Queensland has warned just one case in the state would lead to a snap lockdown, as they further tightened border restrictions with NSW.
The number of essential workers able to cross into Queensland from the virus-ravaged southern state will be further limited in order to prevent otherwise “inevitable” lockdowns, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Queensland disbanded the previous border bubble zone, allowing only people who cannot reasonably obtain goods or medical care in NSW, and just 11 categories of essential workers to cross into the Sunshine State.
It was later added that those essential workers would need to prove they had been innoculated with at least one dose of the virus to police at the crossing from Friday.
Live breaking news: Shock twist in Sydney removalist claim
Victorian Police sources have explained the removalist's story would have been clearer if the interpreter understood their language.
Sydney removalists who were blasted for not helping authorities would have been better equipped to deal with police if they had a better interpreter, sources said.
The group of removalists were largely blamed for bringing the virus into the state from NSW - prompting its fifth lockdown.
However, The Herald Sun has now reported the removalists were willing to divulge the details with the police but the interpreter could not understand the removalists’ language.
One police source told the publication the men were more than happy to explain where they had been and what they had done.
“They’ve been thrown under the bus … made to look like shitheads when they’re not,” one source says.
In the end only one member of the crew was fined $200 for not wearing a mask.
For all the latest news from Victoria, follow our live blog below.
Updates
QLD's threat over border breaches
Telstra offer $200 to jabbed staff
Telstra is offering its employees a $200 reward if they take up the Covid-19 jab “as soon as they can”.
CEO Andy Penn sent a note to all Telstra employees announcing each fully vaccinated employee will receive 200 ‘Appreciate points’ – the equivalent to $200 that can be redeemed for gifts, such as vouchers for Coles, Woolworths and Myer.
The points can also be used towards products like whitegoods, fashion, electronics and technology.
In an email, Mr Penn said this was a global emergency that had seen some employees lose loved ones – and even more separated from family interstate and abroad.
“We do it so well in times of times of crisis – in the face of natural disasters, through the hardships of drought and when we mourn in collective grief. And yet the battle against Covid is far from won,” he said.
PM: Economy to bounce back
The Prime Minister is confident the country will recover from the economic impact of lockdowns, once everyone is vaccinated.
"We get the country to those levels of vaccination, we open up the country, the economy comes back strongly," he said. "And so the sooner we achieve that, the sooner that’s realised.
"I do remain optimistic, I do remain confident in the Australian economy because there is no issue with the Australian economy.
"There is an issue of the impact of Covid-19 and restrictions that are holding that economy back."
PM: 'One in two Australians" vaccinated
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that more than half of the country has recieved a vaccination.
There has been more than 1.6 million vaccinations during the last week.
"One in two Australians have had their first dose. That's what we're achieving. 40 per cent over the age of 50 have been fully vaccinated. With 273,000 additional doses just yesterday," he said.
New Covid ad campaign
This one's for anyone who's ever said "oh, it's not COVID, it's just a cough".
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) August 18, 2021
Apologies in advance for the slow-mo. pic.twitter.com/OyBX7qnSPO
Playgrounds closed, childcare open
Health Minister Martin Foley has explained his government's reasoning for shutting playgrounds but keep childcare facilities open.
"Child care is a controlled environment. They have quite strict protocols in place that are both Federally and at a State level are supported and I think there's always a difference between a regulated, controlled environment and an unregulated environment," he said.
"A combination of Delta, a combination of the fact that the virus is finding its way increasingly into unvaccinated groups, which is school environments, which is children and 110-plus people under the age of 19 currently have the Delta variant. Some of those cases have been proven in having acquired and transmitted in outdoor environments."
ACT records 22 new cases
Canberra has recorded 22 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the outbreak to 67 cases.
Three more schools were added to ACT’s growing list of exposure sites overnight, taking the total number of Canberra schools hit by Covid-19 to five.
St Thomas Aquinas Primary School in Charnwood, UC Senior Secondary College (UCSSC) Lake Ginninderra in Belconnen and Harrison School n have all been confirmed close contact locations.
ACT Health informed parents testing would be arranged on Wednesday for all close contacts at the pop-up testing site at the Gold Creek School.
NZ outbreak traced to NSW
Genome sequencing has confirmed NZ's Covid-19 outbreak is the Delta strain of the virus, and that it came from NSW.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the detail while giving an update this morning.
There are now seven cases in NZ , with two additional cases to report from the five announced this morning.
A 20-year-old and 19-year-old are the latest cases, and are linked to the other cases.
"We are absolutely anticipating more cases," Ardern said.
Most of the cases are aged in their 20s and health officials have predicted there could be 50 to 120 close contacts.
Sex worker confirmed as mystery case
COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar has confirmed that the St Kila sex worker who tested positive for Covid is a mystery case.
"We don't have source acquisition for any of the 15 cases in that area," he said.
"So apart from a cluster of cases in the engagement party, the others are very dissociated and we're keen to understand what the linkages might be."
More than a fifth cases kids
More than a fifth of Victoria's active Covid cases are children, Health Minister Martin Foley has revealed.
His announcement comes as there is continued backlash against the government’s decision to ban children from playgrounds.
“Of the 246 active cases that we currently have in Victoria,” he said.
“56 are aged under the age of 9 years old. 55 are aged between 10-19.”
Marles’ high stakes AUKUS meeting
Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles is heading to Washington DC to talk AUKUS with his new counterpart in Donald Trump’s administration.
Man charged with baby’s murder
A man from country NSW has been charged with the murder of a four-month-old baby boy who died in hospital last month.
Measles alert after rapper Drake concert
A public health warning has been issued after a person infected with measles attended Drake’s Perth concert.