Australia news LIVE NSW COVID-19 cases continue to soar as harsher restrictions implemented for eight Sydney LGAs
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Queensland’s Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young are due to provide a coronavirus update from 8.15am AEST.
It comes after a student at a Brisbane school tested positive to COVID-19.
Watch live below.
Latest postsA Queensland student has tested positive to COVID-19, triggering the closure of Indooroopilly State High School in Brisbane’s western suburbs.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says authorities are double-checking that the test isn’t a false positive. In the meantime, nearby schools have been told to go about their normal business.
We can expect more information at Queensland’s daily coronavirus update later this morning. Sometime around 8.15am AEST.
More on this story here.
Joe Biden’s latest plan to increase the number of Americans who are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 involves federal mandates and cash incentives for the general public.
The US President will require federal workers to provide proof of vaccination or wear masks, practice social distancing and undergo regular testing. America’s federal government is the country’s largest employer, with just over 2 million employees and some 500,000 postal service workers.
US President Joe Biden urges the public to vaccinated. Credit:AP
Under the changes, newly-vaccinated Americans will also be eligible for cash payments of around $135.
Read the full story here.
The scientist who created the AstraZeneca vaccine fears mixed messaging in Australia over who should take the jab may cost lives, and says wealthy nations have a moral duty to not prioritise children for vaccination.
Dame Sarah Gilbert, who was given a standing ovation at Wimbledon for her role as co-architect of the vaccine, made the intervention amid an intensifying debate in Australia over whether the wider use of AstraZeneca could have shortened or even prevented lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne.
Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert.Credit:John Cairns
AstraZeneca was to be the backbone of Australia’s vaccination program but faith in the jab was damaged by medical advice recommending against its use among under 60s due the risk of an exceptionally rare blood clotting condition.
Read the full story here.
NSW Health sent through a new list of exposure venues late last night, mostly located in the city’s west and south.
Anyone who attended the following locations is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result:
There were also 30 venues added to the casual contact list, meaning those people must get a test and isolate until they get a result.
The locations include a number of venues in Sydney’s west, including the Lidcombe Costco on July 24, Westfield Parramatta on July 25, Woolworths in Blacktown on July 23 and 26 and the Parramatta Kmart on July 25.
View the full list of NSW exposure sites here.
University of New South Wales Adjunct Professor Bill Bowtell was speaking on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise earlier.
You might recall that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has described Sydney’s restrictions as the harshest in Australia. While that may be correct currently, due to Victoria being out of lockdown, the policy settings in Greater Sydney are not the strictest Australia has ever seen.
Adjunct Professor Bill Bowtell at a Senate hearing last year.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s what Professor Bowtell had to say:
“The harshest, best restrictions that can get rid of Delta are the ones adopted in Melbourne ... weeks ago when they moved swiftly, stopped Delta over a few weeks and have now come out of lockdown. These restrictions [in Sydney] are not what is going to get rid of Delta anytime soon.
“It was a very black day yesterday ... and it looks like it will go in the wrong direction today and for the next few weeks. A lot more has to be done.â€
Defence Minister Peter Dutton says the Australian Defence Force will be hitting Sydney’s streets “as soon as possible†to help NSW Police enforce tightened lockdown orders.
“You’ll see some people today and over the next day or two we’ll stand up about 300 people,†he said on 2GB radio this morning.
Minister for Defence Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“They’ll work alongside NSW police. It’s important to remember ADF personnel don’t have the powers of NSW police officers.â€
Mr Dutton said the ADF support would free-up NSW Police to conduct more compliance activities.
“Obviously there’s an enforcement issue in NSW and they can really help multiply the force,†he said.
“If there’s a task being completed by three police officers, then as an example there’s the prospect of one police officer being joined by two soldiers and that allows the NSW police to cover much more territory and that helps to contain the virus.â€
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller formally requested the back-up yesterday, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered Ms Berejiklian support earlier in the month.
From today, residents of eight local government areas across Sydney’s west and south-west will also face tighter rules on exercise, masks and shopping.
Army troops will door-knock homes of people who have tested positive to COVID-19 and those deemed to be close contacts to ensure they are isolating in a crackdown on Sydney hotspots after NSW reached a record number of new infections.
The ADF has accepted NSW’s request for six weeks of assistance to ensure people are staying home and not mixing with extended families. Transmission between family members remains one of the main reasons the virus continues to spread, with almost 200 children aged nine or under testing positive in Sydney in the past two weeks.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state should prepare for an enhanced police presence.Credit:Janie Barrett
Along with the increase in positive cases in children, there has been a rise in the number of infections among unvaccinated people in their 20s, with cases in young people tripling in the past two weeks.
Read the full story here.
Victorian health authorities say that a traffic controller who tested positive for COVID-19 after working at a testing clinic is linked to the state’s current outbreaks.
The Chief Health Officer’s update, issued last night, said genomic testing had verified the connection; however, authorities are still investigating how the man acquired the virus.
Residents at a Newport apartment complex, in Melbourne’s south-west, are being tested after a traffic controller visited their building during his infectious period.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The traffic controller is believed to have worked at the Moonee Valley Racecourse drive-through testing site for two days while he was infectious.
A new COVID case has also been identified in the Bass Coast Shire, east of Melbourne, the update said. That new case was in quarantine throughout their infectious period and will be reported in today’s official case numbers.
More on this story here.
Australia’s path out of lockdowns will be decided by how many people are vaccinated but will also take into account the economic cost of restrictions that have already cost taxpayers and businesses billions of dollars.
Political leaders will be warned of the economic cost of sustained lockdowns in a Treasury analysis to balance new advice to national cabinet on the target vaccination rate required to open up.
Australia will need to vaccinate 80 per cent of the entire population to lift restrictions, a new report says.Credit:Dean Sewell
National cabinet will also discuss whether snap lockdowns on low coronavirus case numbers are the best way to handle Delta variant outbreaks, given their success in Victoria and South Australia.
Read the full story here.
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