Australia news LIVE Victoria records 24 new local COVID-19 cases NZ to enter nationwide lockdown unrest in Afghanistan escalates
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Three disability support workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in NSW’s Hunter region.
ConnectAbility Australia, in a Facebook post last night, said it had been advised of three cases in staff who have worked in its supported independent living homes.
The service did not provide the exact locations but said it had contacted the family members or carers of those in affected properties.
“We are currently following the instructions of NSW Health and other agencies in relation to the isolation of staff and customers, COVID testing, additional infection control measures and cleaning,†ConnectAbility said.
“We will have further information for our customers, families and stakeholders tomorrow [Wednesday]. The welfare of our customers and staff are our primary concern at this time.â€
It said families and customers will be updated on an ongoing basis and it will “continue to be as transparent and open about the situation as possibleâ€.
Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.
The state has recorded 24 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and zero in hotel quarantine.
The Department of Health says 20 cases are linked to known outbreaks and that there are, at this stage, four mystery cases.
Of today’s local cases, six were out and about in the community while infectious.
There are now 246 active cases of COVID-19 across Victoria.
Those numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 39,832 coronavirus tests.
In case you missed it, New Zealand health authorities have confirmed the country is dealing with the Delta coronavirus variant.
The country has woken up to its first full day of lockdown this morning after an unvaccinated man in his 50s from Auckland tested positive to the virus.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing yesterday that all of New Zealand will enter a seven-day lockdown. Credit:Getty
A further four cases have now been identified, bringing Auckland’s current cluster to five. One of those cases is an Auckland hospital worker and the original case (the man in his 50s) is confirmed to have the Delta variant.
The entire country will be in lockdown for at least three days, while the Auckland and nearby Coromandel regions will have stay-at-home orders in place for at least seven days.
It’s New Zealand’s first nationwide lockdown since last year. Less than 20 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated.
For more, read our latest coverage courtesy of our world desk.
with Bloomberg
Grieving families are calling on Rookwood Cemetery, in Sydney’s west, to change its rules after being turned away from visiting lost loved ones.
Angelique Jasli started a petition to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard after witnessing people stopped by security guards at the gates of Rookwood Cemetery. It has attracted more than 10,000 signatures.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Health Minister Brad Hazzard at yesterday’s COVID-19 update. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
“There is a lot of grief people are dealing with and having that situation is only making it worse,†Ms Jasli told radio station 2GB earlier this morning.
Rookwood Cemetery, on its website, states: “Visiting the grave of a loved one is not an essential reason for leaving home.â€
Burial and cremation services continue to be offered every day, it says.
Ms Jasli said while the petition was initially focused on that particular cemetery, they “had to direct it and change it in the last few daysâ€.
“We are really calling for the one important thing here, that will make this clear for all parties, we need visiting the grave of a loved one to be considered a reasonable excuse under the compassionate reasons of NSW reasonable excuses,†she said.
NSW Health, in a statement this morning, said cemeteries are not required to close under the public health order.
“Attending a funeral or memorial service is a reasonable excuse to leave home. A maximum of 10 people can attend a funeral or memorial service in Greater Sydney,†the department said.
“People are also permitted to leave home for compassionate reasons. In certain circumstances, such as an anniversary of a deceased child, or where a close family member has recently died, visiting a gravesite would be considered compassionate.
“A group of people who live in the same house may gather outdoors. Otherwise, outdoor gatherings are limited to two people. Masks must be worn outdoors in declared areas.â€
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told 2GB police had not asked for cemeteries to be closed.
“I would ask that if they do open, that you can try to do it [the visits] in singles if possible,†he said.
Mr Fuller asked people to observe the health orders in local government areas of concern including mask-wearing at all times. Rookwood Cemetery is in the Cumberland LGA, one of Sydney’s 12 LGAs of concern.
Experts say it’s extremely difficult to work out what effect an overnight curfew had on reducing Melbourne’s case numbers during its second wave last year, but say it is likely the reintroduced measure limits overall movement.
The return of 9pm to 5am stay-at-home directions by the Victorian state government on Monday reignited debate about curfews, with the state opposition describing it as an “unnecessary overreach†and the police union and peak civil liberty group Liberty Victoria also opposing it.
A quiet Bourke Street on Monday night. Credit:Jason South
Concerns have also been raised about the disproportionate effect tough enforcement measures such as a curfew could have on people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, those in insecure work and young people, with many still struggling to pay hefty fines imposed during last year’s lockdown.
More on this story here.
ACT Senator Katy Gallagher and her family are in isolation after their daughter was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Tuesday morning.
The Labor finance spokeswoman, who also chairs the Select Committee on COVID-19, said in a statement posted on her website and social media late last night that her child Evie was at home but feeling unwell.
“We are really grateful for the medical and personal support we are receiving,†Senator Gallagher said, adding her household is quarantining until ACT Health advises otherwise.
All other household members have returned negative tests.
Senator Gallagher is fully vaccinated, but she used her statement to send a message about the rollout, saying “too many Australians have not had that opportunity [to receive both jabs]â€.
“My focus right now is on my little girl and getting her through this â€" but these events bring a sharp personal focus to the consequences of our government’s failure to ensure a prompt, efficient national roll out of vaccines,†she said.
Senator Gallagher later told ABC radio that teenagers needed to get immunised but there was no supply or plan yet to roll out vaccines widely to this demographic.
“After 18 months I’m sitting here with two teenagers and they’re completely vulnerable to COVID-19 and I feel as a mother that that’s been a failure of our response to COVID,†she said.
“I do feel very fortunate, so I don’t want to come across as a whinger or anything like that. But you know I am scared and angry for what’s happened to my children and I think that’s a pretty normal parent response.â€
NSW Senator Kristina Keneally retweeted her colleague’s post this morning said the consequences of the “failed vaccine roll out†were starting to be seen.
“That failure has now cruelly hit home: Katy’s child is sick with COVID,†Senator Keneally said.
People aged 16 to 39 in Sydney’s 12 local government areas of concern can book their Pfizer vaccine appointment from 9am today, with jabs to start tomorrow.
NSW has been provided 530,000 of the 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that arrived in Australia this week from Poland.
“People aged 16 to 39 years who live in the following 12 LGAs are eligible to make a booking: Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Strathfield,†NSW Health said.
“Bookings are essential and both doses must be booked at the same clinic.â€
A nurse administers a dose of Pfizer vaccine in Sydney earlier this year. Credit:Edwina Pickles
Bookings can be made from 9am today for the following clinics:
NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said there are “several hundred thousand people†in the LGAs of concern who are aged 16-39 and unvaccinated against COVID-19.
She said they plan to administer the doses in the next two-and-a-half weeks.
A second residential tower in Carlton, in Melbourne’s inner north, has been added to Victoria’s official list of exposure sites.
The building, which is at 510 Lygon Street, has been listed as a tier-2 exposure site for the following times:
The Victorian Health Department says some individuals will be classified as tier-1 contacts.
In Victoria, tier-1 contacts must immediately get a coronavirus test and quarantine for 14 days from the date of exposure regardless of the test result. Meanwhile, tier-2 contacts must immediately get a coronavirus test and quarantine until a negative test is returned.
A nearby residential tower in Carlton was listed as a tier-2 exposure site from August 8 to 15 earlier this week.
A skate park in Melbourne’s north and a 7-Eleven outlet in the city’s inner north-western suburbs are among other recent venues of concern. There are now more than 520 Victorian exposure sites.
Read the full list of exposure sites here.
Two schools in Sydney’s south west and north west will be closed today after positive COVID-19 cases were recorded in their school communities.
The NSW Department of Education said the closure of Mount Lewis Infants School, which caters for kindergarten to year two children, is precautionary.
“Staff and students have been asked to self-isolate until they receive further advice,†a department spokesperson said.
The school is in the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, one of Sydney’s LGAs of concern.
Kings Langley Public School, in Sydney’s north west, will also be closed today for cleaning and contact tracing after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19.
The onsite Cubby House child care will also be shut. All staff and students are asked to self-isolate and follow the NSW Health advice and protocols.
Meanwhile, The Meadows Public School in Seven Hills will reopen today for any child unable to learn from home, after a member of the school community returned a positive COVID-19 test.
“Students and staff identified as close contacts have been notified and asked to self-isolate for the required period and follow the NSW Health advice and protocols,†the education department said.
Bankstown Public School will also reopen today after a student tested positive for COVID-19.
The education department said NSW Health had advised the student was not at school during their infectious period.
Household transmission has been the cause of more than 70 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Sydney’s current outbreak, forcing the state government to urgently increase accommodation for people needing to isolate.
As infections surge across the state, NSW Health will open a fifth health hotel on top of the multiple Meriton suites already being used to house hundreds of people who cannot safely isolate at home. A health sector source who was not authorised to speak on the issue said almost 1000 people last week were staying in one of the four current sites across the inner city.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday said “we are assuming the case numbers will go upâ€.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday warned case numbers will continue to surge in coming weeks after the state reported 452 new local cases and the death of a woman in her 70s.
“We are assuming the case numbers will go up. I say that only as a realist ... when you have cumulative days of high case numbers there is a tipping point where case numbers go up,†she said.
Read more about household transmission in NSW here.
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