As it happened: Three Sydney aged care residents among 16 new local COVID-19 cases, Victoria records zero cases

That’s it for Sunday’s live COVID-19 coverage, thanks very much for reading. In case you missed it, here’s a quick rundown of what happened today.

• NSW recorded 16 local new coronavirus cases on Sunday, three of which were infectious in the community. There were 45,000 tests carried out in that time.
• Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the results on Sunday were pleasing but urged residents to adhere to social distancing requirements and to steer clear of indoor settings.
• Queensland and Western Australia both recorded one new case of community transmission, while Victoria enjoyed a day of zero cases.
• Three residents of an aged care home in Sydney’s north-west have tested positive to COVID-19 after a worker contracted the virus. While most residents have been vaccinated, many staff have not.
• A group of St George Dragons players have been fined after being caught by police at a house party flouting lockdown restrictions south of Sydney on Saturday night.

No doubt to the irritation of Dan Andrews, the Victorian government functioned quite well without him.

For more than three months, under the steady hand of Deputy Premier James Merlino, the most progressive government in Australia seemed to barely miss a beat, writes Jon Faine.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino.Credit: Getty

It is a common quip that any state government needs just five ministers who can read and write in order to sustain itself, and most state administrations would not manage the simultaneous prolonged absence of three key people. But the weakness of the opposition and the depth of the pool available carried the ALP through and even surprised some of its own.

Monday saw Daniel Andrews re-emerge from rehab, combative and feisty as ever. Suddenly, things shifted up a gear. His impact on the national scene was immediate, although it was not difficult to look authoritative in a week marked by other Premiers scrambling to cover for their mistakes and no less a figure than the Prime Minister himself creating confusion over AZ for younger Australians.

Read the full opinion piece here.

A group of NRL players have been handed $1000 fines by NSW Police for breaching strict COVID restrictions after St George Dragons star Paul Vaughan hosted a party at his home.

NSW Police fined 13 people for flouting Sydney’s lockdown at a Shellharbour house on Saturday evening, which included 11 visitors.

The Herald’s Adam Pengilly and Sarah Keoghan are reporting that the NRL integrity unit interviewed a handful of Dragons players on Sunday, with the league’s chief executive promising severe sanctions for anyone found to have breached public health orders.

Andrew Abdo said the group had “let the whole competition down”.

Read the full story here.

Police have fined more than 80 people in 24 hours across NSW for failing to comply with strict public health orders, including three Sydneysiders who were found in the Central West town of Dunedoo.

Two men and a woman were fined $1000 by NSW Police on Saturday after officers found their unregistered car parked in a ‘no stopping’ zone in Dunedoo, northwest of Dubbo, where they had booked one night in a local hotel.

As the state recorded 16 new cases of coronavirus, NSW Police fined more than 50 people for failing to wear masks, while also booking a carload of Maroubra locals near Little Hartley.

Two women, aged 23 and 25, as well as two 25-year-old men were fined $1000 dollars after police pulled their car over on the Great Western Highway on Saturday morning.

The owner of a Mascot fruit shop was also fined for failing to use QR codes, while staff in a Bowral store have also been changed for refusing to wear masks.

Victoria continues to list Greater Sydney including the Central Coast, Shellharbour, Blue Mountains and Wollongong as red zone under its travel permit system.

Any Victorian resident wanting to return home will need to apply for a travel permit and those granted need to go straight to their home or accommodation and quarantine there for 14 days, they will also need to take a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of returning to the state.

Victoria has designated a number of locations as orange zones including the Perth metropolitan region, the Peel region in WA.

For more info, visit the Victorian government’s COVID website here.

The WA and Queensland locations were changed to orange zones at 1am on Sunday, while the ACT and remaining NSW LGA are also listed as orange zones.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd says pregnant women are yet to be listed as an at priority group for COVID-19 vaccinations while there is no timeframe for clearing children under-16 to receive a vaccine.

Professor Kidd was asked about both those issues in his Sunday press conference. He said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) was still looking a number of potential at risk groups.

“At risk groups continue to be looked at each week by ATAGI and it has provided advice for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding and talked about increased risks,” Professor Kidd said.

“But we may need to wait for the advice from ATAGI as to whether pregnant women themselves become one of the risk groups for earlier priority vaccination.”

Professor Kidd said no vaccine was cleared for children under-16 yet despite some health officials starting to call for children to be included in vaccination rollouts given new strains of COVID-19 were infecting children.

“There is continuing research happening around the world, looking at safe and appropriate vaccines for use in younger people. We need to wait for that advice to come through,” Professor Kidd said.

“I certainly hope we will have protection available to people sooner than 2022, but it really depends on the research and developments around the world.”

Deputy chief medical officer Professor Michael Kidd says select GPs around the country will start to offer Pfizer vaccine doses from Monday.

The Pfizer vaccines will be available to eligible patients, including people aged 40-59, with 500 practices starting to have the vaccine this week.

Professor Kidd said this month 800 GP practices are expected to come online with the Pfizer vaccine as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“During this month, another 800 general practices will come online with the Pfizer vaccine as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Professor Kidd said on Sunday.

“This includes many Aboriginal community controlled organisations, which will be offering the Pfizer vaccine progressively through July and August.”

Professor Kidd said a further update of national vaccine rollout numbers will be available at a press conference on Monday.

NSW Health has published a new list of contact venues across Sydney, including several supermarkets and a TAB.

Close contact venues are listed as the Ostar International bathroom supply store in Revesby on Saturday June 26, a Commonwealth Bank branch in Roselands on June 28, 29 and 30 and Bendo’s Premium Meats in Five Dock on June 29.

All passengers on Flight VA524 between the Gold Coast and Sydney on June 26 are now also classified as close contacts, with NSW Health confirming several transmissions occurred during the trip.

Casual contact venues include the TAB in Gladesville on Saturday June 26 and Randwick Coles on Belmore Rd on June 28.

Here’s the full list:

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says residents in her state want the national cabinet to set a timeline and target for getting the nation vaccinated.

Ms Berejiklian is pushing for NSW to reach 10 million jabs, or 80 per cent of adults vaccinated.

“I think citizens of our state and our nation would like timelines. And I’ve made that position clear,” Ms Berejiklian said on Sunday.

“I welcome the four-phase program. It’s in line with what NSW has been saying for a long time. But I also think the public would like to see some time frames, and I look forward to being part of those discussions.

The Doherty Institute is preparing models of what vaccination targets Australia needs to reach before being able to open up further. Ms Berejiklian is happy to review her target for the state once that advice is available.

“The figures that have been used are of the entire population [of Australia],” she said.

“I have been very specific to say, when NSW hits that 10 million jabs, we can start considering other matters.

“But if national cabinet has determined a unified approach across the nation, I’m more than happy to support what that unified approach is, but I think we need to be ambitious and we also need timelines to give to the community.”

Things run smoothly until the GP’s receptionist tells the patients that the inoculation they’ll be getting is the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“No I don’t want that,” they’ll say. Some yell or scream.

From left to right, Ryan Mitchell, Sachini Hewa Radalage, Jenny Ktenidis and Ash Dougan from the Altona North Respiratory Clinic.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

This suburban doctors’ clinic in Melbourne doesn’t even have the Pfizer vaccine stocked, but the older woman on the phone is accusing the receptionist of lying, saying “I know you have the vaccine and you’re deciding who to give it to”.

Throughout the pandemic, GP receptionists and administration staff have been at the receiving end of much of the public’s anxieties and frustrations. They are also among the best placed to provide insight into people’s changing attitudes to coronavirus and vaccines and the impact of a string of unexpected announcements.

Read the full story here.