Mr Marshall, Trevor Khan, Steph Cooke and Ben Franklin all had dinner together on Monday night at a Paddington restaurant in Sydney’s east, and were soon after deemed casual contacts.Mr Marshall confirmed he had been formally advised by NSW Health “just after 8am” on Thursday.“I have been in isolation in Sydney since late Tuesday night, when I received a text message from NSW Health advising of my attendance at a close contact venue on Monday evening, and the need to present for testing,” he said in a statement. “To everyone who has contacted me this morning, thank you for your thoughts and well wishes – I’m doing fine and will continue to strictly follow the advice of health authorities. “To our wonderful NSW Health staff, who continue to do an amazing job in these challenging times, thank you for your support and efforts keeping all of us safe and well.”Meanwhile, the state’s Health Minister is in isolation, after he was identified as a close contact of a “possible” Covid-19 case who he had interacted with at Parliament House.It comes as NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard is in isolation, revealing he is a close contact.Mr Hazzard told the ABC on Thursday morning that he was asymptomatic but isolating at home as a precaution after being notified about the potential exposure.Mr Hazzard, who stood next to Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a press conference yesterday, said he didn’t believe the premier was exposed to the virus.“I think the premier is fairly safe,” he said, emphasising that he is “just being careful and taking health advice.”NEW QUEENSLAND CASEQueensland has recorded three new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, all linked to the flight attendant who contracted the virus in hotel quarantine. The manager of the Portuguese Family Centre at Ellen Grove confirmed to NCA NewsWire he tested positive after a woman in her 30s dined at the restaurant on Saturday night before learning she had the virus.He tested negative on his first test after being identified as a close contact, but began developing symptoms on Wednesday. He was taken to hospital on Wednesday night where further tests revealed he was positive, he told NCA NewsWire. The man said he had been in home isolation since Sunday, when he was contacted by health authorities. He has not been vaccinated but was “feeling better” on Thursday morning.Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young confirmed two further close contacts have also since tested positive, who had both been “out and about” with the woman in Brisbane on Saturday and were immediately sent into hotel quarantine that night.The woman arrived in Brisbane from Portugal and quarantined for two weeks at the Four Points Hotel, where she contracted the Alpha variant from another guest staying at the hotel who had arrived from Mongolia. Health authorities believe a fully vaccinated quarantine staff member transported the virus between the two guests. Dr Young said on Thursday she wasn’t concerned that any of the three cases “are a risk to the Queensland community”. “I’m not concerned with that outbreak in that we now do have everyone in quarantine that we believe was at risk,” she said. “We have to remember, that was the Alpha variant, so far less infectious than the Delta variant we’re seeing circulating in Sydney. “We have seen how rapidly in just one week that has taken off in Sydney. We have to be alert.”NED-1910-How COVID-19 spreads by airVICTORIA RECORDS ONE NEW LOCAL CASEVictoria recorded one new locally acquired case of Covid-19 on Thursday.The case is a known primary close contact who has been quarantining throughout their infectious period, the state health department said on Thursday.The state also recorded three cases acquired from overseas, all of which are in hotel quarantine.The result comes as coronavirus restrictions are set to ease again in Victoria at 11.59pm on Thursday.Acting Premier James Merlino unveiled the raft of changes on Wednesday, including crowds returning to community and professional sport, an increase of people allowed at indoor and outdoor gatherings and an increase of patron caps at hospitality venues.However, masks must still be worn indoors.Chief health officer Brett Sutton said it was part of “what allows us to do what we’re doing”.“The 50 per cent capacity for some of these public events indoors where people sit in close proximity for hours at a time, some of the other big public events, but also we’ve seen it through Victoria’s outbreak, we’re seeing now in NSW, that retail settings allow transmission to occur,” Professor Sutton said.“Other indoor settings are the risk areas, so we do need to bear in mind that it’s a level of insurance, a level of protection that allows us to go to the very settings that we’re trying to get to.”The recommendation for face masks to be worn outdoors where 1.5m social distancing can’t be maintained also still applies.Dancefloors at weddings and nightclubs was another restriction that was unchanged, with nightclubs and karaoke venues only able to open for seated service.Melburnians can return to offices up to 75 per cent capacity or 30 people per workplace and the cap on spectators at community sport will be 1000.Theatres will initially open at 50 per cent capacity, with up to 1000 people, and this weekend crowds can attend public events and outdoor stadiums with a limit of 50 per cent or up to 25,000 people.Another easing of restrictions has also been flagged for July 1, taking Victoria back to the settings it had before the outbreak started.The latest result comes after the state recorded zero new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.The total number of active cases across Victoria is 52. A total of 17,803 vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours to midnight and 22,812 test results were received.COVID-19 Stats – Horizontal with Lazy LoadSTATES SLAM SHUT AS SYDNEY OUTBREAK SPREADSMeanwhile, state borders around Australia have been shut to NSW and five millions Sydneysiders face tough new restrictions after a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.Queensland yesterday became the latest state to close its borders to Sydney, along with the surrounding regions. Victoria, which has just emerged from a strict lockdown, has also stopped travel from the seven local government “red zones” – Sydney, Woollahra, Randwick, Waverley, Inner West, Bayside and Canada Bay – as has South Australia, reports the Australian.The NSW government has not ruled out a lockdown of the city, with health officials perturbed the cluster is fast spreading out of its eastern suburbs epicentre.Travel from the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour was restricted from 1am, while Sydneysiders and residents of the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour are now required to wear masks in all non-residential indoor settings and the number of household visitors is limited to five, including children.Residents of seven local government areas were also banned from leaving the city for non-essential regions.Earlier, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the Bondi cluster had grown by 13 cases.A number of new restrictions have been put in place, but a lockdown has not been announced.“This is an evolving situation and we would have preferred not occur but what has occurred, because our government will take action today to limit the spread of what is a very contagious variant of Covid,” the Premier said.Eight of the infections were from a party attended by a Bondi Junction worker. Four of the 13 cases confirmed since the 8pm cut off on Tuesday night are mystery cases.An additional three cases included in Wednesday’s official figure of 16 were known about yesterday.One of the new cases is a person who was in the same waiting room as a previously known case and four are under investigation “but all are in proximity to the southeast Sydney cluster”, the premier explained.It comes as NSW is shut off from WA and SA, with both states imposing hard borders on yesterday afternoon.South Australia’s border with most of NSW was immediately shut on Wednesday afternoon. People living in far western NSW areas including Wentworth and Broken Hill are the only ones exempt.Returning residents, people relocating to SA and those fleeing domestic violence can cross state lines but must quarantine for 14 days.NSW was elevated to a “medium risk” jurisdiction” by WA, with travel from NSW to WA banned, except for a small number of exempt travellers and WA residents that are returning home.Exempt travellers must self quarantine for 14 days, get tested within 48 hours of their arrival, if they develop symptoms while in isolation and again on day 11.The news comes after it was revealed a child who attended a daycare centre 60km southwest of Sydney tested positive to Covid-19.Little Zak’s Academy at Narellan Vale issued an email alert late on Tuesday declaring a positive case visited the centre.Meanwhile, NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall and three of his Nationals colleagues are in isolation after they were alerted they may have been exposed to the coronavirus.Mr Marshall, Trevor Khan, Steph Cooke and Ben Franklin, all members of the NSW parliament, had dinner together on Monday night.The following evening, they were alerted by text messages from NSW Health they had been to a casual contact venue and needed to get tested and self-isolate, two sources said.In Victoria, Melbourne bars and restaurants – as well as weddings and funerals – will be able to host up to 300 people inside in a major easing of city restrictions, but masks will still be required indoors.Funerals will be capped at 300 mourners subject to density limits, the same number as for weddings, reported The Herald Sun.The cap for hospitality venues is increasing significantly to up to 300 people, but the maximum one person per 4sq m density quotient will continue.NED-3619-AstraZeneca blood clots-What we knowNEW SYDNEY RESTRICTIONSVisitors to households in Sydney will be limited to 5 guests – including children– Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces, and at organised outdoor events– Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed– Singing by audiences at indoor shows or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed– Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs however, dancing is allowed at weddings for the bridal party only (no more than 20 people)– Dance and gym classes limited to 20 per class (masks must be worn)The one person per four square metre rule will be reintroduced for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals– Outdoor seated events will be limited to 50 per cent seated capacity– Previous public transport capacity limits, represented by green dots, will be reintroduced– If you live or work in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas, you cannot travel outside metropolitan Sydney for non-essential travelNED-1859 State of our bordersWELLINGTON FLIGHT ALERTThe new cases numbers came after a Woolworths store, a popular restaurant in Bondi and two international flights were put on alert as exposure sites continue to grow.Sydney is grappling with a new cluster which ballooned to 21 on Tuesday and has sparked a swath of venue alerts.The latest include Totti’s Bondi, a Woolworths store in Spring Farm and two flights between Sydney and Wellington.Any passengers on board the following flights are considered close contacts and must get tested and go into self-isolation for 14 days, regardless of the results.Sydney to Wellington: QF163 (Qantas) June 18 departing Sydney at 7.05pm and arriving in Wellington at 12.12am, June 19.Wellington to Sydney: NZ247 (Air New Zealand) June 21 departing Wellington at 10.13am and arriving in Sydney at 11.33am.Diners who went to Totti’s Bondi (inside the Royal Bondi) on June 19 between 5pm and 6.30pm are also considered close contacts.NSW Health issued the alert late on Tuesday which also featured two other businesses which were added to the hot spot list.Anyone at the following locations are considered a casual contact and must get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.NSW Covid Exposure Sites‘ROOM TO ROOM’ TRANSMISSIONHealth authorities have revealed guests in Queensland’s hotel quarantine have been infected by room-to-room transmission and have been forced to reclassify overseas cases as locally acquired.Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said her team had initially sourced the cases identified at the Novotel Brisbane Airport earlier in the month as being acquired overseas, but further investigations proved Brisbane facilities had once again been exposed to passing infections in corridors.“A few days ago, we did have a few cases that were reported as hotel assessed and found in hotel quarantine, but now that we’ve got the genome sequencing back we know that there’s been transmission from one room to another room,” she told reporters on Wednesday morning.“This is on floor five of the Brisbane Airport Novotel (where) we had two people in one room and one person in the room adjacent.“That person in the room adjacent tested positive first and then two days later the couple, the two people in the adjacent room, tested positive.“At the time we thought it was just overseas acquired, but now that I’ve got the genome sequencing back, it’s clear that the first person has given it to the other two people.”Both cases are older infections that have been reclassified as locally acquired, with the couple arriving in quarantine on June 8 and the individual in the adjacent room beginning quarantine on June 10.“But they immediately became positive and then later the couple became positive,” Dr Young said.NED-3736-Vaccine-benefit-vs-harm
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