Coronavirus: West Australia lockdown lifted but masks compulsory
West Australia’s three-day lockdown has ended as planned but face masks remain compulsory.
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Western Australia’s three-day lockdown ended as planned on Monday midnight, but masks will be compulsory until Saturday.
“The short three day lockdown has done the job it was designed to do. It was a circuit breaker we needed to limit community spread and keep our community healthy,” he said.
WA Premier Mark McGowan made the announcement, saying schools will resume but students and teachers will need to wear a mask except for primary school students.
All public venues including hospitality, entertainment and retail can reopen, except for the casino and nightclubs and indoor fitness venues.
The four square metre capacity rule will be in place for this period only, with a limit of 20 patrons not including staff.
“I know this makes it tough for many businesses, I acknowledge that it is important we remain cautious and ease restrictions in line … so we can get back to normal as soon as possible … for the next four days weddings and funerals can apply for an exemption to have 100 people as they did during the lockdown period, community support and training can proceed with players and officials but no spectators,” he said.
Visitors to hospitals, aged care and disability aged care are restricted to compassionate grounds only.
From midnight people can travel out of Perth and Peel regions to other parts of WA, however they must wear a mask.
“If you are currently, sorry, if you currently are in another region, and have been in Perth and Peel since April 17 you will need to continue to do a mask from tomorrow onwards,” he said.
NSW TELLS WA: PULL YOUR WEIGHT
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would be “disappointed” if Western Australia decided not to take it’s full share of returning travellers in need of quarantine.
The federal government has accepted a Western Australian request to halve the amount of returning travellers the state is expected to put in hotel isolation until May 30, as the state battles a COVID-19 outbreak in Perth.
But Premier Mark McGowan said over the weekend he would be “reluctant” to return to the full 1025 people per week capacity that the state had previously committed to.
Asked about his comments on Monday, Ms Berejiklian said that state and territory leaders should “get on with it and do the job”.
“It is really important for all states to really pull their weight,” she said.
“We have to unfortunately, in a pandemic, accept these things are going to happen, get on top of them as soon as we can, deal with them as best we can, but know there is always going to be that risk and challenge.
“Every time you do have an outbreak or a challenge it is not really healthy to have these blame games.”
She said if other jurisdictions didn’t honour their commitments, it would put extra pressure on her state.
“I would be very disappointed if, because of an incident, a premier decided they didn’t want to take as many people – welcome as many people home – because it does put extra pressure on NSW.”
Mr McGowan said in his remarks on Sunday his government would need Commonwealth help to continue to meet its quarantine goal.
“If the Commonwealth is unable to assist with proper quarantine facilities, I am reluctant to return to the full 1025 per week cap,” Mr McGowan said.
“That weekly number of returning residents is not something that can continue long-term without proper Commonwealth quarantine facilities being used.”
Health Minister Greg Hunt said he had “full confidence in all states and territories to manage hotel quarantine”.
“I will quote another West Australian, the Health Minister yesterday who said when asked about their hotel quarantine said ‘We take learning from every part of this pandemic. We have learned since it came to our attention in late January 20, 2020 and we are continuing to learn more about it”. In their case they were talking about their mitigation efforts in the hotels and reducing any potential infection risk but across the country, every day we adapt,” Mr Hunt said.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton rejected the idea while speaking to ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, saying neither air force bases nor Christmas Island were “fit for purpose”.
“If you are talking about tented facilities, which you would need, our air bases don‘t hold thousands of people,” Mr Dutton said.
TELEHEALTH EXTENDED FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS
Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced the telehealth program will be extended until the end of the year.
The program Was supposed to end on June 30 but will be extended to December 31 at a cost of $144 million.
“We have already seen over 54 million telehealth consultations in Australia. Arguably the largest single change in the delivery of Medicare in the last 30 years and
it’s permanent,” Mr Hunt said.
“We have in the context of COVID changed the way we deliver medicine in Australia. And so made health more accessible for people in rural and remote areas, more accessible for those home bound for whatever reason, all of these things come together.”
‘WE’RE FULL’: PM SLAPS DOWN QUARANTINE DEMAND
The Morrison government has slapped down West Australian Premier Mark McGowan’s demands that Commonwealth-owned detention centres should be used to quarantine Australians, saying the facilities are already full of people, including criminals awaiting deportation.
Mr McGowan took a swipe at the Federal Government on Saturday, and called on it to “step up and help” the states with hotel quarantine systems that are “unfit for purpose”.
But on Sunday, a government spokesman said the immigration network was at capacity, The Australian reports.
“The Commonwealth, states and territories agreed at National Cabinet in March last year that as quarantine arrangements were determined under state and territory health orders, those jurisdictions would manage hotel quarantine,” a government spokesperson said.
“The Commonwealth has contributed to the effort by continuously expanding the Howard Springs facility in the NT since the Halton Review to 850 people a fortnight, and this will expand to 2000 people a fortnight from May.
“As the Premier has been advised, and as Health, Defence and Border Force officials have detailed to the Parliament, Defence bases and immigration centres are unsuitable for quarantining returning Australians.”
The spokesman said Defence bases were operational facilities and the risk to critical defence personnel was not acceptable, The Australian reports.
“Defence bases also generally feature austere accommodation facilities with shared dorms and bathrooms making them unsuitable for quarantine purposes. In many cases these facilities are not close to health and intensive care services,” the spokesman said.
“Our immigration network is at capacity with individuals in detention including many Australia is seeking to deport back to their home countries after they committed serious crimes, including sexual assault. Not only are the facilities at capacity, but it would inappropriate and logistically difficult for Australians to have to live alongside such individuals.”
TWO-YEAR-OLD TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
A young child has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to Australia from coronavirus-ravaged India.
The Northern Territory Government announced in a statement on Sunday the boy, two, has returned a positive result for the virus after flying in from New Delhi earlier this month, news.com.au reported.
He is currently in the territory’s quarantine facility at Howard Springs, and has been since his arrival in the country.
“A two-year-old male who arrived on the repatriation flight from New Delhi on 17 April 2021 has tested positive for COVID-19,” the government’s statement said.
“The child is asymptomatic and in the care of the AUSMAT team at the NT Centre for National Resilience.”
India was last week declared a “high-risk” location as the Australian government slashed arrivals from the subcontinental country in the grips of a devastating outbreak.
India recorded 346,786 new infections on Saturday, setting a world record for the third consecutive day.
It is not yet known if the outbreak is being fuelled by a strain first identified in the country in October known officially as B. 1.616 – but referred to as the “double mutant” strain.
Flights from India to Australia have been slashed by 30 per cent.
WA PREMIER ‘AT END OF TETHER’
WA Premier Mark McGowan said on Saturday it was clear city-based hotel quarantine was not enough to deal with incoming travellers who are testing positive for COVID-19.
He also said he was “getting to the end of my tether”, as he spoke to reporters about the snap lockdown in Perth and Peel.
“There are a number of Commonwealth facilities that would be more suitable for quarantine purposes,” he told reporters on Saturday.
“The pandemic will be here for at least the rest of this year. It is time for the Commonwealth to step up and help.
“My government stands ready to work with them and help establish Commonwealth quarantine facilities.
“They have a range of facilities available. It’s the only way to help reduce the risk further.
“We cannot continue down this path for another year or beyond.”
His comments come after Victoria and South Australia shut their borders to Perth.
Melbourne has also been hit with a COVID false alarm and Sydney’s northern beaches are on high alert.
Victoria and South Australia closed their borders to WA after a passenger infected with coronavirus landed at Melbourne Airport.
The man caught the virus at a quarantine hotel in Perth after being in China and then flew to Melbourne without knowing he was a carrier.
That news came as a dental clinic employee is Western Australia’s first case of COVID-19 involving community transmission in more than a year.
The mother-of-two contracted the highly contagious UK strain of coronavirus from her friend, a 54-year-old Melbourne man, who unknowingly became infected while quarantining at the Mercure Hotel in Perth.
WA later recorded two new cases of community spread on the first day of the long weekend lockdown.
A man, aged in his 40s, dined at Kitchen Inn, a Malaysian restaurant in Kardinya at the same time as the COVID-positive Victorian man and his friend were there on April 18.
The government has now changed quarantine rules for anyone who dined at six restaurants attended by the confirmed cases.
Anyone who went to City China Garden, Good Fortune Road Duck House and Fortune Five Chinese Restaurant in Northbridge, Kitchen Inn in Kardinya, Anything La Comer in East Victoria Park, or Kung Fu Kitchen in Morley at specific times will need to quarantine for 14 days.
“Even if you have not visited one of the locations, if you have symptoms, get tested and self-isolate until you get your result,” the Department of Health said in a statement.
“Do not be complacent. It is imperative you always follow the public health instructions.”
There are now seven cases: a couple from India who were in hotel quarantine, a mother and child in hotel quarantine, a 51-year-old man in hotel quarantine, a friend of the 51-year-old, and the person who dined at the same restaurant as the 51-year-old.
VICTORIA, SA REACT TO WA CASES
The Victorian government responded by declaring Perth and the nearby Peel area as red zones, and contact tracers scrambled to track and test all 257 passengers on the man’s flight. The South Australian government has followed suit.
The AFL has also been thrown into chaos by the lockdown.
The new SA directive came into effect at 12.01am Saturday, from State Co-ordinator and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, who is refusing entry to anyone who has visited the Perth Region and Peel region.
Exceptions will be made for people genuinely relocating, escaping domestic violence, and returning SA residents, however anyone who is returning from Perth having visited the hot spots will be required to quarantine for 14 days and submit three COVID negative tests on days one, five and 13.
They must also wear a mask anytime they come into contact with the public for 14 days after arriving.
Travellers who have returned from the hot spots from April 17 to April 21 must submit three negative COVID tests, and quarantine until they get their first negative result.
They are also not permitted to enter a high risk setting for 14 days, including an event with an approved COVID Management Plan with more than 1000 people present in one setting for 14 days.
URGENT ALERTS IN MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY
Staff and students at a Melbourne primary school who were told to self-isolate after a potential COVID-19 case visited the school have been told it was a false alarm.
The school community received a text on Friday night ordering them into isolation, after a close contact visited the school on Thursday and Friday.
The Victorian Department of Health confirmed on Saturday the families no longer needed to isolate, after a suspected close contact of a positive case returned a negative result.
Coronavirus fragments have been detected in two sewer systems in NSW, health authorities have revealed.
In its daily update on COVID-19 cases, NSW Health flagged the detection of the virus fragments in the Allambie Heights and Merimbula sewer systems, which collectively service about 100,000 people.
No new locally acquired cases of coronavirus were recorded within the state of NSW on Saturday, while one new case was detected in hotel quarantine.
Residents in either catchments should monitor for symptoms and get tested if they develop.
The Merimbula treatment plant services roughly 15,000 people on the south coast.
The Allambie Heights treatment plant is located in Sydney’s north, servicing about 83,400 in the Northern Head catchment.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW stands at 5230 since the start of the pandemic.
The alert to monitor for symptoms applies for the suburbs of Allambie Heights, Balgowlah, Curl Curl, North Curl Curl, North Manly, Freshwater, Collaroy, Collaroy Plateau, Narrabeen, Wheeler Heights, Oxford Falls, Dee Why, Cromer, Beacon Hill, Narraweena, Brookvale and Frenchs Forest.
NSW Health also said it had administered 2933 vaccine doses in the 24 hours to 8pm, bringing the total number of jabs to 553,275.
MORE BLOOD CLOT LINKS LIKELY LINKED TO ASTRAZENECA
Three new cases of rare blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have been reported by the nation’s medicines watchdog in a development that will further challenge the troubled vaccine rollout.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration reported on Thursday night that a 35-year-old New South Wales woman, a 49-year-old Queensland man and an 80-year-old Victorian man had been affected by the rare vaccine side effect.
The clots appeared nine to 26 days after the people received their COVID-19 shot.
This means there have now been a total of six rare blood clots associated with the vaccine in Australia.
Five cases are in people aged less than 50 years.
Earlier this month, on the advice of medical experts and as a result of the rare blood clot risk, the government announced that Pfizer was now the preferred vaccine for people aged under 50.
One of the new cases included a blood clot in one of the sinuses in the brain, which prevented blood from draining from the brain and presented as headache, nosebleed, nausea and vomiting, the TGA said.
Another patient developed a blood clot in the calf which presented as leg pain nine days after vaccination.
The final patient developed a blood clot in the upper leg, but also with clots in lungs and the sinuses.
“All three patients are clinically stable, have responded well to treatment and are recovering,” the TGA said.
The TGA convened a Vaccine Safety Investigation Group (VSIG) meeting to review the new cases.
This investigation group concluded that cases were “very likely linked to vaccination”, the TGA said in a statement on its website.
“These data are consistent with the evolving pattern, both in Australia and internationally, that the majority of cases have been observed in people aged under 50 years. The risk for TTS appears lower in older adults,” the TGA said.
“Australia has seen more cases of COVID-19 in the under 50s, hospitalisation and deaths data clearly demonstrate that the risk of serious harm from infection with COVID-19 remains much higher in over 50s, and the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks,” the watchdog said.
There are a number of common side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine which include fever, sore muscles, tiredness and headache.
The TGA said these usually start within 24 hours of vaccination and last for one to two days.
“These side effects are expected and are not of concern unless severe or persistent.”
However, the reports of these rare clotting complications have occurred later (usually between day four and 20 after vaccination) and have generally been severe, requiring hospitalisation, the watchdog said.
Consumers should seek immediate medical attention if, a few days after vaccination, they develop symptoms such as a severe or persistent headache or blurred vision, shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling or persistent abdominal pain, unusual skin bruising and/or pinpoint round spots beyond the site of injection.
MINISTER’S VACCINE GAFFE ON LIVE TV
It comes as the government’s troubled COVID-19 vaccine rollout fell into further confusion today with a minister wrongly claiming people only needed a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Superannuation Minister Janet Hume told Sky News under the recalibration of the vaccine rollout aged care and disability staff and people in remote communities would get the Pfizer vaccine.
“That makes perfect sense because it’s only one shot rather than two,” she said.
This is not correct.
To be vaccinated against COVID-19, people need two doses of both two doses of the Pfizer vaccine delivered three weeks apart.
Those receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine also need two doses delivered three months apart.
The wrong information was given out just a day after the government was forced to recalibrate its slow going vaccine rollout which to date has seen only 1.8 million people receive a jab.
The government originally promised four million would be protected by the end of March.
On Thursday, National Cabinet agreed to bring forward the vaccination of people aged under 50 to May.
People in this age group who are at lesser risk will be able to get vaccinated before the government has finished vaccinating older people, those in nursing homes and aged care and disability staff who are meant to be a higher priority.
Concerns about the risk of rare blood clots with the AstraZeneca vaccines has seen an expert government committee rule that people aged under 50 should receive the Pfizer vaccine.
Many health, aged care and disability workers fall into this category.
Watch it below:
A spokesperson for Minister Hume said “Minister Hume misspoke and acknowledges after the first dose, a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine is needed at least 21 days later to complete the vaccination schedule”.
“The Government encourages Australians to follow the advice of medical experts and their health professionals,” he said.
It comes as Victoria’s streak of no locally acquired COVID-19 cases has come to an end, with one new local case confirmed.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed on Friday a Victorian man contracted the virus in a Perth quarantine hotel before travelling to Melbourne this week.
The man was deemed a close contact of a positive case when he touched down in Melbourne on April 21 and has been isolating since then.
NEW AGE LIMITS ON VACCINES VITAL: HUNT
The federal government’s decision to stop providing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Australians over 50 is a vital step in revitalising Australia’s vaccine rollout, Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
“The latest advice indicates, just as we had with flu, age limits for some vaccines should be used for younger people and some for older,” Mr Hunt told Sky News.
“From May 3 in state clinics or commonwealth respiratory clinics or in GP respiratory clinics, over 50s will have access to the vaccination program.”
Mr Hunt said the new reset will allow the further acceleration of the vaccine rollout.
“For the under-50s in the 1A and 1B groups, we’re fast tracking the process through access to the state and territory Pfizer clinics. It’s a really good step forward. 1.8 million vaccinations done so far. We’ll get the country vaccinated”.
PNG TO GET 1 MILLION VACCINE DOSES
Australia has helped secure one million emergency doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab for Papua New Guinea amid an ongoing feud between the vaccine manufacturer and the EU.
Australia first flagged the desire to divert doses from its contractual supply to PNG several weeks ago as coronavirus cases surged in the island nation surged.
But it was thought improbable, with the EU in a feud with AstraZeneca over its failure to meet vaccine delivery targets. Europe also cracked down on vaccine exports in a bid to get the jab to more of its own people.
Trade Minister Dan Tehan met with EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis this week in Brussels where he flagged the PNG issue, The Australian reports.
The two agreed there was nothing stopping AstraZeneca sending the doses to PNG, and the British pharmaceutical giant would not have to apply to the EU for permission to release them.
“We have very clear assurances that AstraZeneca does not have to apply through the EU export transparency regime to send those one million doses to Papua New Guinea,’’ Mr Tehan said on Thursday.
“So there is nothing that is preventing them from sending those one million doses, from Europe to PNG and the ball is clearly in AstraZeneca’s court.’’
Mr Tehan said Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Health Minister Greg Hunt were talking with AstraZeneca about securing the PNG vaccines as soon as possible.
Australia has a remaining balance of 2.1 million doses with AstraZeneca following the development. However, delivery could be more than 12 months away as European contracts must be filled first.
The European Commission is looking to launch legal action against AstraZeneca over the delivery shortfalls.
The EU executive informed member state envoys of its plans on Wednesday (local time), diplomats told AFP, confirming information first published by the Politico website.
They said any lawsuit against AstraZeneca would begin in a Belgian court — the jurisdiction agreed under the commission’s contract with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company.
A Commission spokesman, Eric Mamer, told journalists that “no decision has yet been taken”.
– with Rhiannon Tuffield, Tamsin Rose, Amanda Sheppeard, Angie Raphael, Anton Nillson
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Originally published as Coronavirus: West Australia lockdown lifted but masks compulsory
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