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Live Breaking News: NSW tightens restrictions, may extend lockdown after record 44 cases

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slapped down a vaccine “myth” in Australia saying people needed to “get some perspective".

Frank Chung and Natalie Wolfe
less than 2 min read
July 9, 2021 - 1:28PM
PM urges Australians to "get some perspective" (ACA)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shut down suggestions Australia will one day hit 100 per cent vaccination coverage, urging the nation to "get some perspective".

"No country will get to 100 per cent," Mr Morrison told A Current Affair.

"We cannot totally eradicate the virus. No country will get to 100 per cent.

"This is the myth going around the vaccination debate around the world. There is only one country in the world that has two dose vaccination rate higher than 65 per cent and that is Israel."

Mr Morrison said it was clear the nation needed to "get some perspective" and shift its coronavirus focus.

"We need to get some perspective. Other countries are opening up because they have had millions of people who have actually contracted the virus and there is more antibodies in that population than other countries that have been riddled with coronavirus," he said.

Follow our live updates below.

Updates

Victoria will ease restrictions with Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory after all three brought their coronavirus outbreaks under control.

From Sunday, travellers from the two states and the territory will be free to enter Victoria without having to quarantine or get tested.

Brisbane, Moreton Bay and parts of the Sunshine Coast will move to the “orange zone”, meaning travellers from those areas can head to Victoria but they must isolate until they receive a negative coronavirus test.

QUEENSLAND

  • Townsville, Magnetic Island, Palm Island, Ipswich, Logan, Redland, Gold Coast, Lockyer Valley, Noosa, Scenic Rim and Somerset will move to green zones
  • Brisbane, Moreton Bay and parts of the Sunshine Coast will move from red to orange

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

  • Perth and Peel regions will move from orange to green – all of WA now a green zone

NORTHERN TERRITORY

  • Alice Springs and Darwin will move from orange to green – all of the NT now green

NEW SOUTH WALES

  • Greater Sydney, Wollongong, Shellharbour, Blue Mountains remain red zones – which means no entry to Victoria
  • Regional NSW, the ACT and cross-border communities are orange zones

All green zone travellers still have to apply for a permit to enter Victoria.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shut down suggestions Australia will one day hit 100 per cent vaccination coverage, admitting we will not "totally eradicate the virus".

"No country will get to 100 per cent," Mr Morrison told A Current Affair.

"We cannot totally eradicate the virus. No country will get to 100 per cent.

"This is the myth going around the vaccination debate around the world. There is only one country in the world that has two dose vaccination rate higher than 65 per cent and that is Israel.

"Not even the UK has reached that … the vaccination rate in the UK is less than 60 per cent."

Mr Morrison said it was clear the nation needed to "get some perspective" and shift its coronavirus focus.

"We need to get some perspective. Other countries are opening up because they have had millions of people who have actually contracted the virus and there is more antibodies in that population than other countries that have been riddled with coronavirus," he said.

"We sit very strongly on the table of the low number of deaths in the country.

"That has been our country's focus on the state and federal level, we did not want to see tens of thousands and indeed millions of deaths we have seen in overseas countries here.

"We have seen the OECD highlighted Australia the best performing country in the world in coronavirus getting jobs back in the economy.

"More jobs and less death, that is what we have delivered."

A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw has grilled Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the show tonight, questioning if the PM would've done things differently if he could live 2020 again.

"We are behind other countries in the vaccine rollout. We put so much faith in one vaccine that we make here but that has been present by problems? If you could go back one year, would you have bought more Pfizer doses?" Grimshaw asked.

"We have bought 20 million and we will upgrade to 40 million. We have been working hard to bring that forward because of the problems with AstraZeneca," Mr Morrison said.

"The AstraZeneca vaccine is what has vaccinated the United Kingdom, 44 million doses in the United Kingdom … It is important in our vaccination program.

"We have had challenges and we have got on top of them and hitting the marks to get the job done."

Grimshaw hit back, telling the PM "we were behind the eight ball from the beginning … there is AstraZeneca hesitancy".

But the PM said the government was working rapidly to "get the job done".

"(AstraZeneca) is an important part of the vaccine program and still important … we need to renew support in it because it is a key part to where we want to get to as a country," he said.

"The Pfizer vaccine is important as well. Of course we had challenges with AstraZeneca.

"There is wisdom in hindsight. Australia is in a position where we're hitting rates of vaccination to get this job done."

Professor Angela Webster, an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney, has admitted she sees no way NSW's lockdown will end next week.

The state recorded 44 new cases of coronavirus today leading to Premier Gladys Berejiklian to introduce tougher restrictions.

"We have a lot of people in isolation now from all of the spiralling exposure venues, I think in general, four to five days is when we start to see if people have been exposed," Prof Webster told the ABC.

"I think by the end of next week we should know if these measures are being more effective on the back of the other measures we have.

"I think the lockdown finishing next week is not going to happen.

"I think we are looking at several more weeks of controls like this if we are going to get this outbreak under control.

"The way out of this is under public health measures and social distancing to reduce contact and spread, but the real way out is vaccination and we need to buy enough time to get sufficient numbers of people vaccinated."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted earlier, despite hundreds of thousands of Pfizer vaccine doses being rolled out in August, Aussies under the age of 40 won't get access just yet.

“Decisions haven’t changed in terms of age eligibility,” Mr Morrison told reporters after today's National Cabinet meeting.

“That will be considered further based on the supply and by Lieutenant General (John) Frewen and in concert with the medical advice.”

The government was still focused on full vaccination coverage of Australians over the age of 70.

As of yesterday, 72 per cent of Australians aged over the age of 70 had received their first vaccine dose.

"Older Australians are still the most vulnerable and that's why we would implore people who have eligibility for those vaccines now to go and get them," Mr Morrison said.

"Especially if you are waiting on your second dose and it's AstraZeneca."

Pfizer clairifes 'extra doses' announcement

– Helena Burke

Pfizer has moved to clarify that Australia should not expect extra doses of Covid-19 vaccine this year, after Scott Morrison announced some supplies would be brought forward.

The Prime Minister did a media blitz on Friday, saying the number of available doses would rise to a million a week after Australia secured 300,000 jabs ahead of schedule for greater Sydney.

This includes 150,000 AstraZeneca and 150,000 Pfizer doses from July 19.

“We have been working with Pfizer now for quite some period of time to bring forward our supplies,” Mr Morrison told Today.

In a statement released on Friday, Pfizer clarified that the number of vaccines set to reach Australia had not increased.

The company said its delivery schedule would be continually updated in line with the “ramp-up” in the vaccine’s availability in Australia.

“Deliveries to Australia remain on track, and we continue to update our weekly delivery schedule in line with the ramp-up,” it said.

Pfizer expected the remainder of the 40 m illion doses to be delivered “by the end of 2021”.

In June, Aussies received 1.7 million jabs. Mr Morrison said this would rise to 2.8 million in July and 4.5 million in August.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said millions more Pfizer vaccines will be brought forward, helping more Australians be vaccinated quicker.

An extra million Pfizer vaccines a week will be added by August.

"That will see us move from 2.8 million to nearly 4 million doses in August," Mr Morrison said.

"Today we are seeing very strong numbers when it comes to the vaccine program."

More than 160,000 doses were administered yesterday, bringing Australia up to nine million doses.

"We will be hitting that important mark of one million doses every week … you hit your mark there on those sort of vaccinations … and that puts us in a very strong place to be able to get this job done as we move towards the end of the year and indeed perhaps sooner than that to ensure that everyone who is seeking to have a vaccine will be able to have one," Mr Morrison added.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is speaking after today's National Cabinet meeting.

After offering his support to Sydney, Mr Morrison said health experts were still working to figure out the vaccination target needed to free Australia.

The Doherty Institute, a prestigious medical organisation in Melbourne, is crunching the numbers.

"We note that the Doherty Institute will be coming back to us this month … we will be putting together the work of that institute and it will set out what the spectrum of risk is as across various levels of vaccination in the population and what the levels of vaccination in high vulnerable groups are, and what the risks is then associated with COVID being in the community," Mr Morrison said.

"That information will be combined together with the capacity of the health system, and the advice of Treasury and the Treasury Secretary's around the country to ensure we get the best assessment of what the thresholds are to move from phase one to phase two to phase three and ultimately phase four, which I outlined to you last Friday."

NSW records 239 cases

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced tougher restrictions as she warns that the state won't end lockdown until cases "get to zero or close to zero".

She said today's record number was "the opposite of where we need or want the numbers to trend".

"No state or nation or any country on the planet can live with the Delta variant when our vaccination rates are so low," she said.

"If we chose to live with this while the rates of vaccinations are at 9 per cent, we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalisations and deaths."

That means "until we get to zero or close to zero, we cannot ease restrictions", and "in fact, based on the health advice, NSW will be further tightening restrictions in those areas that already have stay-at-home orders".

Picture: Nikki Short/NCA NewsWire
Picture: Nikki Short/NCA NewsWire

Outdoor exercise has been reduced from 10 people to two people, and only within 10km of home.

Only one person is allowed to leave home for essential shopping except under "exceptional circumstances".

"Browsing is not allowed," Ms Berejiklian said.

"Whether you are in a supermarket or anywhere else buying essential items, you have to think about before you leave the home, can I get it online? Do I need to leave the house to go shopping?"

Funerals will also be reduced to 10 people.

She said it was a "heartbreaking" decision.

"I apologise in advance to all those families going through such a difficult time but unfortunately, we have no option," she said.

The new rules will take effect from 5pm today.

Ms Berejiklian said NSW might not exit lockdown next Friday.

"NSW is facing the biggest challenge we have faced since the pandemic started and I don't say that lightly," she said.

"And unless there is a dramatic change, unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the numbers, I can't see how we would be in a position to ease restrictions by next Friday, and that is why all of us need to work together."

No locally transmitted cases in QLD

Footage has surfaced of Rashays co-founder Rami Ykmour being arrested at the restaurant chain's Chester Hill head office yesterday, after police received a tip-off that staff were not wearing masks.

Mr Ykmour was arrested at the headquarters at around 3.50pm, The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday.

He was taken to Parramatta Police Station where he was charged with hindering police in their investigations into alleged non-compliance with the mask mandate.

He will front Parramatta Local Court on August 18.

Video of the arrest published by 10 News shows Mr Ykmour telling police that staff had their masks off while they were eating.

Picture: Instagram
Picture: Instagram

"Someone is eating their chips, look at their chips – I'm not lying, look at their chips with tomato sauce," he says to the officer.

As he is taken away, an emotional Mr Ykmour asks, "Who's going to pay us for all this labour? Who's going to pay us for all these losses?"

It came after Mr Ykmour issued a plea to the state government for better support and communication with the hospitality sector over lockdowns.

"We need to know what's happening with JobKeeper, we need to know what's happening with business support," he said in an Instagram video on Wednesday night.

"I'm telling you, the industry out west has mum and dads who rely on a daily income to put food on the table. We are playing with people's mental health."

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