Covid updates: Fears of lockdown extensions grow, Scott Morrison reveals four-step plan out of Covid
NSW has recorded 35 new cases of Covid-19 as the chances of the Sydney lockdown being extended grow, with restrictions in Queensland scheduled to ease.
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NSW has recorded 35 new cases of Covid-19 as the chances of the Sydney lockdown being extended grow.
The current lockdown is scheduled to end on Friday but after NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced 35 new cases on Saturday morning, there is speculation restrictions could be extended.
Ms Berejiklian asked Sydney residents to avoid retail venues and only go outdoors for essential reasons.
“If you have been staying at home and doing the right thing, please avoid shopping centres or indoor areas,” she said.
“If you do feel you need to get out of the house for exercise, please go outdoors.
“The weather is great. We know the virus transmits less when you’re outdoors, and please make sure you keep good social distance.”
The numbers of cases linked to the Bondi cluster is now 261.
Of the 35 new cases, 23 were in isolation while they were infectious.
Ms Berejiklian would not comment on the likelihood of lockdown being extended.
“While as predicted the number of cases is going up, we are seeing a greater proportion of those cases in isolation, which is exactly what we want to see,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The lockdown is doing what we hoped it would do. We have not seen a huge surge in cases and we certainly feel through our contact tracing that we are not at this stage missing any chains of community transmission.”
“I anticipate that some time next week we’ll be in a position to tell the community where things are at,” she said.
“It’s a bit too soon at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Queensland recorded five new cases overnight but its lockdown will conclude at 6pm Saturday night.
“We’re all in this together,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said after delaying an announcement by an hour, following the rise in cases.
“We are not out of the woods yet. “We have to act as a community together.”
The Premier said residents needed to keep wearing masks because community transmission could continue to be an issue.
MORRISON LAUNCHES COVID EXIT PLAN
National Cabinet has reached a “new deal” to guide Australia out of the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said.
The four-step plan, set to be finalised “in the coming weeks", would give vaccinated Australians more freedom, see international travel return, and see Covid-19 treated like any other infectious disease.
Mr Morrison said as part of the first phase — which Australia is currently in — commercial international arrival caps would be temporarily reduced by 50 per cent.
He said the reduction in these caps would be finalised by July 14, but some states may act sooner.
Alternative quarantine options, including home quarantine for returning vaccinated travellers, would also be trialled.
In order to progress through the phases, a vaccination threshold would have to be reached which would be "expressed as a percentage of the eligible population” meaning those aged 16 years and older.
Mr Morrison did not say whether Australia would progress to the second phase this year because targets had not yet been established.
The next step would see vaccinated Australians less impacted by border restrictions, and lockdowns would only occur “in extreme circumstances”, Mr Morrison said.
International arrival caps would also be restored to previous levels for unvaccinated travellers, and there would be larger caps for vaccinated travellers.
The federal government would also allow "entry of student and economic visa holders, subject to quarantine arrangements and availability” based on trials undertaken in the current stage.
In the third phase, Covid-19 would be treated “like the flu”, which meant "no lockdowns”.
Mr Morrison said the vaccine booster program would be underway, vaccinated residents would be exempt from all domestic restrictions, and caps on returning travellers would be abolished.
“Allowing further increased capped entry of student economic and humanitarian visa holders, very high caps we are talking about at that point,” Mr Morrison said.
“Lifting all restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated persons and extending the travel bubble for unrestricted travel to new countries such as Singapore, the Pacific and potentially other candidates by the time we reach that stage.”
Mr Morrison did not speculate when Australia would reach phase four, but it would mark a return to normal. Though people arriving in Australia would still be subject to pre- and post-flight testing.
He doubled down on his bold declaration that every Australian who wants a vaccine would be able to receive one by the end of this year.
He also had no regrets over suddenly announcing earlier this week that those under 40 years old could receive the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, despite it being recommended for those aged over 60.
“I certainly don’t have any issue with what I said about that. It was completely consistent with the medical advice,” he said.
“I note that some 120,000 Australians under the age of 40 have had the AstraZeneca vaccine. The TGA has approved the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for those aged 18 and above.
“Everything I have said on this is completely consistent with the medical advice that is there. People should talk to their doctor. That’s what I’m urging them to do.”
WA TO END LOCKDOWN
The Perth and Peel regions will come out of lockdown this weekend despite recording one new case of Covid-19 overnight but some restrictions, including the use of masks, will remain in place for now.
Premier Mark McGowan told reporters on Friday the new local case was a 21-year-old woman who is the partner of the man who picked up the virus at a pub.
She has been in quarantine with her partner and previously tested negative twice, before returning a positive result on Thursday.
“While no new case is good news, the fact that case 1029 has been in quarantine since Sunday is encouraging,” Mr McGowan said.
“We do not believe she had been in the community while infectious.”
Authorities have identified 383 close contacts in the cluster, with 356 returning a negative result so far.
A further 2848 casual contacts have been identified, with 1725 returning a negative result so far.
Mr McGowan said the Perth and Peel regions would exit lockdown at midnight but there would be three days of post-lockdown interim restrictions.
That includes the use of masks and people are also urged to work from home.
About two million people were forced into a four-day lockdown this week after a physiotherapist contracted Covid-19 at the Lyfe Cafe in Bondi, then unknowingly brought the virus home with her.
She spread it to another woman at a gym and a man at the Indian Ocean Brewing Company, who worked at the venue but was dining there at the time of contracting the virus.
It was then revealed on day two of the lockdown that a 37-year-old man had also contracted the virus, likely during one of his gym visits.
But he had been in quarantine and was not expected to have been infectious in the community.
The physiotherapist had received her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the time of infection.
The end of the lockdown on Saturday means families wanting to go on school holiday trips can proceed with their plans.
Tourism Council WA chief executive Evan Hall said many businesses had already lost bookings and an average of $9600 each due to recent travel restrictions and lockdowns.
“Normally, we would have 400,000 visitors travelling in WA during the school holidays, spending $300m,” he said in a statement.
“The interstate travel restrictions of recent weeks and the current Perth lockdown restricting regional travel means tourism businesses in Perth and around WA are experiencing mass cancellations from both interstate and WA travellers.
“The areas worst affected are Perth accommodation, tours and attractions, as well as seasonal businesses in the north.”
Mr Hall called on the state government to provide financial support to businesses.
“We are asking that at least $5000 be provided to small businesses, which can demonstrate a financial loss, in order to help cover costs,” he said.
NSW OUTBREAK GROWS
NSW has recorded 31 new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19, and infections are expected to rise over the coming days.
Of the new infections, 13 were active in the community, while the others were isolating.
“This pretty much reflects the days before and just before we went into lockdown … we’re anticipating that there could be an increase in numbers over the next few days and hopefully early next week we could see the numbers turning and the lockdown having an impact,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
“I do want to stress is what we look at is how many cases we had that were not in isolation either completely or partially.”
She said the number cases reported on Friday that were active in the community was “concerning”.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said of the 31 new cases, 11 were in isolation for their entire infectious period, while three were isolating for period of that time.
Five cases also remain under investigation while the risk are linked to existing cases or clusters.
Eight of the cases reported today are associated with a student nurse who worked across two hospitals while unknowingly infectious. This takes the number of cases linked to the nurse to 10.
Nine of those cases are healthcare or aged care workers, Dr Chant said.
“More than 390 staff and patients have been identified as close contacts to date, with investigations into the source of the first case’s infection and contact tracing ongoing,” NSW Health said in a statement.
One new case is linked to the superspreader party at West Hoxton. Three new cases are linked to Lyfe Café Bondi Beach.
There has been another new case linked to Joh Bailey hairdressers at Double Bay.
While the numbers were higher on Friday, Ms Berejiklian remained hopeful they would not explode.
“(With) other jurisdictions around the world, you have seen a doubling or tripling of cases which is what we were afraid of but has not materialised,” she said.
“We’re still at the stage of mopping up, we are mopping up what the spread might (have) been on the days before lockdown.
“I am always optimistic about the future because I have faith and confidence of the people of our state.”
SA RECORDS ONE NEW LOCAL CASE
South Australia has recorded one new local case of Covid-19 overnight, as well as a man who is a returned traveller.
Premier Steven Marshall said the new case was another child of the miner who returned to South Australia last Friday.
“So now we have a situation where the miner, his wife and all four of the children are now Covid positive,” he told reporters on Friday.
“Our thoughts are with this family.”
QUEENSLAND EXTENDS LOCKDOWN FOR BRISBANE, MORETON
Queensland has recorded another new locally acquired Covid-19 case, after three were announced earlier on Friday.
Authorities said the new case, announced on Friday evening, was a man in his 50s who had been out in the community on the Sunshine Coast.
The man works at the Sippy Downs campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast and worked on June 28 and 29, but authorities said he had minimal contact with other people during his infectious period.
The man became symptomatic on Wednesday and was tested the following day, with authorities now investigating how he caught the virus.
“The man was only in the community while potentially infectious for two days before the lockdown began — at his workplace and briefly during lockdown,” chief health officer Jeannette Young said.
Despite the concern, the lockdown for the Sunshine Coast region will ease from 6pm on Friday.
Queensland’s lockdown will continue for some areas as the state recorded three new locally-acquired Covid-19 infections.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Friday that the lockdown would end at 6pm on Friday for the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Noosa, the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, the Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Townsville.
The areas emerging from lockdown will have some restrictions in place for at least the next two weeks, and mask-wearing will be required when in public.
The Brisbane City Council and Moreton Bay LGAs would remain in lockdown for another 24 hours, Ms Palaszczuk said.
“Now we will come back early tomorrow morning, once our contact tracers get on top of this and we will look at the case numbers overnight,” she said.
“I want to thank everyone for doing the right thing but as you can see, we’ve just got a situation at the moment that has just come in and we really need to give the people, our contact tracers, the time to do that.”
One of the new cases is the partner of the Qatar Airway check-in counter staff member reported on Thursday, but health authorities were concerned by two other cases who were not linked to one of the many known clusters plaguing the state.
The pair are a mother and a daughter who live in Carindale but were active in busy areas, including West End and the city while infectious.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young bluntly urged residents “don’t leave Brisbane”.
“At this stage I don’t have any information on how they’re linked to any other cases,” she told reporters on Friday.
“So we will work that through today. They are a mother and daughter who live in a household so we are checking the other people in that household to see if they are positive of course and we have started contact tracing.
“Please don't leave Brisbane or the Moreton Bay to go anywhere else. I don’t want to spread this virus beyond where it currently is.”
The state was delicately poised given it is in the grips of five clusters — a woman who works at a check-in counter at the Brisbane Airport, the Portuguese restaurant, Virgin Australia flight attendant, the mine cluster from the Northern Territory, and the 19-year-old receptionist infected by a returned traveller quarantining at the Prince Charles Hospital.
VICTORIA RECORDS ZERO NEW LOCAL CASES
Victoria has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 on Friday.
There were three cases recorded in international travellers in hotel quarantine.
There were 19,470 doses of the vaccine administered across the state in the past 24 hours and 24,726 tests taken.
It comes as Victoria tightened its border with NSW overnight declaring green zone areas as orange zones from Friday morning.
The Department of Health issued the alert on Thursday night, saying the decision was made out “abundance of caution” and on the advice of health officials as NSW posted 24 new infections.
Alice Springs was added to the list of banned locations, deemed a retrospective orange zone from June 25.
The backdated reclassification meant anyone from the town who travelled to Victoria on or after June 25 must get tested immediately.
Victorian health authorities will front the media later on Friday.
FIVE MORE BLOOD CLOT CASES LINKED TO AZ
Five new cases of blood clots have been linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, bringing the nation’s total to 69 cases out of 4.8 million doses.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has reported on Thursday that two cases are “definitely” linked to the vaccine, involving a 52-year-old woman from WA and a 59-year-old woman from Victoria.
A 64-year-old woman and two men, aged 77 and 83, from NSW are “probably” linked, the TGA said.
“Five additional cases of blood clots with low blood platelets have been assessed as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine,” it said.
“When assessed using the United Kingdom (UK) case definition, two were confirmed and three were deemed probable TTS.
“This brings the total number of cases of TTS to 69 out of 4.8 million doses to date.”
– Andrew Koubaridis, Megan Palin
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