One person also died from the virus overnight, the Department of Health confirmed.It’s the fourth death of the latest outbreak, after three Victorians died from coronavirus a fortnight ago.Just 149 of Friday’s new infections were linked to known cases and outbreaks.Thursday’s figure was the highest since August 14 in 2020 when Victoria recorded 372 new daily cases.Victoria recorded 246 new cases on Monday and Tuesday, 221 on Wednesday and 324 on Thursday.A total of 42,998 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, and 39,027 vaccine doses administered.About 63.54 per cent of the state’s population has received one dose of the vaccine.Premier Daniel Andrews flagged Victorians would get some freedoms back once this figure reached 70 per cent, which could be on September 19.AUSTRALIA ‘FAR FROM READY’ FOR NEW COVID NORMALTwo leading doctors have described the “false sense of security” of Australia’s former Covid zero strategy, saying the country was “far from ready” to live with the virus. Dr Edward Cliff and Dr Brian Fernandes – who have worked in Covid-19 wards in Melbourne and Sydney – said Australia needed a “new approach” as it was unable “to quash the Delta variant with previously effective tactics”, per the New York Times. “Vaccinations are increasing, yet hopes of a meaningful easing of restrictions may still be months away,” the pair wrote in a joint editorial. “It’s unclear whether the draconian restrictions will continue to be effective against Delta.”Dr Cliff and Dr Fernandes said Covid zero was “increasingly out of reach” despite restrictions. “At some point, Australia’s political and health leaders must acknowledge that the country cannot escape Covid forever and must prepare the community to live with Covid,” they said, in the New York Times. Dr Cliff and Dr Fernandes said vaccination incentives were needed to “add fuel to its … rollout”, and there should be immunisation “stations in accessible locations such as shopping centres”.They supported the introduction of “vaccine passports at venues, for events and for travel; and a targeted marketing campaign to get more people vaccinated”, concluding that Australia was “far from ready to embrace the Covid normal of tomorrow”.MORE BLOOD CLOTS LINKED TO AZAustralia has recorded seven more blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past week.Four were ‘confirmed’ cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) and three were considered ‘probable’ TTS.The confirmed cases involved a 25-year-old man from Victoria, a 48-year-old woman from NSW, a 58-year-old man from NSW and an 89-year-old man from Queensland.The probable cases affected 44 and 50-year-old men from NSW and a 65-year-old woman from Victoria.The figures were revealed on Thursday afternoon in the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Covid-19 vaccine weekly safety report for August 30-September 5.The latest cases raise the total number of TTS cases in Australia related to the AstraZeneca vaccine to 132 from about 10.2 million doses. Most blood clots occurred nearly two weeks after vaccination with almost all after a first dose of the vaccine.Eight deaths have been linked to TTS that occurred after the AstraZeneca vaccine and a ninth was a case of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) or low levels of the blood cells that prevent bleeding. The overwhelming majority of deaths reported to the TGA following vaccination occurred in people aged 65 years and older.The TGA advises people should seek immediate medical attention if they develop any of the following symptoms after vaccination:– severe or persistent headache, blurred vision, confusion or seizures– shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling or persistent abdominal pain– unusual skin bruising and/or pinpoint round spots beyond the site of vaccination.The most common time period for onset of TTS symptoms is 4–30 days after vaccination.NED-3736-Vaccine-benefit-vs-harmAUSTRALIA’S VAX MILESTONEScott Morrison has announced Australia has gone past the halfway mark in its vaccination rollout, with 40 per cent of the population double vaccinated who are over 16 The prime minister said 90 per cent of Australians aged over 70 have had their first dose. And this week two in three Australians, right around the country aged over 16, would have had their first dose. Mr Morrison said he had been advised by Covid-19 task force commander Lieutenant General John Frewen that by mid-October we will have had sufficient supplies delivered to Australia that would have enabled first and second doses for the Australian eligible population.He went on to welcome the New South Wales plan to reopen. “This plan keeps the deal, keeps the faith with the people of Australia and the people of NSW set out in the national plan,” he said. “This plan supports the initiatives that are there being driven by the safe process of opening underwritten by the Doherty modelling and supported by the national plan. It is a careful and a safe plan and consistent with everything set out in the national plan, and I commend the NSW government for following through. “The discussions I have been having with the Victorian Premier and others over some weeks now, both states in strong lockdowns, moving forward on the basis of the national plan and increasing levels of vaccination in both states.”When asked about the Pfizer email scandal leaked by Labor, he said Health Minister Greg Hunt followed the normal processes.He said there were many different vaccine options at the time and none of them had any guarantee of certainty. “We pursued sovereign manufacturing vaccine options for Australia,” he said.“That was the priority that was recommended to us, of course, by our health advisers and they were the opportunities that we pursued. And having that homegrown advantage, we believe, would give us greater protection.”He said it was one of many vaccine engagements Australia had at the time. “So we went to the arrangements that we entered into with AstraZeneca to make it here in Australia, well over 10 million of those vaccines have now been administered here,” he said.“Had we not done that, then you would have seen the vaccination rates in Australia half what they are today. National – 2021 – Covid Vaccination Stats“And you would have seen those particularly elderly Australians not as protected as they have been – have been, particularly as we’ve gone into these latest waves of the Delta strain of the virus. Those other countries went through emergency approval procedures for their vaccines. “Australia didn’t do that. We followed the normal process because we wanted to ensure Australians that the vaccines that we were asking them to take were safe in accordance with all the other vaccine programs that the country runs. “So we had been engaging with them at the time but what is very clear is that what was necessary was for us to establish our own sovereign vaccine manufacturing capability, which we did.”He said after getting extra doses from Poland, the UK and Singapore, he has “some irons in the fire” that he is working on. Mr Morrison said he thought WA Premier Mark McGowan’s threat to leave his state shut for Christmas while others reopen was “underselling West Australians”. “I mean I think they’ll get vaccinated sooner than that. He’s making assumptions that Western Australians won’t get vaccinated until some time in January. “I don’t think Western Australians will be that complacent. I have a bigger thinking that they want to engage with the rest of the country and the world. “Western Australians log out, they don’t log in. And I know Western Australians will be keen to move on and get on.“I can understand the premier would be having a conservative still, I can understand that, that’s prudent, but at the same time I believe they’ll be able to achieve well beyond that and it’s very important that our country lives with this virus.”
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