At least 50 of those were infectious while in the community.A woman has also lost her life to the virus.VICTORIA RECORDS 24 NEW CASES, MYSTERY INFECTIONS GROWVictoria has recorded 24 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.Melbourne was plunged into even tougher restrictions overnight as the dreaded 9pm to 5am curfew returned and the city’s sixth lockdown was extended.The state’s health department confirmed the new local cases about 8.30am, and revealed three were mystery infections.They said 21 of the 24 new local cases could be linked to existing outbreaks but only 14 positive people were in isolation during their infectious period.At least 17 mystery cases have been reported in the past five days as contact tracers face a race against time to determine how Melburnians are acquiring the virus.It comes as an angry Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the strengthened lockdown would be in place until September 2.The exercise exemption to leave home has been made tighter with it only allowed with one other household member and dependants.Playgrounds, basketball courts, skate parks and exercise equipment despite the fact that it is outdoors will also be closed.Permits for authorised work and education will come back from 11.59pm on Tuesday and large construction projects will be reduced to 25 per cent of the workforce, while smaller projects will have a maximum of five workers.“We are at a tipping point, we see too many cases, we see too many mystery cases,” Mr Andrews said“There is simply no option today but to further strengthen this lockdown and to, on the advice of the chief health officer, extend it for a further two weeks.”There are now more than 540 exposure sites in multiple suburbs across metropolitan Melbourne.There are 227 active cases across the state, up from 205 on Monday.One new case were recorded in hotel quarantine on Tuesday.NED-3869-Covid-19-Exposure-Sites-VictoriaTWO NEW CASES IN QLDQueensland has recorded two new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday.One case was linked to the Indooroopilly cluster and one is in hotel quarantine. Both have been in isolation while infectious.Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the police presence guarding the Queensland-NSW border would be beefed up.Ms Palaszczuk said 25 extra officers would be stationed on the western end of the Queensland and New South Wales border to prevent southerners defying stay-at-home orders and attempting to cross into the state.“That’s a big police presence along our border to make sure we do everything we can to keep Queenslanders safe,” she said.SEVEN DIE IN NSW, 478 NEW CASESIt comes as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed there were 478 Covid cases and seven deaths as Australia’s first delivery of Pfizer vaccines from Poland arrived in Sydney overnight.She said the numers were “disturbingly high” after close to 157,000 were tested. 391 people are in hospital, 66 are in ICU and 28 are on a ventilator.Ms Berejiklian said from the seven deaths, only two of them had one dose of a vaccine and all the others were unvaccinated. Tragically, the eighth death of Australia’s youngest teenager Osama Suduh also died in hospital with pneumococcal meningitis, which he died from. But he was also Covid positive.The Premier said the suburbs of Merrylands, Guildford, Granville, Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Yagoona, Greenacre and Bankstown as the suburbs where the growth of Covid cases is continuing.There were 16 new cases in the Hunter New England region and 30 cases in the Nepean, Blue Mountains area. “Don’t leave your house. Don’t cut corners, unless you absolutely have to, we just want people to stay still,” she said.“In western NSW, we are very concerned about communities in west Dubbo and the Walgett area and the remote communities in far western NSW. We ask everybody to stay home and not to move around.”Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant detailed the latest Covid casualities in the state. “There was a man in his 80s from south-western Sydney who died at Campbelltown Hospital,” she said. “He wasn’t vaccinated. A man in his 40s from south-western Sydney who had severe underlying health conditions and was not vaccinated. “A woman in her 70s from Sydney’s northern suburbs died at Royal North Shore Hospital. “A woman in her 80s from Sydney’s inner west died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. “She was a resident of the Wyong residential aged care facility and is the third death linked to this cluster and she was unvaccinated. “There was a man in his 70s from south-western Sydney and he died at Liverpool Hospital. “He was a patient at that hospital and was the eighth death linked to that outbreak. “He had had one dose of AstraZeneca. “A man in his 80s from south-western Sydney died at Campbelltown Hospital and he was not vaccinated. “He had a number of comorbidities that sadly contributed to his death. “There was a man in his 80s from Western Sydney at died at Nepean Hospital. He was not vaccinated. He also had severe underlying illness.”NSW Covid Exposure SitesNSW Police commissioner Mick Fuller says he is not currently considering requesting additional powers (such as curfew enforcement) from the NSW government.But he warned those flouting the rules, they will face the full force of police and fines. “We ask the police officers to go hard, not in those terms,” he said.We were issuing four cautions for every ticket leading up to the Delta variant which is great community-based policing but it reaches a point where you say ‘people aren’t getting this’.“In fairness, I have asked officers to be active in terms of taking strong action. They still have the power of discretion. I have asked them to do what they should be doing, which is recording the reason why they take action or they don’t take action.”“Anywhere that is an LGA of concern, we have deemed recreation being unnecessary risk. We have left in exercise because it is easier for police to work through that. Recreation is extremely broad, as we know. “We can do without people sunbaking in the middle of a pandemic in an LGA of concern. “Recreation in those areas within your own LGA is still accepted if you are not in an LGA of concern.”It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Sunrise he had struck “a normal transaction” to secure the extra one million doses that were signed off by Pfizer.“We were very quickly on the phone,” he said. “Theres a great affection for Australia … it doesnt matter where you go in the world, people know people from Australia … they’re very kind and supportive of Australia.”Severe restrictions and lockdowns will remain in NSW until November, as Victoria and the ACT also face longer lockdowns.An emergency shipment of Pfizer has touched down in Australia overnight. Ms Berejiklian said she would not risk deaths by reopening. She said we “have to be real” and find a way to live with Delta after getting case numbers down.But she said: “You can’t let it rip.”She said they were undertaking a “dual strategy” of suppressing further outbreaks and ramping up vaccination, until people had received “double dose” vaccinations. On current modelling, that could mean a lockdown is in place until mid-November.Dr Chant delivered a grim warning telling everyone in NSW to stay at home. “We need the community to stay with us,” she said.“What I’m saying is it is a very, very bad picture if we don’t make that choice together. And everyone has a role to play.”It also comes as Western Australia warned it may keep its borders closed despite a national agreement to open up after jab rates hit 70 to 80 per cent.West Australian Premier Mark McGowan broke national cabinet ranks on Sunday by declaring he would pursue a zero-Covid policy even after WA reached 80 per cent vaccine coverage.“Our preferred option is zero Covid, obviously, and that’s what we’ll attempt to do. When you get to 70, perhaps 80, if there is a lockdown it might be a lesser area rather than the entire metropolitan area. It might be a country town rather than the entire region,” Mr McGowan told Sky News. “We retain the right to put in place borders (restrictions). But some of the measures that are put in place might ease once we reach that level of vaccination.”Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said Victoria was at a “tipping point” in the latest Delta outbreak, where it could be locked down for months if new clusters continue to emerge with mystery cases.Contact tracers are trying to connect five new mystery cases recorded on Sunday to existing clusters in Caroline Springs, Melton, Middle Park, Richmond, and Maribyrnong.NED-4292-Percentage-of-eligible-population-fully-vaccinated-by-stateVaccine LocatorAUSTRALIA BUYS 1M PFIZER DOSES FROM POLANDPoland has sold one million Pfizer Covid vaccine doses to Australia as part of a “responsible policy of solidarity”, the Polish health minister said on Sunday.Health Minister Adam Niedzieslki said that Poland’s vaccine purchases “allow us to meet the needs of our citizens and support others in need”.Polish ambassador to Australia Michal Kolodziejski said: “In these tough times for our Australian friends, Poland has decided to share with Australia one million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with immediate delivery”.Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the major boost to Australia’s vaccine rollout, as 415 new cases of Covid were recorded in NSW on Sunday and four more deaths.He said the vaccines were arriving “later tonight” and throughout the week. “In days, these jabs will start going into the arms of Australians,” Mr Morrison said at a press conference.Mr Morrison said the new one million Pfizer doses will be targeted at Australians aged 20 to 39 years of age as they were identified in the Doherty modelling as peak transmitters for Covid-19. “Five-hundred-and-thirty thousand of these doses will be prioritised for express delivery to the 12 Sydney local government areas where the COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow.”Mr Morrison said the rest of the doses would be allocated to the other states and territories on a per capita basis.“This allocation is based directly on the advice I received from the chief medical officer, Professor Kelly, his advice is based on the Doherty modelling and other work they have done about the transmissibility of the virus in those most affected areas and how they can be addressed through these additional doses,” he said.“This will give everybody aged 20 to 39 in the 12 LGAs the opportunity to be vaccinated.”Poland has fully vaccinated around 55 per cent of its population, but the rate of vaccinations has slowed sharply in recent months and many vaccination centres have been closed due to low demand.Opinion polls indicate that up to a quarter of Poles are either opposed to vaccination or hesitant about getting one.‘NO NEED TO BE OUT FOR HOURS’Mr Morrison directly addressed the lockdown in NSW, urging residents not to socialise outside bluntly saying “do not do it”.“My plea to fellow Sydneysiders is to stay at home. Stay at home. Only leave any absolute you have to,” the Prime Minister said. “There is no need to be out for hours and hours per day. I know the rules provide for it, but please do not do it,” he added.“We have been seeing the case numbers rise in Sydney and in New South Wales each day, and that is totally concerning.“I need you to stay at home, and you needed more vaccines from us. More vaccines are underway, they will be that next week. So I need Sydneysiders to stay home.”Mr Morrison insisted the lockdown was the key to containing NSW’s Covid crisis. “Lockdown has to work. It must work and is why I implore people across Sydney, stay at home,” Mr Morrison said.“Don’t get down to the beach for hours or meet up with others walking in pairs apart and catching up anyway.“We all know what we’re talking about. Don’t do it. Please don’t do it. It is up to all of us … to make this lockdown work.”ACT LOCKDOWN EXTENDS, 19 NEW CASESCanberra’s lockdown has been extended for an extra two weeks after 19 new local Covid cases were recorded.The national capital’s outbreak has now grown to 28 cases.With the two week extension, the ACT’s lockdown is now set to end on September 2 instead of August 19.The new cases included a student from Lyneham high school and a worker from the Greenway Views retirement village in Tuggeranong. Chief Health Minister Andrew Barr said the retirement village was now in full lockdown. The worker who brought Covid-19 into the facility had received her first dose of the vaccine and was unknowingly infectious during her shift. “This is a serious situation. We do not want to see the numbers continue to grow and we do not want to see exponential growth as we have seen in other jurisdictions,” he said.Mr Barr said there was also “particular concern” for attendees at the University of Canberra High School Kaleen last Monday, urging anyone who were there at that time to get tested and quarantine immediately.“This is a serious situation. We do not want to see the numbers continue to grow,” Mr Barr said on Monday.Mr Barr urged Canberrans to continue following lockdown rules. With 19 new community cases, the ACT has announced 11 new exposure sites. Anyone who attended the following locations at the dates and times specified must complete an ACT Contact Declaration Form, quarantine immediately, and get tested for COVID-19.– with additional reporting by James Hall and Emily Cosenza, Sue Dunlevy, Andrew Koubaridis, Tiffany Bakker
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