. Two staff have also tested positive.
A spokesperson for Northern Sydney Local Health District said the cases were all believed to be linked.
“Hornsby Hospital staff have offered their sincere condolences to the family of a man in his 80s with COVID-19 who died at the hospital,†the spokesperson said.
“He was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 yet sadly died with significant underlying health conditions. Hospital staff are providing every support to his family at this difficult time.â€
The man was one of seven deaths reported this morning, including a 12th death connected to the Liverpool Hospital outbreak.
Twenty-six of the 107 deaths in NSW’s outbreak acquired their infections in a public hospital.
Queensland Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker has branded Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk “utterly unreasonable†for suggesting unvaccinated children aged under 12 will be vulnerable when the country begins to ease COVID-19 restrictions.
“All parents are concerned about their children. I’m a parent myself. And the safety of my kids is always the first thing on my mind,†Senator Stoker told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas.
Senator Amanda Stoker.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
“I completely get it that’s something parents are concerned about. But the data on this is very clear. That is, even unvaccinated children experience mild to moderate symptoms ... if they find themselves unlucky enough to be exposed to the virus.â€
Senator Stoker said Ms Palaszczuk had “set a goal post that can be met by no-one†because “nowhere in the world†was a COVID-19 vaccine approved for children aged under 12. Australia will shortly begin vaccinating adolescents aged between 12 and 15 with the Pfizer vaccine.
“The other thing to note about it is she’s had 18 months to raise these concerns. Why now? Why is this the moment that she’s decided to put the welfare of children on the table?
“If the Premier had a good look at the Doherty [Institute] modelling [underpinning the national plan] she would have seen that the potential for risks to children was considered.
“And it was found to be extremely low. What all the experts say about this virus, even its Delta strain, is that its highest impact is in the over 70 age bracket where about 7 per cent of people find themselves in the ICU.â€
The national plan envisages that restrictions will start to be eased when 70 to 80 per cent of the Australian population aged over 16 is fully vaccinated. But the Doherty Institute has made clear that there is no “freedom day†and “we will need to keep some public health measures in place â€" test, trace, isolate and quarantine†to keep the reproduction number of the virus below one.
Shepparton residents have swamped coronavirus testing sites and formed massive queues that spilled out onto roads as thousands of people turned out for day 13 tests to determine whether they can be released from isolation.
By 2pm on Thursday 3481 people had taken tests with 120 staff working across four drive-through and two walk-in sites.
Demand for testing was high in Shepparton on Thursday when thousands of day 13 tests were due. Credit:Justin McManus
There were 13 new cases linked to Victoria’s Shepparton outbreak on Thursday - all of them detected through day 13 tests.
Goulburn Valley Health chief executive Matt Sharp said 126 people in total had tested positive coronavirus and there were still more than 100 exposure sites in the regional city.
But Acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie said regional Victoria was not experiencing a high rate of community transmission.
Additional resources from Melbourne and Bendigo were sent to Shepparton to boost testing capacity this week.
“Thousands of tests will be conducted in the coming days,†Professor Cowie said.
He said people who were unable to get a day 13 test could do so the following day without triggering an extension to their isolation period.
“If it’s day 14, and it’s negative that clearance will occur in a timely fashion.â€
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