Coronavirus Australia live news: Now 47 tennis players quarantined; stranded Aussies ‘a national failure’
Quarantined travellers in Brisbane have been released after being moved because of the Chancellor hotel virus cluster, and now 47 tennis players arriving for the Australian Open have been isolated.
- More tennis arrivals test positive
- Stranded Aussies ‘a failure of the federal government’
- Victorians stranded in Brisbane allowed home
- Emirates suspends flights to Australia
Welcome to live coverage of Australia’s response to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Emirates airlines has suspended flights to Australia, meanwhile more than 8000 stranded Victorians are still waiting for the Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services to process their exemption applications.
Staff reporter 11.55pm: Moved quarantine travellers given early release
The Queensland Government on Saturday night began releasing quarantined travellers from The Westin hotel in Brisbane City, after they were initially advised they could spend up to 28 days in hotel quarantine as authorities worked to contain the Hotel Grand Chancellor COVID-19 cluster.
State chief health officer Jeannette Young said those caught by the Hotel Grand Chancellor cluster who have already served a fortnight in quarantine but initially expected to restart their quarantine period would be released from Saturday night.
Onlookers still inside The Westin clapped from balconies as Paddington, Brisbane, grandmother Ali Sherry was reunited with her daughter Sarah Crowley and 17-month-old granddaughter Zara who had returned home from South Africa, The Sunday Mail (Qld) reported.
They will be staying in Brisbane as they work to get Mrs Crowley’s partner a visa to return to Australia.
“Super relived would be the main feeling,” Mrs Sherry said. “We’re so glad Queensland Health came to their senses.”
Dozens of family members have gather outside The Westin while police facilitated people to leave hotel quarantine one at a time.
As many as 420 people associated with the Hotel Grand Chancellor – including staff, returned travellers and close contacts – were expected to leave quarantine, permitting they met health criteria, a Queensland Health spokesman said.
FULL REPORT is here.
Also see earlier blog report ‘Queensland records no new cases’ below at 10.13am.
Joseph Lam 10.30pm: Rival Gulf airline exploits Emirates cancellations
Less than 24 hours after Emirates cancelled flights from the UK to Australia’s east coast, Qatar Airways has taken to Twitter to showcase it’s “global connectivity during both good and bad times.”
The state-owned Middle Eastern airline has tweeted four times over the past two hours on the repatriation of Australians.
“We have been one of the few airlines to never stop services to Australia during the pandemic helping repatriate over 180,000 Australians and international travellers,” one tweet said.
“#QatarAirways operates 23 weekly flights to #Adelaide, #Brisbane, #Melbourne, #Perth and #Sydney maintaining our long-term commitment to support Australian passengers and exporters with global connectivity during both good and bad times,” read another.
Several Facebook users in a group for Australians stranded in the UK were quick to weigh in on the tweets, with many applauding the airline for its continued service.
One commenter wrote, “I’m going to have a strange sense of loyalty to qatar [sic] after this,” while another said, “I’d fly with Qatar every single time now. The only carrier helping people get home and a great airline too”
But some were a little more sceptical.
“That’s a big corporate ‘up yours’ if ever I saw one,” wrote one commenter.
READ EARLIER: PM ‘walks away’ from 40,000 Aussies and Fury as another airline cancels
Courtney Walsh 8.45pm: Womens champion joins tennis Open quarantine
Reigning Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin will be among players unable to train during quarantine after another COVID flare.
A total of 47 players have been forced into lockdown as a result of the Abu Dhabi flight and two passengers returning COVID-19 positive tests on an earlier charter flight from Los Angeles.
Players competing in the WTA event in Dubai, which included several leading contenders for the Australian Open tennis, were on a flight that included 23 participants from the 64 passengers on board.
“One positive COVID-19 test has been returned from a passenger on a charter flight into Melbourne from Abu Dhabi in the past 24 hours,’’ a Tennis Australia statement says.
“There were 64 people on the flight, including 23 players.
“All passengers from the flight are already in quarantine hotels and the positive case, who is not a player and had tested negative before the flight, has been transferred to a health hotel.
The 23 players on the flight will not be able to leave their hotel room for 14 days and until they are medically cleared. They will not be eligible to practise.’’
READ MORE: ‘This is insane’: 47 players in lockdown
Agencies 7.15pm: India begins inoculating 300m people
India began one of the world’s biggest coronavirus vaccination program on Saturday, hoping to end a pandemic that has killed 150,000 people in the country and torpedoed the economy.
In the coming months, India aims to inoculate around a quarter of the population, or 300 million people. They include health workers, people aged over 50 and those at high risk.
On the first day, about 300,000 people were set to be vaccinated at 3000 centres. About 150,000 staff in 700 districts have been trained to administer jabs and keep records.
India has four “mega depots” to take delivery of the vaccines and transport them to state distribution hubs in temperature-controlled vans, keeping the doses colder than 8 degrees Celsius).
A total of 29,000 cold-chain points, 240 walk-in coolers, 70 walk-in freezers, 45,000 ice-lined refrigerators, 41,000 deep freezers and 300 solar fridges are at the ready.
These will be needed once the Indian summer arrives in the coming months. In one recent practice run in a rural area, a consignment of dummy vaccines was photographed being delivered by bicycle.
To stop any of the vials being stolen and being sold on India’s large drugs black market, authorities are taking no chances, with armed police guarding every truck.
CCTVs are in place at warehouses with entry subject to fingerprint authentication. Automated data loggers will monitor storage temperature and transfer messages every three seconds to a central unit, according to the Times of India.
“Security measures are essential to not only address the issue of logistics and safety but also build confidence in people that the supply chain is intact, unbroken and safe to the point of delivery,” Preeti Kumar, a public health specialist, told AFP.
AFP
READ EARLIER: India’s green light and How the world is getting the needle
Jane Flanagan 6.20pm: South African strain takes death toll past 35,000
South Africa has recorded the deadliest week in its history as its population is ravaged by the latest mutation of the COVID-19 virus, which scientists fear is up to 70 per cent more infectious.
The first week of 2021 saw 20,063 officially recorded deaths – a figure 131 per cent higher than typical for this time of year. Experts say that the hike is a result of coronavirus.
The tally topped the previous week’s total, itself a record, of 16,532 deaths in excess of predictions, based on trends over the past two years. The two successive weekly records coincide with a surge in Covid infections, which by Thursday had officially claimed 35,852 lives in South Africa, although the true figure is likely to be far higher.
Predictions that the summer heat would mitigate the effects of the virus have proved unfounded. Hospitals in several South African provinces are turning the sick away because they are full. The country is under strict lockdown, which includes a curfew, a delayed start to the school year and closed beaches.
READ MORE: Biden team good for the region
Ellie Dudley 5.35pm: Chinese battle major outbreak
China has reported 130 new coronavirus cases on January 15, as authorities continue to battle a severe outbreak in the north-east that has put more than 28 million people under lockdown.
That figure was slightly down from 135 cases a day earlier, according to a statement from China’s National Health Commission on Saturday.
115 of the cases were local infections, and 90 were in Hebei province near Beijing that has been the most impacted by the latest outbreak. 23 were found in northeastern Heilongjiang province while two more were reported in Beijing.
The new wave has bolstered concerns for huge numbers of infections, with events like the Lunar New Year break a few weeks away. An estimated 296 million railway trips will be taken during this period.
This surge comes as World Health Organisation investigators wait to be released from quarantine in Wuhan, where the disease was first detected in late 2019. The team is looking to find the origins of the pandemic that has now taken the lives of more than 2 million people.
China has secured deals with AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma (partner of Pfizer/BioNTech) for over 3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
In addition, they have locally manufactured vaccine Sinovac, of which they have donated one million doses to Cambodia.
READ MORE: China boycott ‘will backfire on Australians’
Courtney Walsh 5pm: Tennis coach among Aus Open infected
One of two people who tested positive to COVID after flying from LA to Melbourne for the Australian Open is understood to be a coach. The other comes from an airline employee. Neither is showing symptoms.
The Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria confirmed the results that will see stars including dual-Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and Kei Nishikori quarantine without being able to train over the next 14 days.
It is believed players from South America joined some of those based in North America on the Qatar Airways flight that arrived on Friday.
“An aircrew member and Australian Open participant who is not a player have been transferred to a health hotel following positive test results for coronavirus (COVID-19),” the statement reads.
“The passenger result came in after midnight Friday night and will be counted in tomorrow’s figures. The aircrew member and the passenger have been interviewed and transferred to a health hotel as per normal processes for positive cases.
“All remaining 66 passengers on the flight have been determined to be close contacts. Any players and support people will not be able to leave quarantine to attend training. The remaining flight crew all tested negative and were permitted to fly out without passengers directly to their home port. They left at 7am today.
“Upon arrival to Australia all players are immediately placed in a secure quarantine environment for 14 days under the authority of COVID Quarantine Victoria and will undergo a more rigorous testing schedule than for most returning travellers.”
Read the full story here.
Ellie Dudley 4.30pm: Sydney medical, dental clinic a possible exposure site
A medical and dental clinic in Sydney has been added to NSW Health’s growing list of possible exposure sites for COVID-19.
Anyone who was in the dental, physio and imaging waiting room of the Wentworthville Medical and Dental Clinic on Friday January 15 between 11.30am and 1.15pm is classified as a close contact, and must be tested immediately and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
Those who were in the other areas of the clinic at the same time must monitor their symptoms and immediately isolate and get tested if any appear.
READ MORE: Rex slams Qantas competition tactics
Ellie Dudley 4.09pm: Hotel Grand Chancellor guests to be released
The 14 travellers quarantined in Tasmania after staying at the Hotel Grand Chancellor will be released.
Health authorities said none of the 14 travellers who had returned to Tasmania after staying at the hotel since December 30 had returned a positive COVID-19 test.
The decision was made after Queensland Health authorities declared the cluster over with no further cases of COVID-19 found, Deputy State Controller Scott Tilyard said.
“Based on the Queensland Health decision, and none of the travellers here returning a positive test result, and it has been 14 days since their possible exposure, there is no need for them to remain in quarantine any longer,” he said.
“This was always a precautionary measure as all had completed their quarantine requirements previously and returned a negative test result before being released.
“However we believed the extra precaution was necessary to enable further information to be obtained and we are grateful for the co-operation of the people involved who returned to quarantine while the matter was looked into.
“With the ending of the quarantine period, the 10 crew members of the Buccoo Reef catamaran who were quarantining on the vessel will be released from quarantine and the vessel will be able to depart.”
Other travellers from the greater Brisbane area who have arrived in Tasmania since January 8 will be required to stay in quarantine, as the area remains designated as “high risk”.
READ MORE: Covid death toll higher than reported
Dow Jones 4pm: Biden to expand war-era mobilisation law
President-elect Joe Biden has outlined his proposal to give the federal government a bigger role in getting Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, including setting up federally supported community centres and mobile clinics for delivering shots.
The plan marks a shift in the coronavirus response that has so far involved the Trump administration purchasing and distributing vaccines, while relying heavily on states to administer the shots.
“This will be one of the most challenging operational efforts ever undertaken by the country. But you have my word. We will manage the hell out of this operation,” Mr. Biden said, before adding that he needed funding from Congress to make it happen.
“I’m optimistic, I’m convinced the American people are ready to spare no effort and no expense to get this done,” he said.
Mr. Biden said he would expand the use of a Korean War-era national security mobilisation law, known as the Defence Production Act, in an effort to increase manufacturing of vaccines and vaccination supplies. He also called for a “federally led, locally focused public education campaign” to encourage Americans to get the vaccine.
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins 3.45pm: Home loan lending hits a new high
The cocktail of generous government incentives, the lowest borrowing rates in history and a resilient housing market has driven new home lending to another record-breaking month.
Loan commitments jumped 5.6 per cent in November to just shy of $24bn, or 24 per cent higher than a year earlier, seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed. From the lows in May, monthly new lending has surged 47 per cent.
Another strong month for banks was underpinned by a 20 per cent surge in home lending commitments in Victoria, as the state enjoyed its first full month free of restrictions.
The data also revealed the powerful impact of the Morrison government’s HomeBuilder program, which was implemented in June and provides grants of $25,000 to construct a new home. Construction loan commitments jumped 5.6 per cent in November to $3bn to be up 75 per cent since July and at twice the level of a year earlier.
Economists believe the spike in new lending should provide further support for the residential construction sector.
Read the full story here.
Ellie Dudley 3.20pm: Western Australia records two new cases
Western Australia has recorded two new cases of COVID-19, both returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
WA Health says there are now 15 active cases of the virus in the state.
The two new cases, both men in their 40s, bring the total number of cases for the state to 886.
READ MORE: US blacklists ‘bullying’ Chinese oil firm
Ellie Dudley 2.45pm: Extra flights to bring stranded Australians home
Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Birmingham has defended the federal government’s decision to cap overseas arrivals, saying the priority is to “keep Australians safe.”
Twenty extra flights are being issued to assist the 38,000 Australians who are still stranded overseas, Mr Birmingham said.
“We are putting on additional repatriation flights to keep the flow available for Australians coming home,” he said.
Mr Birminghamsaid the reason the numbers of stranded Australians overseas hadn’t dropped drastically in recent months was due to more people joining the queue to return home.
“There continues to be people who register to come home who hadn’t previously,” he said.
“Some of the ongoing increase and demand comes from people, Australians, who want to come home, but three months ago weren’t intending to do so.”
The Australian government is also looking to expand the hotel quarantine program. Mr Birmingham said health officials had spoken to NT authorities about space in Howard Springs and was seeking more available hotels.
“We need of course to be utilising empty hotels in Australia that are proximate to health facilities and security services,” he said.
The federal government has faced criticism from Labor’s Penny Wong today, who accused Scott Morrison of “walking away from his responsibility” to stranded Australians by failing to set up and manage a national quarantine system that would allow more citizens to return.
Ms Wong said Dubai-based airline Emirates’ decision to suspend flights to Australia was a result of the “mess” created by the Coalition’s lack of national leadership.
But Mr Birmingham said places allocated to Emirates would be given to other carriers such as Singapore Airways, which were still repatriating Australians.
“We will be making sure that it is clear to the airlines that the places Emirates would have been using will now be allocated to other carriers … so they can fill more seats on their planes,” he said. “I understand this is frustrating for many people.”
Ellie Dudley 2.20pm: SA records no new cases of community transmission
South Australian health authorities have announced no new cases of community transmission, and two reported already in quarantine.
The cases belong to a man in his 40s and a child who both recently returned from overseas. They have been in a medi-hotel since their arrival.
A total of 4164 tests were conducted for the state over the past 24 hours before the announcement.
There are 12 active cases in the state.
READ MORE: Are we still the lucky country?
Rachel Baxendale 1.47pm:‘ Exiled’ Victorian family finally allowed home
The Costin family from Melbourne, who have been stranded in Queensland since New Year’s Day despite applying for an exemption a fortnight ago, have reached Albury, on the NSW side of the Victorian border.
The Andrews government’s announcement that they will reclassify Brisbane as an “amber” zone means Nathan and Jennifer Costin and their sons Benedict, 4, David, 2, and John Henry, eight months, will finally be allowed to travel home on Saturday night to Croydon, in Melbourne’s east, but they are not allowed to cross the Murray until 5:59pm.
Angered at what they perceive as a double standard from the Andrews government, which has left thousands of Victorians stranded interstate while facilitating hotel quarantine for 1200 Australian Open tennis players and their entourages, the Costins were staging a family protest in Albury on Saturday afternoon.
The family set out on December 28 on an end-of-year holiday to visit friends and family in Brisbane. Having originally planned to take the most direct route, skirting Sydney, the Costins opted to go inland through what was then a coronavirus “green zone”, staying overnight in Parkes and Moree and arriving in Brisbane on December 30.
When the Andrews government announced the following day that they were closing the
Victorian border at midnight on New Year’s Day, the Costins baulked at the prospect of a 19-hour car trip and two weeks of home quarantine, and opted to stay in Queensland until they could secure exemption.
On New Year’s Day, they made the first of what have become daily calls to DHHS, undergoing a phone interview two days later to apply for an exemption, before relocating to the Gold Coast on January 6 so as not to overstay their welcome with the friends in Brisbane.
But on January 7, a COVID-19 case in a cleaner at a Brisbane hotel prompted the Andrews government to reclassify the city as a “red zone”, leaving them stranded for at least another 13 days without an exemption.
By Wednesday, the situation had become desperate, with Mr Costin having almost exhausted his leave entitlements and the family having spent more than $2000 on accommodation for which they had not budgeted, with no indication from DHHS as to when — or whether — their exemption would be granted, other than repeated assurances that it had been “escalated”.
“They keep asking why we need to go home. I tell them, ‘It’s our home. The kids are exhausted and so are we and I need to go back to work’, and no matter what I say, they ask if there are any other reasons,” Mr Costin said. “We have done everything asked of us with still no action.”
The family drove south on Wednesday, intending to spend a night in Goondiwindi, in the hope they would have received an exemption by the time they got to Albury.
Read the Costins’ story here.
Courtney Walsh 1.25pm: Australian Open preparations in disarray over tests
The Australian Open preparations of several players are in disarray after it was revealed two people on board a flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne had tested positive.
An email from Tennis Australia to players — published on social media by Santiago Gonzalez, a Mexican doubles player who reached the quarterfinals of the Open year — said those on the flight would be confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days.
Those affected were on a flight that landed in Melbourne at 5.15am on Friday morning.
The email expressed sympathy for those impacted by the change in quarantine conditions. Initially players were promised they would be able to train and practise outside for five hours each day during their quarantine stint.
“Unfortunately we have been informed by the health authorities that two people on your flight from LAX that arrived at 5:15am on Friday 15 January have returned positive COVID-19 PCR tests on arrival to Melbourne,” the statement said.
“We know this is not how you imagined your preparations for the AO would start but our entire team is here to support and do everything we can to get your through this.
“You will soon be contacted by our medical experts Aspen Medical if you haven’t been already.
“They are available 24/7 to support you with all your medical, mental health or wellbeing concerns.
“The most important thing you need to know right now is you are not alone in this and we are here to provide you any extra support you need.”
Everyone coming to Australia was required to test negative before being allowed to travel.
An exception was made for Tennys Sandgren, who travelled from America, after officials deemed he was not contagious because he had contracted the virus in November and subsequently recovered.
READ MORE: Social media missives inflame Open scrutiny. Covid anxiety
Ellie Dudley 1pm: Two more tennis arrivals test positive: report
Two more people who have arrived from the US for the Australian Open tennis tournament have tested positive while in mandatory quarantine.
All players aboard the same flight from LA will be unable to practice for the next two weeks, except for training done on exercise bikes in their hotel rooms, New York Times sports reporter Karen Crouse has tweeted.
Two positive covid tests on the LA charter. I feel terrible for all the players aboard who now won't be allowed to practice for the next two weeks except on the exercise bikes the Australian Open delivered to their rooms.
— Karen Crouse (@bykaren) January 16, 2021
Mexican tennis player Santiago Gonzalez has been confirmed as one of the athletes aboard the plane.
While his own test returned negative, he will be confined to his room and unable to train for a two week quarantine period, along with any other players on the same plane.
More than 1200 players and coaches over the past 48 hours, were part of the great Australian Open airlift for the 2021 edition, with planes ferrying competitors across the world at a 25 per cent capacity.
US player Tennys Sandgren confirmed he had tested positive, along with British champion Andy Murray.
READ MORE: Inside the Australian Open’s big tennis gamble
Christine Kellett 12.28pm: PM ‘walks away’ from 40,000 Aussies
Labor has lashed the Prime Minister for failing to set up a national quarantine system, as stranded Australians face even longer overseas after Emirates Airlines suspended flights.
Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the government had wiped its hands of the issue, leaving states to manage hotel quarantine and stranded Australians to an uncertain future.
“We are a year into this pandemic. We are nearly a year into our borders being closed,
and still Scott Morrison has refused to take responsibility for quarantine,” Ms Wong told reporters on Saturday.
“It is his responsibility, but he has refused to take responsibility. He has left it to the states and now we have 40,000 Australians stranded overseas.
“A safe national quarantine system would protect Australians here in Australia and would enable Australians who are stranded to come home.
“None of this is good enough. None of this good enough because we have a Prime Minister who has walked away from his responsibility.”
Emirates — one of the last major airlines still to fly into Australia — has cited operational reasons for its decision to suspend services, following the government’s decision to cut the number of returning travellers in response to the emergence of new strains of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government is facing criticism for allowing 1200 international tennis players and their support staff to fly into the country for the Australian Open, despite several testing positive to COVID-19
“The fact remains we wouldn’t be in this mess if Scott Morrison had done what he should do,” Ms Wong said.
Earlier today, federal Liberal MP Katie Allen defended the Coalition’s response, saying the Commonwealth had shown leadership by acting quickly to close international borders and set up National Cabinet.
Labor’s Amanda Rishworth said the federal government had left quarantine to the states, which were unable to manage it.
“I actually think Katie (Allen) is wrong when she says that the government has taken a leadership role,” Ms Rishworth told ABC News.
“They haven’t. They have left it to the states and territories to manage, and the states and territories have had difficulty managing this, so they’ve gone to the federal government to ask for the (overseas arrival) numbers to be cut. That’s the truth of it. We wouldn’t be having this discussion with the tensions between who can come here — whether it be tennis players or international students — if we had got our citizens home.
READ MORE: Peter van Onselen — Morrison side-steps failures to waltz to the election
Ellie Dudley 12.10pm: Global coronavirus deaths top two million
The global coronavirus death count has surpassed 2 million people, as countries around the world seek to secure vaccination deals.
While it took nine months for the world to record the first 1 million deaths from the virus, it took only three months to go from 1 million to 2 million deaths.
United Nations chief António Guterres has lamented the deaths of those who lost their lives to the “vicious virus” in a video released on Friday.
“Our world has reached a heart-wrenching milestone,” he said.
“Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” he added, calling for global unity to fund vaccination efforts.
The global death toll could approach 2.9 million by April 1, according to a forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Given how fast the virus is spreading due to more infectious variants originating in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, the World Health Organisation warned the worst is yet to come.
“We are going into a second year of this. It could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing,” said Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies official.
READ MORE: Troy Bramston — Trump deserves maximum condemnation
Ellie Dudley 11.40am: WHO pushes for vaccine acceleration
The World Health Organisation has called for the acceleration of vaccine rollouts across the globe, as well as increased efforts to study the sequencing of the virus to tackle emerging, highly-infectious strains.
“I want to see vaccination underway in every country in the next 100 days so that health workers and those at high risk are protected first,” WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva on Friday.
Mariangela Simao, WHO Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals, told the press conference that 38 of the 46 countries that had started vaccinations are high-income countries.
She emphasised that COVAX, a WHO-led initiative to ensure vaccine access for all, “was there to correct the course” and allow access to vaccines for low to middle-income countries.
“The world we live in is not a fair world,” Simao said. “The COVAX facility is a way for us to reach fairness.”
US President-elect Joe Biden said on Friday he would initiate a vaccine blitz: creating thousands of immunisation sites, deploying mobile clinics and expanding the public health system to have as many Americans immunised as quickly as possible.
“We will manage the hell out of this operation,” he said.
READ MORE: Recovery gathers pace as nation heads back to work
Ellie Dudley 11.24am: NSW records just one new case
NSW has recorded one new case of locally transmitted infection in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Eleven new cases were also reported from overseas travellers.
The new local case comes from a man in western Sydney. While investigations are underway to find the source, it is believed by NSW health authorities to be linked to the Berala cluster.
NSW Health’s Dr Chatu Yapa has urged NSW residents to come forward to testing if even the mildest of symptoms arise.
Please check the NSW Government website: https://t.co/pqkRdfh3cR regularly for information on new and updated venues of concern related to cases of COVID-19, and follow the health advice if you were at any of these locations at the times listed.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 16, 2021
“It is vital we pick up every case of COVID-19 if we are to further prevent community transmission and the best way for us to do this is if we maintain high testing numbers,” she said.
Dr Yapa confirmed NSW Health is treating 119 patients with coronavirus, most of which are outside of hospital. One patient is in intensive care.
READ MORE: Biden has the world on his shoulders
Ellie Dudley 11am: Andrews puts hand up for vaccine
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews today confirmed he will receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Whether it is on camera or not, is yet to be determined.
“I will be getting the jab because I believe this is the safe and what we need to do,” Mr Andrews said.
“My main priority is ensuring that our health workers, front line workers, people who work in aged care, people who are really the greatest risk of transferring to vulnerable people, they will be vaccinated first.”
He urged all Victorians to get the vaccine, highlighting the amount of time and effort that has been invested in the development of its safety and effectiveness.
“But if I could send the message to the Victorian community, that this is something that thousands and thousands of specialists, thousands and thousands of clinicians and researchers have done little else in this past 12 months have worked on rolling out a vaccine that will be safe and effective,” he said.
READ MORE: Gemma Tognini — Stop the cancellers or they will hang us all
Ellie Dudley 10.37am: Victoria declares Brisbane no longer a red zone
Victoria has downgraded Brisbane’s “red zone” status, allowing Victorians stranded in the Queensland capital to return home.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced this morning that Victorians stranded in Queensland may return home. They must get a COVID-19 test upon their return.
Meanwhile, Victoria’s strict border closures to Sydney could be wound back “in the next couple of days” according to Premier Daniel Andrews.
“We do hope that in the next couple of days we will be able to dramatically shrink the red zone, so turn a number of those local government areas orange, just as we have done with Brisbane, and people similarly would be able to apply for an automatic orange zone permit, travel back to Melbourne, get tested within those three days and upon a negative result, they would be free and clear also,” he said.
“I wish I could make those announcements today but we are simply not in a position … the public health team just want another day or two to be able to be absolutely firm in their view that we can safely have those Victorians.”
The 35 local government areas in the greater Sydney region are classified as “red zones” at the moment. Mr Andrew said that while not all LGAs will be cleared the “strong majority” will be.
READ MORE: Gerard Henderson — Left selective in showing contempt
Ellie Dudley 10.13am: Queensland records no new local cases
Queensland recorded no new cases of community transmission yesterday.
One new overseas acquired case was also recorded. A child who returned from overseas tested positive, and is now in hospital with their parents who have also tested positive. This brings the state to a total of 29 active cases.
A totally of 9521 tests were conducted for Queenslanders over the past 24 hours.
chief health officer Jeannette Young says she believes the case that caused “concern” yesterday in Cairns is now believed to be a historical case.
“The case that we had some concern about yesterday in Cairns has now been re-tested and
that re-test says that they don’t have any virus at all now,” Dr Young said.
“We are still waiting on the serology test results to be absolutely convinced, but I really do believe that that is an historical case.”
Hotel quarantine residents transferred from the Hotel Grand Chancellor to the Westin Hotel this week will be released at 6pm tonight.
The decision sparked controversy this week when health authorities moved 129 overseas arrivals from the Grand Chancellor to the Westin, resetting their hotel quarantine time.
“Their quarantine period has now ended, so they will be able to leave at 6pm,” Dr Jeannette Young said.
“Of course, if any of them can’t make travel arrangements by then because they are travelling interstate or they are going elsewhere in Queensland, we would be very happy for them to continue to stay in the hotel overnight. We won’t ask them to go and find a different hotel.”
Dr Young said the decision was made to release the guests today, as health authorities have now determined the guests came into contact with the cleaner who tested positive for the UK strain 14 days ago.
“Their quarantine did reset because I didn’t know at what stage the incident had happened. I really and truly didn’t know whether it was the 11th or 30 December, so there was that whole span that it could have happened,” she said.
But we’ve now, through looking at what has happened to date, been able to clarify that the incident that led to the transmission of the virus happened on the 2nd. So that’s why it’s now 14 days later.”
More to come …
Ellie Dudley 9.47am: Another day of zero for Victoria
Victoria has recorded another day of no new locally transmitted cases.
While three cases were acquired overseas, all are isolated in hotel quarantine. A total of 14,957 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours.
Yesterday there were 0 new locally acquired cases reported and 3 new cases in hotel quarantine. Thanks to all who were tested – 14,957 results were received.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 15, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco #EveryTestHelps #StaySafeStayOpen #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/ErJ17I6lt6
READ MORE: Australian Open faces its biggest stress test
Ellie Dudley 9.43am: UK to impose tighter border restrictions
The UK will enforce tighter border restrictions from Monday morning to protect the country from the risk of any unidentified strains of the coronavirus.
Anyone flying into the country from overseas must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before boarding the plane.
Earlier this week, the UK banned travellers from South America and Portugal in response to growing concerns of a new variant found in Brazil.
The new rules will be in place until at least February 15.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “vital” to implement extra measures now when “day by day we are making such strides in protecting the population.”
The rules come as another 1,280 people with coronavirus died in the country within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total to 87,291.
England is currently under a strict national lockdown, where people may only leave their homes for limited reasons including grocery shopping, exercise or work.
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Ellie Dudley 9.30am: UK variant may become dominant strain
The UK variant of the coronavirus will potentially become the predominant strain in the United States by March, according to a report released on Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While only 76 cases of the variant have been identified in the US, the CDC predicts “rapid growth” in the first three months of the year, putting a larger strain on the country’s buckling health care system.
“We are very concerned about this variant,” said Michael Johansson, one of the study’s authors and co-lead of the modelling team for the CDC’s COVID-19 response.
Johansson said the CDC had increased its efforts to do more testing for the variant across the country.
While there is no evidence to suggest that the UK variant might make people sicker, a faster spread will lead to more cases overall, the study authors wrote.
“A higher rate of transmission will lead to more cases, increasing the number of persons overall who need clinical care, exacerbating the burden on an already strained health care system, and resulting in more deaths,” the report said.
Yesterday, the US reported 238,390 cases and 3973 deaths.
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Jacquelin Magnay 9.15am: Fury as another airline halts flights to Australia
Furious Australians stranded overseas have been devastated after Emirates has cancelled flying into Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and other airlines like Philippines airlines, and Air Nuigini have cancelled flying into Australia altogether.
Chaos that surrounded the Australian government’s recent decision to halve the already low flight caps arrival numbers into NSW, Queensland and South Australia has magnified into carnage as desperate Australians now have even fewer options.
Emirates said its decision to suspend the flights was for “operational reasons’’, believed to be the ridiculousness of flying a 360 seat A380 with fewer than 30 passengers. It will now only continue its flights into Perth.
Martha Walkowsky and her husband and twin four years said they are devastated to find their chance of returning from Dubai to Australia – a flight to Sydney on January 27 – has been cancelled.
The family has been trying to get home since September but have had four cancelled flights during that time and now fear problems with their visas.
Even before the cancellation Mrs Walkowsky told The Australian of her worries the halving of the already minuscule flight caps was having on people being bumped.
”We just don’t know what we’re going to do as we can’t continue to wait it out here with no job, dwindling savings and no visas — the stress is immense — we don’t want handouts just a fair go,’’ she told The Australian.
A humanitarian disaster is brewing as Australians who have lost their jobs in the lockdowns, have been surviving on savings for months and have no recourse to Centrelink. Many also don’t have access to a vaccination program which could limit their options even when airlines begin flying again.
When the pandemic unfolded the prime minister Scott Morrison told Australians living and working overseas to stay put, but since then many have lost jobs and have been repeatedly bumped from flights, and have exhausted their savings paying for repeat bookings as airlines have been slow with refunds.
Under the government’s $67m hardship fund people who have already drawn on savings can then access an interest free loan for each person of $2000 to assist with living expenses and $1500 loan for a flight ticket.
Emirates said on its website “customers holding tickets with final destinations Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin airline’s last flights to and from cities as follows: Brisbane-Dubai (EK431), January 16, Dubai-Sydney (EK414), January 18, Sydney-Dubai (EK415), January 19, Dubai-Melbourne (EK408), January 19, Melbourne-Dubai (EK409), January 20.
Currently 37,000 Australians have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade wanting to return home.
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Natasha Robinson 8.50am: Herd immunity muddies the waters
With case numbers exceedingly low, and the nation poised to roll out the first COVID-19 immunisations in an extraordinary achievement for science, the fact that vaccines had suddenly become a bad news story seems in many ways absurd.
But in the blink of an eye, the government’s vaccine strategy was under attack, with scientific institutes locked in debate over the relative merits of the AstraZeneca vaccine and doctors campaigning for more Pfizer.
The goal of the government’s vaccine strategy was suddenly a live issue. It quickly became clear that the attainment of herd immunity was not the immediate aim. Herd immunity is a state whereby enough people are vaccinated that resistance to a disease builds up in the community, a virus cannot find new hosts, and an epidemic dies out.
Read the full story here.
Agencies 8.30am: Joe Biden outlines Covid vaccination plan
US Vice President Mike Pence held a telephone conversation with his successor Kamala Harris on Thursday, as Donald Trump’s deputy moves ahead with the presidential transition.
No more verified details were immediately available about the call, which was confirmed five days before Harris and President-elect Joe Biden are sworn in to office.
But The New York Times said Pence offered his congratulations and belated assistance to Harris, and described it as “gracious and pleasant.” It was the first time the pair had spoken since they debated one another during the campaign according to the Times.
Trump still has not reached out to Biden and has only obliquely referred to his rival’s victory by promising a smooth transition.
That came a day after a violent riot by his supporters on the US Capitol which left five people dead and ensured the transition will be anything but. It also resulted in Trump becoming the first president ever to be impeached twice.
Mr Biden is today outlining his coronavirus vaccine rollout plan, a day after revealing his $1.9 trillion strategy for pandemic economic recovery.
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Rhiannon Down 7am: Emirates suspends flights to Australia
Emirates will suspend flights to and from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in the next week, just one day after the airline halted flights to South Africa.
The UAE-based airline posted a travel update on its website on Friday night confirming a list of flights from Dubai to Australia which will be the airline’s last.
The last flight from Dubai to Melbourne will be on January 19, Dubai to Sydney on January 18 and Dubai to Brisbane on January 16, according to the post.
“Due to operational reasons, Emirates flights to/from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne will be suspended until further notice,” the statement said.
An image purported to be an email confirming the dates has been widely circulated online, to the despair of Australians that remain stranded abroad.
Australians stuck overseas and trying to get home took to social media on Friday night to vent their frustrations.
Some speculated that Australia’s mandatory COVID testing rules were the cause, though the nature of the “operational reasons” is yet to be determined.
“I reckon the policies will isolate Australia completely,” one said on social media.
“Checked out Kayak and Emirates website … certainly seems to be no direct flights.”
“All we need is a few more and Aussies will starve,” another wrote.
Emirates has been contacted for comment.
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Rachel Baxendale 6am: More than 8000 Victorians awaiting border exemptions
More than 8000 stranded Victorians are still waiting for the Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services to process their exemption applications — some of whom have now been waiting more than a fortnight.
But amid anger from Victorians stuck in Sydney and Brisbane, and allegations of a double standard, given the Andrews government is providing quarantine for more than 1200 Australian Open tennis players and their entourages who have flown in from overseas, Health Minister Martin Foley said he would make “no apology for the principle of keeping Victoria safe”.
The world's best tennis players are arriving, ready to fight for the first Grand Slam title of 2021. Before the battle can begin they must quarantine for 14 days, take daily COVID-19 tests, physically distance, and practice & train under strictly controlled COVIDSafe conditions. pic.twitter.com/XrJDmc9vCi
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2021
Australia recorded its second straight day with no locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Friday, with 18 locally acquired cases recorded in the seven days to Thursday, all but two of which have been linked to a known source of infection.
The Andrews government is maintaining its hardline stand on border restrictions, barring anyone who has been in the NSW or Queensland capitals in the past 14 days from entering Victoria without an exemption.
Since January 1 when Victoria closed the NSW border, 11,240 families and individuals have applied for exemptions, only 1886 of whom have received them, with four applications rejected.
Read the full story here.
Stephen Rice 5.45am: Travel bosses back Joyce’s ‘no jab, no fly’ call
Australia’s peak travel and tourism bodies are backing Qantas chief Alan Joyce’s controversial call for all international passengers to be vaccinated before they can fly, despite growing opposition to mandatory vaccinations.
The move to compel immunisation for travellers has been opposed by some rival airlines and by global tourism body the World Travel and Tourism Council, which claims any such rules would amount to “discrimination” and destroy tourism.
“I don’t think governments will require vaccination next year for travel. If they do that they will kill their sector,” WTTC chief Gloria Guevara said last week.
But local travel and tourism bodies are strongly supportive of the no jab, no fly policy.
“I’d be happy to say that really we applaud the Qantas leadership on this issue in nominating a vaccine as a prerequisite to travel,” said Peter Shelley, managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council.
Read the full story here.
Richard Ferguson 5.30am: Industry maps out COVID-19 vaccine order line-up
Workers in manufacturing, education and tourism would be next in line to receive a COVID vaccine after vulnerable people and healthcare workers, under business plans presented to government.
Vaccination would not be mandatory but workers who refused a jab might be required to work from home or wear personal protective equipment, including masks, under the first blueprint on how industry could manage vaccinations.
The Weekend Australian understands the plan, prepared by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been well received by Treasury, the federal Health Department and key business groups.
Workers are set to flood back into the nation’s two biggest central business districts over the next two weeks after consecutive days without a community COVID transmission boosted confidence among the biggest employers.
Read the full story here.
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