Prime Minister Scott Morrison has echoed the call from radio personality Kyle Sandilands by urging Australians to “get vaxxed baby” – and outlined changes coming to NSW in a bid to get more people vaccinated.
Mr Morrison said there would be a push to get more first dose jabs in NSW.
“We discussed and will be confirming over the next 24 hours the ability for, in New South Wales, in their state vaccine centres, for them to do greater amounts of first doses by staying within the medical advice, the target advice, which says that second doses of Pfizer can be extended out to six weeks," he said.
SA Covid update: SA joins other Australian states in rejecting NSW Pfizer plea
SA has joined the rest of Australia's states in roundly rejecting a NSW plea to share Pfizer Covid vaccines to help quell the spiralling Sydney outbreak.
South Australia has joined a national rejection of NSW’s plea for extra Pfizer vaccines to combat its Covid-19 crisis, with Premier Steven Marshall insisting SA would retain its stocks.
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Mr Marshall also declared he was hopeful of students returning to school on Wednesday, continuing his optimism that the seven-day statewide lockdown would end, as scheduled, at 6pm on Tuesday.
A national cabinet meeting on Friday spurned the NSW call for more Pfizer doses to inoculate people in southwestern Sydney’s Covid-19 hotspots.Declaring SA doses would not be sent elsewhere, Mr Marshall said people were hurting in lockdown and the pathway out would not be jeopardised.
WATCH THE MEDIA CONFERENCE REPLAY
“We are not in a position here in SA to send any of our vaccination doses to NSW – we’re in the middle of a lockdown ourselves,” Mr Marshall told The Advertiser.
National vaccine rollout chief Lieutenant General John Frewen, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Queensland Acting Premier Steven Miles also publicly spurned the NSW bid.
Instead, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said after national cabinet that NSW would free up supplies to deliver more Pfizer first doses by extending from three to six weeks the duration between doses.
When asked if homeschooling SA parents could realistically expect their children to return to school on Wednesday if the lockdown ended, as scheduled, on Tuesday, Mr Marshall said: “Yes, absolutely. Getting our students back to school is a high priority for us.
“So, the very earliest we get the green light for that, we’ll get our students back. I’m hopeful that this will occur from Wednesday next week.
“We know that there’s much better educational outcomes for students at school, but also it’s a productivity issue for our state. Parents are homeschooling – that means that they’re not participating in the workforce.”
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Mr Marshall also revealed a digital booking system would be trialled from Saturday, initially at Waterworld, Ridgehaven, and extending to other Covid-19 testing centres, in a bid to slash queues.
Frustration has erupted from people forced to wait hours for tests – some even turned away – triggering intense criticism of preparedness for an outbreak and prompting an SA Pathology review.
Ahead of today’s halfway point of the week lockdown, Mr Marshall said he was “delighted with the progress”.
SA announced one new case on Friday – a man in his 60s linked to the Modbury cluster and in quarantine – after a record 23,572 tests on Thursday.
SA Health data shows almost 550,000 people have been given a Covid-19 vaccine – 41 per cent of whom are fully protected with two doses – compared with 37 per cent last week.
Speaking ahead of national cabinet, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian branded that state’s outbreak of almost 1800 cases a national emergency and urged a refocus of the national vaccination strategy to “get at least the first jab for as many people as we can in those affected communities as possible”.
But General Frewen said: “It is really important that we continue at speed with the vaccine rollout broadly across the nation.”
National cabinet also agreed to work towards creating consistent health orders for truck drivers travelling between jurisdictions and the terms of reference for a second review of hotel quarantine.
Updates
'Get vaxxed baby': PM changes Pfizer doses for NSW to get more jabs
SA Covid outbreak: How a case became a cluster
It started with a surprise case in the early hours of Monday morning.
By Friday, one positive case at Modbury Hospital had risen to 15.
SEE HOW A CASE BECAME A CLUSTER
How the local footy season could be salvaged
Reduced finals series, shifting rounds and extending the season to the October long weekend are all on the cards as suburban and country football leagues attempt to salvage their seasons.
SA’s community competitions were thrown into confusion in the lead up to finals following the seven-day statewide lockdown announced on Tuesday.
With no guarantee when local sport and crowds will be permitted, leagues have been forced to plan for best and worst case scenarios in order to complete the season before ovals are handed over to cricket.
GALLERY: The dogs of lockdown
Dogs don’t understand what lockdown means, only that their owners are home all the time.
Here’s some of our canine companions relishing that time – along with a few cats!
CHECK OUT THE GALLERY
NSW outbreak a 'national emergency'
New South Wales' Covid-19 outbreak has been declared a "national emergency", after the state recorded 136 new cases today.
The status was upgraded on advice from NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant and her team, who said the outbreak presented both a threat to the state and the rest of Australia.
The state also recorded a new Covid-related death, with an 89-year-old man losing his life to the virus.
Builders allowed on construction sites - for one reason
Builders are being urged to secure and make safe their construction sites ahead of expected wild weather over the weekend.
The Housing Industry Association and Master Builders Association have moved to clear up confusion over restrictions relating to construction sites amid concerns over forecast damaging weather on Saturday and Sunday.
“Many builders and tradies would be unaware that the latest requirements for essential workers does allow that critical repairs or work can be done where required for safety reasons or to maintain the integrity of partially completed works that might otherwise deteriorate,” Housing Industry Association executive director Stephen Knight said.
Master Builders Association chief executive Will Frogley said many builders left their sites at short notice on Tuesday when the lockdown was announced because they were not sure of what they could or could not do.
“If sites aren’t properly secured and monitored, there is a real risk of damage, theft and safety hazards being created," he said.
“This possibility increases if sites are unattended for long periods during wild weather.”
Mr Frogley encouraged builders to undertake work to ensure their sites were safe and secure.
“However, it is important to ensure only critical work is done and time on site is kept to a minimum,” he said.
The government announced on Thursday that construction work on taxpayer-funded projects, such as school and road upgrades, could recommence on Monday, a day before the planned end of the lockdown.
Private construction is banned under the current restrictions.
– Elizabeth Henson
Boredom busters: 15 things to do in lockdown
We're heading into our lockdown weekend – and there’s only so much time you can spend watching TV and eating rubbish food before you get bored.
Check out our lockdown activity guide to help you mix things up – and there's some ideas for keeping the kids entertained too.
OPINION: 'Draconian': SA Health must apologise for handling of crisis
"On Thursday, the Prime Minister apologised for the slower than expected rollout of Covid vaccines," writes columnist Nicolle Flint.
"Perhaps the state government – or the Department of Health – might do the same over the Covid testing line ups, and the terrible decision to force innocent people from their homes and into medi-hotels."
Rules on vaccination during quarantine
People currently in quarantine because they visited a virus exposure site cannot leave home to get their first vaccination, Chief Public Health Officer Prof Nicola Spurrier said.
Those people must cancel their appointment and seek to re-book.
If people were scheduled to have their second dose, they should contact SA Health, who would organise for them to have their jab in a sterile corridor and nurse in full PPE.
Positive signs from wastewater testing
A positive Covid test in wastewater in the Modbury area has now gone negative, Chief Public Health Officer Prof Nicola Spurrier says.
Prof Spurrier said the latest negative results were an encouraging sign, given the number of potential exposure sites in the area.
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