Of the new 239 cases, 70 were in the community for their entire infectious period.More than 111,000 people got swabbed in the last reporting period.Lockdown will be extended for another four weeks as the city struggles to contain the highly contagious delta variant.This means there’s no chance of freedom until at least August 28. This includes the Blue Mountains, Shellharbour and the Central Coast.Sydney singles will also be allowed to form a bubble with one other person.Ms Berejiklian said she appreciated the stress people who have been living alone have been under. “If you have been or are living by yourself, you are allowed to nominate one person that is allowed to visit you, but it has to be the same person,” she said. “You cannot have a different person every day. You have to nominate that one person that is your buddy or is part of your singles bubble for the next four weeks to make sure that we do not spread the virus.“We know that apart from workplaces, households remain the biggest problem in NSW.”Anyone wanting to form the bubble who lives in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Blacktown and Cumberland, Parramatta, Campbelltown and Georges River must ensure their buddy is also from within that area and within a 10km distance. Anyone outside those suburbs cannot involve anyone from them in their bubble. NED-3760-NSW’s new Covid restrictionsMAJOR NSW CHANGES– Lockdown zone shopping rules have been tightened. No one can go shopping more than 10km away from their local area and you can only go for essential items.– The ban on non-occupied construction will be eased from Saturday, however tradies living in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Blacktown and Cumberland, Parramatta, Campbelltown and Georges River local government areas will still be banned from leaving the council boundaries. – Contactless tradies will also be allowed to work outside those eight LGAs– Year 12 students can return to school from Monday, August 16 because NSW Health will vaccinate students using redirected supplies from regional NSW– NSW Health will be looking into rapid antigen testing for Year 12 students and construction workers.– There will be more financial support to people affected economically by Covid-19.– Changes to the three-day testing rule. People in the Fairfield — only aged care and health care workers need to be tested every three days. People in Canterbury- Bankstown area – essential workers need to be tested every three days.NED-4090-Greater-Sydney-Restrictions-mapVictorian health authorities are urgently trying to trace how a new mystery case acquired Covid-19 as the state emerges from its fifth lockdown.New exposure sites were added overnight after the discovery of the case, who spent time in the community while potentially infectious. It came as the state recorded six new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Thursday.The so-called “mystery case” worked as a traffic controller at a drive-through testing site at Moonee Valley racecourse in Melbourne’s northwest and returned a positive result on Wednesday.Contact tracers are yet to link the positive case to any of the state’s existing outbreaks. For the full list of new Victorian exposure sites, see here. The health department listed the testing site as a tier 3 exposure site overnight, along with a Chemist Warehouse in Frankston South, which was listed as a tier 2 venue.‘A PATCHWORK OF RULES’Qantas is calling on the federal government to mandate vaccinations for all aviation workers.“The NSW, South Australia and New Zealand Governments have made vaccines mandatory for aviation workers supporting international services. Other states are looking at taking similar steps, including for domestic,” the company said in a prepared statement.“We welcome this, but without a national approach we’ll wind up with a patchwork of rules between the borders that our people cross multiple times a day.”A recent survey of aviation workers carried out by the Transport Workers’ Union found just one third were fully vaccinated, and 46 per cent were unvaccinated. The rates were a little lower in Queensland and a little higher in Victoria, the TWU found. “Aviation revolves around safety. If there is something we, as an industry, can reasonably do to lower risk, we do it,” the Qantas statement read.“Ever since a COVID-19 vaccine was approved, the Qantas Group has strongly encouraged our people to get vaccinated and are offering paid time off to get the jab. We’ve also lobbied government for priority access to the vaccine for aviation workers.”AUSSIES WILL BE VACCINATED BY CHRISTMAS: PMPrime Minister Scott Morrison believes the vaccine rollout will be completed by the end of the year and lockdowns will “become a thing of the past”.“Our vaccination rates are now running, we are even doing better than one million per week. And the upgraded advice from ATAGI, the revised advice from ATAGI, means that we are going to get much more effectiveness out of the AstraZeneca vaccine doses that we have available,” he said on Wednesday afternoon.“I would expect by Christmas that we would be seeing a very different Australia to what we are seeing now.“Once countries reach that much higher vaccination rate, that gives their governments a lot more options in the suppression limitations they have to use to deal with the virus. Lockdowns become a thing of the past when you are at that level.“We are setting the target scientifically, combined with the economic advice as well, and that gets us a road map to Christmas, I think, which means we will be living life different at Christmas than we are now.”Mr Morrison assured the federal government “has the back” of NSW as the state struggles to contain the Delta variant.“I want to assure you of, as you’ve already heard from the Premier and the Treasurer of NSW, that the Commonwealth government has your back just as we’ve had the back of Australians all through this crisis,” he said in Canberra.NED-4205-Lockdown-support-for NSWHe said “our economy can roar back on the other side” as he announced the federal government is co-funding business support payments in NSW until at least August 2. From next week, the Covid-19 Disaster Payment will be raised to $750 per week for those who typically work over 20 hours, and $450 for individuals under 20 hours. Individuals who receive welfare payments such as Youth Allowance and pension payments who have lost more than eight hours a week of work due to the Covid lockdowns, will also be eligible for $200 a week in emergency payments. The benefit will start from next week, with applications to open on Tuesday. Scott Morrison said the government had been working with the NSW government to come to an agreement on the support payments. “In the case of somebody who is on a full JobSeeker rate, they are getting just over about $315 a week. So that $200 comes on top of that,” Mr Morrison said.In NSW so far, 812,372 disaster payment assistance have been provided to 463,558 individuals at a cost of $411.7 million. In Victoria, 143,855 claims have been made to 140,998 individuals at a cost of $78.899 million.QLD’S RELIEF AS NO CASES Queensland health authorities breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after no new cases of Covid-19 were detected in the community, one day after a virus scare. A West Australian man, who quarantined in Brisbane after returning from the Philippines, tested positive to the Alpha strain on Wednesday after being infectious in the community for a week. Genomic sequencing has identified the man is a direct match with three other travellers, unknown to him, who he was on two flights with – Manila to Port Moresby and from Port Moresby to Brisbane. He acquired the virus while on the flight on July 2 or 3, but tested negative three times while in hotel quarantine at Quest Apartments.Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the other three travellers were sent to different hotel quarantines. “This confirms for us that this gentleman has contracted it from one of the other travellers while in transit on the plane or through the airports,” she said. Chief health officer Jeannette Young said he had “clearly acquired it” in transit to Queensland. “We realise that is a longer incubation period than we would normally expect, but we know around one per cent of people can have an incubation period longer than 14 days, as has happened with this gentleman,” Dr Young said. After leaving, he flew to Western Australia, but stayed in hotel quarantine there for two days before he returned to Queensland. Authorities believe he was infectious while on this flight and are now contact tracing passengers. Upon his return to Brisbane, he booked into a hostel on Roma Street, where he stayed while unwell. The risk of the latest case has prompted health authorities to extend southeast Queensland’s mask mandate which was due to lift on Friday morning.“We know that people were hoping that the masks will lift, but I think we are up to 13 incursions of the virus through different outbreaks in Queensland over the last six weeks,” Ms D’Ath said. “We have been able to contain all of these outbreaks to very small numbers. That is in some small part to the restrictions we have had in place… It is important that we continue to practice mask wearing to ensure that we don’t have transmission through our community.”IMF PRAISES AUSTRALIAAustralia has been handed better then expected news by The International Monetary Fund, which predicts only a “moderate” downgrade to the economy despite the worsening Covid outbreaks.The Australian reports the IMF’s Harald Pinter believed a speedy bounce back was expected once restrictions ended.He also backed the government’s belief only high vaccination rates would reduce the chance of repeated lockdowns.Mr Pinter said despite the current setbacks, Australia remained a “success story” – but cautioned the Delta strain still posed uncertainty and considerable risk.FOUR WEEK LOCKDOWN EXTENSIONThe NSW crisis cabinet has extended the Sydney lockdown for another month as the state records 172 new cases. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to announce the four-week lockdown extension, which came as the cabinet also signed off on a singles bubble, The Daily Telegraph reports. The singles bubble will allow people living alone to have a visitor.New South Wales earlier recorded two deaths and 172 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19.Concerningly, 60 were active in the community while infectious.NSW Health was notified of two Covid-related deaths, which were announced on Monday. There have now been 10 Covid-related deaths in NSW during this current outbreak.“If we didn’t take these measures the cases would be in the thousands,” Ms Berejiklian said.“It’s important for us to get that number of infections in the community as close to zero as possible so that we don’t risk another outbreak when we reopen.”Ms Berejiklian did admit case numbers were not where health authorities would like them to be.There are 169 Covid-19 cases in hospital, with 46 people in intensive care, 19 of whom require ventilation.Of Tuesday’s 172 new cases, 65 were from South Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD), 54 were from Western Sydney LHD, 27 were from Sydney LHD, 12 were from Northern Sydney LHD and 11 were from South Eastern Sydney LHD.There was also one case from each of Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD and Southern NSW LHD.The NSW government is at odds on how to contain infection rates.Over five hours, the NSW crisis cabinet meeting on Monday was shown economic modelling that forecast major job losses if restrictions remained until September.But, some crisis cabinet members called for tougher restrictions in worst-hit Covid areas and easing of restrictions elsewhere, according to The Australian.The state’s chief health officer Kerry Chant has previously said restrictions should remain “as tight as possible”.It come as residents of an apartment building at Blacktown in Sydney’s west have been locked indoors after multiple people tested positive for Covid-19.NSW Health is aware of the development and NSW Police confirmed it to NCA NewsWire early on Monday morning.“NSW Police Force are providing support to NSW Health who are responding to several Covid-19 cases in an apartment block at Blacktown.“NSW Police were asked to be on site in case assistance was required.”A police van was seen parked outside the building overnight while residents were not allowed to leave.NSW Health has been contacted for comment.Nine News reporter James Wilson posted on social media that more than 100 residents were affected by the lockdown, with everyone tested overnight.“Pathology are on site processing the swabs,” he wrote. “Police will guard this building for the next two weeks.”On Sunday, Blacktown was listed by NSW Health as one of the five problematic LGAs.All workers are banned from leaving the Blacktown LGA unless they are an essential workerNSW Covid Exposure SitesNED-3760-NSW’s new Covid restrictions10 NEW CASES IN VIC, STATE TO LIFT LOCKDOWNVictoria has recorded 10 new locally acquired Covid-19 infections on Tuesday.The state’s health department confirmed the new local virus cases about 8.15am and said all of the infections were again linked to existing outbreaks.The health department also said all of the new cases had been in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.It comes as the state’s fifth lockdown will be lifted on time at 11.59pm on Tuesday night.Daniel Andrews said due to case numbers trending down and the majority being in isolation during their infectious period, Victoria was “on track to ease lockdown restrictions on Tuesday night”.He said the five reasons to leave home, the 5km limit and two hours of exercise is all gone. Schools will open for all year levels, but no visitors are allowed to homes for the next two weeks. “Pubs, restaurants, cafe’s, bars will open, 100 inside, 300 outside, identity quotient of one person per square metres,” he said. “Community support is back on, practice for kids and adults, accommodation settings, for the purposes of your stay, it is your home. “You can’t be going away with other families, you can’t be having visitors to your temporary home, the accommodation that you might seek to use over the next couple of weeks. If you are going away that’s fine, but it has got to be your family unit and the rules apply as if you are in your family home. “No visitors, no shared holidays. In terms of other matters, public gatherings, they will be limited to 10 people, funerals and weddings will be omitted to 50 people, not including those who are intrinsic to the celebration of those, or the conduct of those particular events. Masks will remain inside and outside and always.”On borders, he said that from 11:59pm Tuesday, the NSW LGA municipalities of Wagga Wagga, Hay, Lockhart and Murrumbidgee will no longer be in their border bubble. “If you want to travel to Victoria from those four local government areas, you would need a permit. We’re only granting permits for those who are approved workers. And even only then when it is absolutely necessary. I take no pleasure in having to essentially lock out those four communities from Victoria, but there’s a refusal to lock people in Sydney into Sydney, so I have no choice but to make these changes,” he said. “On the data we have now, on the trend that we’ve seen unfold over recent days, the strategy is working and we are on track,” he said.“All our cases are linked, the vast majority of them have been in isolation during their infectious period and are no risk to others.”Victoria has now recorded 190 cases linked to the two outbreaks that jumped the border from Sydney’s deadly Delta cluster – one from a team of Sydney removalists that transited through the state and the other a family who returned to Melbourne’s north from a NSW red zone.More than 24,000 primary close contacts have been identified during the state’s latest outbreak, with at least 6000 of those cleared from isolation so far.No new cases was also recorded in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine with the number of active cases in Victoria at 198 — up from 190 on Monday.According to a report in The Australian, 25 per cent of office workers or up to 10 people — whichever is larger — will be allowed to return to the workplace, and outdoor gatherings of up to 10 will be permitted.NED-3869-Covid-19-Exposure-Sites-VictoriaNED-4079-Victoria-restrictionsSA LOCKDOWN TO LIFTSouth Australian Premier Steven Marshall says the state has recorded one new case of Covid: an elderly man who was in isolation for his infectious period. The case is connected to the winery cluster.Mr Marshall said this means SA’s seven-day hard lockdown will lift.“We have put ourselves in a very, very good position, we’re in day six of a seven-day lockdown. But we are on track to lift other restrictions at midnight tomorrow night. So first thing on Wednesday morning, we will be out of the lockdown situation,” he said.TWO SYDNEY DEATHS FROM CovidTwo Sydney residents – both aged in their 80s – have died with Covid-19 on Monday.NSW Health confirmed the two deaths.The woman died on Monday afternoon at her home in Pendle Hill in the city’s west.NSW Police said they were called to the woman’s house and that they would prepare a report for the coroner.The man died earlier in the day in Campbelltown Hospital, a NSW Health spokesman said.Ten people have now died from the virus in NSW’s current outbreak, while 66 have died in NSW since the pandemic began.NSW residents will soon be able to access walk-in appointments for the AstraZeneca vaccine, chief health officer Kerry Chant said.“I will be announcing that tomorrow,” she told reporters.“There is a massive strategy and can I acknowledge my colleagues who have been working so hard over the weekend with their local health districts and community partners to identify sites that may be appropriate for walk-in visits.”Dr Chant said it’s distressing to see that people who are eligible for AstraZeneca are not taking it.“Ultimately, if we had more vaccine, we could do more but we do have a good vaccine which is AstraZeneca. I would urge you to get vaccinated and take up the opportunity for accessing AstraZeneca,” she said.“It is actually quite distressing when I review the numbers to see how few over even 60-year-olds and over 70-year-olds we have managed to reach and for me, anyone who is over 60 or over 70 should be going to their doctor as a matter of urgency, or their pharmacist which will be opening up across the state in coming days and get a dose of vaccine and please keep yourself safe.”According to a report, Sydney’s lockdown is expected to run until September.The NSW government has asked for financial modelling for a lockdown of Greater Sydney that extends until mid-September, according to The Australian.The newspaper reports officials were originally considering September 3 as an end date to the lockdown but are now considering extending it to September 17.TREASURER EXPLAINS WHY HE WON’T REINSTATE JOBKEEPERFederal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday said more than 700,000 payments have been processed to NSW by Services Australia at a cost of $50 million. More than 90 per cent have been conducted online, and payments are being made as quickly as 40 minutes.“This is a significant amount of money that will alleviate some of the pain that these businesses are now encountering. Importantly, there is a requirement that these businesses do not reduce their headcount,” he said.Pressed on why he would not reintroduce JobKeeper, Mr Frydenberg noted only three states are in lockdown.“When we introduced a JobKeeper, firstly, the whole country was effectively into a lockdown. Right now, we have three states, but hopefully two will be coming out of that lockdown this week,” he told reporters.“The labour market was at a different point in time last year, when Treasury said to me there was a potential for the unemployment rate to go as high as 15 per cent. As you know, it came down to for 9 per cent in the most recent jobs data, and we have also seen job adverts increased month on month.”Earlier Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese called for the government to reinstate JobKeeper as NSW enters its fifth week of lockdown.Mr Albanese told Today the situation was “dire”, and the hesitance of federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to reinstate the program would cost Australia “more” in the long run.“The circumstances are at least as dire as they were then, we need to give more support to individuals, as well as to small business,” Mr Albanese said.“I don’t care what they call it, they can call (JobKeeper) something else but we need more support because, if you don’t get it, if you lose those businesses, it ends up costing you more because, to build back after something’s destroyed, costs more than keeping something going.”QLD HAS NO NEW CASESQueensland has recorded no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, as health authorities race to track down any new outbreaks. Acting Premier Steven Miles said the lack of new cases was an “excellent result” given the “sheer number of risks” the state is monitoring. The Sunshine State has two major concerns: a vaccinated Gold Coast man who returned from China and tested positive almost two weeks after he left hotel quarantine; and a Qantas flight attendant who brought a Sydney man into the state despite him being a close contact of a NSW case. More than 2000 people have been placed into quarantine as a result of both threats. The returned traveller’s genomic sequencing has linked the source of his Delta infection back to the hotel he quarantined at. He began developing symptoms on July 15, but was not tested until he visited his GP on the Gold Coast for an unrelated matter on July 23. So far his family have tested negative.Chief health officer Jeannette Young said people needed to continue to wear masks, because she “genuinely” believed they had made a difference in not seeing large cases linked to the infected people. “But I am still very, very worried about the other two individuals, one who came up from Sydney to Ballina and was picked up at Ballina and then came into Queensland with that other person,” Dr Young said. Deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police were “satisfied” they had all the information they needed from the duo to “undertake comprehensive contact tracing”. “Our investigation into any breaches will be concluded later today and we’ll be able to advise what happens with that then,” he said. SHIP CARRYING SICK CREW ON ITS WAY TO WAWestern Australia is bracing after it was revealed a Perth-bound cargo ship from Singapore was carrying sick crew.Premier Mark McGowan on Sunday said four out of the 20 staff on board reported flu-like symptoms.The Darya Krishna is sailing off Kalbarri but could dock in Fremantle within days.Mr McGowan said negotiations were under way to determine the ship’s fate.“Apparently one (crew member) is very unwell which complicates matters. I don’t want risk, I don’t think West Australians want risk. I prefer this ship (to) just sail, that’s our preferred option,” he said.“Obviously Indonesia is going through a very tough time. When the ships are in a place like Indonesia they shouldn’t be going ashore. What we need the shipping companies to step up.”It comes after WA Health confirmed all cases on board a cargo ship berthed at Fremantle have the Delta variant.The BBC California, which left Egypt last month before stopping in Indonesia on its way to WA, has eight active cases on board.NSW PFIZER BOOSTPrime Minister Scott Morrison has welcomed the updated advice from ATAGI, which is now recommending anyone over the age of 18 in greater Sydney get any available vaccine, including AstraZeneca.“This is on the basis of the increasing risk of Covid-19 and ongoing constraints of Pfizer supplies,” he told reporters in Canberra. “People in areas where outbreaks are occurring can receive the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine four to eight weeks after the first dose, rather than the usual 12 doses to bring forward optimal protection. “And so having those vaccines is incredibly important. I welcome that advice.”Mr Morrison also said NSW will receive an extra 90,000 doses a week of the Pfizer vaccine as Greater Sydney struggles with a Covid-19 outbreak.It comes after a relief package of 50,000 Pfizer immunisations were announced for NSW on Friday.“Allocations going forward into next week is 90,000 more Pfizer each week than it was back in the week commencing July 5,” Prime Minister Morrison said.“And in the weeks following, it goes up to 110,000 above what it was back in the beginning of July.“So, that is a significant increase that we‘ve seen since the early part of this month, to where we are now.“New South Wales — both GPs and the state distribution centres — were receiving 147,720 doses of Pfizer per week. “The week commencing next week, they will be receiving 90,000 more than that. That does not include the additional 50,000 which I extended to the Premier on Friday.”However, Mr Morrison said vaccines were not the key to greater Sydney and other cities around Australia coming out of lockdowns.That is despite state premiers and health officials repeatedly telling the general public that getting a Covid-19 jab would be an eventual ticket to freedom.“There’s not an easy way to bring the cases down and it’s the lockdown that does that work,” Mr Morrison said.“The vaccines can provide some assistance, but they’re not what is going to end this lockdown.”An extra 85 million Pfizer doses are due for delivery next year and some for 2023.The estimated cost is understood to be around $2 billion.The deal with Pfizer was signed late Saturday afternoon after approval on Friday morning.The extra doses will be booster shots.Mr Morrison said he did not want it in “anyone’s mind that it replaces the principle tool, which is the lockdown”.“It’s not a substitute for a lockdown. And you need to weigh up the effectiveness of that with the disruption to the broader vaccine program that could set other states and territories back some way in meeting their vaccination targets,“ he said.“We need to get the whole country vaccinated. Those going through lockdowns, that’s the principle way by which we’re able to bring the Delta variant under control in those cities.”He described the protesters who brought chaos to Sydney on Saturday as “selfish”. “Of course it was selfish. It was also self-defeating,” he said. “It achieves no purpose. It won’t end the lockdown sooner. It will only risk the lockdowns running further. There were millions of Sydneysiders who stayed home. They’re the ones who are bringing an end to lockdown sooner.”NED-4166-Vaccination-by-percentage-of-age-bracketCHANGE OF ADVICE FOR ASTRAZENECAThe Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) on Saturday released updated recommendations on the Covid-19 vaccine after NSW recorded 163 new local cases – its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic.“All individuals aged 18 years and above in greater Sydney, including adults under 60 years of age, should strongly consider getting vaccinated with any available vaccine including Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca,” it recommended. Australia deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd elaborated on the updated advice at a press conference on Saturday afternoon, saying it came on the back of “emerging data” about the increasing severity of the highly contagious Delta strain. “It is becoming apparent that the Delta variant may be more severe than the original strain of the virus,” he told reporters.Professor Kidd said higher numbers of younger people were being hospitalised with the Covid-19 Delta strain than in past outbreaks.“The outbreak in NSW continues to grow and the risk of disease, particularly in the most seriously affected regions in the greater Sydney area, is likely to continue to be significant over coming days,” he said. “The original advice from ATAGI was that in a large outbreak, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine are greater than the risk of rare side effects for all age groups.“That advice has not changed. I urge everyone in Australia aged over 60 years of age to get vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine now – Do not wait.”More than 75 per cent of people in Australia aged over 70 had received the vaccine, but Professor Kidd implored “we need to protect everyone”. “The advice from ATAGI is all individuals aged 18 years and above in greater Sydney including adults under 60 years of age should strongly consider getting vaccinated with any available vaccine, including AstraZeneca,” he said. “This is on the basis of the increasing risk of Covid-19, and ongoing constraints of supply of the Pfizer vaccine.” He said residents in areas where outbreaks were occurring could receive the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine four to eight weeks after the first dose, rather than the usual 12 weeks.“Maximum protection requires two doses of either vaccine, but even a single dose provides substantial protection by more than 70 per cent against hospitalisation,” Professor Kidd said. “If you have received a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and you get infected with Covid-19, the vaccine partially reduces the risk of transmission to other people by about half, and therefore will also benefit your close contacts and the wider community.”People who receive Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca should be aware of the extremely rare symptoms of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), and when to seek prompt medical attention. Early detection of TTS means people could get treatment which could improve their outcomes.– with Evin Priest, Anthony Piovesan, David Mills, Erin Lyons, Jack Paynter
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