Australian is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the OECD, with double-dose rates higher than Israel and the US.The 80 per cent vaccination rate brings it alongside Portugal, Spain, South Korea and Singpore as countries who have passed the important milestone.The national 80 per cent milestone was originally set to trigger Australia progressing to Phase C of the National Plan of reopening, which included extending the travel bubble for unrestricted travel to some overseas countries, including Singapore which has been green-lit to commence from next week.Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the milestone was “magnificent”.“How good is that? Congratulations Australia,” he said.“There has now been 36 million doses. This has been a true Australian national effort.“A big thanks goes to our nurses and our doctors , our healthcare workers and pharmacists. Everyone who’s been involved in this extraordinary effort.“From me a big thank you today, but it’s not over yet.“We all need to take this path back together.Victoria, NSW and the ACT have already passed their individual 80 per cent double dose targets, while Queensland and WA are days away from reaching 80 per cent first dose milestones.VICTORIAN COVID CASE NUMBERS SURGEVictoria has recorded 1268 new cases of Covid-19 and seven more deaths. The latest Saturday case numbers come as fully vaccinated Victorians can, for the first time in months, travel freely to NSW and return without needing to quarantine. NSW recorded 270 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Saturday.More than 82 per cent of eligible Victorians are now fully vaccinated. As of Saturday, 651 Victorians with Covid-19 are in hospital, down from the seven-day average of 667. There are 106 people in intensive care, 70 of whom are on ventilators.Meanwhile, NSW has recorded 270 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths, as the state rapidly approaches a major vaccine milestone. As of Saturday, 89.4 per cent of eligible NSW residents are fully vaccinated. There are 270 people currently in hospital with Covid-19, 55 of whom are in intensive care. It comes as fully vaccinated NSW residents can, for the first time in months, travel freely into Victoria and back after the two states agreed to “live with” Covid-19.VICTORIA CASE NUMBERS TREND BELOW 1000Victoria recorded 1343 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, after multiple days this week where case numbers were below 1000, which hasn’t happened since late September.Ten more Victorians died with the virus in the past 24 hours, the Department of Health also confirmed.The Delta outbreak has now claimed 345 lives.There are 634 Victorians in hospital — 109 of those are in intensive care and 73 are on a ventilator.A total of 66,155 tests were processed on Wednesday, while 14,255 vaccine doses were administered at state-run facilities.The Department of Health also updated its vaccine figures on Thursday to reflect the vaccination rate for those aged 12 and older — it was previously reporting the vaccination rate for Victorians aged above 16.About 82 per cent of Victorians aged above 12 have been fully inoculated.The 90 per cent double-dose vaccination rate is predicted to be achieved around November 24.It comes as Victorians and NSW residents can finally move freely between the two states after months of border restrictions.The border reopened at midnight on Thursday after Victoria’s acting chief health officer Ben Cowie declared the ACT and all remaining “orange zone” areas in NSW would become “green zones” under the state’s travel permit system.This means, for the first time in more than six months, every local government area in Australia will be considered a green zone for the purposes of entering Victoria.NEW ‘CONTROLLED’ Covid WAVE TO HIT AUSTRALIAAustralians have been told to enjoy the summer break away from high Covid-19 cases, thanks to the country’s high vaccination rates.However, experts warn Australia will experience a “controlled wave” which is now sweeping Singapore and will likely be inevitable for the country too.The Southeast Asian city is witnessing its highest infection surge since the beginning of the pandemic, with cases hitting an average of 3000 to 4000 new Covid-19 cases a day.And that’s despite Singapore reaching the coveted vaccination milestone of more than 90 per cent before Australia.Of those diagnosed with the virus, 98 per cent are asymptomatic or mild, despite the country recording more than 300 deaths in the past month – accounting for 70 per cent of Singapore’s total fatalities.“A couple of weeks after you’ve had the vaccine is when it’s most effective (80 per cent) in preventing transmission, but four to six months later it’s more like 40 per cent,” Regional infectious disease specialist Dale Fisher told The Australian.Around 94 per cent of Singaporeans aged 12 and over have been vaccinated, with vaccinations set to be approved soon for primary school children.Booster shots have also been made available this week for the double-jabbed aged over 30. It comes as health authorities said they’ve witnessed an “unusual surge” in the number of infections which peaked over the 5000 mark last week, while more than two thirds of patients on oxygen or in ICU are unvaccinated. “What matters in Singapore is not that we have 3000 or 4000 new cases a day but that we have 75 empty ICU beds which gives us a bit of comfort,” Professor Fisher said.“You can expect this to happen in Australia because it’s quite similar in that there’s very little natural immunity and vaccination rates are climbing.“There will be these surges as the restrictions are pulled down, but the fact it is coming into summer in Australia – when everyone opens their windows and flocks outdoors – and everyone has been recently vaccinated could mean the surge won’t be as big as it could have been.“I think Australia could have a bit of a honeymoon for the next few months, though I’d be a bit more worried in six months when you’re going back into winter.”From November 8, vaccinated Australians will be able to travel to Singapore without quarantining, while Australia’s borders will reopen to vaccinated Singaporeans from November 21.NSW RECORDS 249 CASES, THREE DEATHSAnother 249 new Covid infections and three deaths have been recorded in NSW overnight.The figure is down from Thursday when 308 cases were recorded, which was a spike on previous days.The news comes just hours after the border between NSW and Victoria reopened at midnight.Victorians and NSW residents were able to move freely between the two states from 11.59pm on Thursday, the states’ premiers announced.Dominic Perrottet and Daniel Andrews issued a joint statement on Thursday evening saying the decision was part of normalising living with Covid-19.NED-3869-Covid-19-Exposure-Sites-VictoriaVictoria’s acting chief health officer Ben Cowie declared the ACT and all remaining “orange zone” areas in NSW would become “green zones” under his state’s travel permit system.This means, for the first time in more than six months, every local government area in Australia will be considered a green zone for the purposes of entering Victoria.Travellers and workers who arrive from a green zone face no testing or quarantine requirements, but are still required to obtain an entry permit from Service Victoria.There are no requirements for fully vaccinated Victorians entering NSW, unless they have been to an exposure site the NSW government considers a “place of high concern”.NSW Covid Exposure SitesAUSTRALIA RECOGNISES TWO NEW VACCINES Two new vaccines will officially be recognised in Australia from Monday as the Therapeutic Goods Administration announces the addition of Covaxin and Sinopharm to its accepted vaccine list. Covaxin – a Covid-19 vaccine manufactured in India – and Sinopharm – manufactured in China – will now be “recognised” for the purpose of establishing a traveller’s vaccination status. This recognition is for travellers entering Australia who are aged 12 and over, and have been vaccinated with Covaxin, and those 18 and over with Sinopharm. The TGA said its decision to accept the two new vaccines was made in response to additional information demonstrating the effectiveness of Covaxin and Sinopharm.“These vaccines provide protection and potentially reduce the likelihood that an incoming traveller would transmit Covid-19 infection to others while in Australia or become acutely unwell due to Covid-19,” a TGA spokesman said.The addition of the two vaccines will means many citizens of China, India and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region will now be considered fully vaccinated upon entry into Australia.“This will have significant impacts for the return of international students, and travel of skilled and unskilled workers to Australia,” a TGA spokesman said.International students will need to wait at least seven days after their second dose of Covaxin or Sinopharm to be legally regarded as fully vaccinated in Australia.The two doses of the vaccine will also need to be at least 14 days apart, according to ATAGI’s standards.While Covaxin and Sinopharm will now be officially “recognised” by the TGA, this does not mean the vaccine brands are registered for approved use in Australia.Australians will continue to receive AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines only.AUSTRALIA REOPENS TO THE WORLDThe first quarantine-free flight arrived in Australia on Monday, as the ban preventing Aussies from travelling overseas without an official exemption was officially lifted. Passengers had emotional reunions at the arrival gate after Qantas flight QF12 arrived at Sydney Airport at 6am from Los Angeles.A Singapore Airlines plane touching down slightly earlier at 5.15am.The first Qantas flight out of Sydney will be to London via Darwin on QF1, with passengers on board no longer needing an exemption to leave the country.Sixteen international flights are due to arrive at Sydney Airport’s international terminal today, bringing home some of the 46,800 stranded Australians overseas.It marks an end to almost 600 days of restricted travel after flights were paused on March 20, 2020.There will be no need for quarantine in NSW if you’re fully vaccinated.AUSTRALIA MAY GET NEW VACCINE Australia could welcome its fourth Covid-19 vaccine after Novavax announced the completion of its submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for provisional approval of its vaccine candidate. The company’s application to the TGA marks the first complete application for provisional approval of a protein-based Covid-19 vaccine in Australia.“This submission brings Novavax significantly closer to delivering doses of the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to Australia and, along with this week’s filing for conditional marketing authorisation in the UK, brings us one step closer to our goal of ensuring broad global access to our vaccine,” said Novavax President and chief executive Stanley C. Erck. “We thank the Australian clinical trial participants and trial sites, as well as the regulatory and vaccine experts, for their assistance and contribution to this vaccine program.”In a statement, the company said Australia had played a pivotal role in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials supporting the development of the protein-based COVID-19 vaccine. Additional booster trials and a Phase 1/2 trial for a combination vaccine using Novavax’s seasonal influenza and Covid-19 vaccine are under way in Australia.‘NEW ERA’: HUNTWith Australia set to reach its next major trigger point on the national plan within 10 days, the Health Minister has outlined how Covid-positive people will be treated.Greg Hunt anticipates Australia will reach the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination mark by next weekend, which would trigger phase C of Australia’s plan for reopening. As vaccination rates soar across the country, a “new era” of healthcare co-operation between state and territory providers and community-based doctors and nurse practitioners has been outlined and will mean asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic Covid-positive patients are treated at home, not in hospitals.Mr Hunt announced the six-part $180m package from Melbourne beside the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the chief nursing officer.“We start with a $25 Medicare item, as a face-to-face bonus for general practitioners treating Covid-positive patients, or suspected Covid-positive patients in the clinic. “That will attach to any other appropriate item the GP is using,” Mr Hunt said.“This is a bonus for them in seeing patients face-to-face and recognising the additional cost of cleaning.“(Second) as patients are being treated at home, we’ll make available pulse oximeters which allow for (at-home) oxygen reading. It will be a critical part of identifying whether any patient at home is starting to deteriorate in any form.”Mr Hunt said the package would also support GPs, nurses and medical deputising services to carry out home visits. GP respiratory clinics will continue to remain open until at least June 30, 2022, telehealth systems will continue to be supported, and Covid-positive patients will be able to get scripts filled without needing a doctor’s visit.“We want to ensure where possible people who are fully vaccinated and are not at risk of becoming a greater health issue for them that they will have treatment at home,” Mr Hunt said.“If someone is unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and not deemed a (health) risk, they will also be treated on this path.”RACGP president Karen Price said the announcement would save hospitals from being overwhelmed.“That’s important for people who need to attend hospital for other acute injuries or illnesses,” she said.As of Friday, 87.9 per cent of eligible Australians have received one dose, while 76.2 per cent are fully vaccinated. In addition, booster shots have begun being delivered at GPs across the country.
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