As it happened: NSW records 35 new cases, eight in Queensland and none in Victoria

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has warned airlines against taking advantage of Australians overseas seeking to come home on commercial flights.

National cabinet this week decided to reduce the cap on commercial arrivals by half, exacerbating the difficulty 34,000 stranded Australians already face in returning home.

Availability of commercial flights to Australia is very low and prices are unaffordable for many.

“There will be a decrease in the commercial arrivals but an increase in what are called the facilitated arrivals to Howard Springs in the Northern Territory,” he said.

“We know that some of those flights have in fact been under-subscribed in recent weeks so there is that capacity to bring additional Australians home via Howard Springs.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working through the priority locations for repatriation flights to be facilitated.

Mr Hunt said the Delta strain of the virus was especially virulent so precautions had to be taken at the border.

He noted some calls for the border to be entirely closed and all flights stopped, which the government was not prepared to do.

Asked about commercial airlines increasing prices in response to the demand for flights to Australia and the restrictions on capacity, Mr Hunt warned against gouging.

“I hope there is nobody who seeks a commercial advantage from difficult circumstances and that’s a strong, clear message,” he said.

Hi all,

David Estcourt here closing our national blog for this Saturday. Recapping the top stories:

• Victoria’s move out of its remaining COVID restrictions will be partially linked to how the outbreak is managed in NSW, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar says.
• For the second day in a row, NSW has recorded its highest number of local COVID-19 cases over the past year, as government and health authorities express optimism that Sydney’s lockdown may still be lifted at the end of Friday, 9 July.
• Queensland has avoided any further extension to the snap lockdown of parts of the state, despite a handful of new cases on Saturday, with contact tracers urgently working to find the final links that will tie all the cases together.
• Epidemiologists have disputed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s claim that coronavirus will be able to be treated “like the flu” when Australia reaches a high vaccination rate, saying contact tracing and widespread mask wearing may be needed for years to avoid excess deaths.
• The financial burden from Perth’s latest lockdown will stretch into the weekend for wineries, restaurants, pubs and bars and will have implications for hospitality businesses across Western Australia as the state enters two weeks of school holidays.
• Australia’s pathway out of the pandemic relies heavily on the Pfizer vaccine, but the majority of the nation’s 40 million doses are at least three months away.
• And over in London, the Australian government has told the UN high commissioner that blocking an Australian man’s wish to return home to support his mother during her cancer treatment did not cause him “irreparable harm”.

In case you missed it, our data team traced the spread of the Sydney outbreak:

The blog will be back tomorrow. Take care.

A Southern Highlands organic food business has become a hotspot of rebellion against COVID-19 restrictions after a third consecutive day of charges related to apparent breaches of public health orders.

One of the owners and an employee of The Organic Store in Bowral were arrested for the second time on Saturday after police again visited the venue and found widespread failure to wear masks among 20 staff and customers.

Around 11.45am, officers asked those inside the store to wear masks, but one of the owners, 62, and an employee, 43, “expressed they had no intention of complying” and were taken to Southern Highlands Police Station, NSW Police said in a statement on Saturday.

An organic food store and cafe in Bowral has become a hotspot of alleged COVID-19 breaches. Credit: Instagram

Both women were charged with not wearing fitted face covering in a business premises.

The owner, her husband, 63, and the employee were first arrested and charged during an incident on Thursday when police attempted to enforce public health orders at the store.

The 62-year-old female owner was charged with hindering police in the execution of duty and failing to provide name and address and was issued with a notice to attend court for not wearing fitted face covering when indoors at a business.

The male owner was charged with assaulting an officer during the execution of their duty, resisting an officer and incitement of resistance against an officer.

Police took further action against the man on Friday, charging him for not complying with the no spitting or coughing direction. He was also issued with a $200 infringement notice for not wearing a mask inside the shop, according to police.

Read the full story here.

Queensland has avoided any further extension to the snap lockdown of parts of the state, despite a handful of new cases on Saturday, with contact tracers urgently working to find the final links that will tie all the cases together.

Eight new cases were announced on Saturday, five of them from community transmission.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says whether this lockdown is Queensland’s last depends on the vaccination rate.Credit: Getty

One was a Sunshine Coast University worker who had already been reported on Friday night, while another was a man from Brisbane who had travelled to Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast on June 27 and visited a number of locations.

There was also a known contact of the Portuguese restaurant cluster, a woman in her 50s who works at the Prince Charles Hospital, and a man who works at Brisbane Airport as a baggage handler.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said lifting the lockdown was “a huge relief”, although he stressed that there could still be viral cases in the community and people should continue wearing masks and social distancing.

“There are three things that will keep us out of lockdown – masks, QR codes and testing,” Mr Miles said. “If we can keep those up for 13 days, we can avoid another lockdown.

“Hopefully this will be our last one.”

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said whether this lockdown was truly Queensland’s last depended on the vaccination rate.

Read the full story here.

NSW Health has issued a new alert about venues of concern linked to confirm cases of COVID-19. Anyone who attended the following places during the times listed is considered a close contact and must get tested and isolate for two weeks:

• Bake Bar in Double Bay, 11-11.30am on Sunday, June 20
• Ram’s Food in HomeBush West,11.10am-12.10pm on Friday, June 25
• Service NSW in Botany, 8am-5pm on June 28, June 30 and July 1
• Pharmacy 4 Less in Five Dock, 10.40-10.55am on Tuesday, June 29
• Chemist Warehouse in Five Dock, 10.30-10.40am on Tuesday, June 29
• Woolworths in Mortdale, 5.30-6.40pm on Wednesday, June 30

Anyone who attended the following venues is considered a casual contact and must get tested and isolate until receiving a negative result:

• Wing Fat Meat Market in Auburn, 10-10.10am on Sunday, June 27
• Chemist Warehouse in Drummoyne, 10.30-10.40am on Tuesday, June 29
• Woolworths Metro in Potts Point, 6.15-6.30pm on Tuesday, June 29
• Aldi in Bonnyrigg, 6-6.30pm on Wednesday, June 30

Anyone who travelled on the following bus and train routes is considered a casual contact:

• 400N between Westfield Eastgardens and Anzac Parade after Strachan Street, 12.30-12.39am on Thursday, June 24
• 420 between Coward St opposite Lionel Bowen Park and Westfield Eastgardens, 2.55-3.05pm on Thursday, June 24
• T8 from Central platform 23 to Mascot platform 2, 8.10-8.20am on Thursday, June 24
• T8 from Central platform 23 to Mascot platform 2, 7.55-8.10am on Friday, June 25
• T8 from Mascot platform 1 to Central platform 21, 12.20-12.30pm on Friday, June 25

Victoria’s move out of its remaining COVID restrictions will be partially linked to how the outbreak is managed in NSW, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar says.

There are now just six locally acquired COVID-19 cases in Victoria, which recorded its third day in a row without community transmission on Saturday.

Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar.Credit: Jason South

But the state’s run of zero community transmission comes as NSW braces for the possibility the lockdowns across parts of the state will be extended beyond next Friday after Sydney recorded its highest daily local case total in more than a year with 35 new cases.

Mr Weimar said on Saturday that the two states were linked in how they manage the pandemic, especially when one of the states was in the middle of an outbreak, as Victoria was last year and NSW is now.

“We are both intrinsically linked, not just in how we’re doing and how we do with our own outbreaks, it’s absolutely about the interstate risk,” Mr Weimar said.

“With 30 odd cases in NSW today, that’s a pretty high fuel load that’s north of the border and we’re rightly concerned about that. As it will be the other way around, there will always be a bit of a break on terms of how hard we can go here.”

Mr Weimar said there were still 30 active cases in Victoria, but most of them were in the hotel quarantine system.

“Six of those locally acquired are the remnants of the outbreaks we have been dealing with over the last four or five weeks,” Mr Weimar said on Saturday.

Crowds will be allowed to attend Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium to watch the Broncos play an NRL match on Sunday, but tight restrictions will remain in place.

Despite a handful of new cases, authorities insisted they were comfortable with lifting the lockdown, which was due to end at 6pm on Saturday.

The Broncos v Sharks match at Suncorp stadium will go ahead as lockdowns lift despite a handful of new cases.Credit: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

However, while movement restrictions have been lifted, other restrictions will remain in place until July 16.

In particular, masks will remain mandatory for everyone outside their home, including in offices and other workplaces, as well as on public transport and when doing non-vigorous exercise.

Raising eyebrows was the news that the Broncos match would go ahead as scheduled at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with a crowd of thousands expected to attend.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there was no double standard to putting restrictions on small cafes and other businesses while allowing thousands to congregate for a football match, because the circumstances were different.

“The advice … is that people can attend that game, and, of course, they have to take their mask, wear their mask, and they have to check in using the QR code,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“[People attending will be] sitting outside, you know, you’ve got less exposure. And as we know, the virus is out there, so it’s more prevalent indoors.”

London: The Australian government has told the UN high commissioner that blocking an Australian man’s wish to return home to support his mother during her cancer treatment did not cause him irreparable harm.

In April, the UN issued an interim ruling ordering the Australian government to facilitate the return of two men who had launched a case to the UN Human Rights Committee, claiming that Australia’s border closures and strict caps on returning citizens were a violation of their human rights.

Jason George, shown here with his wife Deborah, is stranded overseas and has taken his case to the UN.

One of the pair, Jason George, an Australian working in the United States who has been fully vaccinated since March, said that one of his reasons to return home was to support his mother through cancer.

But the Australian government said the UN’s interim order should be overturned because Mr George’s circumstances did not pass the threshold of what is considered harmful enough.

Read Latika’s full story here.

Sydneysiders have spent their Saturday enjoying exercise in the winter sun, as COVID lockdown enters week two. Photographers from the Sydney Morning Herald put together a snapshot of life across the city.

People exercise at Bondi Beach.Credit: Brook Mitchell

A family take a stroll AT Gore Hill Oval in St.Leonards, during lockdown.Credit: Brook Mitchell

People cycling in Centennial Park.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Readers can view the full gallery here.

Queensland health authorities have updated their list of exposure sites to almost 180, after new local cases of COVID-19 were reported and a snap lockdown, which has since been lifted, was extended for Brisbane and Moreton Bay.

Anyone who visited any of the close or casual contact sites now extending to additional Brisbane Airport locations and stores across the Westfield North Lakes Shopping Centre and the suburbs of Carina, Carindale and Tingalpa is urged to quarantine at home and get tested as soon as possible.

Contact tracing sites for Queensland’s latest COVID-19 outbreaks have spread to Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba.Credit: Lydia Lynch

Five new community cases were reported on Saturday ahead of the remaining lockdown being lifted at 6pm, with contact tracers becoming confident they were getting ahead of the latest infections.

Eleven south-east Queensland local government areas, along with Townsville city and Palm and Magnetic islands, were ordered into a three-day lockdown until 6pm on Friday in response. That lockdown was lifted for all but Brisbane and Moreton Bay council regions, where it was extended for 24 hours.