Covid updates: Scott Morrison says vaccine problems are ‘fixed’ and urges Aussies to get the jab
Scott Morrison hopes the NSW vaccine milestone can offer hope to other locked down Australians, insisting life without Covid disruption is almost here.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Australians who have not yet been vaccinated to get the Covid jab, saying “Australians are beginning to get their lives back”.
Speaking from The Lodge, Mr Morrison said he hoped other states and territories would get hope from New South Wales on Thursday reaching the 70 per cent double dose milestone.
“Saving lives, saving livelihoods, and now Australians are beginning to get their lives back - the things that have been taken from them, because of this awful pandemic... Because of the vaccination rates hitting the levels that we’ve needed them to, as set out in the scientific work that has been done by the Doherty Institute.”
He said there would be soon no need to not be able to safely plan ahead for the coming weeks and months.
“I want this to be a sign of hope to the rest of the country, particularly those in Victoria, who I’m mindful of today, and here in ACT, where the lockdowns continue. What it does show is those vaccinations have enabled New South Wales to now get to that point where the light at the end of that tunnel is now very, very close. And that will be true for Victoria, it will be true for the ACT as well, as they go towards these marks.”
The Prime Minister said vaccinations safeguarded against serious illness and death.
“And so, I would encourage those right around the country to go and get vaccinated, let’s hit those marks.”
He said Australia would hit 30 million doses administered this week.
“What that shows is the problems and challenges that we’ve had, we’ve addressed. We have fixed. And we have turn it around, and we’re in the home stretch, and we’re moving towards that line, and then we need to keep going beyond it. Because I believe Australia can achieve much higher vaccination rates than the 70 and 80 per cent that we’ve set out in the national plan and that will only give us greater confidence and enable us to move even more quickly as we open the country up. I want to see Australians all reunited once again.”
Mr Morrison said he expected hospitals would cope with the pressures the expected surge in Covid patients.
“But, what we’ve seen in New South Wales is the modelling where they were basing decisions on surge needs in New South Wales hospitals, those worst case scenarios were not realised.’
He continued: “And the work that needs to be done and frankly should’ve been done for the last 18 months, in many cases I believe it has, Victoria has a strong plan for dealing with the surge in their hospitals and they’re working to that plan, and that’s working well. That doesn’t mean there won’t be stresses on the system, of course they will. The plans we’ve seen put in place and the information that we’ve received from the health departments around the country, through the process that we have, under Professor Murphy, is demonstrating that to date that planning is well in place.”
VICTORIAN ROADMAP STILL INTACT
Victoria’s road map out of lockdown remains on track despite record high cases in recent days, according to a leading professor from the Burnet Institute.
Victoria recorded 1638 new Covid cases on Thursday, with health officials also announcing another two deaths.
Earlier this week the state broke a record for the highest ever daily cases in Australia, with 1763 infections reported.
Thursday’s tally is significantly higher than Wednesday’s 1420 infections, as the figure bounces around the mid-1000s.
But despite the high numbers, the Burnet Institute’s Mark Stoove said the state was still on its path towards reopening.
“The numbers that have been coming through over the last week or so have been high and they’ve been stabilising between 1000 and 1500,” Professor Stoove told Today.
“But it is well within the bounds of our modelling. I don’t see any reason why the government would want to change its road map at the moment.”
NEW ROADMAP IN NSW
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced students across the state will return to school by October 25 as he unveiled several changes to the state’s road map out of lockdown.
It came as the state recorded 587 new Covid cases on Thursday.
With NSW reaching 70 per cent of its eligible population aged 16 and older fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Mr Perrottet said he was able to announce the easing of several restrictions.
“All schools will return to by October 25,” Mr Perrottet said. “That’s great for kids and a major relief for parents and their sanity.”
Indoor pools will also be opened from this coming Monday, while weddings and funerals will have their caps raised from 50 attendees to 100.
At 80 per cent, Mr Perrottet also said the government would remove the requirement to wear masks in the office.
Meantime, the new NSW Premier has pledged to call his Queensland counterpart immediately to discuss the border arrangement between the two states.
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s tough border stance had caused friction between her and Gladys Berejiklian with ABC Breakfast host Lisa Millar describing it as “testy”.
“Have you heard from the Queensland Premier at all?,” she asked Mr Perrottet on Thursday.
“No, but I’ll give her a call today. It’s obviously been a busy couple of days here Lisa,” Mr Perrottet replied.
He was then asked what he planned to say to Ms Palaszczuk.
“I’ll say … ‘how you going?’ and ‘I want to have a great relationship with you’,” Mr Perrottet said.
STATE OF PLAY IN ACT
The ACT has recorded 28 new local coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period, bringing the national capital’s total outbreak to 1066.
The new cases included a baby who was diagnosed at Canberra Hospital‘s Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the baby had been in the neonatal intensive care unit for some time, and began developing Covid-19 symptoms on Tuesday evening.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the patient had since been moved to a special Covid-19 ward.
Staff and family who came in contact with the infected baby have been advised to get tested and enter quarantine.
Canberra Health Services chief executive Dave Peffer said authorities did not yet know how the baby contracted Covid-19.
“At this stage we don‘t have a known source of transmission, that is something that the team is looking at very closely,” he said.
“We‘re working in partnership with public health, and we will look at that in the coming days, to identify that.”
Of the 28 new cases in the ACT, health officials have been able to link 19 to existing outbreaks, but nine transmissions are still under investigation.
Eleven of the new cases were in isolation during their entire infectious period, and at least five spent time infectious out in the community.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced that another Canberran had died of the virus.
A woman in her 70s who had been receiving end of life care at an aged care facility passed away overnight, bringing the ACT’s total Covid-19 death toll to six.
Sixteen Canberrans are now in hospital with Covid-19, including seven people in the intensive care unit.
NSW RECORDS 594 CASES, 10 DEATHS
Another 594 Covid-19 infections and 10 deaths have been recorded in NSW.
The state is creeping closer to its ‘freedom day’ with 67.7 per cent eligible residents now fully vaccinated.
NSW Health’s Dr Marianne Gale said more than 90,000 people turned out to get tested.
The new figure comes after several days of a downward trajectory in daily infections as the vaccination rate continues to grow.
The state is tipped to reach its 70 per cent milestone before the weekends meaning ‘freedom day’ is set for Monday. More freedoms will be made available once the state achieves its 80 per cent double dose target.
Earlier, newly appointed NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he was confident the state would achieve a 90 per cent vaccination rate by the end of the year.
ZERO DAY IN QUEENSLAND
Queenslanders have been issued a grim warning as state’s vaccination rate lags, with five specific communities urged to lift their game and get the jab.
People living in the Ipswich and Logan regions near Brisbane, the Scenic Rim town of Beaudesert, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast have been asked to front up to get vaccinated.
Queensland has now slipped to last place among the states and territories in the vaccination rollout.
Chief health Officer Jeannette Young will also be flying to Central Queensland, Mackay, and Rockhampton on Wednesday to urge those communities to increase their vaccination rate.
As of Wednesday, just 48.89 per cent of people 16 and older were double vaccinated in the Sunshine State, dropping behind Western Australia with 49 per cent.
“We will see the Delta variant come in and it won’t be able to be controlled,” Dr Young said.
“The only control will be those who are vaccinated.”
The warning came after the state once again avoided a sixth lockdown with an “unbelievable” zero cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm.
That means no cases have been linked to the mystery Brisbane masseuse case announced on Monday, who was infectious in the community for 10 days.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there were three cases detected in quarantine overnight – two in hotels and one in a hospital, but health authorities were not concerned.
Wednesday 6 October – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 6, 2021
0 new locally acquired cases recorded overnight.
3 new overseas acquired cases - 2 detected in hotel quarantine, 1 detected in hospital quarantine.#covid19pic.twitter.com/bKdXwEySSh
Police were also forced to arrest a woman and take her into hotel quarantine in Brisbane after she refused multiple times to comply with home quarantine rules.
When asked again about Queensland’s reopening timeline, Ms Palaszczuk appeared to add another condition before she opens up to other states.
Queensland has so far proven reluctant to commit to easing border restrictions at an 80 per cent double dose rate flagged at national cabinet, and wants to see a plan for children who are too young to receive a vaccine, as well as an increase in hospital funding from the federal government.
Ms Palaszczuk on Wednesday also said she wanted to see Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s plan on the rollout of booster shots before committing to a date, while holding up the ACT’s 93 per cent vaccination rate as a benchmark.
“The Delta strike will come here in Queensland,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We need to get our vaccination rates up as high as possible before we have those outbreaks here.”
Wednesday’s update comes after Brisbane Airport was listed as one of three new exposure sites on Tuesday night.
Reports were also circulating that several hospitals in the state’s north are nearing capacity, even with low Covid numbers.
The Australian reported hospitals in Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and Mount Isa issued “code yellow’” capacity alarms on Tuesday, raising questions over the state’s ability to handle a sudden spike in coronavirus numbers.
VACCINE MILESTONE
Australia is storming towards the first major benchmark to reopen the nation as new data has revealed 80 per cent of the eligible population have received the first dose of a Covid-19 jab.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the milestone was a “national achievement”.
“As of about 10:30am this morning, Australia will have achieved the 80 per cent first vaccination rate,” he said.
“That’s a huge national achievement, and it’s a huge tribute to everybody.
“So, I want to thank everybody for coming forward but urge you to keep coming forward.”
It comes as the government announced Australians would soon have access to a new Covid-19 treatment in the form of a pill.
Mr Hunt said 300,000 courses of the promising oral antiviral Covid-19 treatment Molnupiravir had been purchased by the government.
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