Thanks for following Monday's live blog- it's been a big day so far with lots of updates.
But in case you missed it, here's a few key points:
– NSW has recorded the highest number of deaths and case numbers in a single day, with 478 new cases and 8 fatalities, including a 15 year-old boy.
– Gladys Berejiklian has warned cases could hit the thousands if breaches of the Covid rules continue, with a police crackdown seeing almost 500 PINs issued overnight.
– QLD recorded 0 cases but authorised workers from NSW will now need at least one vaccine dose to be allowed into QLD as the border tightens up.
– Melbourne has been hit with tough new restrictions, including a nightly curfew, permits for authorised workers and playgrounds shut down as another Delta wave looms over the VIC city. Lockdown has also now been extended until September 2.
– The NT's capital is now in a snap three day lockdown after a man travelled from Sydney for authorised work and was infectious in the community for four days. The Greater Darwin and Katherine area will be in lockdown until midday Thursday.
– The ACT has recorded 19 new cases and will also extend lockdown until September 2.
Thanks again for tuning in, see you tomorrow bright and early for Tuesday's Covid updates.
NSW Covid Updates: Statewide shutdown as new rules kick in
Every single person who lives in NSW is now under strict lockdown restrictions as authorities fight desperately to control the Delta strain's spread. Read our Covid blog.
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NSW is waking to the state's toughest Covid restrictions yet as the fight to beat the Delta strain intensifies.
Tough new rules are in force as of midnight, with all Greater Sydney residents barred from travelling more than five kilometres from their homes for exercise or shopping.
Locals can still travel within their LGA to get essentials which aren't available within the 5km radius, though it is compulsory to carry ID.
Police will amp up their presence in the 12 hotspot LGAs from today, with riot squad officers and highway patrol out in force with the help of 500 extra ADF troops, including traffic stops and doorknocking.
Hefty new fines are also in place for rulebreakers, with lying to a contact tracer costing $5000 instead of $1000 and $3000 for breaking the two person exercise rule or travelling to regional NSW without a reasonable excuse.
STAY AT HOME ORDER - ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 15, 2021
New restrictions have been introduced for all of Regional NSW from 5pm 14 August, with additional restrictions for all of NSW including Greater Sydney from 12:01am 16 August.
For more info: https://t.co/wyrQwH6TUY pic.twitter.com/RrTE7S6SZs
Regional NSW is on day two of a week of lockdown as cases begin to spread in the state's west, with stay at home orders in place.
Residents need to carry a mask with them at all times.
Dr Kerry Chant warned NSW was at a "fork in the road" when it came to the fight against Covid.
"We are at a fork in the road and we have to decide what path we’re going to choose,” she said.
“The path I want is one where I see declining case numbers and increasing vaccination uptake."
Follow below for Monday morning's updates.
Updates
Today's Covid news so far
Teens eligible for Pfizer in WA
One state has now opened up Pfizer eligibility to include anyone over the age of 16, with authorities warning people not to hesitate.
Everyone over the age of 16 can now access a Covid-19 vaccine in Western Australia, as the state begins a two-week jab blitz.
People aged 16 to 59 are eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine, while those aged 60 and over can access the Astra Zeneca jab.
For more on this story, click here.
Covid cases explode at autistic school
A coronavirus outbreak at an autistic school in Sydney’s north has grown to more than 30 cases as family members question why the school has yet to be officially listed as an exposure site.
A student who tested positive for the virus on Saturday is among the latest cases linked to the Giant Steps school in Gladesville which caters for 80 students aged from three to 18.
There are now 32 cases associated with the school including nine students, three staff members and 20 family members who have tested positive.
For more on this story, click here.
VIC Premier takes aim at rulebreakers as restrictions tighten
A furious Daniel Andrews has lashed Victorians who were bending rules in the midst of an outbreak.
“Exercise is just that. It’s not an opportunity for seven households to get together,” he said.
“It’s not Cath and I going for a walk and five other families. There’ll be a time for that but it’s not now.
“We are running alongside this virus at best. We’re at a very delicate point of this outbreak.”
Mr Andrews said many people, who could easily work from home, were choosing to go to the office.
The Premier said there was no other option but to tighten rules as Covid was now spreading “undetected” across Melbourne.
To read more on VIC's Covid latest, click here.
Nepean Hospital crisis as staff exposed and not isolating
Nepean Hospital medical and nursing staff claim they are being forced to work even though they have been exposed to Covid cases and identified as close contacts.
Two surgical registrars, anaesthetic, and recovery staff were exposed to a positive Covid case in theatre last Tuesday, but did not find out until Saturday. The exposed staff has not been isolating.
The Daily Telegraph has seen communication between affected staff and managers with one of the registrars exposed stating on Sunday he had only been “just informed” and “classified as a secondary cost contact. According to the healthcare worker matrix I’m classified as high risk as I didn’t have any PPE on around the colleague as we got ready to go home.”
A doctor who works at Nepean spoke to the Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity about the case.
“One anaesthetist was in a theatre on Friday when two registrars were talking that they had been exposed to a Covid positive patient on Tuesday in the surgical department. They weren’t isolated,” the doctor said.
“There’s been a complete lack of recognition of the risk of Covid exposure threat within the hospital,” the doctor said.
“It’s dangerous, Nepean Hospital is at breaking point in regards to trying to control Covid spread throughout the ward and staff. There are four wards shut down now.”
There are currently 36 patients with COVID-19 in Nepean Hospital.
“Of the 36 COVID-19 positive patients, 11 tested positive during their hospital stay. Investigations into how these cases contracted COVID-19 are underway. Four staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. Two of these staff members were fully vaccinated.
“Staff who are contacts of the patients who tested positive in hospital have been asked to get tested and are currently isolating,” Nepean Hospital said in a media statement, but medical staff who have been exposed have continued to work the doctor told the Daily Telegraph.
““The registrars were advised to get a Covid test daily for five days and wear N95 mask and eye protection, but no specific order to isolate was given,” the doctor said.
Nepean Hospital is currently swabbing E block, the orthopaedic and surgical ward due to the exposure the source said.
On a group chat discussing the case, which has been viewed by the Daily Telegraph, staff expressed their concern
“It’s dangerous. The next two weeks will bear the consequences of these decisions,” one wrote.
One manger admitted “The ID team are struggling to keep up with their workload.”
“They operated on a Covid positive patient on Tuesday. They are to keep working but have daily PCR test for the next five days. No formal tracing of recovery staff who dealt with this patient. There are so many possible negative outcomes,” another wrote back.
Staff also said the hospital was pressuring them to continue with surgical procedures without knowing the Covid status of the patients.
“There are patients not getting fully swabbed to come into theatres,” the doctor said.
“The hospital was very keen for us to continue without the tests saying we had PPE on, but we said it’s not just exposure to us, it is everyone in that theatre and in the waiting area.”
VIC curfew instated as Melbourne lockdown extended
Tough new rules will hit VIC's capital as Melbourne fights to stave off a fresh wave of the Delta outbreak.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced today a night curfew will again be imposed on Melbourne from tomorrow night and playgrounds will be shut as Victoria recorded 22 new Covid cases overnight, including five new mystery infections.
"Our performance more broadly is not good news, we see too
many cases, we see too many mystery cases, we now have 12 or 13 different chains of transmission," Mr Andrews said.
"The origins of some are unknown to us, that means that this is spreading in an undetected way across the community. We are at a tipping point, there is simply no option today but to further strengthen this lockdown."
The city's lockdown has also been extended by a further two weeks, until 11.59pm Thursday, September 2.
In other new rules, essential workers will be required to obtain permits for authorised work, and construction will be slashed to limit workers onsite except for t for critical infrastructure and emergency repairs.
At large-scale construction sites, staffing must reduce to 25 per per cent or five workers on site.
NT has two close contacts, new exposure sites
At least two close contacts of a man who travelled to the NT for work while infectious have been discovered.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said a a taxi driver and Uber driver who had been working in the community were so far the first close contacts linked to the man.
"There is a very real risk that this virus has been transmitted to others," Mr Gunner said.
"There is a very real risk that those people have travelled else where in the community and there is a very real risk that this includes contact with our vulnerable populations. When we don't know everything, we have to start by assuming the worst."
So far, officials have discovered the case was in quarantine in Sydney for 14 days, before travelling to Darwin via Canberra Airport. He stayed in Darwin for several days and visited “various locations” in the Darwin CBD before travelling to Katherine to work at the Knotts Crossing resort, where an earlier Covid test he took at Royal Darwin hospital once arriving in the city returned a positive result.
Authorities got the positive result on Sunday night, and the man has been transferred to the Howard Springs facility on Monday.
There are several Covid-19 public exposure sites in the Northern Territory. For more on the NT's Covid latest, click here.
NT lockdown rules
As of midday day, people in the Northern Territory must only leave the house for:
- Medical treatment including coronavirus testing and vaccinations
- Essential goods and services
- Essential work
- One hour of exercise within a 5km radius
- To provide care to people unable to support themselves.
Supermarkets will remain open during the lockdown, and Chief Minister Michael Gunner urged Territorians not to panic buy, and said they would be required to use click-and-collect services for anything that isn’t groceries, food or medicine, where possible.
Masks must be worn outside the home, including during exercise, and schools and childcare will be closed except to the children of essential workers.
The lockdown is set to last until midday Thursday.
NT records one new Covid case, three day lockdown imposed
Another Australian state has been impacted by the Delta strain outbreak, with the Northern Territory recording its first Covid case.
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner shared an international man in his 30s who travelled to Darwin from Sydney for work on August 12 had been infectious in the community until Sunday August 15.
Mr Gunner announced Darwin and the Katherine area would go into a snap three-day lockdown from midday after the the man, who completed 14 days of quarantine in Sydney, visited “various locations” in the Darwin CBD.
"He transited from Sydney to Darwin via Canberra Airport," Mr Gunner said.
"We have made the decision to lock down fast because of what we do not know yet the variant of this virus, we are (thinking) it is the Delta strain, critically, we do not know the source of his infection."
ACT aged care worker in today's numbers
Today's new ACT cases include an aged care worker at Greenway Views and a student from Lyneham High School who tested positive.
The Greenway Views retirement village has been put into lockdown after the worker who had one vaccine dose, completed three shifts while unknowingly infectious between August 10 to August 12.
Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said: "We are working very very closely with the village to contain this outbreak. Our priority is to minimise the risk of transmission and protect the residents and staff in the village."
"We are putting in additional safety measures. We have a team out there at the moment and we are including looking at full PPE for staff."
An entire school including students and staff are also now isolating after a student there tested positive, prompting officials to predict more cases in the coming days.
About 6,500 people have self-identified that close contacts amid Canberra's outbreak.
The number of exposure sites across Canberra has increased to more than 45.
Covid cases surge in NSW as 2023 death toll revealed
Covid cases are on the rise in NSW, and the true toll of the virus this year has been revealed, with almost 4000 Australians dying from the virus in 2023.
Revealed: The Aussie age group still dying from Covid
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