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Live breaking news: Two hospitalised by ‘toxic smell’ at pool
A child has been hospitalised after a “toxic smell” caused multiple children breathing difficulties at a Sydney aquatic centre.
A child has been hospitalised after a “toxic smell” caused multiple children breathing difficulties at a Sydney aquatic centre.
More than 100 people were evacuated from the Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre in Sydney’s south after a suspected gas leak, believed to have been caused by an equipment fault in the spa room.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews were called around 10am today after reported of a “strong toxic smell”. Fire crews had to assist five children and one adult who suffered “breathing difficulties at the scene. A child and one adult were later hospitalised over the suspected gas leak.
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Updates
That's a wrap
Two hospitalised by ‘toxic smell’ at pool
Two people have been hospitalised after a “toxic smell” caused multiple people breathing difficulties at a Sydney aquatic centre.
More than 100 people were evacuated from the Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre in Sydney’s south after a suspected gas leak, believed to have been caused by an equipment fault in the spa room.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews were called around 10am today after reported of a “strong toxic smell”. Fire crews had to assist five children and one adult who suffered “breathing difficulties at the scene.
A child and one adult were later hospitalised over the suspected gas leak.
Rescue crews have now isolated the leak and the vapour is now being dispersed and ventilated.
UPDATE | The leak has been isolated and the vapour cloud is being dispersed with fans and natural ventilation. pic.twitter.com/Hu3kb6z4pC
— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) April 5, 2021
Senator Jim Molan diagnosed with ‘aggressive cancer’
Liberal Senator Jim Molan has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form of a cancer”.
“Folks, some personal news. Last week I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of a cancer,” the NSW Senator said in a statement. “I will be taking leave from the Senate for further testing to confirm the prognosis, and to commence treatment.
Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
“Although I am personally stepping back for a while, my office will remain open and fully operational. My team will continue to work hard alongside my colleagues in the Morrison Government on the issues that matter.
"My commitment to serving you, the people of NSW and Australia, has not wavered.”
He said the “news has come as a shock” but said he had “many reasons to be positive".
“I am receiving the best possible care from my clinicians, and have the love, support and prayers of my family.
“I have never been afraid to fight the battles that need fighting, and this is no exception.
“I thank you for your support and we ask for privacy at this time.”
Aussie festival ‘sorry’ after culture fail
The organisers behind a festival that hoped to “bring Bali to Australia” have been forced to apologise after the event left attendees underwhelmed.
The event held in the Perth suburb of Mandurah was held on Friday and was planned to continue over the long weekend to Tuesday. But dozens of attendees complained the festival was “grossly disappointing".
“Grossly disappointing and would not recommend anyone paying a fee to enter considering you still had to pay for everything inside as well,” attendee John Geoghegan said.
Another woman, Gail Barrett, told Perth Now the experience was nothing like her trip to Bali and she’d been lodging a complaint with the ACCC.
The festival organisers issued an apology on Facebook on Sunday night and offered refunds to people who didn't enjoy the $30 event.
"We would also like to wholeheartedly apologise to the Balinese community who were offended by our lack of cultural representation.
“This event was always meant to be a celebration of entertainment and culture while bringing awareness to the struggle in Bali due to COVID, clearly we got this very wrong.”
‘Big stuff up’: Over 70 Covid tests lost in Byron
A privately run testing clinic “misplaced” dozens of coronavirus swabs in Byron Bay after the community was placed into lockdown over a community case.
The swabs were lost on Thursday, just a day after the area had been put under restrictions over a case of community transmission of COVID-19, according to the ABC.
Local woman Sue Spargo said she’d been told to go get tested a second time after getting a coronavirus test on Thursday, in a Facebook post in the Byron Bay Community Facebook group.
“I have just been advised to go & get another test as there has been a big stuff up of tests done on Thursday,” Ms Spargo wrote.
She’d been tested at the Cavanbah Centre, a sports complex in the Byron area.
Picture: James D. Morgan/Getty Images
Other locals said they’d also been waiting on results since Thursday.
“Of all the days to mess up the samples,” one woman wrote.
Wayne Jones, the head of Northern NSW Local Health District told the ABC all 71 missing swabs taken at the Cavanbah Centre have since been found.
“When it emerged the swabs had been misplaced, the clinic contacted all 71 people and asked for them to be retested,” he said.
Some 20 people presented to be tested again before the swabs were recovered.
Of those who were swabbed, 69 received negative results and two are now pending.
"We apologise to those people whose tests were misplaced and also sincerely thank those people who have presented for retesting.
"The incident is being thoroughly investigated to avoid the risk of it happening again.
"We thank the northern NSW community for coming forward for testing in such large numbers to protect everyone in the region from the COVID-19 risk."
After the single case was reported in Byron, more than 10,000 members of the community turned out to be tested for the virus.
Most Aussies won’t get Anzac Day holiday
This year, the public holiday gods have overlooked us again. With Anzac Day falling on a Sunday, most of the country won’t get a long weekend.
However the ACT, Western Australia and Queensland will all have Monday, April 26, as a public holiday. Some other regional areas, like the Cocos Keeling Islands and Christmas Island will also get the Monday off.
Picture: Chris Ison/The Morning Bulletin
“This is a nice extra for workers in those places, but also a much-needed time to remember those brave men and women and their sacrifice,” said Angus Kidman, travel expert at Finder.
For other states, they will have to wait for the Queen’s birthday in June for their next long weekend.
For all states and territories other than Queensland and WA, taking off the days after the Queen’s Birthday – Tuesday, June 15 to Friday, June 18 – turns into nine days off for just four days of annual leave.
– Sarah Sharples
When Qld’s restrictions will likely end
Mask wearing and other COVID-19 restrictions could be lifted in Queensland as early as next week.
The Sunshine State recorded a second consecutive day of no locally acquired cases of the virus on Monday.
There were four positive cases overnight, but all were from international arrivals.
The good news prompted deputy chief health officer Sonya Bennett to say it was possible restrictions brought in on Thursday could soon be eased.
“The restrictions (chief health officer) Dr Young has put in place were from 14 days from the last time someone was infectious in the community,” Dr Bennett said, adding she believed that date was March 30.
“I think we can be fairly confident in 14 days that we have no more locally acquired cases and that the outbreak is reasonably under control.”
Greater Brisbane was thrown into a snap lockdown last week after twin outbreaks threatened to spread further into the community.
– Additional reporting NCA NewsWire
Why Australia’s COVID death rate is so high
While Australia dealt with the COVID-19 crisis better than most countries, our death rate was still drastically higher than many areas and there is a big reason why.
To date, Australia has recorded just over 29,300 cases of coronavirus and 909 deaths, which puts our fatality rate at just over three per cent.
In comparison, the US – one of the most hard hit countries – has confirmed more than 30.4 million cases and more than 553,680 deaths, putting the fatality rate at 1.82 per cent.
Experts say this is because Australia's second wave of coronavirus was particularly rampant in nursing homes.
"It's an unfortunate combination of time and place, and that we didn't realise how fast it was progressing into those environments," Monash University's Carl Kirkpatrick told the ABC.
He said if influenza was transmitted in nursing homes at the same rate as COVID-19 then we would see similar fatality rates.
COVID restrictions to be lifted for NSW
A raft of restrictions places on northern parts of NSW are set to be lifted tonight after another day of no locally acquired COVID-19 cases.
Last week, Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced a number of restrictions would be introduced across the Byron Bay, Tweed, Lismore and Ballina Local Government Areas after Queensland's COVID-19 cluster spread to the region.
The restrictions included:
- A limit of 30 visitors to households
- Masks required at all indoor places, apart from residential premises, and on public transport.
- Venues had to revert to the one person per four square metre rule indoors
From 11.59pm tonight these restrictions will be lifted.
"NSW Health reminds the community that the ending of these temporary restrictions has no impact on the self-isolation requirements for the large number of people in these areas who are close contacts," NSW health said in a statement
"They must continue to isolate for the full 14 days from their date of exposure and get tested again at the end of this period."
Link between vaccine and blood clots 'unclear'
Authorities are still scrambling to find the link between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and a higher risk of blood clots, with one expert labelling the lack of understanding a "concern".
On Friday, a Melbourne man who had received the COVID-19 vaccine was admitted to hospital after falling ill with a rare blood clotting condition.
It comes after multiple European countries suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine last month over blood clot fears.
Despite AstraZeneca saying "no safety concerns relating to the vaccine have been identified", Epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said Australian authorities were now beginning to believe there may be a link.
Picture: Loic Venance/AFP
"I think they are now conceding it is likely to be induced by the vaccine, they just don’t understand how and it is so rare that it is hard to understand who is at risk," she told 2GB.
Professor Bennett said the fact officials still don't know what the link could be is a "concern".
"It’s a concern because they don’t actually know how the vaccine could be causing it. They don’t have that causal understanding to even say ‘Well, that means there is a certain group who are going to be at a higher risk'," she said.
"They do know it’s not the typical people you might expect to be at risk of blood clotting, people with a history of blood clotting or older people.
"They are seeing it in younger people but equally, that’s partly because we have given AstraZeneca to the younger population."
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