As it happened: NSW records 633 new local COVID-19 cases, three deaths, cases increase in Victoria, ACT; first Australian repatriation flight lands in Afghanistan

Thanks for following our live blog of the day’s news. Here’s a recap:

• NSW recorded 633 local COVID-19 cases, the highest the state has recorded as Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the numbers would increase. Nearly 500 of the cases were recorded in western Sydney. Of the 9280 cases since the outbreak began, there are 77 people in ICU. Elective surgery in private Sydney hospitals has been suspended.
• Victoria recorded 24 local cases as authorities try to link several mystery cases in Melbourne’s south-east. Health experts have criticised the government’s playground ban and urged a rethink, saying children’s mental health is at risk. And a government MP who left her Melbourne electorate to spend time at a second home in regional Victoria cited health reasons for the decision.
• Australia’s first rescue flight landed in Afghanistan to repatriate citizens and visa holders, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out permanently resettling temporary visa holders who arrived by boat. An open letter is calling on the government has a “moral obligation” to do more to help.

We’ll be back again in the morning. Have a good night.

Victoria will record its highest daily case total of this outbreak on Thursday.

One government source said the number was higher than 35, and the Herald Sun reported the figure would be greater than 40.

Many of the cases stem from people getting their mandated tests on day 13 of their quarantine period, including people linked to Al Taqwa college.

These cases pose minimal risk because they have been in isolation.

Authorities are increasingly concerned about mystery cases with an unknown source of acquisition.

Many of these cases are popping up in Melbourne’s inner south-eastern suburbs.

Melbourne was due to exit lockdown on Thursday night, but stay-at-home orders have been extended for another fortnight.

Thursday will also mark two weeks since the current lockdown - originally designed to be a ‘snap’ lockdown - began.

Victorian health authorities are telling Shepparton residents to remain alert for COVID-19 symptoms after fragments of the virus were detected in wastewater samples from the area on three occasions over the past week.

Unexpected traces of the virus were also detected in wastewater in the Lakes Entrance catchment between August 8 and August 11.

Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar.Credit: Justin McManus

In the Chief Health Officer’s daily update on Wednesday, health authorities said they were “continuing to identify unexpected detections of COVID-19 fragments in wastewater in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria in areas that have not recorded recent positive cases”.

“In the past week wastewater testing has provided an early warning in three different metropolitan locations prompting additional individual testing and identification of cases.”

The testing of wastewater can show is COVID-19 is present in a geographical area or population as people who have or have recently had coronavirus may shed fragments as it leaves their system.

On Tuesday, authorities also detected fragments in Melbourne’s west, in Truganina, Tarneit and Ardeer. There was also an industrial detection in Sunshine West, also in Melbourne’s west.

Authorities also had fresh detections in the south-eastern suburbs including Dingley Village, Keysborough, Noble Park, Springvale and Springvale South, which had repeated detections in period of interest between August 11 and 17.

The Victorian Health Department late on Wednesday night added another apartment complex, an IKEA and a tram route among more than a dozen new exposure sites all classified as tier 2.

Earlier the department had identified several playgrounds and parks throughout the city that were visited by a positive case in the last week.

Oakwood Drive Reserve and Wedge Road Oval, both in the southeastern suburb of Carrum Downs, were visited by a positive case on August 11 and 14 and are now listed as tier-3 sites. Wedge Road Oval was also visited on August 12.

The playground at Flagstaff Gardens was closed on Tuesday.Credit: Joe Armao

Authorities also added Jack Roper Reserve Playground, in Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s north, to the exposure site list. It’s listed as a tier-2, which means anyone that visited the site on August 14 between 3pm and 5.30pm must isolate and get tested.

Lahinch Street Playground, also in Broadmeadows, was listed as a tier-2 site on August 16, and Coburg Lake at the De Chene Parade Entrance, a tier-2 site on August 15.

It comes as doctors, paediatricians and infectious disease experts yesterday urged the Andrews government to rethink the closure of playgrounds, warning the mental health toll for children may far outweigh the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Thirteen new tier 2 sites were added on Wednesday night among them an apartment complex in Ascot Vale at 11 Wingate from August 14-18 between midnight and 11.59pm.

Also listed were:

• Woolworths, Ascot Vale, Mount Alexander Road - Monday, August 16 between 300pm and 4pm
• Newmarket Plaza and Woolworths, Kensington - Tuesday, August 17 between 1pm and 2.30pm
• Chemist Warehouse, Moonee Ponds - Tuesday, August 17 between 10.45am and 11.45am
• IKEA Springvale - Sunday, August 15 between 4.10pm and 4.35pm
• Woolworths Dandenong South - Sunday, August 15 between 2.45pm and 3.15pm
• Carl’s Jr. Drive Through, Altona North - Saturday, August 14 between 1.45pm and 2.30pm
• Barkly Square, Brunswick - Sunday, August 15 between 2pm and 3.30pm
• Woolworths, Altona North - Friday, August 13 between 6.30pm and 8.15pm
• Domino’s Pizza, Prahran - Sunday, August 15 between 10am and 3.40pm Some individuals at this location will be tier 1 contacts required to quarantine for 14 days and the Department will contact them directly with this advice.
• Tram Route 96- Stop 132 St Kilda Station to Stop 138 Luna Park - Sunday, August 15 between 1.40pm and 1.47pm
• Tram Route 96- Stop 132 St Kilda Station to Stop 138 Luna Park - Sunday, August 15 between 1.51pm and 1.55pm

The full list of exposure sites can be found here.

Thanks for following our live blog of the day’s news. Here’s a recap:

• NSW recorded 633 local COVID-19 cases, the highest the state has recorded as Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the numbers would increase. Nearly 500 of the cases were recorded in western Sydney. Of the 9280 cases since the outbreak began, there are 77 people in ICU. Elective surgery in private Sydney hospitals has been suspended.
• Victoria recorded 24 local cases as authorities try to link several mystery cases in Melbourne’s south-east. Health experts have criticised the government’s playground ban and urged a rethink, saying children’s mental health is at risk. And a government MP who left her Melbourne electorate to spend time at a second home in regional Victoria cited health reasons for the decision.
• Australia’s first rescue flight landed in Afghanistan to repatriate citizens and visa holders, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out permanently resettling temporary visa holders who arrived by boat. An open letter is calling on the government has a “moral obligation” to do more to help.

We’ll be back again in the morning. Have a good night.

Doctors, paediatricians and infectious disease experts have urged the Victorian government to rethink the closure of playgrounds, warning the mental health toll for children may far outweigh the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Two days after playgrounds were closed as part of Melbourne’s extended lockdown, Premier Daniel Andrews has come under growing pressure to find a more balanced approach as people struggle under the harshest restrictions since last year’s second wave.

Pediatrician Margie Danchin said the playground shutdown must be replaced with a nuanced plan to keep playgrounds open and protect children’s physical and mental health.

Playgrounds across Melbourne have been closed.Credit: The Age

Infectious disease paediatrician Robert Booy also questioned the logic behind closing playgrounds, noting the risk of outdoor transmission was “very low”.

In the face of a backlash from parents, the government has used the rise in infections among children to justify its restrictions. Yesterday, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said his team was investigating a potential case of playground transmission.

However, the government is yet to provide further details or answer questions from The Age about where and when the suspected transmissions occurred.

Read more here.

Victoria has declared New Zealand a “red zone” under the travel permit system, meaning non-Victorians travelling from the country are not eligible to enter the state after 8pm.

Victorians in New Zealand remain eligible for red zone permits, but must get tested and quarantine at home for 14 days upon arrival.

Additionally, the Health Department said if an individual has been in New Zealand since midnight on August 4 and is now in Victoria, they are considered an “orange zone” arrival. This means the individual must isolate, get tested within 72 hours and isolate until receiving a negative result.

The department reminded travellers that it is an offence to enter Victoria without a valid permit, exemption or exception, with fines of up to $5452.

There are currently 10 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand. Officials have linked the virus strain back to NSW but are investigating how and when it arrived.

A push to increase vaccination rates in Sydney’s local governments of concern got under way today with young people rolling up their sleeves at a new clinic in Brighton-le-Sands,.

Those aged 16 to 39 living in the 12 local government areas of concern will now be given priority access to the Pfizer vaccine at 10 NSW Health clinics.

Long lines around the block in Sydney’s Brighton-Le-Sands as under-39s registered for Pfizer vaccines wait to receive their dose.Credit: James Brickwood

The clinics have ramped up their capacity to deliver the additional 530,000 doses provided by the federal government to this priority group over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

“We know there are several hundred thousand people in these LGAs who are unvaccinated in this age group, and this is a great opportunity for them to come forward and get their jab,” NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said.

But western Sydney Aboriginal leaders and federal MPs are calling for more mass vaccination clinics in the city’s west to help protect vulnerable people from COVID-19.

But western Sydney leaders are urging more vaccine access in their region.Credit: James Brickwood

Blacktown City Council mayor Tony Bleasdale said it made no sense that his council – the largest in Sydney – has no mass vaccine hubs when Cumberland City Council has five.

Cr Bleasdale said it was unreasonable to expect someone from Mount Druitt, an area with high disadvantage, to travel 30 kilometres to Sydney Olympic Park given many people don’t have cars.

Read more here.

With more than half of Australians now in lockdown, the economic scars of this crisis are beginning to show.

Economists are debating exactly how big the hit to economic output and jobs will be in the September quarter and, indeed, if lockdowns continue into the December quarter, whether it will be appropriate to pull out the dreaded “R” word again: recession.

As more workers are stood down, they face a very different support environment to that which existed last year. The federal government’s JobKeeper program is gone.

Today, support is being delivered through a two-tier system, whereby state governments stump up support for businesses who agree not to slash their headcounts, and individuals who have lost work receive direct disaster relief payments through Centrelink.

But is it enough?

Today on Please Explain, economics editor Ross Gittins joins Jess Irvine to discuss the adequacy of support for people whose incomes have been affected by COVID-19.

A western Sydney mayor has defended his council’s decision to close children’s playgrounds and outdoor gym equipment, despite NSW Health not recommending such a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Blacktown City Council mayor Tony Bleasdale said NSW Police requested the closure through its representatives on the council’s emergency committee based in Mount Druitt.

“The request came from the police – they felt that playgrounds were becoming places of possible virus being passed onto others,” he said.

There is no evidence of children acquiring or transmitting COVID-19 on outdoor playgrounds in the fresh air.

Cr Bleasdale said the committee includes members from the local health district.

“It is a sensitive issue, but they feel they need to act to reduce the potential for the virus to spread amongst younger people,” he said. “It’s painful [but] during these times we’ve all got to be prepared to make a few sacrifices.”

The mayor said some playgrounds would be physically closed off and suggested residents use parks and reserves for outdoor exercise.

Other councils in south-western Sydney have switched off park lights and removed basketball hoops to limit the numbers of people moving around, despite open spaces being at a premium.

NSW Police said they were “working with the local council to ensure the community comply with restrictions”.

“Police are assessing areas of concern, and in consultation with the local council, have implemented measures at amenities in the area to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” a spokesperson said. “Assessments are made in partnership between police and the local council on a case by case basis.”

About 14 per cent of NSW’s public intensive care beds are occupied by people with COVID-19, as private hospitals are told to reduce their elective surgery intake to free up staff and resources.

NSW Health Deputy Secretary Paul Minns has written to private hospitals across the state asking 40 “critical operators” - including Royal North Shore Private, St Vincent’s Private and Westmead Private - to stop non-urgent elective surgery and others not to increase their daily volume of elective surgery.

“Private hospital staff will help support the large-scale vaccination effort currently underway and support workforce demands in the NSW public health system,” NSW Health said in a statement.

Non-urgent surgery has already been suspended in public hospitals across Greater Sydney and regional NSW.

Private hospitals have been assisting the public sector with its elective surgery backlog since non-urgent surgery was first suspended in the state during early 2020.

The decision affects category 2, 3 and 4 elective surgery. Urgent elective surgery and emergency surgery will continue.

“Patients due to receive non-urgent elective surgery impacted by these changes are being contacted and encouraged to seek medical attention should they experience a change in their condition so they can be reviewed and re-prioritised to a more urgent category if required,” NSW Health said.

Read more here.