Live Breaking News: Epidemiologist says ending lockdown by September is a 'fantasy'
Melbourne epidemiologist Nancy Baxter has squashed hopes that NSW will be out of lockdown by the end of the month, saying anyone who thinks otherwise is living in a 'fantasy'.
Melbourne epidemiologist Nancy Baxter has deemed NSW's hopes of lockdown winding up by the end of August a "fantasy".
Appearing on The Project, Professor Baxter's outlook for Greater Sydney was grim. Despite recording its worst day of case numbers since the pandemic began, Prof Baxter said the state could be yet to hit its peak.
"You really need something to change the equation to kind of really drive those numbers down, or it's going to be an extremely long haul," she said.
"I'm not sure when the numbers will peak. If something doesn't change, you're looking at months before you really get down in terms of the numbers where you could even contemplate opening up in Sydney. It's going to be a really long haul before you get to very low numbers."
Meanwhile, Australia's chief medical officer Paul Kelly has declared the nation, and in particular NSW, are now fighting "a pandemic of the unvaccinated".
The terminology has been used in recent weeks by experts in the US as well as President Joe Biden, as America once again fights rising case numbers because of the Delta strain.
As lockdowns continue in Queensland and Victoria as well, Professor Kelly urged Australians to come forward and get the jab.
"We know that vaccines work to decrease severe illness. It decreases transmission. It decreases death and it is clearly the way forward as we've talked [about] a lot this week, after the modelling from the Doherty [Institute]," the CMO told reporters after this afternoon's National Cabinet meeting.
"So the clear message today is get vaccinated…Vaccination is the way out and we know where we're going with that and particularly, this is the hotspot areas, please make an appointment and talk to your GP about your vaccination options right now."
Read on for the latest national Covid news here. You can find today's live blog for Victoria here.
Updates
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The NSW Government has announced that Vivid Sydney will be cancelled for the second year in a row as the state continues to battle its current Covid-19 outbreak.
NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment and Tourism, Stuart Ayres, said that while the decision was "disappointing", it was the "responsible" choice.
Vivid Sydney is a bright star on Sydney’s calendar, so the decision to cancel this year’s event has not been taken lightly. While it’s lights off for this year, we’ll shine brighter than ever in 2022, from 27 May to 18 June 2022. Stay safe, and see you soon! #vividsydneypic.twitter.com/gf466kyjUC
"It's incredibly disappointing to cancel for the second year, but the most responsible decision was to cancel early, giving everyone certainty and minimising impacts where possible," Mr Ayres said.
"The health and safety of our community is our highest priority, which is why we're encouraging everyone to get vaccinated so we can get back to enjoying Covid-safe events again soon."
Preparation is already underway for Vivid's 2022 return, he added.
"As we work together to contain the current outbreak and get our community vaccinated, we can all look forward to the return of major events like Vivid Sydney that brings us together in celebration," he said.
"Our artists and creative industries are so eager to put on a show, and we can't wait to see the Harbour City shining brightly again."
Prof Kelly has described the situation in Australia, but particularly NSW, as an "epidemic or a pandemic of the unvaccinated".
The terminology has been used in recent weeks by experts in the US as well as President Joe Biden, as America once again fights rising case numbers because of the Delta strain.
“Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated,” Mr Biden said in mid-July.
As NSW recorded its worst day yet of the pandemic so far and lockdowns continue in Queensland and Victoria, Professor Kelly urged Australians to come forward and get the jab.
"We know that vaccines work to decrease severe illness. It decreases transmission. It decreases death and it is clearly the way forward as we've talked [about] a lot this week, after the modelling from the Doherty [Institute]," the CMO said.
"So the clear message today is get vaccinated…Vaccination is the way out and we know where we're going with that and particularly, this is the hotspot areas, please make an appointment and talk to your GP about your vaccination options right now."
The PM and CMO are asked what kind of "circuit breaker" NSW needs.
Mr Morrison rattles off the list of things the Federal Government has done to help the embattled state, including bringing forward "80,000 additional Pfizer vaccines".
Professor Kelly, who made the circuit breaker suggestion, offered a bit more guidance.
"So, I think what the key elements here are to decrease the transmission potential so that to decrease that movement from of the virus from one person to another and that's what the lockdown is about," Prof Kelly said.
"I think looking at ways that they can find people more quickly, make sure the compliance with those orders to stay at home are being complied with. That movement around Sydney and specifically outside of Sydney is not, is enforced.
"All of these things are absolutely important. How do we decrease the transmission potential, it is about people not moving around while infectious and infectious and infecting others. Households are more difficult.
"The extra vaccines that are provided are clearly an important component of that and they need to stay the course."
The PM is asked if employers should ask their workers to get tested, with the large outbreak at a Sydney KFC in mind.
While Mr Morrison again repeated that Australia's rollout "is not a mandatory vaccination program and that's not the policy of the government", he suggested there are laws that allow employers "to give reasonable directions to their staff".
"Where there are specific areas, where public health orders have been put in place and that’s been done consistent with policy, I should say a consistency of policy at the Commonwealth and state level, but there is the law of the land does provide employers to give reasonable directions to their staff and I’ve set out the advice that we received from the Solicitor-General that provides the spectrum of where such directions may indeed be reasonable," he said.
"You see, in our country, everyone has choices and they have choices that are supported by the rule of law and simply making the point that those choices have to be exercised, are consistent with the rule of law."
Now onto chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, who has called for a "circuit breaker" in Sydney to get on top of its outbreak.
In the NSW capital, "without the vaccination, and without the lockdown and without the other measures that are in place, this would have been much higher rates of illness, hospitalisation and death up to now", Prof Kelly said.
While it's not as bad as it could've been, though, there are "still worrying signs in terms of unlinked cases, new chains of transmission, new exposure sites and geographic spread and the like".
"There is no sense that is heading rapidly towards zero which is what remains our national approach at the moment. There is clearly a need for a circuit breaker," he said.
"I’ve had many discussions with my colleague in New South Wales around that. What else could be done to increase the speed of people being diagnosed, the compliance with those public health measures and crucially, an increase in vaccination in those areas.
"New South Wales needs to stay the course and look for those new ways of increasing and improving that situation."
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The PM says there's no plan at the moment to increase the use of rapid-antigen testing, despite a push to in recent days.
"While you're in the suppression phase, knowing who has that and where they have been and who they have been with and having to follow that up and isolating close contacts is a very important part of the public health response to the outbreak," he explained.
"For now, they will continue to be used in a targeted way."
The tests will be used more in the future, though, when "further work [is] done to prepare for those phases and how rapid antigen testing can be better used in those phases".
The PM has announced that National Cabinet today "fully agreed" on Australia's pandemic exit plan, based on modelling by the Doherty Institute (details of which he announced last week).
"That pathway taxes to the position where we live with this virus, and with it a virus where we ultimately start single by two lockdowns once we reach 70 per cent vaccination in the population and ultimately move away from them in the third phase," Mr Morrison told reporters.
"All public health measures are necessary when dealing with a global pandemic but these global changes affirmed again by all the premiers and chief ministers, fully agreed to the national program that they announced last Friday at the Lodge after the meeting last week."
The Doherty Institute will also do "further work" to "support the states and territories and the Commonwealth as we prepare to move into phase B and phase C of the national plan".
We'll hear from Scott Morrison in about ten minutes (hopefully), off the back of today's National Cabinet meeting.
On the agenda for today's meeting was the vaccine rollout, the next steps in the Doherty Institute modelling, women's safety and economic security and an epidemiology update.
We'll bring you all they key details from the Prime Minister's update here.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has labelled the NSW Covid outbreak a “catastrophe”, saying Victoria would need a tough approach while high numbers continued to plague the neighbouring state.
NSW recorded a concerning 291 locally acquired Covid cases today, and Victoria is now dealing with the fallout of the virus “seeding” across the border.
In response to questions about Victoria being forced into multiple lockdowns as a result of the crisis in NSW, Mr Foley said restrictions would continue to play a huge part in controlling outbreaks.
Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie
“Nobody likes lockdowns, but as we have now established – they work,” Mr Foley said.
“At the moment we’re simply focused on getting ahead of this particular outbreak and avoiding the kind of catastrophe that Sydney and NSW are enduring at the moment.”
Victorians have been warned they are in a very "precarious" position as the state deals with two new clusters.
"Adding all of this together, Victoria is in a precarious position when it comes to where this particular series of outbreaks are at the moment," Health Minister Martin Foley said.
"It is in all of our hands to continue to work together to work with our public health teams to get on top of and head off this particular outbreak.
Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
"We have had many lines of enquiry actively underway as to whether the new cases have been and what further exposure sites continue to become apparent as they come to hand."
Mr Foley asked Victorians for their cooperation in overcoming these new outbreaks, urging them to follow the lockdown rules.
"The Victorian community knows what to do. We have been here before, we have driven down this Delta variant, we can do it again," he said.
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