Seven hundred and seventy Victorians are now in hospital with Covid-19 across the state, including 144 people in the Intensive Care Unit.The 1750 new infections recorded overnight bring the state’s total active cases to more than 23,000. Over 72 per cent of Victorians have now received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.Melbourne emerged from 262 days of lockdown at 12.01am on Friday, with Saturday morning’s virus figures drop on the day before.The state had recorded 2189 new locally acquired infections and 16 more deaths on Friday as revellers were hitting the streets for a pub meal and a haircut. Lockdowns lifted after the state hit its 70 per cent double dose vaccination target. A proud Daniel Andrews congratulated Victorians on getting through lockdown 6.0 and urged everyone to “get out there”.“I‘m trying not to sound like some kind of soppy Dad here, but I am proud, bloody proud of this state,” he wrote on Friday morning.“We‘ve gone through such a hard time together, this pandemic has been exhausting in every sense of the word.”NED-4588-VIC-road map-out-of-lockdownVic Locally-acquired Covid-19NSW RECORDS 332 NEW CASESNew Covid cases continue to decline in NSW after 332 were reported on Saturday morning, down from 345 the day before. NSW Health reported two deaths in the latest figures, which cover the 24 hours to 8pm last night.The cases came from more than 64,000 tests, with the state’s hospitalisation rate also decreasing. There are now 469 Covid patients in hospital in NSW, with 123 in intensive care.The update follows news on Friday that Qantas plans to start several commercial routes earlier than originally scheduled, with many kicking off in December – including flights to the Indian capital for the first time in a year.Meanwhile, South Australia has changed its border rules with NSW, with restriction-free transit travel permitted through Sydney Airport. The NSW Cross Border Corridor has also been reinstated, meaning anyone who hasn’t left the corridor or associated with someone outside the corridor within the past 14 days can travel anywhere in SA.NED-4088-NSW-Locally-acquired-Covid-19-graphOVERSEAS TRAVEL IS BACKQantas chief executive Alan Joyce said his airline plans to fast-track international flights, with the reopening of borders expected to spark a rapid recovery in travel demand over summer.Six Qantas and Jetstar routes will commence earlier than expected as all stood down employees get back to work on December. With the reopening of the NSW border on November 1, Qantas is bringing forward the restart of routes from Sydney to Phuket, Singapore, Bangkok, Johannesburg and Fiji in addition to the Los Angeles and London flights already on sale. Qantas will also launch for the first time a route from Sydney to Delhi, set to launch December 6. The national carrier also plans to offer three return flights a week, leading up to one per day by Christmas. While the news is great for Australians looking to visit family, international visitors will still have to wait until next year with flights limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families. Mr Joyce said he was in talks with the Indonesian government around plans to operate flights back into Bali by Christmas.“Jetstar was the largest carrier operating into Bali, Australians were the largest visitors before Covid, and it will be phenomenal news for our Jetstar people that we can operate into Bali before Christmas,” he said.For those Australians heading overseas, Australia’s leading travel insurance provider, Cover-More, advised that there were already policies available that provided cover against Covid-19.Protection in its existing policies has been extended to overseas countries as they come off the Federal Government’s Do Not Travel list.NED-4565-Flight-departures-for-DecemberThe cover means travellers can cancel trips if they get Covid-19 and are forced into quarantine, or those who are deemed a close contact of someone with COVID-19 and are forced into quarantine. Overseas medical expenses would also be covered in the event a traveller were to get Covid-19 while on holiday.Mr Joyce said the last 20 months were the darkest period in the company’s history. He added that 20 flights to London have been added and international routes brought forward after the announcement of an end to quarantine.The airline said the surge of bookings comes as Australia once again allows international travel and removing quarantine for overseas arrivals.Two of the red-tailed Airbus A380s will now fly on the Sydney-Los Angeles route from April 2022, while the airline said a further three A380s will return to service from mid-November 2022 with the remaining five expected to return to service by early 2024.One superjumbo could arrive by the end of this year to assist with crew training ahead of its return to service.“Our customers and crew love flying on our flagship A380s, so news that they are will be back flying to Los Angeles again from April next year will be very welcome,” Mr Joyce said.“The Federal Government’s support to ensure our aircraft and people are ready to resume once borders reopen has been critical.”The pandemic has forced Qantas to ground most of its global fleet, lay-off about 8000 workers and stand down thousands more and raise $1.4bn in emergency capital to stay afloat. The airline estimates the crisis will have cost it $20bn in lost revenue by the end of next year.Mr Perrottet announced last week that NSW would allow fully vaccinated international arrivals into the state without the need to quarantine from November 1.Mr Morrison quickly clarified that it would apply to returning Australians and their closest relatives.Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said this week the state will not grant quarantine free entry to overseas arrivals until the state’s vaccination rate hits 90 per cent.Qantas has ramped up its preparations for the resumption of international travel in the last two weeks, with Boeing 787 pilots doing multiple training flights a day over Botany Bay.Qantas has put flights from Sydney to the UK and Los Angeles on sale from November 1 with a strong response from outbound travellers.MAN IN 40s AMONG NEW BLOOD CLOT AZ CASESFour more Australians have suffered blood clots following the AstraZeneca vaccine – including in a man in his forties.The latest cases are all considered ‘probable’ thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) and bring the nation’s total blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine to 156 (86 confirmed, 70 probable) out of 12.6 million doses.The cases involved a male, 45, from Victoria; a male, 67, from Queensland; a male, 67, and female, 95, both from NSW.The figures were released in the Therapeutic Goods Administration Covid-19 Vaccine Weekly Safety Report (as at October 17) on Thursday afternoon.The medicines watchdog says it is closely monitoring blood clots rates linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine in younger age groups. “To date, the reporting rate of TTS remains higher in people aged under 60 years (2.5 per 100,000 doses) compared to those aged 60 and over (1.8 per 100,000 doses), which has also been observed in the UK. However, we have not seen a rise in the incidence in younger people,” the TGA says. Eight people have died as a result of TTS in Australia – six of these were women.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-harmThe TGA is also monitoring reports of adverse effects following the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.As at October 17, the TGA has received 312 reports of suspected myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) alone or in combination with pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium, – a sac-like membrane surrounding the heart) and an additional 836 reports of suspected pericarditis alone. In the same period the regulator received five reports of suspected myocarditis and 28 reports of suspected pericarditis. “These events can occur due to other causes, including common viral infections, so it is expected that not all cases are related to vaccination,” the TGA says.Analysis in Australia and overseas shows myocarditis has been more common in teenage boys after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine compared to the rest of the population.NED-3619-AstraZeneca blood clots-What we know
Powered by WPeMatico
