Australia news LIVE Victoria records 22 new local COVID-19 cases NSW ACT infections continue to grow extra Pfizer jabs touch down

Key postsHide key posts

Latest

1 of 1

Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded 22 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and zero in hotel quarantine.

The Department of Health says 17 of the local cases are linked to known outbreaks, which means there are â€" at this stage â€" five mystery cases.

Eight of today’s new cases were out and about in the community for at least some of their infectious period.

There are now 205 active cases of COVID-19 across Victoria.

Those numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 29,986 coronavirus tests.

Melbourne lord mayor Sally Capp has blamed lockdown “fatigue” and beautiful weather for a spate of social distancing breaches across her city over the weekend, including a pub crawl in the inner suburb of Richmond.

Footage has also been circulating on social media in recent days of Melburnians gathering in large groups for picnics in parks and socialising outside bars.

The City of Melbourne’s Sally Capp. Credit:Joe Armao

Ms Capp told the Today show the behaviour was disappointing.

“We have beautiful weather, spring around the corner, and I understand people’s fatigue,” she said.

“The fact is, every single person must take responsibility for bringing our case numbers down so we can get open earlier.

“We’re more than 200 days in lockdown [in total in Melbourne]. I think we’ve really got to support each other.We have to recognise that that fatigue is really creeping in. We’ve got to find ways of encouraging each other. To me, the biggest encouragement is that if we don’t get those case numbers down, we don’t get to open up.”

The NSW Deputy Premier has defended his government’s decision not to front a press conference over the weekend to announce the entire state would be going into lockdown.

Earlier this morning, John Barilaro told the ABC’s Radio National that it was appropriate to get the word out via social media given how quickly the situation was evolving.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

He said over the weekend it became obvious that COVID-positive individuals in Dubbo had covered “a large part of the region”.

“More information came to light around lunchtime [on Saturday] and the Chief Health Officer and health officials were concerned about 17 local government areas,” he said.

“Through the sewage surveillance or surveillance through contact tracing, it was clear that the outbreak that we’ve faced in Dubbo ... was becoming a real problem.

“So the instructions were to MPs of all parties to start off with the community leaders, they had mayors get the message out [online].”

He said “even if they had done a press conference in the middle of Sydney”, not everyone would have known about the week-long lockdown straight away.

Mr Barilaro also noted that the government alone could not solve the state’s rising caseload, with residents needing to follow the rules.

He added that there was “absolutely” a chance that NSW’s numbers would continue to rise in the coming days.

As we flagged earlier this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is doing the breakfast television rounds after the first shipment of an extra 1 million Pfizer vaccines arrived in Sydney from Poland overnight.

Sunrise co-host David Koch asked the PM why the eastern European country would send those doses to us and not give them all to neighbouring countries.

“Did we pay big bucks for it?” he asked.

Here’s the PM’s response:

“We had a normal transaction and these have to be signed off by Pfizer as well. Our officials did a tremendous job in identifying the opportunity, and we were very quick on the phone, but because we had an existing relationship that obviously helped.

“There was a great affection for Australia and everyone knows Sydney is our biggest city. When I was able to say that Sydney was in lockdown, [that was received] with great support. Doesn’t matter where you go, people know [someone who lives] in Australia. People have family all over the world, and they know about Australia, and are very kind and supportive of Australia.”

A bakery, cafe and Subway are among regional NSW’s latest exposure sites.

Anyone who visited the following venues at the times listed is considered a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days from the date of exposure, regardless of the result.

Bathurst: Subway, 104 William Street, on Saturday, August 7 between 12.50pm and 1.30pm;

Orange: Village Bakehouse, 208 Peisley Street, on Sunday, August 8 between 10.50am and 12.10pm; and

Orange: Byng Street Cafe, 47 Byng Street, on Sunday, August 8 between 12.50pm and 1.10pm.

View the full list of exposure sites here.

In case you missed it, a public housing tower in Melbourne’s inner north and a market in the city’s northern suburbs were added to Victoria’s official list of exposure sites late last night.

Victoria’s Department of Health says the Pascoe Vale Road market in Glenroy is a tier-1 site after a COVID-positive case visited the site twice earlier this month.

Anyone who was at the market between 10.57am and 11.32am on Saturday, August 7 or between 3.31pm and 4.30 on Thursday, August 12 must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

Meanwhile, the public housing tower at 480 Lygon Street in Carlton has been listed as a tier-2 site.

There are now more than 520 exposure sites in Victoria.

View the full list here.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has begged people to stop visiting family and friends as hundreds of extra police begin patrolling streets this morning in an unprecedented effort to slow rising COVID-19 case numbers.

Dr Chant delivered one of her most sober messages of the pandemic yesterday as NSW recorded 415 new cases, starkly warning: “I cannot describe my concern level if we do not drive these cases down.”

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has given one of her most stark warnings of the pandemic.Credit:Edwina Pickles

“We are at a fork in the road, and we have to decide what path we will choose, and the path I want is one where I see declining case numbers and increasing vaccination,” she said.

With all NSW in lockdown, Premier Gladys Berejiklian conceded it would be “near impossible” to eliminate the Delta strain but “what we desperately, desperately need is to get those numbers as low as possible to make it safe”.

More on this story here.

People in Melbourne’s inner south-eastern suburbs are on high alert after a guest at a crowded engagement party last week attended by dozens of people tested positive for coronavirus.

The video, seen by this masthead, shows a gathering of people listening to a man giving an engagement speech to a crowded room of well-dressed guests at what appears to be a private residence.

Screenshots of the man giving the speech at the gathering.

“Clearly this is legal,” the man says to the room, “because this is a group therapy session.” The crowd, made up of men and women from young children to middle age, laughed at the joke.

Private and public gatherings are not permitted under Victoria’s strict stage 4 lockdown, which began on August 5. Weddings are allowed in exceptional circumstances, but are always capped at five attendees.

More on this story here.

Higher education revenues could decline by a further $5 billion to $6 billion by 2030, forcing universities to shed at least 50 per cent of their non-research staff and even threatening some institutions with closure or merger.

An analysis of Australia’s universities by consultancy EY predicts international student enrolments will never return to the pre-pandemic peak hit in 2019 and that on-campus learning will play a diminishing role in many students’ education, even after curbs on in-person lectures and tutorials are lifted.

University campuses will play a diminishing role in students’ lives, even after the pandemic, a report predicts.Credit:Janie Barrett

Catherine Friday, EY’s global head of education, said the pandemic had “exposed the over-reliance on on-campus learning and international students in Australia’s higher education system”.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Monday, August 16. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

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

NSW’s “Operation Stay at Home” has come into effect. More than 1000 highway patrol officers are patrolling back roads, setting up roadblocks and enforcing the state’s health orders this morning amid a statewide lockdown. NSW recorded 415 locally acquired cases of coronavirus yesterday, with at least 66 in the community for at least some of their infectious period. Almost 400 coronavirus patients are in NSW hospitals. NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says the state is at a “fork in the road”.

Melbourne’s inner south-eastern suburbs are on high alert. A video has surfaced appearing to show a crowded engagement party at a private residence despite the city being in lockdown. Authorities say at least one guest has tested positive. Yesterday, Victoria recorded 25 local cases of COVID-19. Of those, 21 are linked to known outbreaks and just over half were in isolation for their infectious periods. Melbourne’s restrictions are due to be reviewed later this week.

The first shipment of an extra 1 million Pfizer jabs touched down in Australia overnight. They will be distributed throughout the country, but half are bound for coronavirus hotspots in NSW. The vaccines are leftovers from Poland and Prime Minister Scott Morrison is due to speak about the negotiations on breakfast TV and radio later this morning.

And Queensland has tightened its border with NSW after the entire southern state went into lockdown. Only essential workers from NSW will be able to cross into the Sunshine State. Yesterday, Queensland recorded zero local cases of COVID-19.

Latest

1 of 1

Share this post