As it happened: NSW records 136 new local COVID-19 cases as Victoria records 14 cases; TGA approves Pfizer vaccine for children

Good evening and thank you for reading our live coverage of the day’s events. It’s been a grim day for NSW, while other states are faring better at stamping out outbreaks of the highly transmissible Delta strain of COVID-19.

Here’s everything you need to know now:

• NSW recorded 136 new local cases of COVID-19, a new record in this current outbreak. At least 70 cases were in the community for at least part of their infectious period. Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says this is “a national emergency” and she called for extra Pfizer vaccines to be directed urgently to Sydney’s south-west and west, with a particular focus on critical workers aged 20-49 “to stem the transmission risk”. The key settings in which the virus is transmitting are households and essential workplaces.
• Greater Sydney is in the fourth week of a five-week lockdown, but it’s not likely to end soon. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says it’s clear the state will not be reducing the number of COVID-19 cases infectious in the community to zero by next week.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian arriving at today’s coronavirus briefing. Credit: Nick Moir

• People in the Cumberland and Blacktown local government areas in NSW will be subject to the same rules as Fairfield residents, in a bid to stem the tide of new COVID-19 cases. This means workers are not allowed to leave their local area unless they are on the list of authorised workers.
• The call for more vaccines in NSW has not been answered. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said after a national cabinet meeting this afternoon that “we’re not going to disrupt the vaccination program around the rest of the country”. However, national cabinet hopes to confirm within the next 24 hours a change that will push the delivery of second doses of Pfizer out from three weeks to six weeks in NSW state clinics in order to get more first doses into arms more quickly.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

• Victoria recorded 14 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All are linked to current outbreaks. Ten of the 14 cases were in quarantine throughout their infectious period. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called for a “ring of steel” around Greater Sydney (roadblocks and police patrols) to keep the virus contained but the Prime Minister said there was “nothing light” about the existing lockdown and “the only view that matters on this is the view of the NSW Premier, because they are responsible for how they manage the lockdown in NSW”. The state passed 420 COVID-19 exposure sites.
• Queensland health authorities have confirmed a flight attendant has tested positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19 overnight after flying between Brisbane and a number of regional centres. The woman was among the crew on six flights between Brisbane and Longreach, Gladstone and Hervey Bay.
• New Zealand has suspended its travel bubble with all of Australia for two months. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement earlier today, and has encouraged Kiwis living in Australia to return home as soon as possible unless they wish to remain in Australia longterm.
• And South Australia recorded just one new case of COVID-19. The case is linked to the current outbreak, which currently stands at 15, and was in isolation during their infectious period.

That’s all for tonight. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest developments throughout the day.

Victorian health authorities have identified several more COVID-19 exposure sites, bringing the state’s total to more than 420.

All of the new exposure sites are “tier 2″, meaning anyone who has visited them during the specified timeframes must urgently get tested for COVID-19, and isolate until they receive a negative result.

The new exposure sites include a tram route, which health authorities explained on Friday was exposed to the virus when a person who was infectious travelled on the tram to a COVID testing station.

Victoria’s COVID commander Jeroen Weimar said on Friday: “We’re very keen to make sure that the other, we believe half a dozen or so passengers around him on the tram, come forward to get tested immediately”.

The new exposure sites are:

• Apartment complex, 190H Riversdale Road, Hawthorn - Monday, July 19-Thursday, July 22
• Yarra Trams Route 86, Elizabeth/Bourke Street, Stop 5, to La Trobe/Spencer Street, Stop 119 - Wednesday, July 21 between 3.35pm and 4.05pm
• Yarra Trams Route 86, La Trobe/Spencer Street, Stop 119, to Swanston/Bourke Street, Stop 6 - Wednesday, July 21 between 2.50pm and 3.20pm
• TSG Eden Rise, Berwick - Wednesday, July 14 between 9.25am and 9.45am
• Metro Trains, Belgrave line, Richmond Station to Flinders Street Station - Friday, July 16 between 12.15am and 12.45am
• Renaissance Hawthorn IGA Plus Liquor, Hawthorn - Wednesday, July 21 between 6.55pm and 7.40pm
• Woolworths, Camberwell - Wednesday, July 21 between 7.07am and 7.45am
• Thirsty Camel Bottleshop, Hawthorn East - Wednesday, July 21 between 6.30pm and 7.10pm
• Shell Coles Express Auburndale, Hawthorn East - Wednesday, July 21 between 6.30pm and 7.15pm

Melbourne Storm and NSW Blues winger Josh Addo-Carr has sent a message to those in his home city and his adopted home after scoring the opening try in the NRL tonight.

Addo-Carr scored the first try for the Storm against North Queensland Cowboys and while walking back to position showed the camera his wrist tape which had “Sydney” on one side and “VIC” on the other.

The Storm are currently based in Noosa and spent over 100 days on the Sunshine Coast last year due to lockdown in Melbourne.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian today declared the state’s Delta outbreak a national emergency.

She said a new mass vaccination strategy is needed to stem the spread of cases through essential workplaces.

Despite Greater Sydney being weeks into a lockdown, cases remain stubbornly high with 136 new locally acquired cases, the highest daily figure of the current outbreak, reported on Friday. Of the new cases, 70 were in the community for at least part of their infectious period.

Herald journalists Daniella White and Pallavi Singhal looked at how Syndey’s outbreak came to be a national emergency, as well as the question - where to from here?

The Delta outbreak began in Bondi on June 16, initially spreading mainly in the eastern suburbs.

But within a few weeks, the virus had taken hold in Sydney’s south-western suburbs and case numbers grew quickly. There are now 1782 total cases associated with the outbreak.

Authorities say people travelling to attend work and visiting family members in other households are key drivers of the increasing case numbers.

You can read the full story here.

More than 125 staff from Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital south-west of Sydney are in isolation after two student nurses who worked at the hospital tested positive to COVID-19.

The two cases are not linked.

“Twenty-five staff were identified as close contacts of the first student nurse and have been isolating,” a South Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson said in a statement.

Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Five patients and more than 100 staff were identified as potential contacts of the second case with extensive contact tracing underway, the spokesperson said.

“We take every measure to protect staff, patients and visitors from COVID-19. We have conducted extensive cleaning of the clinical areas in which the staff members worked, including the cleaning of all equipment and high-touch areas. There has been no impact on the hospital’s services or the delivery of care.”

The Herald understands potential contacts are able to obtain a rapid 20-minute test via designated testing clinics in Fairfield.

Earlier this month more than 600 nurses and healthcare staff at Royal North Shore and Fairfield hospitals were placed in isolation after an unvaccinated student nurse who worked across multiple wards tested positive.

While some state leaders have urged NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to introduce even tougher measures to stamp out Greater Sydney’s growing outbreak of COVID-19 cases, Sydney Morning Herald photographer Brook Mitchell has captured near-abandoned streets in lockdown today (with the exception of busy COVID testing spots).

Here are some of his arresting shots.

An empty shopping strip in Sydney’s Blacktown.Credit: Brook Mitchell

A drive-through COVID-19 testing location in Blacktown as cases spike in the region.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Social distancing is easy at Prospect Reservoir in Wetherill Park.Credit: Brook Mitchell

A desolate Blacktown Station.Credit: Brook Mitchell

In case you missed it earlier today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advocated a shift in NSW’s vaccination strategy to delay second doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 jab to allow more people to receive a first dose of the vaccine as quickly as possible.

National cabinet hopes to confirm within the next 24 hours a change that will push the delivery of second doses of Pfizer out from three weeks to six weeks in NSW state clinics. This comes after ATAGI recommended the wait between doses of AstraZeneca be shortened from 12 weeks to four.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Interestingly, a study just published by Oxford University suggests Pfizer provides more effective immunity if the doses are spaced out by eight to 10 weeks rather than a shorter three-week period.

Read more on that study here.

A Bunnings in Goulburn and a KFC in Marulan are among the latest COVID-19 exposure sites in NSW, sparking concerns the state’s growing coronavirus outbreak is spreading further outside Greater Sydney.

Anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result:

• Bunnings Warehouse Goulburn on Tuesday 20 July between 12.30pm and 12.45pm.
• KFC Marulan on Tuesday 20 July between 1.30pm and 1.50pm.
• Microseconds computer repair shop, Ultimo, on Monday 19 July between 1pm and 1.30pm.
• Pharmacy 4 Less, Lakemba on Sunday 18 July between 5.30pm and 6.30pm.

NSW Health has also listed a raft of new casual contact venues this evening, which are shown in the tweet above. People who were at the venues and times listed must immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received. If their date of exposure at the venue occurred in the past four days, they must get another test on day 5 from the date of exposure.

Most of the times listed are short, but the exposure times for the Savoy Hotel at Double Bay are all day Thursday July 15 and all day Friday July 16.

A staff member of the Sydney Dental School at Westmead has tested positive for COVID-19, the University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott has confirmed.

The staff member is “relatively well and receiving appropriate care, and we wish them a speedy recovery”, Mr Scott said in an email to students on Friday.

University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott.Credit: James Brickwood

The university “supported NSW Health to identify and notify known close and casual contacts”, and as a result 13 staff and 130 students are now self-isolating while access is restricted to the impacted site, the school’s training facility on Mons Road, for deep cleaning.

The case will be included in tomorrow’s numbers.

NSW declined an early July offer of Defence Force assistance in an operation targeting the COVID-19 outbreak in south-west Sydney, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said on Friday evening.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian passed on the offer made on July 7, Mr Fuller said, as the police force was already planning an operation that was launched on July 9.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller.Credit: Wolter Peeters

In a statement, Mr Fuller said he supported the close relationship NSW Police and the Defence Force had formed during joint operations on bushfires and the COVID-19 response.

“However, it was determined the police operational response didn’t require external assistance in the south western Sydney operation given the transmission of the virus was between household contacts, not primarily occurring on the streets,” the statement said.

“Commissioner Fuller thanks the Prime Minister for his continued support”.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott backed the Commissioner’s position and praised police for their “tireless efforts throughout these operations”.