Coronavirus Australia live news: Police probe mystery UK variant spread
Authorities are investigating how the UK variant of COVID-19 was spread from a returned traveller in hotel quarantine to a cleaner, her partner and two other guests.
- Police probe mystery UK variant spread
- South Australia opens to regional NSW
- CMO stands by AstraZeneca vaccine
- NSW reports one new local case
- Six cases now have UK strain in Queensland
- Seven days of zero for Victoria
- Vaccine ‘is not good enough’
Welcome to live coverage of Australia’s response to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Authorities are investigating how the UK variant of COVID-19 was spread from a returned traveller in hotel quarantine to a cleaner, her partner and two other guests.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says the AstraZeneca vaccine will save lives as doctors call for a re-evaluation of the nation’s vaccine strategy, saying herd immunity cannot be achieved with it. Six Qld cases now have the UK variant of the virus as authorities scramble to test and quarantine 605 in Brisbane and clears 129 returned travellers from Grand Chancellor Hotel. SA will lift hard border to regional NSW as NSW reports one new local case.
Rhiannon Down 10.50pm: Virus detected in northwest Sydney sewage
NSW health authorities have urged residents in West Hornsby in Sydney’s northwest to get COVID tested, after traces of the virus were detected in sewage.
The discovery sparked concern the virus could be active in the community, outside the awareness of health authorities.
West Hornsby residents are being asked to continue getting tested if they have even the mildest COVID-19 symptoms, after the state’s ongoing sewage surveillance program has detected fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 at the treatment plant in West Hornsby. pic.twitter.com/0C6H8T6XdY
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 13, 2021
The suburbs of concern include Glenorie, Wahroonga, Thornleigh, Pennant Hills, Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Galston, Dural, Westleigh, Glenhaven, Waitara, Hornsby, Normanhurst and West Pennant Hills.
“Everyone in these areas is asked to be alert for symptoms, to get tested immediately if they appear and then isolate until they receive a negative result,” NSW said in a statement posted on social media.
Though the presence of the virus could be the result of known cases, health authorities urged residents in the areas listed to get tested even if they have only mild symptoms.
“NSW Health is concerned there could be other active cases in the local community in people who have not been tested and who might incorrectly assume their symptoms are just a cold,” the statement said.
Rhiannon Down 9.45pm: Foreign military arrivals test positive in Darwin
Two foreign military arrivals have tested positive for coronavirus in hotel quarantine in Darwin.
The individuals, one a military official from overseas and the partner of another official, arrived in the NT on January 11 and were placed in a defence-run quarantine hotel in Darwin’s CBD, according to the department of defence.
The arrivals tested negative for COVID-19 72 hours before they arrived in Australia, a mandatory requirement before boarding.
The individuals were completing two weeks of mandatory quarantine when the infections were detected.
“In line with established processes with NT authorities and the COVID-19 Risk Management Plan for this contingent, the affected individuals have been taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital by Northern Territory Health patient transport for further care,” a defence spokesperson said.
Close contacts of the confirmed cases will be moved to the Howard Springs quarantine facility “as a precaution”.
Natasha Robinson 9.07pm: Access to Pfizer virus vaccine ‘limited’
Australia is unable to secure more doses of the highly effective Pfizer vaccine but reliance on the alternative AstraZeneca jab does not mean the nation’s vaccine strategy is flawed, health chiefs say.
The commonwealth’s top health advisers have defended their vaccine strategy, which involves widely administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to protect Australians from coronavirus disease, saying the jabs would be highly effective in preventing illness and would “save lives”.
Yet doctors continued to question why other administrations had been able to secure more doses of the Pfizer vaccine while Australia had not. Pfizer’s vaccine has reported an efficacy rate of 94 per cent in clinical trials, compared with an average efficacy of 72 per cent for the AstraZeneca vaccine. The EU managed to double its order of Pfizer vaccines in a deal struck in early January.
Charlie Peel 8.47pm: Police probe mystery UK variant spread in Qld
Queensland police and health authorities are leading a renewed investigation into how the highly contagious UK variant of COVID-19 was spread from a returned traveller in hotel quarantine to a cleaner, her partner and two other hotel guests.
They will probe whether the hotel’s air-conditioner or an inadvertent lapse in the use of personal protective equipment led to transmission of the virus. Genome sequencing conducted by health officers on six people involved in Brisbane’s Hotel Grand Chancellor cluster confirmed they shared the same strain of the virus, which is between 30 and 70 per cent more infectious.
They are a man and his partner, both in their 30s, who arrived from the UK on December 30, a hotel cleaner in her 20s and her partner, and, most recently, a man in his 40s and his daughter, in her 20s, who arrived from Lebanon on January 1.
Rhiannon Down 8.07pm: 5 million locked down in China over single case
A Chinese city of five million people has been plunged into lockdown after a single case of coronavirus was discovered.
In a sweeping lockdown banning weddings, family gatherings and paring down funerals in Langfang just 80km from Beijing, authorities attempted to stop the virus spreading to the capital.
Nearby county Guan was also placed into lockdown after a woman who commutes to Beijing tested positive for COVID-19.
Chinese authorities are battling to contain a new outbreak as case numbers climb higher than they have been in months.
Hebei province, which includes the capital Beijing, has reported 560 new cases in recent weeks, 234 of which were asymptomatic.
Shijiazhuang - a city of 11 million people in Hebei province - has also been locked down.
Ten million Chinese people have received a COVID-19 jab so far, as the vaccination efforts ramp up in the country that was the original epicentre of the virus.
READ MORE: Vaccine ‘not good enough to stop virus’
Rhiannon Down 7.59pm: Man stabbed in Sydney after mask altercation
A man was stabbed after a fight broke out at a Sydney shopping centre on Tuesday night after a woman was asked to wear a face mask.
NSW police allege a 25-year-old man, while shopping at a centre on George Street in Windsor in Sydney’s north-west with a woman and two children, pushed a security guard to the ground and punched him after he asked the women to don a mask.
It’s alleged he then stabbed a 53-year-old man, who intervened in the affray, in the leg with a knife after the pair descended into a physical altercation at about 8.20pm.
“The customer and security guard managed to restrain the man before officers from Hawkesbury Police Area Command arrived,” a police spokesperson said.
Officers arrested the man and charged him with being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, affray, and resisting or hindering a police officer in the execution of duty.
He fronted Penrith Local Court today and was refused bail.
READ MORE: Why does the US fall for conspiracy theories?
Jacquelin Magnay 7.22pm: Plasma from coronavirus sufferers harmful: study
Hospitals have stopped using convalescent plasma from coronavirus sufferers to treat seriously ill patients, after groundbreaking research by an Australian-led global consortium of intensive care doctors found the treatment was causing more harm than good.
The research, conducted by Remap-cap, showed more than 900 severely ill patients around the world, including a handful of Australian patients, did not improve their condition when given the plasma.
The same consortium of researchers, headed by Steve Webb, a Monash University professor and intensive care doctor at Perth Hospital, has also found that blood thinners are dangerous for severely ill patients.
“In intensive care unit patients, we found that the convalescent plasma in ICU patients crossed a threshold showing it was not effective,’’ Professor Webb, one of the founders and international chairman of Remap-Cap, said.
“We have also showed that using blood thinners is not effective and may be harmful. This had become routine care, so stopping harmful therapies is equally important as showing beneficial therapies.’’
Rachel Baxendale 6.48pm: How many Victorians are stuck interstate?
More than 11,000 Victorians stranded in coronavirus “red zones” in NSW and Queensland have applied for exemptions to return home since New Year’s Day, with just 1320 exemptions granted as of Wednesday, and a further 1200 closed off as a result of regional NSW being reclassified as an “amber” zone on Monday.
Only four applications have been rejected and the remainder – more than 8500 – are yet to be processed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
DHHS said more than 800 of the 1320 approved applications had been prioritised for Victorians to return for care, wellbeing and compassionate reasons.
Almost 5000 applications have been received from Queensland red zones, while nearly 3500 applications for exemptions to travel have been assessed by DHHS as being for “non-priority reasons, mainly being NSW and Queensland residents seeking to travel to Victoria for business or leisure”.
“The majority of outstanding applications have been triaged for call centre interviews,” DHHS said, reporting that a further 869 applicants had undergone interviews with their applications “pending the receipt of documents and assessment for further consideration”.
“Yesterday the department’s call centre received 9457 calls with an average wait time of four minutes and 12 seconds,” DHHS said.
Since Victoria’s new permit laws came into effect on Monday night, requiring all interstate visitors to Victoria to apply for permission or face a $5000 fine, 82,786 permits had been issued up to midday on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Big strain on Flying Doctor service
Rachel Baxendale 6.28pm: Victorian alert for Grand Chancellor guests
International return travellers who travelled to Victoria after completing 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine at Brisbane’s Grand Chancellor hotel on or after December 30 have been asked to isolate and contact Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus hotline immediately.
The Greater Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Logan and Ipswich local government areas remain classified as “red zones” with any travel to Victoria from these areas prohibited without an exemption.
Anyone who has arrived in Victoria since December 30 from these areas has been asked to get tested and quarantine at home until they receive a negative result. Previously this advice was only given to those who had arrived since January 2.
Today’s three new coronavirus cases in international travellers in Victorian hotel quarantine include those of a male child, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s.
Victoria’s 35 active coronavirus cases include 18 linked to the Black Rock cluster – a decrease of four since Tuesday – and 17 in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine – a net increase of one since yesterday.
A child who tested positive for coronavirus in Israel, having attended a Melbourne childcare centre in Melbourne’s east two days earlier, has since recorded a negative result.
“Given a high uptake of tests from the Armadale early learning centre – all negative – and no obvious source of infection in Victoria, the department has now determined that this child’s original test is a false positive and all close contacts can be released from quarantine,” DHHS said.
READ MORE: Queensland cluster triggers mass quarantine
Rhiannon Down 6.06pm: Fears UK variant could spread to NSW
NSW Health authorities have issued a warning, urging travellers who had been to the Hotel Grand Chancellor Brisbane and have since returned to NSW to get COVID tested and self-isolate.
The hotel in Brisbane’s CBD has been linked to six cases of the highly virulent variant prompting the venue to be listed as a hotspot site.
NSW Health is calling on anyone who has been at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane since 30 December, either as a returned traveler or as a staff member, to immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days after they were last at the hotel regardless of their test result. pic.twitter.com/kh766sisuI
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 13, 2021
Anyone who visited the hotel since December 30 has been asked to get tested, after Queensland Health warned NSW authorities that a number of hotel guests have since returned to the state.
“NSW Health is working with Queensland Health to identify these people so our contact tracers can provide public health advice and updated information as it becomes available,” NSW Health said in a statement.
READ MORE: Big change for Sydney’s northern beaches
Staff writers 5.46pm: WA records new case in hotel quarantine
Western Australia has recorded one new case of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 879.
The case is a female who has returned from overseas and is in hotel quarantine.
WA Health is monitoring 15 active cases, while 855 people have recovered from the virus in WA.
READ MORE: Durie: Explain these acts of economic suicide
Rhiannon Down 5pm: Luna Park fined for New Year’s Eve Covid breach
Sydney theme park Luna Park has been fined for breaching health directions after a video of the venue packed with revellered on New Year’s Eve surfaced.
NSW Police said the amusement park’s company secretary had been issued a $5000 fine for not complying with social distancing rules.
Footage of the New Year’s Eve event, shared by 9News, appears to show crowds of onlookers gathered within the confines of the Milsons Point venue to watch the fireworks.
Police said the incident had been under investigation since the video came to the attention of law enforcement.
“Police continue to appeal to the community to report suspected breaches of any ministerial direction or behaviour which may impact on the health and safety of the community,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
NSW health authorities banned gatherings at harbourside vantage points over New Year’s Eve over fears of a superspreader event.
READ MORE: UK bank chief warns of double-dip recession
Rachel Baxendale 4.55pm: Pakula defends letting 1200 in for tennis as Vics still stranded
Victorian Tourism, Sport and Major Events Minister Martin Pakula says he does not accept that the Andrews government has been more focused on enabling tennis players to come to Melbourne for the Australian Open than it has been on ensuring Victorians can return home from interstate and overseas.
From Thursday, Tennis Australia will foot the bill for 1200 tennis players, officials and support people to be quarantined at three Melbourne hotels, staffed by COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria and Victoria Police.
At the same time, Victoria is allowing a maximum of 160 international return travellers to arrive and enter hotel quarantine each day, while thousands of Victorians remain stranded interstate as a result of having spent time in the Brisbane and Sydney “red zones” in the past fortnight.
Asked whether the Andrews government had its priorities wrong, Mr Pakula said Australians and Victorians “are coming home”.
“Since the permit system was commenced 48 hours ago, some 75,000 permits for entry into Victoria have now been issued,” Mr Pakula said.
“Now that won’t all be Victorians. Some of that’ll be interstate people wanting to visit Victoria, but a large number of Victorians will now start coming back under that permit system, and the Victorian government, along with the governments of other states and territories have all got their weekly cap of returning Australians and people are coming back, bit by bit.
“So the question then becomes do you make it, you know, do you try and walk and chew gum at the same time or do you say nothing can happen until every Australian is repatriated? “That’s not our view. We think we’ve got a responsibility to bring people home and we are, and we’ve also got a responsibility to protect our incredible major events calendar and to protect the state economy.
“If it was all one and not the other, I think that point would be valid, but it’s not all one and not the other. There are Australians coming home, there are Victorians coming home, and we still get to protect and preserve something that is incredibly important not just to our economy, but to Victoria’s cultural life.”
READ MORE: Sydney's northern beaches no longer a hot spot
Natasha Robinson 4.20pm: It’s not a debate about which vaccine is better: CMO
Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly says the AstraZeneca vaccine which the nation is relying on to protect most of the population against COVID-19 is highly effective in preventing severe disease and will “save lives”.
The government is urgently attempting to ease concerns about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine after doctors protested that Australia’s vaccine strategy is flawed. They’re concerned the AstraZeneca vaccine will not help Australia to achieve herd immunity to coronavirus.
But Professor Kelly defended the choice of the vaccine, saying it was highly effective and able to manufactured onshore.
“It will save lives,” Professor Kelly said. “By using this vaccine, we’ll be able to
protect a large proportion of the population in Australia.”
Doctors are concerned that Australia is relying on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which clinical trials showed has an efficacy of 62 per cent in people who received two full doses, instead of procuring more of Pfizer’s vaccine, which has an efficacy rate of almost 95 per cent.
The government is negotiating to get more Pfizer vaccine, but Australia is currently unable to secure more than the 10 million doses it secured in a pre-purchase agreement last year.
Professor Kelly said the debate was based on a false premise, and that it was important to roll out a vaccine which was currently available.
“The choice is not whether one is better than the other, it’s which one is available to give the maximum rollout of vaccine to save lives and to protect lives this year,” he said. “And the answer to that is the one we can make here.”
“Lives will be saved by the AstraZeneca vaccine. I have no doubt about that.”
Australia has more than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine available by March.
Emily Cosenza 4.05pm: South Australia lifts hard border to regional NSW
South Australia will allow people from regional NSW to come back into the state without having to quarantine for 14 days.
Premier Steven Marshall said the border changes would come into effect as of 12.01am on Thursday.
He said the requirement for those people was that they must get tested on day one, five and 12 of their stay in the state.
“The current hard border arrangements with those high community transmission zones in and around Sydney will remain for the time being, but we will continue to look at those daily,” Mr Marshall said.
He added there was no change to border arrangements with Greater Brisbane.
“We are hopeful that we will be able to lift that restrictions in the coming days, but we don’t want to go one or two days too early and then have a catastrophe on our hands,” Mr Marshall said.
“I know it’s been hugely inconvenient and I know people were hoping that we could do that yesterday or today, but we’re not in a position at the moment.
“There are still several worrying concerns there. There is still more testing to be done.”
SA chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier reiterated the state was looking for 14 days of no community transmission, or locally acquired cases, in Greater Sydney before opening up the border.
SA recorded two new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday – both repatriated Australians in hotel quarantine.
The state’s total number of cases is now at 590, and 12 are considered active.
Debbie Schipp 3.45pm: CMO Paul Kelly stands by Astra Zeneca vaccine
Chief Medical officer Paul Kelly has stood by the AstraZeneca vaccine amid concerns and questions about its effectiveness.
He said the AZ vaccine would be useful — it is being made in Australia and “we don’t need to queue for that”.
Professor Kelly said the vaccine is “very effective against severe illness” and that it “will save lives”.
And he suggested critics had taken some parts of an article about the vaccine, and selectively used the data.
“I am worried about the selective use of the data that we have, those interim results from particular studies back in November,” he said.
“So people should be confident about safety, being our first priority, and efficacy being the second.
“The World Health Organisation — this was in agreement among experts — wanted all Covid vaccines to exceed 50 per cent. 64 per cent, 73 per cent, 95 per cent — those are all the percentages (of the Astra Zeneca, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines).
They’re all good at protecting against severe illness and death. That’s why I say that lives will be saved by the AstraZeneca vaccine, I have no doubt about it.”
He said he expected the Pfizer vaccine will likely be the first vaccine to gain TGA approval “within the next few weeks”.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to have completed the approval process in February.
Infectious diseases experts have joined medics in calling for authorities to halt the rollout in favour of coronavirus vaccines with higher efficacy rates to ensure herd immunity.
This follows results from several trials that showed that the Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab had an efficacy rate of between 62-90 per cent depending on the doses.
READ MORE:
Rachel Baxendale 3.02pm: Victorian border closures ‘necessary’: Donnellan
Victorian Disability Minister Luke Donnellan said the state’s border closures – which have left thousands of people stranded as a result of visiting Sydney and Brisbane over the past 14 days – were necessary to protect public health.
“I understand people need to visit people interstate … but we need to ensure that people coming back are not going to be spreading coronavirus,” he said.
“That’s why what may appear to be brutal and uncaring and the like, is very much done with the interests of the Victorian public at heart, to ensure we don’t have another situation where we have to lock down.
“I do not think, to be honest, that both for people’s mental health and wellbeing, the idea of just saying ‘let everything rip and we’ll just deal with the consequences again,’ I don’t think the Victorian public wants us, as a government, as the responsible authority, to ensure that we don’t go into another lockdown and that we actually protect them from the coronavirus.”
Asked whether the containment of the Black Rock cluster and the fact that NSW has been able to manage its recent clusters without them escalating showed that borders could remain open without significant risk to public health, Mr Donnellan said: “Look, everybody wants things to be unlocked quicker, I understand that, but at the same time, no one wants to go into a situation where we have to lock down again.”
READ MORE:
Rachel Baxendale 3.02pm: Victoria taking travellers’ claims ‘at face value’
Victorian Disability Minister Luke Donnellan says state authorities are taking return travellers’ claims about where they have been “at face value”.
Several NSW return travellers who found themselves detained in Victorian hotel quarantine have told The Australian they were aware of others lying about whether they had visited NSW in the past 14 days, and felt they had been punished for telling the truth.
“We’re not going to cross-examine people, to be blunt,” Mr Donnellan said when asked whether Victoria trusted travellers to be truthful about where they’d been, given many had faced days of detention for doing so.
“We can be as confident as we can, in the sense that mostly people will tell the truth about, whether it be contract tracing, where they’ve been and the like, because the consequences everybody understands are so substantial that if they’re not telling the truth and they were in the red zone … the last thing we need is a sudden situation where someone comes back to Melbourne, someone’s told us a lie, and they then spread coronavirus, because to be blunt, it will take us a couple of days to get on top of it.
“So I’m as confident as we can be that most people will tell the truth. We’ve just got to sort of have confidence that most people will tell the truth. The public understands the importance of telling the truth at this time,” he said.
READ MORE: Premier’s warning about mutant strains
Didi Tang 2.45pm: Single case near Beijing sends 5m into lockdown
Nearly five million people in areas around Beijing have been ordered into a strict seven-day lockdown after the discovery of a single case of coronavirus as authorities battle to prevent its spread to the capital.
Authorities imposed lockdown measures on Langfang, a city of almost five million people about 80 kilometres south of the capital, and restricted all outbound transport to “prevent the pandemic from spreading beyond”.
The quarantine was announced hours after the nearby county of Guan reported its first case of the coronavirus, in a woman who commutes to Beijing, and imposed similar restrictions.
“All family gatherings should be cancelled … all marriages postponed and funerals simplified until the epidemic situation has subsided,” the Langfang city government said in a statement, adding that all of its 4.9 million residents would be tested within two days.
Rachel Baxendale 2.19pm: No criteria for lifting ‘red zone’ restrictions
Asked whether defined criteria for lifting “red zone” border restrictions and caps on officer workers had been discussed at state cabinet meetings, Victorian Disability Minister Luke Donnellan said he had only recently returned from leave and had not attended recent cabinet meetings.
“We’re keen, obviously, to get as many people back to the workplace, back into the offices and the like, but we’ve got to do it safely, and our advice will come from public health,” Mr Donnellan said.
“In terms of what the trigger is, look I couldn’t give you an honest answer to that at the moment because I haven’t been in the cabinet meetings, but it’s important that that’s reviewed on an ongoing basis.”
Asked how many Victorians were still stranded having visited the Sydney or Brisbane red zones in the past 14 days, Mr Donnellan said he did not know.
Asked why the Andrews government couldn’t cite criteria for lifting red zone classifications, Mr Donnellan said it was “dependent on what’s happening in other states”, citing NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s recent comments that her state has had 10 cases with an unknown source of infection in the last few weeks.
Asked why Victoria couldn’t adhere to the commonwealth’s definition of a coronavirus hotspot, Mr Donnellan said Victoria was “running the quarantine”.
“We’re running the quarantine and the like. We’re doing what is the commonwealth’s responsibility,” he said.
“Let’s be very clear: in the constitution, quarantining is the commonwealth’s responsibility. We have stepped up so we need to be responsible for what is happening in this state.
“The last thing we want to be doing is going through another lockdown, so let’s be very clear, we will be very cautious in this space to ensure that we’re comfortable if we release things, in terms of restrictions and the like, in terms of coming up the border and the like, that we can be confident we’re doing it properly and we’ve got the safety of the Victorian public front and centre.”
READ MORE: Quarantine move ‘announced with breakfast’
Rachel Baxendale 1.55pm: Increase to cap on office workers in Victoria imminent
Victorian Disability Minister Luke Donnellan said he expected Industry Support and Recovery Minister Martin Pakula to make an announcement within “24-48 hours” regarding an increase office capacity limits in Victoria.
Currently coronavirus regulations allow 25 per cent of workers to attend offices of private sector businesses at any one time, with 100 per cent of public service office workers still working from home.
The cap was set to increase to 25 per cent of public servants and 50 per cent of private sector office workers on Monday, but that measure was paused due to the Black Rock coronavirus cluster.
The lack of foot traffic from office workers for the past 10 months in Melbourne’s CBD in particular has had a crippling effect on small business.
“I think that Minister Pakula will be making an announcement about that in the next 24-48 hours or so,” Mr Donnellan said.
“With all these (coronavirus restrictions), every day, there is a review to try and work out how we can sort of do things safely, but bring activity back, because of course it’s just so vital for job opportunities, and for people’s mental health.”
READ MORE: Staggering change in job vacancies
Rachel Baxendale 1.35pm: More than 75,000 get permits for Victoria
More than 75,000 people secured permits to enter Victoria in the 34 hours after the Andrews government’s new application portal went just after 9pm on Monday.
Victorian Minister for Disability, Ageing, Carers and Child Protection Luke Donnellan said more than 75,400 permits had been granted to 7am on Wednesday.
From 5.59pm on Monday, anyone entering Victoria from any other part of Australia requires a permit, regardless of the coronavirus status of the jurisdiction from which they’re travelling.
It is not clear what proportion of the more than 75,000 permits have been granted to people who were effectively released from limbo when regional NSW was reclassified from “red” to “amber” on Monday, enabling Victorians who had been there in the past 14 days to return to their home state and isolate until they receive a negative coronavirus test result.
Thousands of others who have spent time in greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane in the past 14 days remain stranded, with their “red zone” status ongoing.
Asked when Victorians could expect a review of those “red zone” classifications, and of household gathering limits of 15 people and the requirement to wear masks indoors, Mr Donellan said all rules were being reviewed “on an ongoing basis every day”.
“It’s a fluid situation,” he said.
“There are still people stuck in the red zone, but that work is ongoing.”
Joseph Lam 12.30pm: November F1 race in Melbourne the ‘right decision’
The Australian Grand Prix has been postponed until the end of 2021 in lieu of the annual event’s usual spot as the season opener in March.
In 2021 the Formula 1 race will take place from November 18 to November 21, following on from Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival, something Sport and Major Events Minister Martin Pakula described as a very exciting time of year.
“We genuinely believe a November Grand Prix is the right decision. What this global pandemic has taught us is the need to be adaptable,” he said.
Mr Pakula said he hopes the race can get back on track in years to come.
“We’re certainly keen to go back to a season opening spot in 2022.”
READ MORE: Melbourne Grand Prix canned
Adrian McMurray 12.31pm: Paramedics prepare to evacuate Brisbane hotel
Some pictures just in from Brisbane as paramedics prepare to evacuate those in quarantine at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, where six people have tested positive to the UK variant of COVID-19.
Charlie Peel 11.25am: Qld Premier demands quarantine overhaul
Annastacia Palaszczuk has called for an overhaul of the way international arrivals are quarantined after testing by Queensland health authorities revealed a cluster of cases involving the highly-infectious UK variant of COVID-19 were linked.
The Premier said she would discuss the issue with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and her interstate colleagues and urge for changes to be made to quarantine for international arrivals.
READ the full story here.
Joseph Lam 11.15am: NSW records one new local case
NSW recorded one new COVID-19 case linked to the Berala cluster just 24 hours after a case which led to the temporary closure of an emergency department in Western Sydney was also linked to the cluster.
A total of seven cases were recorded overnight in the state, one of which was a child who was a household contact of another case in the Berala cluster. The remaining six cases were linked to overseas returned travellers.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged that vigilance continue despite news of a COVID-19 vaccine rollout in coming weeks.
“Just because some people in the community, whether it is a small number or a larger number, has the vaccine, does not mean that the rest of us can relax. Quite the opposite,” she said.
“I just wanted to make that point clear because once the vaccination is started to – once the vaccine begins to start rolling out, it does not mean we stop being COVID-safe.
“We have to stay COVID-safe for a while longer when the pandemic can be deemed to be over. We don’t know when that end date is.”
Testing numbers rose by about a third overnight after Ms Berejiklian made a plea for residents to get tested.
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has echoed the premier’s plea calling on more residents to present for testing.
“It is critical that we achieve over that 20,000 mark. I’m particularly urging people in the Greater Western Sydney area – so that picks up all of south-western Sydney, those areas of Liverpool, Fairfield, Bankstown and those areas into Western Sydney,” she said.
NSW recorded 20,664 overnight bringing the state’s total since January 12, 2020 to 4,409,071.
NSW recorded one new locally acquired case of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 13, 2021
Six cases were also recorded in returned travellers, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,852. pic.twitter.com/omlfGcOASd
Mackenzie Scott 10.55am: Testing widening as UK strain concerns grow
Workers and guests linked to the Grand Chancellor Hotel at the centre of Brisbane’s virus concerns will be tested as transmission concerns grow.
Six cases of the UK strain of COVID-19 that have been reported at the Grand Chancellor Hotel have been linked via genomic testing to each other.
These include a Ghana man and his partner who transmitted the virus to a cleaner and her partner and then a father and daughter who arrived from Lebanon and tested positive yesterday.
The two groups of overseas arrivals stayed on floor seven of the hotel in neighbouring rooms.
All of the remaining 129 guests at the Grand Chancellor will now be moved to other quarantine hotels in Brisbane at the cost of the government.
The 226 people who have worked at the hotel since December 30 have been placed into quarantine and are being tested. Contact tracers are also getting in touch with 250 travellers who have left the facility since that date.
Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said all the testing is precautional.
Queensland has reported no new cases were reported in the community on Wednesday, with two people diagnosed in returned travellers. A total of 20,615 tests were conducted yesterday.
Dr Young asked anyone who has visited venues on Queensland’s exposure list as well as “anyone who has been in that hotel Grand Chancellor from 30 (December) onwards” to come forward.
The 226 staff members mentioned do not include staff considered as close contacts of the cleaner who have been in quarantine since January 7, said Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.
Queensland Police have issued 2087 masks to Brisbane residents since Friday. Two penalty infringements have been issued in the last two days bringing the total to 24, said Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski.
Six notices for people to appear for more serious incidents, including refusal to wear a mask and assaulting police upon direction to do so. Another was a person who refused to get a mask in the CBD and spat on an officer who directed them to do so, said Commissioner Gollschewski.
READ MORE: Australians ‘living in charmed Covid bubble’
Joseph Lam 10.45am: Six cases linked to UK variant of COVID
Queensland authorities are scrambling to test and quarantine 605 people in Brisbane after authorities found the highly infectious COVID-19 variant has spread to six people who stayed at the Grand Chancellor hotel.
Annastacia Palaszczuk announced this morning that six people who stayed on the seventh floor at the Grand Chancellor hotel have tested positive for the highly infectious UK variant of the virus.
Authorities began moving 129 guests from the Grand Chancellor hotel to other quarantine hotels on Wednesday. Grand Chancellor guests will not be charged for their time at the hotel.
A further 250 guests who have previously quarantined at the Grand Chancellor hotel will get tested and go into quarantine as well as 226 staff from the hotel.
Queensland recorded two new cases of COVID-19 overnight.
Joseph Lam 9.45am: Brisbane residents may face extended quarantine
Brisbane residents at the Grand Chancellor Hotel may face an extended two-week quarantine as authorities scramble to trace potential connections to a cleaner who contracted the highly infectious strain of COVID-19 from the UK, Sky news reports.
A cleaner, in her 20s, who contracted the UK variant of COVID-19 was infectious for a five-day period from January 2 before entering quarantine with her husband on January 7. On Monday, the husband of the cleaner also tested positive of the highly infectious strain.
Queensland Health found the husband was infectious for a two-day period before he and his wife entered lockdown on January 7. He attended work for two days and visited a Bunnings and a bottle shop about 8km southwest of the Brisbane CBD.
The cleaner contracted the virus from a man who returned to Australia from Ghana.
Ms Palaszczuk imposed a three-day lockdown of her state’s capital city on Friday after authorities became aware of the UK variant. Brisbane is on its third day of a 10-day period of increased restrictions including mandatory mask use in several public settings.
Venue alerts are in place for:
• Acacia Ridge Bunnings Warehouse, 441 Bradman St, Acacia Ridge QLD 4110: Tuesday January 5 from 2pm to 2.40pm; and
• Sunnybank Hills Cellars, Corner Calam Road And, Compton Rd, Sunnybank Hills QLD 4109: Wednesday January 6 from 2:05pm to 2:15pm
Ms Palaszczuk is set to deliver an update on the state’s COVID-19 situation at 9.15am AEST.
READ MORE: Contacts of cleaner to be retested
Joseph Lam 9.20am: Use it properly: How to wear a face mask
As Queensland enters its third day of ramped up restrictions following its three-day lockdown, authorities are pushing for better awareness and more use of face masks.
It’s important to know not all masks are made equally, nor are they comfortable.
Here’s how to wear a face mask correctly as told by clinical nurse consultant Belinda Henderson.
Are you wearing your mask properly?
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) January 12, 2021
Here’s clinical nurse consultant Belinda Henderson with some important tips about mask wearing.@MetSthHealth @pahospital pic.twitter.com/rJtwPbaENr
READ MORE: Tips on correct mask use
Richard Ferguson 9.10am: Councils warned: Don’t play games with Australia Day
The Morrison government has bluntly told councils not to use COVID-19 as an excuse to play politics with Australia Day, as a growing number of councils cancel celebrations on January 26.
The government is demanding councils conduct in-person citizenship ceremonies on January 26 but many are pushing ahead with plans to have dramatically scaled-down events on the day.
A number of councils are refusing to celebrate the national day, in solidarity with Indigenous campaigners who want to change the date from January 26.
Local councils are required to perform citizenship ceremonies on January 26, with their powers stripped if they do not comply. But many councils are deciding to hold their Australia Day festivities on other days.
Perth’s Fremantle council, Sydney’s Inner West, Byron Bay Shire, Melbourne’s Moreland, Yarra and Darebin, and Tasmania’s Flinders Island will not hold any Australia Day celebrations, instead commemorating Aboriginal Australians.
READ the full story here.
Rachel Baxendale 8.15am: Seven days of zero for Victoria
Victoria has recorded its seventh straight day with no new locally acquired coronavirus cases since the Black Rock cluster emerged on December 30.
There were three cases detected in international return travellers in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours to Wednesday.
Yesterday 0 new locally acquired cases were reported. There are 3 new cases in hotel quarantine. 17,908 test results were received. Got symptoms? Get tested - #EveryTestHelps. More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/lQsgK365mF
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 12, 2021
Victoria currently has 35 active cases of coronavirus, including those in international return travellers in hotel quarantine and in the Black Rock cluster.
The latest figures come after 17,908 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Wednesday.
Joseph Lam 8.10am: ‘Enough vaccine to vaccinate Australia population twice’
Australia’s chief medical officer has defended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying: “The choice was based on the best advice we had at the time”.
Ahead of the rollout of first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations for Australia’s most vulnerable people, some medical experts have slammed the choice of a vaccine recently found to be only 62 per cent effective.
But Professor Paul Kelly noted the availability of the vaccine and said Australia took a “chance in a sense among several vaccines”.
“We chose the option with a diversified portfolio,” he said.
“There’s enough to vaccinate the entire population of Australia twice.”
Professor Kelly also called on Australians to be patient while awaiting analysis by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and Independent Regulator.
“People should be wary about making statements particularly about interim data,” he said.
READ MORE: Red light rule traps thousands
Andrew Duehren 8.00am: US politicians test positive after sheltering from rioters
At least three congressmen and women who sheltered in a secure room during last week’s storming of the Capitol said they have since tested positive for COVID-19, adding to fears about the virus’s spread during the attack.
The politicians, all Democrats, said they had fled to the room during the attack where Republican politicians refused to wear masks. A video posted by Punchbowl News shows Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester in the room offering masks to a group of House Republicans, who decline to put them on.
I once again find myself fighting alongside my friend @repjayapal.
— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) January 12, 2021
Get well soon Chairwoman. Praying for your health.
I implore anyone who sheltered at the Capitol during the attack to get tested. https://t.co/0ZVCNzH7P6
The Capitol’s physician told politicians and staff this weekend that those who were in the room might have been exposed to someone infected with COVID-19.
Reps. Brad Schneider, Pramila Jayapal, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, have since announced that they have tested positive. The three politicians were in the same room with the maskless Republicans and about 100 other people for several hours during the attack.
“Those that flout public health guidance should be sanctioned and immediately removed from the House floor by the Sergeant at Arms for their reckless endangerment of their colleagues,” Mr. Schneider said Tuesday.
The Wall St Journal
READ MORE: Trump claims speech before riot ‘totally appropriate’
Joseph Lam 7.45am: AstraZeneca ‘more effective than flu vaccine’
While some medical experts have cast doubt over the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, others say its effectiveness is more than the influenza vaccine which hasn’t been questioned.
As stage three trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine find an effective rate of about 62 per cent, Professor Peter Collignon on Sunrise on Wednesday said that is still enough to help contain the spread of the virus while some vaccines may be difficult to get stock of.
"It's much better than anything that's reasonably going to be available for quite a while"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) January 12, 2021
Infectious diseases expert @CollignonPeter weighs in on calls for Australia's rollout of Oxford COVID jab to be paused over efficacy concerns.
Read more: https://t.co/cCvFMo4JPf pic.twitter.com/3nqjWQ1kRT
“Yes, it’s not perfect, it may not be as good as the Moderna Pfizer vaccine, but they’re going to be in short supply,” said the Infectious Diseases Physician.
“What we’ve got now is actually more effective than the influenza vaccine and nobody is saying don’t roll that out.
Professor Collignon noted that it isn’t wise to rush into a vaccine rollout, he believes the AstraZeneca vaccine with strategies such as mask use and social distancing are Australia’s best chance while vaccines are further developed.
“(AstraZeneca) is much better than anything that’s reasonably going to be available.”
He also called for more independent analysis of vaccines.
“These vaccines are all looking good but we need independent analysis of all the data and for the raw data to be readily available for all to see and analyse.”
READ MORE: No welcome home to state of dysfunction
Joseph Lam 7.20am: Tips on how to use face masks effectively
Face masks are mandatory in multiple settings throughout NSW and Queensland, but finding the right fit isn’t always easy.
With try before you buy not possible and no end in sight for mandatory use, NSW Health has advised of a couple of fail-proof ways to get the most comfort and best use out of a face mask.
NSW Health senior medical adviser Dr Jan Fizzell said wearing masks could be an unusual sensation.
“The first thing to do is just practice having it on,” Dr Fizzell said.
“Everyone’s got a different face so the different brands, shapes, sizes, everything you see, different people actually do better or worse for the different masks.
“We’re going to be in this for a while now so you may as well have ones that fit you well and are comfortable.”
Face masks are now mandatory in certain premises in Greater Sydney. We know it may feel strange or uncomfortable wearing a mask.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 12, 2021
Listen to Dr Jan talk about ways to be more comfortable when wearing a mask.
For more information about masks: https://t.co/qQYmLot6mj pic.twitter.com/bQ2t5xKB8e
When it came to using the mask, it was best to adopt an on or off strategy.
“You don’t want to just have a chin hat, your chin does not need protecting, it really doesn’t. Similarly, the long earring is not a good look.”
READ MORE: Coronavirus plea — ‘listen to the experts’
Joseph Lam 6.50am: Victoria leads way for COVID-19 testing numbers
Victorians have been tested for COVID-19 more than residents in any other state in Australia as premiers call on residents to increase virus screening.
Just shy of 4.18 million tests have been recorded in Victoria, a number equivalent to around 62.3 per cent of its population of about 6.19 million.
Closely behind Victoria is NSW, with 4.38 million tests in a population of 8.16 million (53.7 per cent) and South Australia 890,000 tests in a population of 1.7 million (50.5 per cent).
The Northern Territory has recorded a testing rate of about 36.3 per cent (89,317 tests against a population of 240,000); the ACT has a rate of about 34.3 per cent (148,660 tests against a population of 431,000); Queensland sits at 31.3 per cent (1,621,595 tests against a 5.17 million population); Tasmania is at 27.9 per cent (150,946 tests, 540,600 population); while just 25.17 per cent of WA’s population has been tested (670,000 tests, population 2.66 million).
READ MORE: Anger over new travel permit scheme
Adrian McMurray 6.25am: Virus link at Sydney northern beaches barber shop
A barber shop in Sydney’s northern beaches is on high alert after authorities found a link to a confirmed case of COVID-19.
NSW Health issued an alert for The Groomsmen Barber Shop at Warriewood Square asking anyone who visited the Warriewood store on Wednesday, January 6, between 11.30am and 12pm to get tested immediately and isolate until a negative result is received.
Five cases were recorded on Tuesday, all linked to existing Sydney clusters in Berala, the northern beaches and Mount Druitt.
NSW Health has been advised of a new venue in the Northern Beaches visited by a confirmed case of COVID 19.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 12, 2021
This information will be updated on the website shortly. pic.twitter.com/uDoMEZVzCF
READ MORE: Berejiklian’s ‘honest answer’ about restrictions
Joseph Lam 6.15am: Victorian announces new venues of virus concern
Victoria authorities have advised the following venues are not a current health risk but those who visited during the exposure times listed must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days from the time of exposure:
■ Black Rock Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant 305 Beach Road, Black Rock VIC 3193: Monday December 28 from 7.30pm to 9pm;
■ Royal Brighton Yacht Club (outdoor dining), 253 Esplanade, Brighton VIC 3186: Tuesday December 29 from 12pm to 2pm;
■ Camberwell Tao Dumplings 1 Evans Place, Camberwell VIC 3124: Tuesday December 29 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm;
■ Keysborough Sikh Temple Keysborough, 198-206 Perry Road, Keysborough: Friday January 1 from 3pm to 6pm;
■ Melbourne CBD Nandos 27 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne: January 1 from 2am to 2.30am;
■ Moorabbin Grape and Grain Liquor Cellars, 14/16 Station St: Monday December 28 from 8.05pm to 8.47pm; Tuesday December 29 12pm to 4pm;
■ South Melbourne The Nike Company 134 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne; and
■ Springvale Ikea Cafe and Restaurant, 917 Princes Hwy: Thursday December 31 from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and Wednesday December 30 from 12pm to 12.45pm
If you have even the mildest of symptoms, please get tested.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 12, 2021
To assist your decision making on which testing location to attend, wait-times are also available for drive-through metro sites.
Find the nearest testing location to your home: https://t.co/ogHDjdmEZd#COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/c8uNIfsXaq
READ MORE: How Australian Open tennis quarantine will work
Natasha Robinson 5.15am: Vaccine ‘is not good enough’ to stop the virus
Doctors are calling for a re-evaluation of Australia’s vaccine strategy, saying that herd immunity cannot be achieved with the lower-efficacy Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which the Morrison government plans to administer to millions of Australians.
Medics and infectious disease experts are calling for Australia to invest in more high-efficacy vaccines, rather than relying on the AstraZeneca jab.
Australia has ordered 53.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. But trials have showed it has a much lower level of efficacy than the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna and now being administered in Britain, France, Israel and the US.
Andrew Miller, an anaesthetist and head of the Australian Medical Association in WA, called for the government to halt its plans to begin vaccinating the population with the AstraZeneca vaccine from March.
“We need to pause and look at what the outcomes are going to be before we take any further steps,” Dr Miller said. “With the AstraZeneca vaccine, on current data, if we rely on that vaccine we’re not going to get to herd immunity.”
Read the full story here.
Stephen Rice 5am: Premiers clash as east-west border row heats up
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has hit back at WA Premier Mark McGowan over his claims that her COVID-19 strategy was wrong and at odds with the rest of the country.
Ms Berejiklian said she “couldn’t care less” about the criticism but suggested Mr McGowan didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Anyone who thinks we’re going to eliminate or eradicate this disease, unfortunately doesn’t appreciate what the pandemic means,” she said.
Mr McGowan on Monday said NSW’s focus on suppression of the virus, rather than elimination, was at odds with the rest of the states and territories and urged NSW to follow the lead of jurisdictions such as Victoria and Queensland.
Read the full story here.
Mackenzie Scott 4.45am: Contacts of UK variant cleaner to be retested
Close contacts of the cleaner at the centre of Brisbane’s virus woes will be retested as authorities continue to investigate how she became infected at one of the city’s quarantine hotels.
Queensland Health will be retesting more than 300 close contacts to the woman who contracted the UK strain of COVID-19, regardless of their health status. Her partner was the state’s only case on Tuesday, having tested positive following his second test on the 10th day of quarantine.
“Anyone determined as a close contact of a positive case is tested multiple times during their quarantine period, regardless of if they have symptoms or not,” a spokesperson said.
It comes as contact tracers linked two sites to the latest case, including a Bunnings Warehouse at Acacia Ridge on January 5 between 2pm and 2.40pm and Sunnybank Cellars at Sunnybank Hills on January 6 between 2.05pm and 2.15pm.
Read the full story here.
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