Chief health officer Kerry Chant announced the new figures and said the deaths included two women and nine men.She also revealed the details of a new Delta strain emerging in NSW.Genomic sequencing revealed the new variant, which she said was different to “current strains circulating in Sydney”.“There’s no indication that this new strain presents any differences regarding transmission, vaccine effectiveness or severity,” Dr Chant said.“There are currently eight cases identified with this particular Delta strain – seven people in one household and one additional case.“We’re undertaking some investigations into the source and how the transmission occurred and we’ll update you when any information is available”She also revealed a push to get the state to reach the 90 per cent vaccination milestone.“We have to set our sights to achieve well over 90 per cent double dose vaccination,” Dr Chant said.“And I am confident that we can achieve this ambitious target. “Please continue to get vaccinated and support others around you. We are looking forward to opening up on Monday, but it is important that we do it safely.”The daily case number is a slight climb on the previous few days but still well below the peak.The new figures come after the NSW Deputy Premier was forced to push back on claims that Dr Chant didn’t agree with the changes Dominic Perrottet made to the road map.Dr Chant was absent from the new premier’s press conference on Thursday where he announced several changes to the state’s reopening plan.The changes included expanding the number of people allowed to gather indoors and outdoors, moving the reopening of schools and also raising the cap on funerals and weddings.It has been reported that Dr Chant didn’t support the adjustments and her absence from the announcement added fuel to the fire.But Mr Toole hit back at those claims during an interview with Sunrise on Friday morning.He said “that wasn’t the case”.“It was endorsed by Kerry Chant and it was endorsed by NSW Health,” he said.“We had a crisis cabinet the day before and Kerry Chant was in that meeting. We don’t make decisions without the support of NSW Health and Dr Kerry Chant.”NSW Covid Exposure SitesVICTORIA SETS GRIM AUSSIE INFECTION RECORDVictoria has posted 1838 new Covid-19 infections on Friday, a new national record.The Department of Health also confirmed five more deaths in the past 24 hours.Friday’s figure is the state’s and country’s highest daily infection number since the pandemic hit.The second highest total was earlier this week on October 5 when Victoria recorded 1763 cases.There were 36,600 vaccine doses administered on Thursday, while 77,554 Covid-19 test results were processed.There were now 16,823 active infections across the state.Despite the massive surge in cases, Victoria remains on track towards meeting its reopening date of October 26. About 84.13 per cent of the state’s population have received their first dose, and 55.55 are fully vaccinated.The government will start to strip away restrictions once Victoria reached a 70 per cent double-dose vaccination rate – projected for October 25-26.Victorians would then be granted more freedoms in early November once an 80 per cent double-dose jab rate target was met.The state’s chief health officer professor Brett Sutton had previously flagged that he wanted to see more Victorians coming forward to get the vaccine.He said he would like to see days of more than 100,000 Victorians getting their jab so the state could hit its targets sooner.“We are doing 30,000 – 40,000 in Victoria and above throughout our hubs but there is capacity especially in pharmacies and primary care,” he said.“GPs are absolutely qualified to be delivering vaccines as well in Victoria and so we can do better and we should do better but it involves everyVictorian who is not yet fully vaccinated coming forward to get the vaccine.“With the reduced interval for Pfizer, down to three weeks, there is an opportunity for people who have had that later appointment to redo the appointment and get fully vaccinated now and that makes a difference.”NED-3869-Covid-19-Exposure-Sites-VictoriaNED-4653-VIC-vaccine-mandateTWO UNDER 60S IN NEW BLOOD CLOTS CASES LINKED TO ASTRAZENECA JAB The number of blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine has risen again in Australia to 151.It comes after a confirmed case in an 82-year-old woman from NSW and two probable cases in a 41-year-old man from NSW and a 52-year-old woman from Queensland.This takes the total Australian reports assessed as thrombosis thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) or blood clots combined with low platelets following AstraZeneca to 84 confirmed, 67 probable cases from nearly 12 million vaccine doses.The Therapeutic Goods Administration released the figures in its Covid-19 Vaccine Weekly Safety Report on Thursday afternoon.“We continue to closely monitor cases of TTS as Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) is now being used more frequently in people aged under 60 years. To date, we have not observed a significant change in the rate of TTS in people aged 50-59 years,” the TGA said.NED-3619-AstraZeneca blood clots-What we knowThe Moderna vaccine is now being rolled out in Australia. To 3 October, the TGA received 65 reports of suspected adverse events.“These were expected reactions consistent with what has been reported in the trials and included injection-site reactions, nausea, headache, dizziness and chest pain,” the TGA said.To the same period, the TGA received 218 reports of suspected myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) alone or in combination with pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium – a sac-like structure that surrounds the heart). In addition, the TGA received 629 reports of suspected pericarditis alone with Pfizer. In the same period the TGA received three reports of suspected pericarditis alone with Moderna. NED-3736-Vaccine-benefit-vs-harmSECOND BABY TESTS COVID POSITIVE IN ACTA second infant has tested positive to Covid-19 as the number of cases associated with a Canberra Hospital special care nursery increased to five. Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Thursday announced the ACT had recorded 41 new cases of the virus, bringing the national capital’s outbreak total to 1107.Ms Stephen-Smith was unable to provide an update on the condition of the two babies but did say neither were currently in a critical condition. Two carers who went into the unit at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children have also tested positive for the virus. As a result of the exposure, 28 staff have are in isolation. The source of the infection remains under investigation it’s expected the cluster will grow over the coming days.“It’s not unexpected that the source would still be under investigation at this time,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “This is an evolving situation, only in the last sort of just over 24 hours, 36 hours, so I’m not at all surprised that we haven’t been able to definitively identify what the source of that cluster has been.”Of the 41 new cases, 14 are linked to known cases and clusters, while 24 are still under investigation. Just seven cases were in isolation for the entirety of their infectious period.The territory currently has 15 people in hospital – aged from their 20s to 60s – with seven in intensive care and six requiring ventilation.Eleven of the 15 in ICU are unvaccinated and four have had one dose of the vaccine.The Health Minister dismissed concerns the number of patients requiring ventilation, telling reporters the numbers were in line with what the government had planned for. “Over the next few weeks we expect to have around 30 Covid patients in hospital and around 10 in ICU,” Ms Rachel-Stephen Smith said. “Our Covid-19 capacity is around 20 in ICU. That would have an impact on our ICU capacity, but this is exactly where we expected to be.”It comes as the ACT hits a major vaccine milestone, with 70 per cent of the population aged 16 plus fully vaccinated. Over 96 per cent of the eligible population have now received at least one dose of the vaccine. COVID INFECTED SHIP ARRIVES OFF QLD COASTIt has now been two straight days without a local Covid case in Queensland, but an infected bulk carrier arriving off the west coast of Cape York has delivered five positive cases. State Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on Thursday said there were six new cases from overseas – one a traveller arriving from Scotland, and five coming from the Panamanian-registered ship, the Imabari Queen.Chief health officer Jeannette Young said Queensland Health was monitoring the situation and would determine if the new cases needed to come off the ship and enter hospital.The latest update came as Ms D’Ath flagged another super-vax weekend ahead, with people who attended the state’s Super-Pfizer weekend three weeks ago now due for a second dose. Speaking from Mackay, Ms D’Ath said less than 50 per cent of Queenslanders had been double vaccinated, the lowest rate in the country. About 68.3 per cent of Queenslanders have had one dose, ahead of only Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Ms D’Ath and Dr Young are on a tour of regional Queensland to try and boost the vaccination uptake. Thursday’s update means there are still no positive cases linked to the mystery masseuse case announced earlier in the week, who was active in Brisbane’s northern suburbs for 10 days. Ms D’Ath also confirmed state government plans to spare 1000 stranded Queenslanders from hotel quarantine, with an expanded government home quarantine trial kicking off next week.The Palaszczuk government will begin welcoming back a cohort of fully vaccinated air arrivals from October 11 – so long as the successful applicants have a suitable house to bunker down in for 14 days and are willing to be tested frequently and monitored by authorities.The strictly monitored program is available only to those already on the exemption application list, with participants being required to have a freestanding home – and not a unit – and within two hours from Brisbane Airport. NED-3589-Vaccine-Passports-graphic
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