NSW’s health minister has praised the community for its high vaccination rates, as the state recorded another 1000-plus day.
Welcome to our live coverage of the Covid situation in Australia.
The nation continues to take up vaccines at a record rate as cases drop in NSW but rise in Victoria.
NSW recorded 1022 new cases of Covid today and tragically lost 10 people to the disease.
The state saw its lowest case number since August yesterday, after 935 people tested positive.
However a positive case in northern NSW has forced health authorities to put the Byron, Tweed and Kempsey local government areas into lockdown for seven days.
The Covid situation is similar in Victoria where three new areas – Geelong, the Surf Coast and Mitchell Shire – re-entered lockdown.
The state also reported a new record of Covid cases this year with 607 people testing positive and one person dying from the disease.
The ACT also reported 16 new locally acquired cases.
Follow below for today’s live news and updates on Australia’s coronavirus situation.
You can find yesterday’s blog here.
NSW records 1022 new cases, 10 deaths
NSW has recorded another 1000-plus Covid day, with 1022 people testing positive and 10 people tragically losing their lives.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard praised the community for its high vaccination rates, with more than 82 per cent of the state now receiving a first dose and 53 per cent of people over the age of 16 fully vaccinated.
There are 1266 people with Covid in hospital and 244 are intensive care. Of those, 118 are on ventilators.
Of the 244 people in the ICU, 181 have not been vaccinated, 54 have received one dose of the vaccine and nine people have received two doses.
Victoria administered highest number of vaccines yesterday
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley praised the state after it recorded the highest number of vaccines administered yesterday.
More than 40,000 vaccines were delivered through Victoria’s state-run clinics and another 14,000 given via GPs and pharmacies.
“Victoria delivered more vaccines than any other state yesterday and I think that just goes to point that there is a very strong appetite for Victorians to go out there and get vaccinated because they know it’s both the pathway to delivering on our road map but it’s the pathway to getting to the other side of this pandemic,” Mr Foley said.
More than 73 per cent of Victorians have received one dose of vaccine and 44.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Victoria ‘left with no choice’ but to shut down construction
Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley has said the state was left with “no choice” but to shut down the construction industry, as a massive group of protesters walk through Melbourne’s streets.
“We’ve stood here almost every day for several weeks now and talked about this outbreak and its particular focus on the construction sector in all of its diversity. We’ve talked about Covid outbreaks on construction sites, one particular site so far having more than 150 direct cases linked to its operation,” he said.
“We’ve referred to multiple cases seeding from metropolitan Melbourne into the regions, given the highly mobile and young permitted workforce that has been the construction sector for the past 18 months.
“And we’ve also reflected on poor levels of compliance with health directions and poor levels of application of Covid-safe principles and practices in multiple workplaces, big, small and in between.”
There are currently 403 cases directly linked to construction, across 186 construction sites, 151 of which are in Melbourne.
Further information on northern NSW’s lockdown
NSW Health has issued detailed information on northern NSW’s lockdown with Kempsey, Byron Shire and the Tweed LGA to be put under stay-at-home orders from 5pm today for seven days.
The stay-at-home orders also apply to anyone who has been in an affected LGA since the following dates:
– Kempsey LGA – from September 14
– Byron LGA – from September 18
– Tweed LGA – from September 18
Everyone in the affected LGAs must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason, which includes shopping for food, medical care, getting vaccinated, compassionate needs, exercise and work or tertiary education if unable to work or study at home.
People who are fully vaccinated can attend an outdoor gathering of up to five people for exercise or outdoor recreation, as long as all of those aged 16 or older are fully vaccinated.
NSW Health is also calling for higher testing numbers to understand if Covid has spread in the area.
Postive Byron case initially tesed negative to Covid
The authorised worker, who travelled from Sydney to the Byron region as an authorised worker, initially tested negative to Covid with a rapid antigen test.
“As I understand it’s somebody who has travelled into the area with an appropriate permit and had actually had both a rapid antigen test and a PCR test. It’s one of the problems … rapid antigen tests have a certain degree of efficiency and they don’t always show up and in this case it didn’t,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
“A PCR test then showed later that there was positive case which is good. The person did what was needed.”
Deputy chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale later said the authorised worker had been doing regular testing due to their work.
“The rapid antigen test was negative but the PCR swab test returned a positive result. Hence the public health actions,” she said.
New kids bubble is a ‘balancing act’
Health Minister Brad Hazzard has described NSW’s new kids bubble – that allows three children to meet up in a house of fully-vaccinated adults as a “balancing act”.
“We’re in a pandemic and everything has to be a balance. The strict epidemiological views would be we all should stay somewhere away from everybody else forever. But the mental health issues and other socialisation issues and the fact that we’re human beings means there has to be a balance and I think that’s where crisis cabinet strikes the balance,” Mr Hazzard said.
“It’s a challenge. I think everybody in the world has felt that. If you don’t want to catch the virus absolutely, you stay hidden away from everybody, or you take some risks and try and strike the balance and that’s what we’re doing.”
Mr Hazzard said they were preparing for “cumulative effects” from the kids bubble “but not huge and we recognise that”.
Suburbs of concern urged to get tested and vaccinated
NSW’s deputy chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale has named the suburbs of concern across NSW, urging them to get tested and vaccinated.
“We continue to urge residents in western and south-western Sydney to continue the great job you’ve been doing in following public health advice, getting tested, getting vaccinated,” she said.
“Particularly, I’d ask residents of Greenacre, Guildford, Bankstown, Revesby, Merrylands, Fairfield, Liverpool, Condell Park, Auburn and Blacktown.”
Sewage detection has also picked up traces of coronavirus in the Ballina and Wardell catchment areas in northern NSW.
“We currently are not aware of any cases in those areas. So for anybody who lives in those areas, please be vigilant for symptoms, please come forward for testing,” she said.
Tweed and Byron region to go into snap lockdown
The Tweed and Byron shire will go into a snap seven-day lockdown from 5pm today due to a cluster of coronavirus cases.
The region only moved back to its border bubble arrangement with southern Queensland last week.
A positive Covid case, who was later revealed to be an authorised worker, was infectious in the Ballina, Byron and Tweed community between September 18 and 20.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro told Sunrise this morning the government had been in talks to lock down the region.
‘It just won’t work’: States need to open up
Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is encouraging states to open up as some hold firm on high vaccination rates.
Speaking from Tamworth, Mr Joyce said the idea that states were staying closed to keep people safe “worked well at the start”.
“But that doesn’t hold water later on when everybody is getting to 70 per cent and 80 per cent … that issue moves on,” he said.
“Then people say, ‘I want to go on holidays to the Gold Coast’ and people in the Gold Coast say, ‘we want the commerce that comes from it’. And I want to see my daughter in Brisbane, you know
“And in the end, it starts to get under your skin. So the debate moves on and it goes from you’re ‘saving me’ to ‘you’re annoying the hell out of me!’”
Mr Joyce called on Queensland and Western Australia to stop “locking themselves in” and join the rest of Australia.
“Ultimately, these states have to open up. Otherwise, they become their own country. You know, are they going to have their own airport? And have their own Minister for Foreign Affairs? It just won’t work,” he said
“They’re states – not a country. And at some point in time, they have to come back and join the rest of Australia and participate in the world.
“I mean, it will be a little bit bizarre if it’s easier for you to go to Paris than it is to go to Perth. That is not how a country is supposed to work.”
Queensland premier will ‘wait to see what NSW will do’
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has stepped up for a brief Covid update to discuss the handful of people that have tested positive to coronavirus in northern NSW.
A bubble between southern Queensland and northern NSW was announced earlier this month to stop the border headache between the two states.
“I’ve just been advised by (Queensland chief health officer) Dr Jeanette Young that there are some concerns about a case at the moment in Byron Bay,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We are going to wait to see what New South Wales does at 11am, and we’ll listen to the advice from New South Wales.
“But we just need to be ready if New South Wales does anything in relation to that Byron Bay area. So please listen to updates from Queensland Health following the New South Wales press conference. We’ll keep everyone updated in relation to that.”
Life won’t be ‘tickety-boo’ next year but there is a way to fix things
Professo Tony Blakely, an epidemiologist and public health specialist from the University of Melbourne, has delivered a dose of reality to Aussies this morning.
Prof Blakely appeared on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the revised Doherty Institute modelling, that described what 2022 could look like.
“What the modelling shows is that at 80 per cent of adults vaccinated, life won’t be tickety-boo next year. We need to do more than that,” Prof Blakely said.
“Vaccinating down to five-plus year olds and the trials are coming through with that and maintaining some minimum density limits in hospitality and people like me only going to work one or two days a week, will get the health burden down quite well.
“But the problem is that we would still need to lean on or use lockdowns some of the time.”
Prof Blakely said there was a way back to normalcy – through innovation and better infection control.
“We need to innovate, and the other thing that the modelling … shows is that if you change a few things like rapid antigen testing or ventilation, improved air filtration in buildings, we do get good control,” he said.
“So I think that the key message out of this is – yes, vaccinate as high as you can, but we need to innovate in other ways of our society to make it much better.”
Prof Blakely predicted Australia would hit 90 per cent vaccination next year when people start to “see their friends get incentivised or they see their friends getting sick”.
Prof Blakely also made a prediction on masks.
“We don’t need to be wearing them outside when we’re walking the dog and separate from people once we get up to 80 per cent vaccination. But when we’re in the supermarket. When we are in the bus or the train. When we are in the lift at work, we should have those masks on, because it just dampens that transmission whilst we walk our way out of the pandemic,” he said.
Victoria breaks 2021 record for daily cases as numbers spike again
Victoria has recorded another spike in Covid cases, with 603 people testing positive yesterday.
The state also lost one person to Covid and now has 6000 active cases.
The 603 cases is Victoria’s worst daily total in more than a year and its worst for 2021.
Victoria has been seeing a sharp rise in cases due to the Delta strain, recording 567 cases the day before yesterday.
Despite that, vaccination rates continue to rise, with more than 40,000 Victorians getting a vaccine.
Masks likely ‘here to stay’ even when vaccination rates are high
Health experts have warned the world is a long way from returning to normal, with coronavirus likely requiring governments to mandate Covid-safe measures for years.
Dr Michael Lydeamore, a research fellow in infectious diseases at Monash University, told the Sydney Morning Herald that same public health measures were likely “here to stay”, as the Delta strain changed the way the virus spread.
“Masks are probably here to stay,” he said.
“They’re a relatively low-impost intervention that we know reduces transmission by some amount, and so, at least until we’re in a situation where we’re very confident we’re not going to have a big surge of cases, the masks are going to hang around in these closed settings.”
Masks have been proven to decrease the spread of Covid and have been an important public health measure since coronavirus came to Australia early last year.
NSW kids to form ‘friend bubbles’ from tomorrow
Children under the age of 18 in NSW will be able to form a “friend bubble” from tomorrow, as the state works to bolster the mental health of its population and drop some coronavirus restrictions.
The measure, signed off by NSW’s Crisis Cabinet last night, will allow children to form bubbles of up to three from midnight tomorrow.
The Daily Telegraph reports the bubble must be exclusive and between the same three children.
All parents involved in the bubble must be fully vaccinated and the families must live within 5km of each other, or in the same LGA.
Parents are not permitted to interact when dropping off their children at friends’ houses.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian told the newspaper that the state’s strong vaccination rates had allowed the government to ease further restrictions.
“Parents and children have had a difficult few months, trying to balance both work, often from home, as well as home schooling,” she said.
“This change will hopefully make a big difference for families during the school holidays and allow young children and teenagers to catch up and reconnect with their friends.”
Victorian government shuts down construction for two weeks amid protests
The Victorian construction industry is entering a two week shut down from today, amid violent protests outside the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) office yesterday.
The Master Builders Association of Victoria confirmed the snap shut down of all building and construction worksites in metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong, the Surf Coast, Ballarat and the Mitchell Shire from 11.59pm on Monday.
“The immediate shut down action is being taken to reduce movement, minimise transmission and allow for the entire industry to appropriately adapt to the chief health officer directions, including increasing vaccination rates,” the Andrews government said last night.
“The Victorian government will work with stakeholders over coming days to determine the best way for the industry to show full compliance with the Directions.”
All sites will be required to demonstrate compliance with prior to reopening, including the requirement for workers to show evidence to their employer of having had one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine before they return to site on October 5.
“We put the industry on notice just a week ago, we have seen appalling behaviour on site and on our streets, and now we’re acting decisively and without hesitation,” Industrial Relations Minister Tim Pallas said.
The MBAV said the Victorian government had advised the shut down was a result of an increase in Covid-19 transmissions in the building and construction industry, combined with the riots in Melbourne yesterday.
A violent brawl took place in the city outside the CFMEU office yesterday after hundreds of people descended on union headquarters to protest mandatory vaccinations for construction workers.
Riot police were called in as doors and windows were smashed by protesters who tried to storm CFMEU headquarters. Protest organisers were at a loss to control the angry mob.
‘Not our problem’: Barnaby’s message to the unvaccinated
Barnaby Joyce, who is currently serving as Acting Prime Minister while Scott Morrison is in Washington, had a stern message for Aussies holding up the country’s reopening by not getting vaccinated.
“I say to – not that they really care what I say – but I’m sure the Western Australians and Queenslanders, in the end, you won’t be locking people out, you’ll be locking yourself in,” he told reporters yesterday afternoon.
“The world has to move on, the Australian economy has to move on and we can’t wait. Unfortunately, you can’t wait for those who decide not to get vaccinated.
“People have a right to say if the vaccine is not as accessible as I wish, I want to get vaccinated and I can’t, that’s a far enough statement. But I believe by around about by the end of October, you’ll have more vaccines than people waiting to get vaccinated, you’ll have chemist shops, GPs, and clinics.
“If [in] that instance, if you don’t want to get vaccinated, that’s not our problem anymore. We can’t wait around, because the cost of it to the Australian taxpayer is so much that somebody, somewhere has to pay this money back and so as soon as we stop paying that money, the better it is for all of us.”
Gladys’ grim warning as cases drop
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian dropped a bleak warning yesterday despite the fact that cases dropped below 1000 for the first time in weeks.
Fronting the media yesterday morning, Ms Berejiklian said October was still set to be the state’s worst month to date, with cases and deaths tipped to jump again.
“Today I also want to say that although we can’t read too much into this, pleasingly NSW has 935 cases of community transmission but unfortunately four people lost their lives and we extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those four deceased,” she said.
“And I should note that even if case numbers go down, we should expect unfortunately that the number of people in intensive care and the number of people who lose their lives to go up because as we’ve said consistently because we have had a number of cases in the last few weeks, people ordinarily get very sick in the second week of the illness and sometimes stay very sick for a long time.
“That is why we need to continue to brace ourselves for October being the worst month for the number of people who pass away and the number of people who need intensive care. We should never lose sight of that, no matter what else is happening in (terms) of the vaccination rate or anything else, that is the likely scenario in October so we can’t be complacent because we know that unfortunately given what Delta does, if we are too complacent too early things can get out of control and that is the last thing we want.”
