Coronavirus Australia live news: Melbourne Holiday Inn cluster hits 11; Anzac Day march cancelled
Authorities concede three new Melbourne cases, suspected to be the virulent UK strain, pose a ‘challenge’ to the community.
- Holiday Inn cluster hits 11
- Covid recovery ‘locked in’: Treasury boss
- Melbourne Anzac Day march canned
- WHO: Over-65s can have AstraZeneca jab
- Aussie Who scientist refutes findings
Welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Melbourne’s Holiday Inn cluster has hit 11, after three new cases were reported. Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy says that, barring any bad news on the health front, he is “quietly confident the economy’s Covid recovery is “locked in”.
RSL Victoria has cancelled Melbourne’s Anzac Day march saying it’s not ‘in the public’s best interest’.
Richard Ferguson 11.15pm: Trust in Coalition soars in pandemic
Australians’ confidence in the performance of the federal government has lifted during the pandemic, with a new study finding more than half the nation now has faith in the government — up from just over a quarter a year ago.
An Australian National University survey of almost 3500 adults found confidence jumped from 27.3 per cent in January last year — at the height of the Black Summer bushfires — to 54.3 per cent at the beginning of this year.
Despite the pandemic boost, the ANU study into wellbeing outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic found the government’s trust ratings lagged behind state governments, the health system and the police.
Natasha Robinson 10.30pm: Ultra freezer hot to trot in the hub of hope
On the ground floor of a multi-storey carpark at a hospital in Melbourne’s west, a brand new ultra-cold freezer has been switched on.
A prize new purchase of Sunshine Hospital, it sits surrounded by half-constructed cubicles of prefabricated plywood, hurriedly erected in preparation for the biggest vaccination effort in Australia’s history.
If all goes to plan, this vaccination hub will administer some of the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the country in as little as 10 days’ time.
Agencies 9.45pm: Mideast toll hits 100,000
The COVID-19 death toll in the Middle East has passed 100,000 people, according to a tally by the news service Agence France-Presse.
A total of 4,991,770 people in the region have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Middle East has the fifth-highest fatality count of any area in the world, trailing behind Europe (789,310 deaths from 35,032,194 cases), Latin America and the Caribbean (628,398, 19,819,222), the US/Canada (492,313, 28,095,746) and Asia (245,899, 15,548,576).
Iran is the country in the region hardest hit by the pandemic, with 58,686 deaths from 1,488,981 cases, ranking it 11th in the world in terms of fatalities.
Iraq is trailing in second place, with 13,140 deaths from 634,539 cases.
The number of new daily cases over the past week detected in the Middle East has risen slightly to an average of 25,114 per day, an increase of three percent compared to the previous week.
READ MORE: Jabs won’t inject life into air travel just yet
David Ross 9.10pm: Free training for 2000 hotel security recruits
The NSW government is offering free training for thousands of new security guards as it struggles to meet the demands of its hotel quarantine scheme, with its weekly cap on international arrivals increasing to 3000 from Monday.
The creation of 2000 new places for certificate 2 courses in security operations comes after NSW Police approached the state government seeking to boost the workforce behind the scheme.
Promotional material for the free training scheme promised “immediate employment” in the hotel quarantine program.
Robyn Ironside 8.30pm: Jabs won’t inject life into air travel just yet
The majority of Australians should be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of October but that will not be enough for the country to reopen its borders.
As international airlines race to get their crews vaccinated in the hope of restoring confidence in travel, acting chief medical officer Michael Kidd said there were still many unknowns about the vaccine.
Speaking to the CAPA Centre for Aviation, Professor Kidd said it was known the Pfizer vaccine prevented the development of a serious disease from COVID or death, but not much more.
“We don’t know if you’ve been vaccinated whether you can still be infected with COVID-19, be asymptomatic but still at risk of transmitting COVID to other people,” he said.
“We don’t know how long the immunity which you get from being vaccinated will last.”
He said it would be very much a “wait and see” scenario as vaccinations were rolled out, with everyone over 16 expected to be vaccinated by late October.
Agencies 7.45pm: Vaccine maker AstraZeneca doubles profit to $4.1bn
AstraZeneca, the British maker of a COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford University, says its 2020 net profit has more than doubled to $US3.2bn ($4.1bn) thanks to strong sales growth of cancer drugs.
Profit after tax soared 139 per cent compared with 2019, the company said in a statement.
Revenue from cancer medicines, including Lynparza and Tagrisso, jumped 23 per cent.
“Despite the significant impact from the pandemic, we delivered double-digit revenue growth” in 2020, chief executive Pascal Soriot said.
“The consistent achievements in the pipeline, the accelerating performance of our business and the progress of the COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated what we can achieve,” he added.
The update comes one day after AstraZeneca said it plans to accelerate production of its COVID-19 vaccine in the second quarter to support EU needs, in a deal with Germany’s IDT Biologika.
The announcement follows controversy over deliveries of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University jab to the EU, which had caused tensions between the bloc and the pharmaceutical company.
Ahead of the EU’s vaccine approval, AstraZeneca sparked fury in Brussels by announcing that it would miss its target of supplying the bloc with 400 million doses, owing to a shortfall at the firm’s European plants.
While the UK government has vaccinated millions of Britons with the AstraZeneca vaccine since late last year, the company began shipping its jab to the EU only on Friday after the bloc’s drug regulator took a comparatively much longer time to recommend its use.
READ MORE: Possible early COVID-19 cases in China emerge during WHO mission
Ewin Hannan 7pm: Porter flags changes to contentious IR bill
Christian Porter has conceded the government will make changes to the Coalition’s industrial relations bill, in a further signal contentious changes to the Fair Work Act’s better off overall test will be dumped in weeks.
With Labor and the Greens opposed, the Attorney-General is likely to require the support of at least three of the five crossbenchers when the government tries to get the bill passed by the Senate in mid-March.
Mr Porter said he believed there was a “pathway” for the bill through the Senate, and he was committed to its core features but “I’m sure that there will be some changes”.
He said the BOOT changes for covid-impacted employers were “one small part of the bill” but it had been raised by the crossbench and would feature in negotiations over coming weeks.
READ MORE: Bosses pan ALP plan
Glen Norris 6.45pm: Rich-lister takes $9m hit in less than four hours
A Brisbane richlister’s wealth has taken a $9m hit in just a matter of hours after Telstra announced it would end her company’s agreement to run its chain of retail shops. Read more here
Peter Lalor 6.30pm: How Australia’s South Africa tour collapsed
South Africa’s T20 captain has recovered from a serious battle with the coronavirus, but his experience is a chilling example of the dangers cricket faced in that country. Australia last week scrapped the tour, which was due to comprise three Tests. Australia was ready to pay around $1m to cover the cost of charter flights to and from South Africa and play the three Tests in March. Read more here
David Swan 6.15pm: Telstra maintains dividend despite Covid hit
Telstra has weathered the worst effects of the duelling issues of the COVID-19 pandemic and fiscal headwinds created by the NBN, according to its chief executive Andy Penn, who declared on Thursday that his telco had passed a significant turning point and was ready to reap the benefits of its T22 cost-cutting program. Read more here
Staff Reporters 5.55pm: WA extends entry restrictions on Victoria
Western Australia’s border will remain shut to Victoria for another seven days, as that state's Covid cluster increases.
Premier Mark McGowan confirmed the news after more cases were reported in connection to the Melbourne Holiday Inn Hotel cluster.
WA recorded another day of zero new local coronavirus cases. There is one new case in a returned overseas traveller who is in hotel quarantine.
Mr McGowan said a decision will be made on borders between WA and other states tomorrow, based on recent numbers of infection and what will happen in the next 24 hours with the Melbourne cluster.
READ MORE: Hybrid Covid strain ‘a concern’
Robyn Ironside 5.25pm: Cathay dumps Australia over quarantine measures
Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific has become the latest international airline to pull most of its flights out of Australia.
From February 20, Cathay Pacific will cease services to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, flying only five times a week to Sydney. Read more here
Wall Street Journal 5pm: WHO tracks down possible early cases
The WHO team is scrutinising cases of 90 patients with coronavirus-like symptoms in October 2019 — two months before Beijing acknowledged first infections. Read more here
Ellie Dudley 4.35pm: New Covid cases thought to be UK variant
As the cases are of the more highly-transmissible UK variant, Mr Weimar said it could pose a “challenge” to the community.
“We don’t yet know how easily it transmits when you get to the second, third generation of people catching it,” he said.
“This is relevant to all of us. That’s why it’s important we don’t just see this is a hotel quarantine challenge, but one that impacts the community”.
Ellie Dudley 4.30pm: ‘Early days’ of the Holiday Inn outbreak
While two of today’s cases were household contacts, Mr Weimar said the health authorities have “some confidence that we are still on track” to shutting down the outbreak.
“Although we are now seeing two cases of household transmission again this is in the household, the closest relationship you would expect people to have,” he said.
He also added that he is “keen” to let people know how the outbreak is progressing.
“This is early days in this particular outbreak,” he said. “We have a lot more work to do today, tonight and over the coming days.”
Ellie Dudley 4.20pm: Holiday Inn cluster grows again, to 11
Chief testing commander Jeroen Weimar has confirmed there have now been three new COVID-19 cases today, which are all linked to the Holiday Inn outbreak.
Two of the cases are spouses of the cases yesterday, and the third, announced as Mr Weimar addressed the media this afternoon, is a staff member of the Holiday Inn.
“She was already a primary close contact. She tested yesterday and turned positive today,” he said.
There are now 11 cases associated with the Holiday Inn.
Three are the original family who tested positive in hotel quarantine, six were transmitted within the hotel, and two transmitted within households.
Mr Weimar also expanded the scope of an exposure site which was listed yesterday.
“We would ask anybody in the Sunbury Shopping Centre from 3.40pm to 4.30pm on Friday the fifth to isolate and get tested,” he said. “When you receive a negative test result you’re free to go but we need you to isolate and get tested.”
Adeshola Ore 3.45pm: AstraZeneca vaccine approval expected soon
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has flagged that the TGA’s approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine is imminent.
Earlier today, the federal government confirmed that the European Union had approved Australia’s first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine.
Professor Kelly said he welcomed the World Health Organization’s report, released overnight, which backs the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for adults of all ages.
“Of course in Australia, we are eagerly awaiting the TGA’s view on all that and my understanding is that they are very close to making a decision.
Adeshola Ore 3.30pm: Pfizer vaccine rollout to begin ‘in weeks’
Professor Kelly said the European Union giving the green light for the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine means rollout is on track to begin in weeks.
“That means there is no blockage from that point of view in terms of the vaccine arriving,” he said.
“We are definitely on track for the first vaccines in Australia of the already Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved Pfizer vaccine before the end of February.”
Adeshola Ore 3.20pm: Holiday Inn cluster all from one hotel floor
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says he is confident Victoria can contain the Holiday Inn cluster, after an additional two cases were reported in the outbreak.
The Holiday Inn cluster has now risen to 10 cases. Professor Kelly said all cases had emerged from one floor in the hotel and confirmed the two additional cases reported on Thursday were household contacts of previous cases and had already been isolating.
“So far, other than those to make household contacts, there are many, many negative tests so far. That is good,” he said.
“We are at day seven of that incident with the use of a nebuliser in a particular room on a particular floor of the Holiday Inn hotel. All of the cases so far have been related to that floor.”
He urged any Melburnians who had attended infected locations to get tested.
READ MORE: US surge weakens
Rachel Baxendale 3.10pm: Victorian testing chief set to deliver briefing
Victorian Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar is due to address the media at 4pm, following confirmation earlier on Thursday afternoon of two new coronavirus cases in household contacts of COVID-19 positive Holiday Inn quarantine hotel staff.
The Holiday Inn cluster now consists of three cases in international return travellers understood to have contracted the virus overseas - including one who used a nebuliser to vaporise medication, which is thought to have aided transmission to three staff members, two recently departed hotel quarantine guests, and now the two staff household contacts.
READ MORE: Renters hit as deferred debt looms
Greg Brown 2.50pm: Plan to upgrade coal-fired power plant axed
Delta Electricity has dumped plans to refurbish a coal-fired power station in the NSW Hunter Valley because of “changes to electricity industry policy settings” under the Berejiklian government’s energy road map reforms. Read more here
Rhiannon Down 2.26pm: Covid outlook ‘more hopeful’ than 6.5 year estimate
ANU infectious disease specialist Sanjaya Senanayake says there is “hope”, despite estimates it’ll take more than six years for the world to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“That figure of 6.5 years for the world to achieve 75 per cent of vaccine coverage is on the assumption that we continue on the current rate, which is about just under 5 million people vaccinated per day worldwide,” he said.
“We probably need to get that up about 10 times as high to get it anywhere near where we want it to be. But, of course, that is something that we can change. Vaccine manufacturers might increase their production and we, of course, if we can help the developing world, where the problem is going to be, we can get that figure much smaller.”
Dr Senanayake said the outlook was much brighter in Australia if manufacturing could ramp up.
“I think in Australia we should be confident we can reach the milestones that the government have talked about,” he said.
“Maybe not by October but at least by the end of the year so we’ll start off with 80,000 vaccinations a day but when CSL is ramping up production of the AstraZeneca vaccine, we might be able to more than double that.”
READ MORE: EU approves Pfizer vaccine shipment to Australia
Agencies 2.15pm: Details of Biden-Xi phone call revealed
US President Joe Biden expressed concerns to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang in their first call since Biden took office. Read more here
Patrick Commins 1.45pm: Companies volunteer $10m in JobKeeper returns
The Taxation Office is in discussion with about 10 companies who have volunteered to repay about $50m in JobKeeper payments which ultimately weren’t needed. Recall that eligibility for the first round of the wage subsidy scheme - what the cool bureaucrats are calling “JK1” - was based on an applicant’s “reasonable estimate” that revenue would fall by at least 30pc due to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 crisis.
The news more recently has been filled with reports of companies doing fantastically well through the June quarter despite the severe restrictions - and firms such as Domino’s and more recently furniture shop Nick Scali has said they will repay taxpayer money given how they have thrived.
The COVID committee in Canberra this morning has heard that there is no legal requirement for firms to give the public back JobKeeper money they didn’t need, nor were there plans to revisit the legislation to apply clawback provisions retrospectively.
ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn said there was around $70bn paid out in JK1 to around 1 million businesses, and a further $12bn or $13bn has been handed out between the start of October and February 1 - making the total cost so far $83bn with two months remaining for the scheme.
Earlier we heard from Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy who said the end of JobKeeper would not throw “hundreds of thousands” into unemployment.
Mr Hirschhorn gave the committee an update on fraud and compliance activities around the scheme. He said five matters have been accepted by the serious financial crimes taskforce, with another two under consideration. There are two active court cases involving entities accused of making false and misleading statements to get the scheme, and a further 16 under consideration. There are 43 cases where the ATO has levied penalties, with another 14 under consideration.
Mr Hirschhorn said in the context of an $80bn scheme, the figures showed “the level of compliance has been extraordinarily high”.
Rachel Baxendale 1.20pm: Vic Health department tracing new cases
Victoria’s Department of Health said contact tracing interviews with the two new cases were underway, and any new exposure sites would be published on the department’s website as soon as possible.
Two further individuals linked to the Holiday Inn Airport outbreak have tested positive to coronavirus (COVID-19). Both are household primary close contacts of currently confirmed Holiday Inn staff cases.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 11, 2021
The Holiday Inn cluster now consists of three cases in international returned travellers understood to have contracted the virus overseas - including one who used a nebuliser to vaporise medication, which is thought to have aided transmission to three staff members, two recently departed hotel quarantine guests, and now the two staff household contacts.
Rachel Baxendale 1.15pm: Two new cases bring Melbourne cluster to 10
Melbourne’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel coronavirus cluster has reached double figures, with confirmation of two new cases on Thursday afternoon.
The two cases, which bring the cluster to 10, are both household primary close contacts of Holiday Inn staff already known to be infected.
Two further individuals linked to the Holiday Inn Airport outbreak have tested positive to coronavirus (COVID-19). Both are household primary close contacts of currently confirmed Holiday Inn staff cases.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 11, 2021
Sarah Elks 12.55pm: Passes back, but Qld border open to Melbourne: Miles
Queensland will not close its border to Melbourne, but people from the city will have to make a border declaration on their way into the state.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the border would not be closed at this stage, and Victoria had handled the Holiday Inn outbreak well.
“It’s too early to declare a hotspot in Melbourne, because all of those cases were contracted in hotel quarantine, on level three, so there’s been no cases of community transmission outside of that location,” Mr Miles said.
Rhiannon Down 12.50pm: Allan insists Vic standards ‘strict,’ despite hotel footage
Andrew government frontbencher Jacinta Allan says the state’s hotel quarantine program is operating under the “strictest of standards” despite footage emerging of cleaners not wearing gloves and staff from the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel wearing garbage bags as PPE, and allegations that visitors to quarantine hotels have not been required to check in.
Ms Allan’s comments come after Victoria recorded seven coronavirus transmissions across three quarantine hotels over the past week, including three cases in workers and two in recently departed guests of Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn.
Aske to respond to the footage, Ms Allan said it was “difficult to respond to individual anecdotal cases”.
“If there are any observations of potential breaches, they should absolutely be reported in to COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria,” Ms Allan said.
“But at a broader global level with COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, we’re operating this program under this highest, strictest of standards and infection prevention control measures are being constantly monitored and where appropriate and where there are issues, reviewed, and we’ve seen this week the shift to N95 masks for staff, that’s an example of how we’re constantly looking at how measures can be improved around infection prevention and control because we know that this is key to keeping the staff who work on this program safe, the guests safe, and also limiting transmission within the community.”
Rhiannon Down 12.40pm: Qld reintroduces border passes amid Melbourne outbreak
Queensland will reintroduce border declarations for travellers from Victoria, following the discovery of an eight-case cluster linked to The Holiday Inn.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said from Saturday 1am travellers would be required to fill out a border pass before arriving in the sunshine state.
“We are in a process of reinstating the border declaration system,” he said.
“What that means is that from 1am on Saturday, people coming from Victoria will need to make a border declaration. That will allow us to check whether they have been in any of the locations that have been identified by the Victorian contact tracers, whether they are required to get tested, and to notify them that that is the case, and require that they isolate if that is the case.”
Travellers that make a false declaration about where the locations they have visited will be fined $4000, Mr Miles said.
“(It will) also keep a record of people coming to Queensland from areas that may, down the track, need to be declared a hot spot so we can contact them,” he said.
“It just means we’re a little bit less reliant on getting information particularly from airlines.”
Adeshola Ore 12.35pm: ‘World wants to replicate’ Australian quarantine: PM
The Prime Minister has defended Australia’s hotel quarantine program, as health authorities in Melbourne seek to contain a cluster of COVID cases linked to the Holiday Inn hotel.
There are now eight cases linked to the hotel near Melbourne Airport.
PM Scott Morrison said more than 210,000 international returnees had come through the country’s hotel quarantine system and the recent outbreak in Melbourne was just a “handful of cases.”
“This is a system the rest of the world wants to replicate,” he said.
“This is a system that has been very effective in protecting Australia.”
The UK has recently adopted a new hotel quarantine system modelled on Australia’s procedures.
Adeshola Ore 12.30pm: PM ‘won't score states’ on quarantine systems
Scott Morrison says he won’t score state’s on their hotel quarantine systems after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared his state has “higher standards” than NSW, amid the recent outbreak at a COVID hotel.
The cluster of cases linked to The Holiday Inn outbreak remains at eight, including a family of three returned overseas travellers, three workers and two recent former guests.
On Tuesday, Mr Andrews said Victoria would never take as many overseas return travellers as NSW because his state has “higher standards” in the hotel quarantine program than its northern neighbour.
Asked if he was confident about Victoria’s quarantine system, the Prime Minister, who is visiting Melbourne said “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t confident.”
“I seek to support every state to be as successful as they possibly can” he said.
“I don’t have a favourite in any of this. I’m not looking to score them. I’m just looking to support them in what they are doing.”
Victoria has recorded two new cases of community acquired coronavirus in the 24 hours to Wednesday night, meaning there have been no new cases since a case in a worker and a recent guest at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel were reported on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Morrison said Australia’s response to the evolving “risk matrix” of COVID was stronger than it had ever been.
“Our responses will change this year … we learn from it. And it gets stronger and stronger and stronger,” he said.
“I believe our system is stronger today than it was three months ago, than it was six months ago, than it was nine months ago.”
Rhiannon Down 12.25pm: Zero new local cases again in NSW
NSW has recorded no new cases of community transmission in the past day, as three COVID cases were discovered in hotel quarantine.
“NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night,” health authorities said in a statement online.
“Three new cases were acquired overseas, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4943.”
The state is currently treating 41 active COVID-cases with “most cases (98 per cent) … being treated in non-acute, out-of-hospital care, including returned travellers in the Special Health Accommodation” and none are in intensive care.
The last case recorded in NSW, a traveller who had recently travelled from South America to their home in Wollongong, was still being investigated by authorities.
“Investigations continue into the source of infection of a returned overseas traveller from the Wollongong area who tested positive for COVID-19 after being released from hotel quarantine,” the department said.
“Further information will be released as it becomes available.”
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) February 11, 2021
Three new cases were acquired overseas, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,943. pic.twitter.com/YVHKZuooRJ
Rhiannon Down 12.15pm: NSW hospitality voucher rollout begins
The NSW government has launched its hospitality vouchers program in the Rocks and Broken Hill, in an effort to revitalise the post-lockdown economy.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the $25 vouchers would be eligible for use in hospitality and tourism venues, and would be rolled out to the rest of the state next month.
“This is not just a cash hand out, this is to help those areas that have especially struggled in the pandemic,” Mr Perrottet told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“And these are areas that rely on international tourism, so even though we’ve lifted those restrictions, they’re going to go through a very tough year. So this is about encouraging people to go out and see the best of what Sydney and NSW has to offer and to help those businesses doing it tough.”
NSW residents older than 18 will be eligible for four of the hospitality vouchers, at a value of $100.
Phase two of the roll out will be in the hard-hit Bega Valley and Sydney’s northern beaches on February 22, before reaching the rest of the state.
Patrick Commins 12.05pm: Covid recovery ‘locked in’: Treasury boss
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy says that, barring any bad news on the health front, he is “quietly confident the recovery is locked in”.
Appearing in front of a parliamentary committee into the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Kennedy is fielding questions about what happens when the JobKeeper program finishes at the end of next month.
The Treasury boss’s basic position is that the employment recovery may briefly falter come the end of JobKeeper, but that any job losses will be “roughly matched” by employment growth associated with a labour market recovery he says has been surprisingly strong coming out of the recession.
“I don’t expect it (the end of JobKeeper) to disturb the trajectory of the unemployment rate coming down,” he said, as he foreshadowed material upgrades to Treasury’s jobs outlook in the May budget.
Businesses and, in particular, households are “well cashed up”, he said, and should use those financial buffers to keep spending over the coming months – all providing they maintain confidence that the health situation remains under control, with the vaccine rollout a key aspect.
“My sense is the current fiscal settings – the combination of very substantial Commonwealth money supported by the state monies and the way it switches in its emphasis – is about right. But of course, we have to watch it very closely.”
He said those on the wage subsidy program who were working zero or very few hours were likely the most at risk of falling into unemployment come April.
When it comes to the JobSeeker supplement – which also expires at the end of March – Dr Kennedy said Treasury had made its advice to the government on what the permanent rate should be, and that he wouldn’t pre-empt those decisions.
That said, he noted that given the strength of the recovery, that the decision on whether or not to put the dole back down to $40 a day was less about the economic impact, and “much more about the decision government needs to make about adequacy of the payment and how it intersects with incentives to work”
Rachel Baxendale 11.55am: Infected worker contracted by hotel, not Quarantine Victoria
A food and beverage worker at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel who tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday is employed by the hotel, and not by COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, Andrews government frontbencher Jacinta Allan has confirmed.
However, Ms Allan said the worker was required to comply with COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria standards as an employee of the hotel.
“My advice on this is that that food and beverage worker was employed by the hotel, and in turn the hotel, the Holiday Inn, is contracted directly by COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria,” Ms Allan said.
“We have very strict exclusivity arrangements with everyone engaged on this project and that goes to things like workers only working on those sites, not having a second face-to-face job, and it involves daily testing of every worker when they’re at work on that site, and the Premier’s made some announcements this week about additional steps to look at testing people on their day off, so that’s the arrangements that were in place for that food and beverage worker at the Holiday Inn.”
Premier Daniel Andrews revealed yesterday that the food and beverage worker last attended work last Thursday, and visited a range of venues over the following days including a bottle shop in Sunbury in Melbourne’s outer northwest on Sunday evening — despite having experienced symptoms on Saturday.
The woman was ordered to isolate and get tested as a close contact on Monday after news broke late on Sunday that her authorised officer colleague had tested positive, but it was not until Tuesday morning that she attended a testing site.
Ms Allan said the food and beverage attendant and all other Holiday Inn employees were continuing to be paid while isolating as the hotel undergoes a terminal clean.
Rhiannon Down 11.40am: Fatal collision, roads chaos as SA border ban kicks in
A collision on the Victoria-SA border caused road closure chaos this morning, after a fatal crash on the first day of a new border ban.
SA introduced travel restrictions banning all new arrivals from Melbourne from midnight on Thursday, after Victoria recorded eight cases of COVID-19 linked to the Holiday Inn hotel.
“People wishing to enter South Australia on or after 12.01am Thursday 11 February 2021 having been in Greater Melbourne (including Sunbury) at any time on or after 12.01am Thursday 4 February are not permitted to enter,” SA health authorities said in a statement.
“Exemptions do apply for Essential Travellers, SA residents, genuine relocations and people escaping Domestic Violence with approval prior to entry.”
The collision, a three way smash between three trucks in which one driver died, closed the highway Dukes Highway near Bordertown in both directions for a number of hours.
READ MORE: Renters hit hard as deferred debt looms
Adeshola Ore 11.25am: Andrews’ ‘standards’ boasts ‘remind me of Trump’: Dutton
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has slammed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews after he declared his state’s quarantine system has “higher standards” than NSW, amid the recent outbreak at a COVID hotel.
The cluster of cases linked to The Holiday Inn outbreak remains at eight, including a family of three returned overseas travellers, three workers and two recent former guests. On Tuesday, Mr Andrews said Victoria would never take as many overseas return travellers as NSW because his state has “higher standards” in the hotel quarantine program than its northern neighbour.
Mr Dutton said Mr Andrews’ comments were “almost comical.”
“If it wasn’t such a serious matter, you could have a bit of a chuckle,” he told 2GB radio.
“It reminds me of Donald Trump standing up there saying you know, ‘this is the greatest, we’ve got the greatest, it’s the best anyone’s ever seen’.
The state’s health authorities believe a nebuliser used in the hotel could be the cause of the outbreak.
Mr Dutton said the use of a nebuliser in quarantine was a “fundamental mistake”.
“A little more humility and a little more eye on the ball might be good advice to Premier Andrews,” he said.
Victoria has recorded two new cases of community acquired coronavirus in the 24 hours to Wednesday night, meaning there have been no new cases since a case in a worker and a recent guest at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel were reported on Wednesday afternoon.
READ MORE: New infections defy Andrews’ standards boast
Rhiannon Down 11.20am: Victorian sewage scare linked to existing case
An “extensive” contact tracing effort has so far failed to uncover any new cases of community transmission in Victoria.
Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said a person in the Holiday Inn Covid-cluster had been confirmed to be the source of COVID-19 traces in the wastewater in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
“I can also advise that one of the individuals who tested positive yesterday has been in that wastewater surveillance catchment area that covers Coburg, Pascoe Vale and Reservoir,” Ms Allan said.
“That does put into context that unexpected waste water detection that the Minister for Health spoke of yesterday in that it’s now being revealed that it’s been linked to one of those two new cases that have emerged in the last 24 hours.
Some 22,570 Victorians lined up to get tested yesterday, after a number of locations, including shopping centres and banks, were listed as exposure sites.
Adeshola Ore 10.30am: Albanese questions vaccine deals and delays
Anthony Albanese has urged the federal government to explain why it has not pursued more vaccine deals, after it confirmed the European Union had approved the shipment of Pfizer vaccines to Australia.
The government said the Pfizer vaccines remained on track to arrive later this month, after it pushed back the arrival date from mid-February.
“The government said the vaccine would be rolled out in mid-February. It’s now February 11 and the government needs to explain why it is that they didn’t put in place the measures that Labor were calling for,” the Opposition Leader said.
Australia has secured 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and aims to deliver 80,000 doses of the jab a week
READ MORE: Transurban loss follows Covid hit to tolls
Jade Gailberger 10.20am: ‘Give it to them’: Lambie blasts China over WHO probe
The World Health Organisation needs to stand up to China over an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, outspoken senator Jacqui Lambie says.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, on Wednesday said studies suggested the outbreaks began in multiple locations around the world.
But Australian scientist Dominic Dwyer, who was involved in the WHO investigation, has revealed that he believed they began in China.
This is despite a WHO report finding no conclusive evidence about the origins of the virus.
Speaking on Today, Senator Lambie said she didn’t have faith in the WHO to hold China to account.
“It takes courage to go at China and be honest with them,” she said.
“We need to find out where it came from, why it’s mutating.
“If China wants to hide away from it, so be it. I say give it to them.”
READ the full story here.
Rhiannon Down 10.05am: Nebuliser spread theory has some experts puzzled
Aerosol experts say further investigation is required to understand how a nebuliser was responsible for a cluster at the Holiday Inn hotel.
Queensland University of Technology expert Lidia Morawska said the explanation provided by Victorian health authorities left many “questions” that “haven’t been explained.”
“I’m really scratching my head how this could work,” she said.
“So, imagine this situation; there are infected people, or an infected person, in the room of the hotel. They are exhaling the virus all the time, when they breathe in and out, and also when they speak. And then at some stage they use the nebuliser to conduct whatever medical procedure, so perhaps there’s a little bit more of the virus in the room.
So, how (then how did) this virus escape from the room? So, it’s really not a question what was happening in the room — (whether it) was the nebuliser or not — but how did the virus escape from the room?”
READ MORE: ‘Beggars belief’: AMA slams nebuliser use
Angelica Snowden 10.02am: Melbourne Anzac Day march cancelled amid virus fears
Melbourne’s major Anzac Day march has been cancelled amid fears a coronavirus outbreak in Victoria could grow worse.
RSL Victoria CEO Jamie Twidale confirmed news on radio station 3AW the annual parade along St Kilda Road in Melbourne — in which about 12,000 veterans usually participate — has been called off.
A Shrine of Remembrance spokesman Dean Lee confirmed the report, but said a Dawn Service was likely to go ahead.
“The Shrine will conduct a Dawn Service in partnership with RSL in the capacity permitted under the COVID restrictions applicable at that time,” Mr Lee said.
“With COVID and the (current) restrictions … we did not feel it was in the public’s best interest,” Mr Twidale told 3AW.
“We understand a lot of veterans will be disappointed,” he said.
Rhiannon Down 10am: Government ‘proved right’ on AstraZeneca jab
Health experts have welcomed reports that the first shipment of the AstraZeneca jab will arrive in Australia next week, saying the government has been “proved right”.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said it was a promising sign the roll out would begin on schedule.
“The scare I guess from the European Union has turned out not to be as much of a problem,” he said.
“Really looking forward to getting our first doses approved by the TGA for batch testing and straight out to the states and territories to start our vaccination program, which will begin with the most vulnerable in the community with front line healthcare workers and of course probably most importantly at this stage with our front line quarantine workers.”
Dr Khorshid said it was likely the jab will be approved for everyone despite concerns it “isn’t as effective with that new strain”.
“It is more difficult in terms of the elderly population because the data isn’t as detailed there,” he said.
“But from what we’re hearing it’s likely that we’ll see full approval here in Australia for everyone over the age of 18 and that will be the vaccine that the vast majority of us will be receiving in the early stages of the rollout.”
READ MORE: WHO whitewash leaves world in darkness
Rachel Baxendale 9.35am: No new cases in Victoria since late yesterday
Victoria has recorded two new cases of community acquired coronavirus in the 24 hours to Wednesday night, meaning there have been no new cases since a case in a worker and a recent guest at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel were reported on Wednesday afternoon.
The Holiday Inn cluster stands at eight, including a family of three returned overseas travellers, three workers and two recent former guests.
There are currently 17 active cases in Victoria, including the eight linked to the Holiday Inn, one in a worker at the Grand Hyatt Australian Open quarantine hotel, one in a recently returned overseas traveller who caught the virus from a family across the corridor in the Park Royal Quarantine hotel, and seven other recently returned overseas travellers.
The latest figures come after 22,570 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Wednesday night.
Yesterday there were 2 new locally acquired cases reported. 22,570 test results were received. Thanks for getting tested, #EveryTestHelps. More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 10, 2021
#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/H5AgcwznOV
Meanwhile, people who visited Sunbury Square Shopping Centre last Friday afternoon have been urged to get a COVID-19 test in updated advice issued by health officials on Wednesday night.
Rhiannon Down 9.15am: Victoria’s latest COVID-19 case numbers delayed
Victoria’s COVID-19 case numbers have been delayed, authorities say.
“There is currently a delay on the morning numbers,” the DHHS said in a post.
“We will share the update as soon as possible.”
There is currently a delay on the morning numbers. We will share the update as soon as possible.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 10, 2021
Adeshola Ore 8.45am: Tehan welcomes EU’s Pfizer vaccine shipment
Trade Minister Dan Tehan says the European Union’s approval of Pfizer vaccine shipments to Australia is “great news.”
Earlier this week, the European Union’s ambassador to Australia, Michael Pulch, guaranteed that the EU would not block Australia’s shipments of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines that are being manufactured in Belgium.
“It is great news, and they’ll arrive towards the end of February. And we’re absolutely on track to roll our vaccine program out,” Mr Tehan told Channel 9.
Australia has secured 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and aims to deliver 80,000 doses of the jab a week when the rollout begins at the end of the next month.
READ MORE: 95pc Australians need coronavirus vaccine to fight mutant strains
Rhiannon Down 8.10am: Melbourne COVID testers brace for big numbers
COVID testing sites have opened in Melbourne with health workers bracing for an avalanche, with potentially thousands of people implicated as possible contacts of the Holiday Inn cluster.
Contact tracers are also in a race against time to locate first and secondary tier contacts, after the cluster grew to include eight cases following the discovery of two more on Wednesday night.
Three workers, two former residents and a family of three returned travellers all linked to the hotel have now tested positive, prompting health authorities to evacuate the facility.
If you are in a suburb where there are Coronavirus (COVID-19) exposure sites, you may receive a text message from the Department of Health urging you to check exposure locations & times. If you have symptoms, get tested and stay home. https://t.co/rwdp4FeCwe pic.twitter.com/7TgqhQ7kz6
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 10, 2021
A number of venues were added to the list of exposure sites on Wednesday, with authorities urging anyone who attended to get tested and isolated.
The list now includes:
Commonwealth Bank, 28-32 Kingsway, Glen Waverley: February 9 from 1.30pm to 2.45pm
HSBC Bank, 38 Kingsway, Glen Waverley: February 9 from 2.15pm to 3.30pm
Sunbury Square Shopping Centre: February 5 from 3.40pm and 4.30pm.
READ MORE: COVID-19 is likely here to stay
Rhiannon Down 7.30am: ‘Beggars belief’ nebuliser was let in hotel: AMA
Medical experts say it “beggars belief” that Victorian health authorities allowed returned travellers in hotel quarantine to use a nebuliser.
Australian Medical Association Victorian branch president Julian Rait said the infection risk posed by mist spreading through the medical device was well known.
“I think it beggars belief that something like this could get through,” he said. “The medical community knows full well these particular devices are really COVID spreaders.
“There are a number of examples, both in Australia and overseas, where we think they’ve contributed to outbreaks. The fact one of these machines could get into hotels in the first place is disconcerting.”
Associate Professor Rait said ventilation in the Holiday Inn, which was linked to another two cases on Wednesday night, should also have been a red flag for authorities. “But I think also the fact that the ventilation controls in that particular hotel were really not up to scratch,” he said. “Over seven months ago, there was concern expressed by aerosol scientists who wrote to the World Health Organisation and said aerosols needed to be taken more seriously. In Victoria, after the second wave, we thought we had succeeded in persuading government about that.”
READ MORE: Melbourne hotel cluster focus falls on vapour machine
Rhiannon Down 7.10am: Lambie: send returned travellers to mining towns
Jacqui Lambie says returned travellers should be made to quarantine in remote mining towns, after Victoria’s Holiday Inn cluster ballooned to eight cases on Wednesday.
The senator said she believed it would be more “cost effective” to quarantine arrivals “away from the community”.
“If we’re bringing people home it’s going to be more cost-effective,” she said on Nine’s Today. “So we don’t have to shut down communities and states, I think we need to be putting these people in mining towns or a little bit more isolated away from the community. We have the armed forces there. They have it all.’’
Ms Lambie said it was about time “we stop worrying about the economy and looking at stuff like that” and consider options outside hotel quarantine. “I know you’re concerned about nursing and things like that and getting those people (there), but honestly I think we need to start talking about getting one step ahead and saying if this isn’t working and this thing is going to stay around for years, is there a better way of containing this without it spreading?
“Because every time we shut down those states and communities it’s costing us a fortune, let alone the mental health (impact) on people’s lives.”
READ MORE: Middle ground ‘a must for border closures’
Rhiannon Down 6.55am: EU COVID-19 deaths surpass 500,000
COVID-19 deaths in the EU have surpassed half a million, as vaccination efforts in many countries in the multi-nation bloc struggle to find momentum.
The EU has admitted the vaccination campaign had so far failed to live up to expectations.
“We were late to authorise. We were too optimistic when it came to massive production,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament.
So far 151 million doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered in 91 countries around the world, according to reports.
Germany has extended its restrictions until March 7, as the country fights to get a grip on its case numbers.
Meanwhile, Italy recorded 13,000 new cases in the past 24 hours and 336 deaths, as the country moved to reopen its ski resorts. It will mark the first time the country’s fields have been opened this winter in its virus-plagued Lombardy region.
Russia’s Sputnik vaccine has also failed to find a foothold at home, with only two million people receiving the jab two months into its program.
READ MORE: Why didn’t others get the virus?
Rhiannon Down 6.45am: WHO: Over-65s can have AstraZeneca jab
The World Health Organisation says the AstraZeneca vaccine can be used on over 65s and in countries where new variants were rife, in response to recent concerns over its efficacy.
The announcement came as one of the health body’s officials chimed in on growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over a WHO-led investigation into the origins of the virus, which failed to find answers this week.
Disease expert Peter Daszak said US intel shouldn’t be “relied on too much” due to it being “increasingly disengaged under Trump (and) frankly wrong on many aspects”.
The remarks follow claims made the US that it would not accept the widely inconclusive findings, that the virus was unlikely to have originated in a lab, until it could make its own verification.
READ MORE: WHO whitewash leaves world in darkness over Covid
Charlie Peel 6.15am: Middle ground ‘a must for border closures’
Queensland tourism industry figurehead Daniel Gschwind says states need to find a middle ground on border closures and reacting to new COVID-19 clusters after sudden lockdowns cost the Queensland industry up to $20bn last year.
He said state governments needed to agree on a way forward because the status quo, where business and consumer confidence was smashed by sudden restrictions and border closures, was destroying the industry.
Speaking at a Queensland Fortunes Institute forum, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council head said the way the pandemic was affecting the sector differed greatly based on region and type of business and any substitute to JobKeeper would need to be tailored.
Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan has ruled out extending JobKeeper past its March expiry date but he is working with Josh Frydenberg to come up with a replacement support package for the tourism industry.
Mr Gschwind said the Queensland tourism industry was “first in, last out” in terms of the effects of the pandemic. “Our industry relies on the freedom of movement of people and also the operation of crowds and groups being able to come together — that is the essence of our industry,” he said. “Both of those things have been profoundly and comprehensively disrupted and not surprisingly, our industry was completely trashed last year.”
READ MORE: Vaccinate 95 per cent to fight variants
Ellie Dudley 5.45am: Aussie WHO scientist refutes team’s finding
An Australian scientist included in the World Health Organisation team investigating the origins of COVID-19 has said he believes the virus began in China and had been circulating as early as mid-November 2019.
Chinese scientists in the WHO said yesterday, when presenting the findings of the joint investigation, that the disease might have been brought into China on “cold chain” food parcels.
Dominic Dwyer, a microbiologist and infectious diseases expert with NSW Health Pathology says otherwise.
“I think it started in China, I think the evidence for it starting elsewhere in the world is actually very limited,” Professor Dwyer told 9News from hotel quarantine in Sydney.
“There is some evidence but it’s not really very good.
“I think it’s most likely that it came from a bat. We know that other viruses that are closely related to (COVID-19) are present in bats.
“We know that other viruses like MERS and SARS back in 2003 also came from bats. Now these bats don’t respect borders of course so they are present not just in China but in other parts on South East Asia and indeed elsewhere around the world.”
The explosion of COVID-19 in the Huanan market in Wuhan was really an amplifying event, Professor Dwyer said.
“The virus had probably circulating some good few weeks beforehand among people in the community,” he said.
In the WHO presentation yesterday, however, the group said they were “unsure” of the market’s role in the initial outbreak.
Professor Dwyer also said he was surprised by the amount of politics involved in the investigation, but felt no hostility between China and Australia despite the Morrison government very publicly calling for the investigation to occur.
“It’s one thing discussing the science and all of us are used to doing that, it’s another thing, talking about the politics around this and see responses change around the politics,” he said.
“The Chinese were very hospitable hosts, everyone worked together very well, it was a joint mission after all.”
“There were some clear differences of opinion and there were some quite firm and heated exchanges over things but in general everyone was trying to do the right thing and certainly WHO got more data than they’ve ever had before, and that’s some real progress.”
READ MORE: ‘No evidence’ for WHO to rule out lab leak
Rachel Baxendale 5.30am: Hotel cluster falls on vapour machine
Victoria’s hotel quarantine cluster has grown to eight cases, as authorities investigate the likely role of a piece of medical equipment in the transmission of the virus.
The discovery on Wednesday of two new cases in a worker and a former resident at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn quarantine hotel came as South Australia closed its borders to Melbourne and Premier Daniel Andrews put plans to increase his state’s overseas arrivals cap from Monday on hold.
The new cases followed positive tests one day earlier from a hotel food and beverage attendant and another former resident, and after news broke at the weekend that an authorised officer at the hotel had the virus.
The Holiday Inn was closed overnight on Tuesday for a “terminal clean” and residents were evacuated to Melbourne’s inner-city Pullman Hotel.
All five Holiday Inn transmissions are believed to be linked to a family of three, which Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said had likely contracted the virus overseas.
There have now been seven transmissions of the highly contagious British strain of the virus across three Victorian quarantine hotels in a week, including in a resident at the Park Royal hotel who caught the virus from a family across the corridor, and in a floor monitor at the Grand Hyatt Australian Open quarantine hotel.
READ the full story
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