Previous mystery cases linked; change to jab eligibility; 50 new infections

The Royal Melbourne Hospital has been forced to bypass some ambulances after 450 staff were forced to isolate over a Covid scare.

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Victorians aged 16 and above will be eligible for a Covid jab at state-run vaccine centres from Wednesday amid a slew of changes to the state’s vaccination program.

It comes after the state recorded 50 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The new infections include 10 mystery cases.

Concerningly, just 11 were in quarantine for their entire infectious period — meaning 39 were out in the community while infectious.

SOME AMBULANCES FORCED TO BYPASS RMH

The Royal Melbourne Hospital has been placed onto “ambulance bypass”, after 450 staff were forced to isolate because they were exposed to the virus by a Covid-infected patient.

The emergency department has been instructing ambulances to divert to other hospitals since Saturday, in order to safely manage the outbreak within the Parkville facility.

However, the hospital has continued to accept walk-ins, “time critical” patients and those apprehended for mental illness.

“We continue to be open for trauma and all urgent care arriving via ambulance, our outpatient clinics are operating as usual and we are still conducting emergency and category 1 surgeries,” a statement read.

“We would like to once again thank our colleagues across the health system for their continued support during the challenging time.”

All wards, except for one, are fully operational, with the hospital hoping to have its services operating at “near full capacity” by Wednesday.

The outbreak at the Royal Melbourne Hospital grew by four on Tuesday to 13 cases.

DAN’S FIREY SHOT AT NSW

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has urged the state to follow lockdown rules to suppress the Delta strain, saying “if we could send it back to Sydney where it came from, we would”.

In an apparent criticism of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s attempt to keep Sydney as open as long as possible, Mr Andrews said opening up early would see case numbers soar.

“You don’t get to have the Delta variant kind of bubble along – ‘Oh we can just keep it at 20 a day’ – No you can’t,” he said.

“It’s 50 a day now. If we opened up tomorrow it won’t be 50, it’ll be much, much higher.”

Mr Andrews said not enough people were vaccinated and to open up before vaccination rates hit 80 per cent would see hospitals overwhelmed with Covid patients.

“I’m not pleased to be in this position, you know if we could send it back to Sydney we would,” he said.

“But we can’t do that, that’s not the way this works.

“We all have to work together, we all have to find a way to get through this while we as fast as possible vaccinate everybody and get to that rate of 80 per cent and then we’ve got lots of options.”

VICTORIA’S LATEST CASES

• 12 linked to the Newport/Altona North/Wyndham outbreak

• 7 linked to Shepparton cluster

• 6 linked to MyCentre Childcare in Broadmeadows

• 6 are primary close contacts in Hobsons Bay who tested positive on their day 13 tests

• 4 linked to Royal Melbourne Hospital

• 2 are primary close contacts of a Royal Children’s Hospital worker

• 3 are known household contacts of earlier positive cases that have been linked

Ten mystery cases are still under investigation but they have some clear linkages to hotspot areas, including:

• 4 linked to Altona North/Wyndham cluster

• 3 linked to Carlton/Fitzroy North outbreak

• 2 linked to Thomastown

• 1 linked to Southbank

The Royal Melbourne Hospital cluster has been epidemiologically linked to the wider Shepparton cluster, which has also since been linked to the Glenroy cluster.

Victoria’s active caseload is now 522, including a new case in hotel quarantine.

It comes on a day where more than 48,000 Victorians turned out for a swab, and a further 29,810 received a Covid vaccination.

Mr Andrews said it was absolutely doable for Victoria to still get to zero or limited cases in the community.

But he said maintaining that zero figure in the long term for sustained periods of time was going to be “incredibly difficult”.

From 7am on Wednesday, August 25, anyone aged 16-59 can get the Pfizer vaccine. Those aged over 60 can continue to get AstraZeneca.

Over the coming month, there will be more than 830,000 appointments for Covid-19 vaccines available at 55 state-run centres across Victoria. This includes 450,000 first doses for the Pfizer vaccine.

With this new expansion, the number of Victorians eligible for Pfizer has increased by two million.

Approximately 1.7 million Victorians aged 16 to 59 have already been vaccinated at GPs.

Premier Daniel Andrews announces changes to vaccine eligibility. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Premier Daniel Andrews also said anyone aged between 18 and 39 with an AstraZeneca booking would be eligible to instead receive Pfizer.

He said they would not be required to change or cancel their booking.

The change in eligibility will not take place until Wednesday, with the additional bookings set to be available from 7am.

However, the state’s online booking system for the coronavirus vaccine appeared to crash immediately following the Premier’s announcement.

With the number of Victorians aged 18 to 59 still far outweighing the Pfizer doses available from the Commonwealth, the AstraZeneca vaccine will still be available for those who choose to provide informed consent and discuss their vaccination with a medical professional.

“The best vaccine you can get is the one that you can get today,” the Premier said.

“We’ve already delivered more than 230,000 doses towards our one million have target which is a mammoth effort.

“But please, if you haven’t had your vaccination yet, just book it in today to protect yourself and your loved ones.”

Premier Daniel Andrews said the expansion of Pfizer was due to certainty of supply from Poland.

Melbourne has had 200 days in hard lockdown since the start of the pandemic. Picture: AFP

TRAGEDY AS WOMAN FOUND DEAD

A 30-year-old woman who had tested positive to Covid-19 has become the 75th fatality of the Delta-strain outbreak in NSW.

Police and paramedics wearing personal protective equipment discovered the woman’s body at a home on Helena Ave in Emerton, in Western Sydney about 3pm on Monday.

Emergency services had been called out to the home after reports the woman was unresponsive and she could not be resuscitated.

On Tuesday afternoon NSW Health confirmed the woman had tested positive to Covid and an investigation was now underway into her death.

Read the full version of this story, here.

ENGAGEMENT PARTY FINES TOP $300K

Police have wrapped up their investigation into an illegal engagement party after dishing out more than $300,000 worth of fines.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said 56 guests who attended the Caulfield North party were each fined $5452, totalling $305,312.

The spokeswoman said a number of the guests were children who would not be fined.

It is believed all party attendees have been accounted for.

The notices come after the family was lashed on social media with a barrage of anti-Semitic abuse for hosting and filming the party.

Jewish community leaders said the bride, groom and their relatives had “gone to ground” after the video surfaced.

UPDATE ON NSW VACCINE GOAL

NSW has reached its first vaccine milestone of six million jabs delivered as the state recorded 753 new Covid cases and no further deaths.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would announce on “Thursday or Friday” what extra freedom NSW residents would be given as a result.

On Monday night, she revealed there would at least be one small change.

“I have never suggested that life will be free once we get to six million jabs, but what I have said and will honour is that if you are fully vaccinated there will be at least one thing you can do that you cannot do now, just to give people a bit of relief,” the Premier told the ABC.

She said health experts were working on what that one thing would be.

“Obviously, public health and safety come first, and mental wellbeing, so we will have that advice to the community as soon as we can.”

Read the full story here.

FEARS AMID NEW QUEENSLAND CASES

Queensland has recorded six new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, including two community cases linked to the NSW outbreak, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced.

One was acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine, three were on a marine vessel and two were truck drivers and acquired in the community.

Those two cases are under investigation but Ms Palaszczuk said authorities weren’t overly concerned about them.

New contact tracing locations for the truck drivers will be uploaded later.

Both cases were detected by NSW authorities.

Read the full story here.

SHEPPARTON SCHOOL LINKED TO OUTBREAK

A Shepparton Primary School is the latest school linked to a positive Covid case, after it was listed as an exposure site by the Health Department on Tuesday morning.

A positive case attended St Brendan’s Primary School between 8.45am and 3.30pm on August 17, 18 and 20.

The school has been declared a Tier 1 site, forcing students and teachers into quarantine.

It comes after Mooroopna Primary School revealed they had a confirmed case in a statement released by their acting principal Carla May on Monday night.

“A confirmed case of Covid-19 has been reported in our community,” she said.

“While the Department of Health (DH) conducts its investigation, staff and students and their household members must isolate at home until further notice.”

Other exposure sites listed on Tuesday morning by the Health Department included the public toilets at a Covid drive-through testing site, a Corio supermarket and a Shepparton restaurant.

SCOMO DEFENDS DOHERTY MODELLING

Scott Morrison says there’s more places Aussies can get a vaccine across the country than get a Big Mac.

Speaking on 3AW, the Prime Minister said people could get a jab through their GP or pharmacy and commended uptake of AstraZeneca in Victoria.

“I don’t think anyone is going to want to be left behind,” Mr Morrison said.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday raised concerns about vaccine supply.

“There’s certainly more AstraZeneca and we’re maximising every dose of Pfizer to get it out there,” Mr Morrison said.

He also fired a warning shot at Western Australia, which boasts a tough stance on borders but has low vaccination rates.

“People think that ‘Oh, I don’t need to get the vaccine because it’s not here’,” Mr Morrison said.

“Well Covid will have a second view about that. Borders and those other things that states might want to do are not as powerful as the vaccine.”

The Prime Minister again defended the Doherty Institute modelling that says Australia can move to phase B of its reopening plan when 70 per cent of Australia’s population is fully vaccinated, and phase C at 80 per cent.

He said Mr Andrews was a strong supporter of the plan.

“It is not a Freedom Day, it’s a science day … it’s telling us that we can do this safely, and we can move ahead,” Mr Morrison said.

“Once you hit 70 (per cent) and once you hit 80 (per cent) the first those rates are even higher.”

HOW WE COULD REOPEN

The Doherty Institute has stood by its modelling – underpinning the federal government’s road map out of Covid – after questions were raised of its relevance in the wake of rising infections across the country.

In a statement released on Monday night, the institute for infection and immunity said once 70 per cent vaccine coverage is reached, opening up at tens or hundreds of cases nationally per day is “possible”.

“However, we will need vigilant public health interventions with higher case loads,” the statement read.

“We will need to keep some public health measures in place — test, trace, isolate and quarantine — to keep the reproduction number below 1, but as vaccination rates increase, we’ll be able to ease up further and it is unlikely that we will need generalised lockdowns.”

Covid cases continue to grow across Melbourne. NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“It might seem that these ‘test, trace, isolate and quarantine’ measures aren’t currently working – in New South Wales or Victoria. But they are.”

The institute said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”, with the country to see “less transmission of Covid and fewer people with severe illness” once 70 to 80 per cent vaccination was achieved.

This estimate comes from the modelling work “completed to date”, with the modelling report last revised on August 10.

“The team of modellers from across Australia led by the Doherty Institute is now working through the implementation issues specific to the states and territories, specific populations and high risk settings.”

The Doherty Institute’s modelling was released on August 3 and was commissioned by the federal government.

MORE JABS UP FOR GRABS

Tens of thousands of vaccine appointments are up for grabs across Victoria this week as the biggest community vaccine centre opens in Melbourne’s northwest.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said people aged 16-39 can get Pfizer from August 30, which is expected to flow through to GPs from this date.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the number of cancelled bookings or no-shows had doubled to more than 10,000 since Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the change last week.

“People have to turn up,” Mr Andrews said. “You have an appointment, use it today because there is an actual shot in your arm today and it is far preferable than a booking in a few weeks’ time.”.

It comes as a vaccination hub at Broadmeadows Town Hall, run by DPV Health, is expanded to provide up to 22 vaccination booths.

DVP Health chief Don Tidbury said the hub would benefit the Hume area – which has hit badly by Covid in the past 18 months.

Fifty active cases have been linked to an outbreak at MyCentre Childcare in Broadmeadows, with two infections connected to the nearby Dallas Brooks Community Primary School.

The Broadmeadows Town Hall hub is open seven days, initially from 9.30am-5.30pm, with opening hours expected to expand in coming weeks.

BUSINESSES ‘HANGING BY A THREAD’

The Eastern Indoor Sports Centre is “hanging by a thread”, and its frustrated owners say lockdowns have crippled their business.

Owners Julian and Trent Balthazaar said the Knoxfield sports and children’s party venue usually raked in about $10,000 on weekends, but had suffered from the more than 200 days in lockdown.

“Every time we gain a bit of momentum and we think we’re ready to open we have to close again,” Julian Balthazaar said.

Brother Trent said: “We had to cancel 24 parties in one weekend … we’re falling further and further into debt”.

The indoor sports centre is in desperate need of revenue to recoup last year’s losses.

“This is how we make a living, so to be forced to close our doors and still come up with money for rent and expenses is really tough,” Julian said.

Julian and Trent Balthazaar owners of Eastern Indoor Sports Centre are struggling to stay afloat. Picture: Wayne Taylor

“We’re grateful for any government support, but it’s kind of like putting a Band-Aid on a bigger wound.”

The brothers, who rent a large warehouse with high expenses and are unable to operate as a takeaway-only venture, in the same way as hospitality businesses, said the blanket approach of helping businesses through lockdowns “doesn’t work”.

“We receive the same grants as any other business … the support isn’t proportionate,” Trent said.

While they are determined to bounce back, the brothers know the struggle won’t end when the lockdowns do.

“Restrictions kill us as much as the lockdowns do … we are the last to open up and have to enforce capacity limits,” Julian said.