As it happened: Sydney records 97 new cases amid extended shutdown; Six cases in Victoria as lockdown begins

Good evening and thank you for reading our live coverage of the day’s events. Victoria and Greater Sydney are both in lockdown tonight in a bid to contain the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19.

Here’s what you need to know now:

• NSW recorded 97 new local cases of COVID-19 today. A total of 46 of today’s 97 cases were in the community for at least some of their infectious period, including 29 who were in the community for all of it. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian anticipates tomorrow’s numbers will be even higher because of the increasing number of people who have been infectious while in the community, and the government is looking at forcing more retail shops to close.
• Greater Sydney is at the tail end of week three of a lockdown that will run for at least another two weeks. The NSW Premier says health authorities are reviewing the state’s restrictions and “if we need to go harder, of course we will”.

• Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid has called on NSW to implement a “Victoria-style lockdown”, warning current restrictions will see the COVID-19 crisis go on indefinitely. He has said it is “absolutely ridiculous” that upmarket stores in Greater Sydney are still open during its lockdown, and they should be shut immediately. Sydneysiders have been told not to leave their homes unless it is essential to do so and that browsing at the shops is not on, but some luxury stores do remain open.
• Victoria entered the first day of its snap five-day lockdown today, its fifth lockdown of the pandemic, to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the community. The state recorded six new local cases today, on top of four cases announced late yesterday.
• It is unclear at this stage whether one parent of a student at Ballarat Clarendon College, one staff member at Deakin University, another to at Trinity Grammar, one at Multiplex construction sites and a case that visited Cowes are new cases, to be announced officially tomorrow, or whether we’ve just been provided with more detail about the existing cases.
• There are now four cases linked to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was attended by a known case (a man in his 60s from the Ariele apartment complex in Maribyrnong) on Saturday, July 10, for the Carlton v Geelong game. Victoria’s COVID commander, Jeroen Weimar, says “we are back in the world of fleeting transmission occurring” because the cases are not known to each other.
• The number of exposure sites in Victoria on Friday night hit 155. View the full list here.
• There are five cases associated with Bacchus Marsh Grammar, after a teacher from the school attended the game with his friend (the man in his 60s), and subsequently contracted the virus and passed it on to four colleagues.
• WA has closed its border to the entire eastern seaboard after WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson announced a hard border with Victoria will be in place from midnight.
• Queensland has declared Victoria a COVID-19 hotspot from 1am on Saturday. “Anyone returning after that time will have to do the 14 days mandatory quarantine,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

New exposure sites are pouring in on the Department of Health website, including a school basketball court, and Deakin University’s campus at Waurn Ponds in Geelong following a case we reported on earlier today. There were a total 156 sites of concern by 10.15pm on Friday.

Anyone who visited the below sites at the times listed needs to get tested and quarantine for 14 days:

• The basketball stadium of Valkstone Primary School in Bentleigh East, in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs, on Wednesday from 4.45pm and 6.30pm, which is after school hours.
• Cowes North Pier Hotel, ground floor of the main building. A confirmed case visited on Monday between 7.22pm and 10.47pm.
• F45 Richmond, Cremone Street, on Wednesday between 6.50am and 8.05am, and again on Thursday between 6.35am and 8.05am.

Valkstone Primary School principal Marilyn Koolstra said the basketball court was now closed and subject to a thorough deep clean.

The school is not required to close, because the person diagnosed with COVID-19 only visited the basketball court while infectious.

A swathe of tier two sites have also been listed. If you have been to any of the following tier two sites at the time stated, you need to get tested and isolate until you receive a negative result:

• Waurn Ponds Deakin University, all floors of buildings IB and IC on Pigdons Road on Wednesday between 10am and 2pm.
• Waurn Ponds Deakin University market hall cafeteria, building JB, on Wednesday from 12 to 1pm.
• Phillip Island Bakery, Thompson Avenue, Cowes, on Tuesday between 1pm and 1.45pm.
• Phillip Island Coffee Co, on Thompson Avenue, Cowes, on Wednesday from 9.10am to 9.50am.
• The Nobbies, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Summerlands, on Monday from 3.35pm to 4.20pm, and again on Tuesday from 4.37pm to 5.10pm.
• Phillip Island Chocolate Factory, Newhaven, on Tuesday between 2.57pm and 3.55pm.

The Berejiklian government has been forced to order more retail businesses to close their doors in a desperate bid to stop the spread of COVID-19 after almost 170 mystery cases spread across 20 Sydney local government areas.

Reporters Alexandra Smith, Lucy Carroll and Mary Ward have written this article foreshadowing other options on the table.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday.Credit: James Brickwood

NSW crisis cabinet ministers convened for health briefings late on Friday. The ministers are due to meet again on Saturday morning ahead of an announcement, which is initially expected to focus on tightening rules around non-essential retail.

Options under consideration included limiting how far residents in Fairfield could travel beyond the local government area, restrictions on exercise and tightening rules around some high-risk workplaces, such as those visited by a wide range of workers.

Read the full story here.

With the Tokyo Olympics due to start next week, and tens of thousands of athletes, delegates, staff and journalists set to fly into Japan, there’s growing concern about the potential spread of the virus at the games.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, 13 Olympic staff or athletes tested positive COVID-19 today.

This graph tracks the number of cases associated with the Olympics, currently sitting at 19.

It comes amid rising cases in Tokyo, which on Thursday surged to a nearly six-month high of 1308.

COVID has already stripped the Australian team of their top-ranked men’s tennis player, with Alex de Minaur testing positive.

We have a drip feed of exposure sites coming in tonight, with 146 venues listed.

There is a new tier one site of concern. A confirmed COVID-19 case visited the Yarra Rowing Club on Wednesday from 6.05am to 8am, and again on Thursday between 8.02am and 10am. Anyone who visited the rowing club at those times needs to immediately get tested and quarantine at home for 14 days.

A confirmed case also visited the VANS outlet store Bundoora, DFO Uni Hill, between 4.20pm and 4.50pm last Friday, July 9. That is also a tier one site, meaning anyone who was at the shop during that 30-minute period needs to get a test and isolate for 14 days from the exposure, which is seven days from now.

There are also a couple of tier two sites, which requires people to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result:

• Anaconda camping shop in Hawthorn East, between 10.35am to 11.10am on Thursday.
• Woolworths on Station Street in Camberwell, from 4.18pm to 4.50pm on Wednesday.

The AFL has hastily rescheduled two matches, in a chaotic round 18.

Melbourne will play Hawthorn on Saturday night at the MCG at 7.25pm and St Kilda will now play Port Adelaide at 1.45pm at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

The change was made to allow Port Adelaide to fly in and out of Melbourne in one day and adhere to the COVID exemption granted by the South Australian government.

Read the full story.

Another two people connected to Trinity Grammar boys school in Kew have tested positive to COVID-19, taking the total number of staff infected to three.

Principal Adrian Farrer on Friday night confirmed there were now three cases at the school.

The initial case at Trinity Grammar, a man in his 30s, is among the four people associated with the MCG announced today. That man also attended the Wallabies test match at AAMI Park on Tuesday night.

The cases are yet to be confirmed by the Department of Health and could be listed in tomorrow’s cases.

Another run of exposure sites have been listed by the Victorian Department of Health, taking the number of sites of concern to 141.

Someone with COVID-19 visited the Re-Creation Health Club in Essendon is listed for 5.30am to 7am on Tuesday, and again on 9.20pm to 10.30pm on Tuesday.

That is a tier one site, meaning you need to get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days if you were at the same place at the same time.

There are a few new tier two sites as well, which requires you to get tested and isolate until you test negative to COVID-19. Those sites are:

• Phillip Island Bakery on Thompson Avenue in Cowes between 1pm and 1.40pm on Tuesday.
• BP service station in Truganina, on the westbound lane of the Western Freeway, between 7.15am and 7.50am on Tuesday.
• KFC Niddrie in Essendon on Keilor Road between 8.30pm and 9pm on Tuesday.
• Coles in Moonee Ponds, on the corner of Home and Eddy streets, from 9pm to 9.35pm on Tuesday.

The same Coles in Moonee Ponds is again listed as a tier three exposure site for 7.30pm to 7.45pm on Monday. If you visited during this time, you should monitor for symptoms and get tested if symptoms develop.

Two construction sites in the centre of Melbourne have been shut down after an engineer visited Multiplex construction sites before testing positive to COVID-19 today, sending almost 1000 workers home.

Construction at the sites, 405 Bourke Street and at Westside Place on Lonsdale Street, were both shut down as a precaution on Friday after Multiplex was notified.

“We have contacted the Victorian Department of Health and are awaiting their advice,” a spokeswoman said.

“In the meantime and as a precaution, we have closed both sites to carry out contact tracing of potential close contacts and to undertake a deep clean of the affected areas.”

Multiplex expects to reopen the sites on Monday, pending clearance from health authorities.

“Health and safety is of paramount importance to us and we are taking every necessary precaution for the wellbeing of our workforce and the broader community. We have proactive COVID-safe protocols in place on all of our sites.”

There were 380 people working at 405 Bourke Street and 590 people working at Westside Place sent home on Friday.

They are yet to be listed as exposure sites by the Department of Health.

The cast and crew of the blockbuster Moulin Rouge musical have made a last-minute dash for Melbourne from Sydney, after being granted exemptions to Victoria’s border closure and to some lockdown and quarantine rules.

Almost 80 people will undergo 14 days of quarantine with some exemptions from Melbourne’s lockdown rules to visit the theatre.

Producers told arts editor Nick Miller the scramble would ensure the show goes ahead as planned next month at the Regent Theatre on Collins Street.

Read the full story here.