New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Thursday the risk of the Covid-19 outbreak in greater Melbourne was decreasing, and accepted public health officials advice was it was “unlikely there is further widespread community transmission in the state”.But a five day extension of the ban until 11.59pm Tuesday was “in line with our precautionary approach”.“New Zealand health officials will keep a close watch on developments in the state but at this point their advice is that we would expect to be in a position to lift the pause at the end of the five-day extension,” Mr Hipkins said.“This will reviewed if the situation changes.”NZ authorities were also closely watching the developing Covid-19 situation in Sydney.It comes as Queensland confirms it will require all travellers to the state to fill out a Queensland Travel Declaration.From 1am on June 19 anybody entering Queensland will be required to complete a new Queensland Travel declaration – an online form designed to make contact tracing “so much easier”, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.The Premier revealed restrictions on travel to Greater Melbourne would also remain for another seven days, and advised residents to reconsider trips to Greater Sydney in light of the Bondi outbreak.SYDNEY ON HIGH COVID ALERTExposure sites identified in Sydney’s eastern suburbs include a NAB branch and David Jones store, after health officials announced another locally acquired Covid case on Wednesday.The second case is a household contact of a man who had earlier tested positive. The source of the infection has not been determined but the first man to test positive has worked as a driver for international aircrew. It came as Victoria recorded no new locally-acquired Covid infections in the past 24 hours, as the troubled state prepares to further ease restrictions. “Urgent investigations into the source of the infection and contact tracing are under way, as is genome sequencing,” a NSW Health spokesperson said.“Close contacts are being urgently contacted and asked to get tested and isolate.”A new pop-up testing clinic will open Thursday morning in Surry Hills while a number of other clinics have had their opening hours extended to deal with the state’s sudden new influx.In regards to the second new case, if you were at the following venue of concern at the time listed, you must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and self-isolate until you receive further information from NSW Health:• Bondi Junction, Harry’s Coffee and Kitchen, 500 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction, Tuesday 15 June, 3pm to 3.40pm• Bondi Junction, NAB in Westfield, 500 Oxford Street, Tuesday 15 June 2.45pm to 3.10pm• Bondi Junction, David Jones in Westfield, 500 Oxford Street, Tuesday 15 June, 3.30pm to 4.15pm• Vaucluse, Field to Fork, 101 New South Head Rd, Friday 11 June, 12pm to 4pmAnyone on the following public transport service is a close contact and must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and self-isolate for 14 days from the date they were on the bus, regardless of the result:• Bondi Junction to North Sydney, 200 Bus, From Bondi Junction interchange to Blue St, North Sydney (near North Sydney Station), Tuesday 15 June, Departed approx. 4.25pm, arrived approx. 5pmAnyone who attended the following venue at the listed time is a casual contact and must immediately get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. Please continue to monitor for symptoms and immediately isolate and get tested if they develop:• Bondi, Fruitologist, 151 Bondi Rd, Bondi NSW 2026, Tuesday 15 June, 1pm to 2pm.NSW Covid Exposure SitesVICTORIA EASES RESTRICTIONSIt comes after Victoria announced a massive easing of restrictions for Melbourne. Speaking a press conference on Wednesday, Victoria’s Acting Premier James Merlino announced the 25km Melbourne travel limit would be lifted from 11.59pm on Thursday.Other changes include being allowed to have up to two visitors at your home per day, and public gathering limits will increase from 10 to 20 people. Gyms will also reopen. But there was one major new rule introduced for Victoria’s upcoming snow season. “Melburnians travelling to the snow at this season, a requirement for everyone to get a covert test within 72 hours of departing for Victoria’s Alpine resorts,” Mr Merlino said. It came as a vaccinated nurse has tested positive to Covid. There are fears she worked a shift while potentially infectious.While Mr Merlino said masks would no longer be required outdoors, he revealed they would still be recommended to be worn outdoors when social distancing of 1.5m couldn’t be maintained.“Everyone must continue to wear them indoors, whether it is shopping, on a train or at a workplace,” the Acting Premier said.When asked if Victoria could have mask wearing indoors for the entire winter, chief health officer Brett Sutton said it would continue to be evaluated.“We will think it through, depending on how cases go,” Professor Sutton said.“We want to maintain people being engaged in those behaviours but we don’t want to fatigue people.“If it is a case of some specific high-risk settings, of course we have kept that in mind.“That has been our advice on public transport, airports and rideshare, but we don’t want people to be fatigued by mask wearing and basically not doing it and seeing others not do it.”It came as there were five new local cases in Victoria, two of which were previously revealed on Tuesday. The three new cases are all linked to current outbreaks.There were also three new coronavirus infections recorded in hotel quarantine. The number of active cases in Victoria is 55, up from 54 on Tuesday.The new cases came from 17,538 test results, while 14,870 vaccine doses were also administered in the past 24 hours.Residents at the Kings Park apartment complex in Southbank have now been forced into two weeks lockdown after two more positive cases were recorded on Tuesday afternoon.The health department has now expanded the number of primary close contacts associated with the outbreak to include all residents and visitors to the complex from June 2 to 14.“They will be required to quarantine for 14 days,” the health department said.“A full public health response was initiated, including rapid onsite testing of more than 200 residents.”NED-3979-Melbourne-restrictions-easeCONFUSION OVER NSW HOTEL QUARANTINE CASESNSW health officials are scrambling to work out how a quarantining traveller tested positive for the same Covid-19 sequence as two cases in the hotel room next door.A returned traveller who was staying on the fourth floor of the Radisson Blu quarantine hotel on O’Connell St, Sydney tested positive for Covid-19 on June 5, according to NSW Health.A statement from health officials said the positive case followed two positive tests from a couple staying next door three days earlier, The Daily Telegraph reports.“Genomic sequencing has shown all three cases have identical viral sequences of the Alpha strain (B.1.1.7),” the NSW Health statement read.“The couple, who were asymptomatic, tested positive to Covid-19 on a routine Day 2 test on 3 June … it is currently unclear how and where transmission occurred.”All three cases, who were on the same flight home from Doha, Qatar on June 1, have since been moved out of the quarantine hotel and into Special Health Accommodation.PFIZER BOOST FOR VICTORIAVictoria will receive an extra 50,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on top of an additional 100,000 doses already scheduled for this month.It means that state-run facilities will receive 105,330 Pfizer doses this week, 104,130 doses next week, and then 133,380 doses in the week of June 28, the Herald Sun reports.It comes amid reports those seeking their first shot are turned away and warned they might not get the jab for up to a month.The Herald Sun has seen a leaked call centre script advising operators fielding booking inquiries to tell those wanting their first dose of Pfizer to ring back at the end of the week.And callers trying to book their second Pfizer vaccination have been told to phone back in a couple of weeks.Pfizer jabs are also not currently available for walk-in appointments at the state’s mass vaccination centres as supplies become stretched.Some people who were turned away on Monday said they were told vaccinations might not resume for a month, according to The Herald Sun.Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt called on Victoria to fix its vaccination booking system so that Pfizer recipients could lock in appointments for both doses at the same time.But state Health Minister Martin Foley said 50,000 people had made Pfizer jab appointments this week and all further supplies were needed to ensure those requiring a second dose would get it.“Victoria will distribute whatever it’s provided in terms of vaccination,” he said.“The truth is we are operating under the constraints of what we are being provided.”GPs TO MAKE HOME VISITS The federal government has announced GPs will be able to administer doses for people with disabilities and the elderly at their homes, as a new vaccine milestone is reached.Health Minister Greg Hunt said 5.9 million people had received their first vaccine dose and more than 5.8 million of them had been administered their second dose.“During the course of the last week, we’ve also seen a record day and record weekday figures,” he told reporters on Monday.Mr Hunt also revealed an “important next step” in reaching older Australians and those with disabilities.“We’ve now reached 100 per cent of aged care facilities around Australia for first doses and 94 per cent of facilities have had second doses, with the remaining numbers over the coming days and weeks as they reach the three-week mark from their previous dose,” he said.“As part of that, one of the things we’re doing is enlisting Australia’s GPs to be able to visit people at home or in a disability or in a residential aged care facility.”Under the home visitation payment program, GPs will be paid $56.75 plus the vaccination fee for the first patient they visit.“It’s about expanding the vaccination program, bringing it to people,” Mr Hunt said.“It’s recognising that each year we have up to 60,000 people who come into aged care and to ensure that there is a continuous vaccination program in our aged care facilities and in our disability facilities as those programs continue to go forward.NED-3619-AstraZeneca blood clots-What we know
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