Coronavirus Australia live news: Support packages for locked-down NSW residents imminent
Amid 112 new NSW cases, Health Minister Greg Hunt says greater support will likely be finalised today, as SA closes its border to Sydney and outbreak crosses borders.
- Support packages for NSW imminent
- NSW records 112 new cases
- ‘Get ready for another 4 weeks lockdown’
- NSW braces for more than 100 new cases
- ‘Clamp down or be overwhelmed’
- Melbourne CBD ‘won’t recover until 2024’
Welcome to rolling coverage of the ongoing pandemic.
Health Minister Greg Hunt says economic and mental health support for NSW residents will likely be finalised today, as South Australia closes its border to Sydney. NSW recorded 112 new local cases to 8pm on Sunday. Experts warn a further four week lockdown is the only way to get NSW numbers down. Melbourne’s CBD economy will not return to pre-Covid levels until late 2024 or early 2025.
Rhiannon Down11.20pm:New sites on Sydney exposure list
Food outlets, a bank branch, and a medical centre, as well as a dozen public transport routes, are among the latest venues to be added to NSW’s list of exposure sites, stoking fears Tuesday will be another day of high case numbers.
The growing list includes a string of locations concentrated in Sydney’s west, such as: Westpac Fairfield at the Neeta City Shopping Centre, Ware Street Medical Practice also in Fairfield, Cedar Valley Meats in Yagoona, Mr Shawarma in Greenacre, the Valley Plaza Priceline in Green Valley, Roselands Fruit World and Mataam Al Mandi in Lakemba.
Cycling shop 99 Bikes in Bondi Junction was also added to the list along with a dozen bus routes reaching almost every corner of Sydney including Fairfield, Zetland, Kareela, Neutral Bay, Forest Lodge, Redfern and Beaconsfield.
Schnitz Broadway in Glebe, Kmart, Big W and Pharmacy 4 Less at Bankstown Central, Malatang Restaurant at Hurstville Central, Australia Post, Westfield Bondi Junction, Coles Fairfield West and the Kmart at the Casula Mall were added as casual contact locations.
The Wetherill Park and Oran Park Woolworths, the 7-Eleven service station in Camperdown and Centennial Park’s Centennial Homestead Café, were also added to the list.
âš ï¸PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – VENUES AND TRANSPORT ROUTES âš ï¸
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 12, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues of concern and transport routes associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/2M2N0riZp2
Patrick Commins 10.20pm:Lockdown threatens economic comeback
The national economy will “go backwards” this quarter if Sydney’s lockdown extends beyond six weeks, economists say, with major additional support for affected businesses and workers now “critical” to securing an anticipated bounce-back once restrictions are lifted.
As Treasury officials prepare a joint federal/state package expected to include a reinstatement of the business cashflow boost for small businesses and potentially an expansion of the eligibility criteria of the commonwealth Covid disaster relief payment, Monday’s news of a further 112 cases triggered expectations that the lockdown could drag on into late July or even early August.
Prior to the latest outbreak of the more virulent Delta variant of the virus, private sector analysts had pencilled in real GDP growth of around 1 per cent over the three months to September, implying output would lift by about $5bn.
Rachel Baxendale9.40pm:Melbourne apartments on exposure list
An apartment building in Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s west, has become Victoria’s latest coronavirus exposure site, after removalists who later tested positive for the virus worked there.
Anyone who visited the residential part of Ariele apartments at 7 Thomas Holmes St, Maribyrnong, between 1pm and 11.50pm last Thursday is considered a Tier 1 contact, and must isolate for a fortnight.
Anyone who has visited the apartments at any point since is considered a Tier 2 contact, and must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Three removalists from Sydney are understood to have collected furniture from one of the apartments last Thursday.
They transported the furniture to South Australia on Friday, when one of the removalists was contacted by NSW contact tracers, alerting him that he was a close contact of a positive case.
The removalist got tested on his return to Sydney on Saturday and returned a positive test result on Sunday.
On Monday a second removalist also tested positive.
READ MORE: State scrambles to fight virus incursions
Rhiannon Down 8.55pm: Active cases list hits 770
The nation has 770 active cases of Covid-19 after 112 were recorded on Monday in NSW, according to the latest snapshot.
A total of 126 people are in hospital with the coronavirus and the total death toll for the pandemic has climbed to 911 after the passing of a woman in her 90s was reported on Sunday.
More than 22 million Covid-19 tests have been received since the start of the pandemic, after 139,699 jabs were reported in the past 24 hours.
It comes as the government confirmed economic and mental health support packages for NSW will be completed in the “very near future”.
This daily infographic provides a quick view of the current coronavirus (#COVID19) situation in Australia. https://t.co/4hUCqzLUcUpic.twitter.com/YcqyYSIOBf
— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) July 12, 2021
READ MORE:NRL families to ‘break’ bubble
Rhiannon Down 8.20pm: Ex-Pfizer chief questions rollout
Former Pfizer global research president John LaMattina has criticised the federal government’s vaccine rollout, admitting he would be “disappointed” if he was an Australian left waiting to be immunised at this stage in the pandemic.
Dr LaMattina said the “wheels came off” Australia’s vaccination rollout when the federal government failed to secure more doses of mRNA vaccines in November, as reports of the vaccine’s high efficacy rates emerged.
“If I was an Australian and seeing the rest of the world getting all these vaccine
doses and my country was late to the party, I’d be a little disappointed, to say the least,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night.
“And it wasn’t as if they were blindsided. So Pfizer came in June and July of last year and offered different things and they were rebuffed basically.
“I would think in a global pandemic — and I’m not a politician, I’m not a government official — but I would think you keep a watchful eye on whatever is happening and be prepared to make a quick move if something would have changed your thinking, be it a new vaccine or extraordinary potency of the mRNA vaccine.
“So I think that’s sort of the responsibility of government officials.”
Dr LaMattina said he understood the federal government passed on making multiple supply deals in the early days of the pandemic, but was “not sure that was a terrible mistake” until later in the year when the government still failed to act.
“Once November rolled around and Pfizer Moderna revealed the extraordinary efficacy of their vaccines, I would have thought that Australia, like many other countries, would have gone right away back to Pfizer and said, ‘Ok, we’re interested now’,” he said.
“Assuming the FDA approves your vaccine and demonstrates safety and efficacy, we
want enough vaccine to really inoculate 80 per cent, 90 per cent of people in Australia over the age of 18.
“So I think my personal view is to ask them where the wheels fell off a little bit.”
READ MORE: Rudd stands by Pfizer letter
Rachel Baxendale8.10pm: Victorian exposure list grows
The Victorian Health Department has listed two new coronavirus exposure sites in Melbourne’s north, indicating at least one member of a family who recently returned from Sydney left their home in defiance of home quarantine requirements for red zone returnees.
One member of the family, who has since tested positive for coronavirus, drove back to Melbourne from Sydney on July 8.
The other three family members, one of whom has also tested positive, had flown home on July 4.
Anyone returning to Victoria from a red zone must quarantine at home for a fortnight, with receiving medical care and getting a coronavirus test the only acceptable reasons for leaving the house.
Coles Craigieburn Central has been listed as a Tier 1 exposure site for the period between 5.28pm and 6.38pm on Saturday.
Metro Petroleum in Broadmeadows has been listed as a Tier 2 exposure site for the period between 1.19pm and 2.04pm on Sunday.
Anyone who has visited a Tier 1 site must quarantine at home for a fortnight, while those who have visited a Tier 2 site must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative test result.
READ MORE: NSW outbreak spreads to Victoria
Rhiannon Down7.25pm:Shorten pans ‘most hands-off PM since federation’
Bill Shorten has criticised the government’s vaccine rollout, accusing Scott Morrison of being the “most hands-off Prime Minister since federation”.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got people in Sydney who are locked down,” the former opposition leader told the ABC on Monday.
“People are making sacrifices. They’re not able to go to work.
“They do expect the promise to be kept by their politicians and the state and federal governments.
“And the reality is there’s two promises for the sacrifices that hard working Sydneysiders and Melburnians have made previously, it is this — the government will get people vaccinated. “And they will provide financial support for people. Now neither of that has been forthcoming adequately in this latest outbreak.”
Mr Shorten said the government needed to provide financial support to casual workers as a matter of urgency, as it prepares to release an economic and mental health support package for NSW.
“They go to work, infect people, on the other hand they stay at home and starve,” he said. “It’s a terrible choice.”
The government has introduced the Covid-19 disaster payment, which kicks in once restrictions have been in place for more than seven days. It provides $325 for those who have lost less than 20 hours of work and $500 for those who have lost more than 20 hours of work.
READ MORE:Retail feels crunch as confidence ebbs
Erin Lyons 7.00pm: Thousands dob in lockdown rule breakers
Sydneysiders are not afraid to dob in fellow residents caught breaching lockdown measures.
More than 3000 calls were made to Crime Stoppers over the weekend alone from community members concerned about Covid behaviour.
About 40,000 calls had been made since the start of the pandemic, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said.
“It is a stark reminder that most of the community gets the issue. They get the health orders and the significance of them,” he said.
Officers have been out in force, especially in the southwestern suburbs, as the virus continues to spread across the city.
Dozens of new cases have been linked to the Fairfield local government areas, with the deadly Delta variant mainly spreading between families, friends and colleagues of infected Sydneysiders.
“While Fairfield is an area of concern at the moment, we are also looking at other areas across Sydney, including Bondi and Sutherland,” Mr Fuller said.
“Police will continue to conduct business inspections with an additional focus of compliance with QR code requirements.”
He confessed there had been a notable improvement in behaviour, particularly when it came to mask wearing.
But Police Minister David Elliott warned that Sydneysiders were “not out of the woods yet”.
“We have a way to go and I urge every person to continue to limit their movements to limit the spread of this devastating virus,” he said.
A total of 105 PINs were issued on Sunday, with 16 people copping a $200 fine for failing to wear a mask.
READ MORE:Retail feels crunch as confidence ebbs
Rhiannon Down 6.30pm: Nationwide vaccine jabs top 9.1 million doses
The nation’s vaccine rollout has surpassed 9.1 million doses after 51,848 jabs were administered in the past 24 hours, amid a dramatic jump in Sydney’s case numbers.
More than half a million doses have been administered by the federal system after 14,550 jabs were administered in the 24 hours bringing the total to 5,172,741 jabs, according to the Department of Health.
This figure includes 4,711,565 jabs which have been administered by primary care, while 3,977,076 jabs have been administered by the states and territories.
NSW, which recorded 112 cases on Monday, administered 11,467 jabs in the last 24 hours, bringing the states total to 1,053,060.
Victoria continued to hold the lead, with 10,860 jabs in the past day, pushing its total to 1,277,146.
Just 506 jabs were delivered to disability and aged care facilities yesterday, bringing the sector’s total to 461,176 jabs.
This daily infographic provides the total number of vaccine doses administered in Australia as of 11 July 2021. Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccine information here: https://t.co/vqZuOLzB2Ppic.twitter.com/CeNSKHZUgK
— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) July 12, 2021
Greg Brown 5.55pm: Albanese makes maiden visit to coal mine
Anthony Albanese has made his first coalmine visit since becoming Labor leader.
The Opposition Leader visited the Isaac Plains coalmine in the Bowen Basin in central Queensland, with Labor’s candidate for Capricornia Russell Robertson.
MORE: PM slides as women turn away
Finn McHugh 5.40pm: More than half aged care workers yet to get first jab
More than half of the nation’s aged care workers are yet to receive their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, despite the virus rampaging through aged care homes.
Workers will be forced to receive the vaccine to remain employed at aged care centres, where Australia has suffered the vast majority of its Covid-19 deaths.
But just two months from the federal government’s September 17 deadline, Health Minister Greg Hunt conceded just 107,000 of the cohort, roughly 40 per cent, had received their first dose.
He denied the federal government was running out of time, insisting that number was “increasing significantly every day”.
“We have a series of ways to ensure that all those vaccinations … can be achieved so everybody is in a position to take that up,” he told reporters on Monday.
Over 213,000 aged care residents across Australia have been fully vaccinated, and another 33,000 have received their first dose.
But national cabinet also agreed in June to mandate vaccinations in the aged care sector over fears unvaccinated workers could transfer the virus to Australia’s most vulnerable.
That decision was on Friday reaffirmed by all states and territories, except Victoria.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said only Victoria’s chief health officer, not Premier Daniel Andrews, had the authority to make the decision.
More than 894,000 vaccines were administered across Australia, taking the country’s full vaccination rate to 11.3 per cent.
NCA NewsWire has contacted Mr Hunt for comment.
Ellen Ransley 5.15pm: Eastern Suburbs unit complex quarantined
Residents of an apartment complex in Sydney’s eastern suburbs are being quarantined after eight cases of Covid-19 were detected across five households.
It has prompted NSW health authorities to urge people to wear masks even when they’re taking out the bins.
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said the eight cases had been detected over a number of days, and all other residents of the 29-unit apartment block would need to undergo 14 days quarantine as they had been deemed close contacts.
“This is a reminder of the risk that Covid poses and why we are requiring masks in indoor common property areas of residential premises, and also discouraging social gatherings or any gatherings across household groups in those apartment blocks as well,” she said.
In a statement, NSW Health said the cases reinforce the need for everyone to wear a face mask in a shared foyer or lobby, lifts, stairwells and corridors, and shared laundry facilities of apartment complexes.
“This advice applies to everyone, including residents, visitors, building managers, concierge staff, contractors, delivery drivers and cleaners,” NSW health said.
READ MORE:Chinese athletes complain about lax measures at Olympics hotel
Rhiannon Down 5.05pm: Medical centre, Coles, among bulging list of exposure sites
An immigration services and solicitors office in Sydney’s west are among a string of locations to be added to the list of exposure sites, with multiple time periods listed over the course of a week.
Australian Visa Now and Law and Order Office Work, both in Fairfield, as well as Belmore Medical Centre were added to the list this afternoon as close contact sites, with anyone who was present during the risk window asked to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Numerous venues across the western suburbs have also been added as casual contact sites, including: PRD Real Estate in Liverpool, Fairfield Heights Babylon Bakery, Asal Sweet Patisserie in Merrylands and Tins and Wood in Penrith.
Australia Post Office at the Eastgate Shopping Centre and Irish Convenience Store in Bondi Junction and Coles Pyrmont, were also added to the list.
The full list is available on the NSW Health website.
âš ï¸PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – VENUES OF CONCERNâš ï¸
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 12, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues of concern and additional times to previously announced venues that have been visited by confirmed cases of #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/MEOfdxMzT5
Max Maddison 4.15pm: I never claimed I was involved in Pfizer contracts: Rudd
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says his letter is “entirely consistent” with Pfizer’s public statement, as he hasn’t tried to claim responsibility for contractual decisions made by the company.
Pfizer, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Scott Morrison all moved to pour cold water on reports Mr Rudd helped broker a deal for the country to obtain vaccine supplies early via a Zoom call with Pfizer’s chief executive, Albert Bourla.
But Mr Rudd responded to a carefully worded statement from the pharmaceutical company which said he’d played no role in “contractual agreements”, by pointing out his letter had never claimed to have played a part in negotiations.
“Mr Rudd has not claimed responsibility for decisions by Pfizer and – as he made clear to Mr Morrison – all negotiating powers rested with the federal government,” the statement said.
“Mr Rudd would definitely not seek to associate himself with the Australian Government’s comprehensively botched vaccine procurement program.”
Here’s a statement from my office responding to media enquiries. pic.twitter.com/xsUWIHohM0
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) July 12, 2021
READ the full story here.
Rhiannon Down 3.30pm: Two Victorian cases linked to Sydney removalists
Victoria has discovered two cases of Covid-19 as the state is plunged into a state of high alert after a confirmed case in a Sydney removalist travelled to Melbourne, visiting a number of households.
Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed the two cases were from a family of four that had recently moved to Melbourne from Sydney on a red border permit.
“They all tested negative initially, this highlights the importance of the red zone permits, all of them travelled on the appropriate red documentation, all members of the family were tested shortly after their arrival, and tested negative, and they continued their isolation,” Mr Weimar said.
“Two members of the family became symptomatic and were tested yesterday.
“We received those results late this morning today, they were both positive, the other two members of the family will be tested again today.”
Mr Weimar said three of the family members had travelled down by plane, with a fourth driving from Sydney to an address in the Hume LGA, in Melbourne’s north and health authorities were “working with him to understand the exact nature of the journey”.
“We are not going to identify those flights because one of the positive cases did not arrive by plane, three people travelled by plane and they all tested negative on (July 6) after arriving on (July 4),” he said.
“We are confident they were not infectious on the plane.”
Max Maddison 3.25pm: PM confirms he never spoke with Pfizer chief
While defending the country’s vaccination rollout, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has conceded he’d only met with Pfizer’s Australia director, Anne Harris, along with one of the company’s “senior board directors” in Europe, but not chief executive Albert Bourla.
“I have spoken to the head of Pfizer here in Australia — which is where the contract is, and that’s how it’s managed — on numerous occasions … So we’ve been managing that relationship at a very senior level,” he said.
READ MORE:Rudd had ‘no role’ in agreement: Pfizer
Max Maddison3.15pm:NSW financial support details ironed out tonight: PM
Scott Morrison says the in-principle support to provide financial support to struggling businesses has been agreed with the NSW Government, as he concedes he hasn’t spoken to the chief executive of Pfizer.
With the deteriorating outbreak in Greater Sydney meaning the lockdown will be extended for up to weeks, the Prime Minister said an agreement to provide NSW with an economic support package was “pretty close” to being finalised, with the details likely to be ironed out later tonight.
He foreshadowed the package would consist of a combination of income support for individuals and cash flow support for businesses.
“We’ve been working over the weekend with them cooperatively together to ensure that we deliver us support that is targeted, that is proportionate, that is scalable, and ultimately is support that doesn’t have to be there forever,” Mr Morrison told Sky News on Monday afternoon.
“It needs to back businesses in with the decisions they’re making right now to support their staff.”
READ MORE:PM’s Covid-19 rescue mission for business
Jess Malcolm2.55pm:Queenslanders can head to NZ as travel bubble resumes
New Zealand health authorities have decided to resume quarantine free travel to Queensland from midnight tonight after a risk assessment deemed the public health danger to be low.
But some restrictions remain including travellers to clear a negative pre-departure test and must not have been in NSW since June 26.
Travellers who do not comply with these rules will be forced into mandatory isolation at their own cost, unless they are eligible for an exemption.
“A public health risk assessment for Queensland has been carried out by the Ministry of Health, and they have assessed travel with the state as presenting a low public health risk,” they wrote.
“The last community case was 7 July 2021. The last time a case was infectious in the community was on 4 July 2021. There have been no unexpected wastewater detections and community testing rates have been good. Queensland is also easing restrictions within the state.”
Quarantine-Free Travel (QFT) from Queensland to New Zealand will resume from 11:59pm (NZT) Monday 12 July.
— Unite against COVID-19 (@covid19nz) July 12, 2021
‘Return green flights’ from Queensland, which began on Saturday 10 July (NZT), will stop once regular QFT flights begin from tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/0WDYnMiSWv
Jess Malcolm2.19pm:SA woman dies after AstraZeneca vaccine
A 72-year-old woman is believed to have died from a rare blood clotting event linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the South Australian government has confirmed.
The woman was vaccinated on June 24, admitted to the Royal Adelaide hospital on July 5 and passed away overnight.
The South Australian Coroner is now investigating the death and authorities have reported it to the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
She is the fourth person to have died after developing rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine which is recommended for people aged older than 60.
READ MORE:Change to AstraZeneca ‘risk situation’
Jess Malcolm2.10pm:SA closes border to greater Sydney
South Australia will slam shut their border to greater Sydney from midnight tonight amid the growing outbreak in NSW.
Premier Steven Marshall has announced people wishing to return to the state will face a higher level of scrutiny and will no longer be able to easily apply for exemptions from health authorities.
People fleeing domestic violence situations will still be able to enter South Australia but will be forced into mandatory hotel quarantine.
Essential travellers will also be subjected to rigorous testing requirements.
There have been no new exposure sites added after a removalist worker travelled through the state and later tested positive in Sydney.
READ MORE:Grim pictures show Sydney finally gets it
Max Maddison2pm:Rudd had no ‘material contribution’ to Pfizer deal
Health Minister Greg Hunt has admitted the Pfizer chief executive wasn’t lobbied directly, but says he’s “completely” confident Australia received the “best outcome” possible, as he says Kevin Rudd had no “material contribution’’.
With reports emerging the Morrison government failed to engage the necessary executive levels at Pfizer, leaving former prime minister Mr Rudd to petition for advanced deliveries via a Zoom call, Mr Hunt moved to rubbish the claims, saying the story has been trumped by fact.
“The very foundation of this story is false,” Mr Hunt told a press conference on Monday. “The fact there is no attribution, no verification but then the most basic element of it is false should cause everybody to stop and say clearly it is a little bit of a game here.
“We just got exactly the best outcome that we were seeking on exactly the terms and on exactly the time frame. So I respect that individuals will sometimes take initiatives and we welcome and thank them, but did it make a difference? No.”
Mr Hunt conceded no one in the Morrison government had met with Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla, but said it hadn’t made any material difference to the country’s ability to procure vaccines.
“We worked through the Australian office. We have dealt with one of the board members previously and the important thing is no earlier doses were available,” he said.
READ MORE:The countries looking ahead to living with Covid-19
Max Maddison1.50pm: NSW support package ‘likely finalised today’
Health Minister Greg Hunt says economic and mental health support packages for NSW will be completed in the “very near future”, as he moved to rubbish claims of limited contact between senior members of the Australian government and Pfizer executives.
Greater Sydney is looking down the barrel of an indefinite period of lockdown, amid reports the Berejiklian government were planning to put together a JobKeeper style wage subsidy program, in response to a perceived lack of assistance from the commonwealth.
But Mr Hunt said discussions between the Morrison government and Gladys Berejiklian had advanced on Monday, and a support package was likely to be finalised later today.
“The stresses that families, workers, businesses, are facing are real and significant,” Mr Hunt told a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“So these are supports to assist people through the difficult challenging lockdown period but I will say this. We have done this before, we have done this nationally.”
In response to a question about reports Scott Morrison hadn’t contacted the chief executive of Pfizer to secure Australia more vaccines, Mr Hunt said the country had “ongoing, continuous and multiple negotiations” with the company, which included weekly conversation’s he’d had with Pfizer’s Australia director, Anne Harris.
“We have been able to achieve the highest and best expectation that could be done in terms of bringing that forward,” he said.
“Pfizer could not have been more categorical. This is something that we’ve done through multiple discussions and dealing with the company directly and that’s our job.”
READ MORE: Palaszczuk’s border warning
Jess Malcolm 1.25pm:Shutting ACT out of Vic ‘very frustrating’
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says it is “very, very frustrating” that Canberrans can no longer travel to Victoria considering the NSW outbreak is occurring hundreds of kilometres away.
The ACT has not had a case of Covid-19 in over a year and has never had a case of community transmission.
But the Victorian government on Sunday moved to shut-out all residents of the ACT and regional NSW amid the uncertainty of the Sydney outbreak.
Ms Stephen-Smith said it was unfortunate but the decision was out of her control.
“It is always really frustrating for Canberrans when we get pulled in with regional NSW when other jurisdictions make decisions about their own borders,” she told Sky News.
“There’s nothing we can do to address this issue. I’ve been advised that the Victorian health advice was unequivocal in upgrading their border advice.”
“We are very much based on what is happening in greater Sydney and it is something we cannot control.”
READ MORE: Palaszczuk’s border warning
Robert Gottliebsen1.20pm:Vaccines a new force in global markets
The sharp gyrations in both the US share and bond markets last week were caused by a new combination of forces that will erupt again. And while we will look to the US for those eruptions, Australia is set for similar experiences.
Accordingly it’s important to understand those forces and the potential impacts on both the US and Australia.
I am going to illustrate with two Australian examples which show how these forces are working.
My first illustration is actually from Tasmania, where there is a limited ability to undertake construction in any one year. My Tasmanian friends tell me that if you combine the Apple Isle’s housing, infrastructure, and industrial projects, the amount of building scheduled to take place is about twice the state’s capacity to supply. Much bigger versions of that problem are being duplicated not only on the Australian mainland but in parts of the US.
If we follow past patterns then the shortage of labour, goods and materials so created will explode prices in building contracts and contribute to a spike in inflation which will flow through into interest rates. That theory has been the dominant driver of higher US bond yields (lower bond prices) and increased asset values.
Suddenly a second set of forces is challenging that assumption and nowhere is that better illustrated than in NSW.
READ the full story
Jess Malcolm1.10pm:105 fines for NSW Covid breaches
Some 105 infringement notices were handed out by NSW Police on Sunday for noncompliance with the public health orders across metropolitan Sydney.
There were also 400 cautions given, and over 3,000 calls to Crime Stoppers from members of the community dobbing in their neighbours.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller thanked the community for its compliance, but cautioned police would not be afraid to be tougher if necessary.
“I think it is a stark reminder that most of the community get the issue, they get the health orders and the significance of them,” he said. “The police operation will continue throughout the week and, if necessary, during this escalation of the health orders right across Sydney.”
“However we will focus on areas where the virus is and obviously Fairfield is an area of concern at the moment, as well as Bondi and Sutherland.”
Police are also ramping up inspections on businesses to ensure they are using mandatory QR codes which are enforceable from today.
READ MORE:Business ready for vaccine rollout
Max Maddison 12.55pm:Pfizer shoots down Rudd claims over rollout
Pfizer has shot down reports former prime minister Kevin Rudd played a hand in vaccine negotiations with the company, saying there were only two parties involved in the agreement.
In a statement released on Monday, Pfizer said “all agreements and supply arrangements” were exclusively made with the federal government, in which it maintained a “strong relationship”.
“Recent media reports suggesting that any third party or individual has had any role in contractual agreements reached between Pfizer and the Australian Government are inaccurate,” the statement said.
“The only two parties involved in these agreements are Pfizer and the Australian Government.”
The statement, however, didn’t deny representations had been made by Mr Rudd directly to Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla Rudd via a Zoom call.
READthe full story
Jess Malcolm12.15pm: Gladys suggests attempt to acquire more doses
Gladys Berejiklian has hinted that she has already attempted to secure more vaccines from overseas in a bid to boost immunity across NSW as the outbreak grew to 678 cases on Monday.
When asked by reporters what had stopped her from going it alone in the race to secure vaccines from the international community, the NSW Premier said: “I will say that the New South Wales Government never leaves a stone unturned.
“I will leave it at that but also say that it is not the state government’s responsibility, which is a fact, to source the vaccines or to get the doses.”
Ms Berejiklian was asked again whether she had attempted to secure more Pfizer supplies, but she declined to elaborate.
“I will just leave my comments at that. I don’t want to get into specifics.”
READ MORE:Business ready for vaccine rollout
Jess Malcolm 12.00pm:‘Almost impossible’ to leave lockdown this week
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant is in “two minds” about whether the Sydney outbreak has reached its peak and was unable to predict whether numbers will continue to rise.
But Gladys Berejiklian has conceded it will be impossible for the city to come out of lockdown as scheduled on Friday, although she continued to rebuff calls to close down non-essential retail.
“I don’t think it is helpful talking about scenarios at this stage but what I have said very clearly is given where the numbers are it is not likely, in fact, almost impossible for us to get out of lockdown on Friday,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Health authorities are constantly assessing the numbers, and are still hopeful to find the cases quickly enough before they are infectious in the community.
Dr Chant said it would be a “win” if high testing rates over the next few days revealed the extent of the spread in the community.
“I want to find every single person who currently has Covid or is at risk of Covid,” she said
“If we are getting to people really early when they are just becoming infectious then they probably have that chance of not infecting it further and if we can contain the family unit we can stop the spread.”
Dr Chant said compliance to the stay-at-home orders will hopefully see the majority of new cases in isolation before they test positive.
READ MORE: Palaszczuk’s border warning
Jess Malcolm11.46am:Support package hints at longer NSW lockdown
Gladys Berejiklian has refused to predict how long authorities will keep Sydneysiders locked up, but revealed it could be longer than initially predicted considering the extent of the economic stimulus package being prepared by Treasury.
The NSW Premier was worried about 34 new cases while infectious in the community in the past day, and reiterated that the number of cases while infectious in the community must come down to zero.
“This is a time to sit at home and not leave home unless we absolutely have to, especially in those local government areas we have identified but across all of the stay-at-home areas,” she said.
She also foreshadowed an economic stimulus package announcement for businesses and individuals struggling under lockdown either tomorrow or Wednesday.
Treasurer Dominic Perrotett has been involved in “high level” discussions with the commonwealth.
The NSW government is looking at offering individual payments to casual and part time staff, while it is likely the commonwealth will offer payments to individuals following a recent decision by national cabinet.
“Obviously what we announce in the next few days will have a mind on supporting businesses potentially for a longer period depending on how long the lockdown lasts,” she said.
“New South Wales has done its work, we are in negotiations with the commonwealth and we hope to have something to say in the next few days.”
READ MORE:Westfield owner flags rent relief for Sydney tenants
Jess Malcolm11.35am:NSW puts call out for unused Pfizer vaccines
NSW Health authorities have requested the commonwealth to redirect any unused Pfizer vaccines to their state hubs in a bid to boost immunity during its outbreak.
Dr Chant has confirmed authorities will consider all options to smooth out the process for people to get the AstraZeneca vaccine amid concerns there are delays.
This has been triggered by concerns of an operational lag when giving the AstraZeneca vaccine, considering GPs have to line up to 10 people at a time to ensure the doses are not wasted.
“We are happy to look at all opportunities,” she said. “I think the reality at the moment is that we really need to prioritise getting older people vaccinated.”
Although officials are concerned about younger people becoming sick with the virus, Dr Chant said their priority is still to vaccinate the most vulnerable.
“I understand that young people are potentially contributing to the spread of it because they are more mobile but the most important component of our response at the moment is to protect the community from hospitalisations and deaths.”
READ MORE:Air NZ to ‘rescue’ Kiwis from NSW
Jess Malcolm11.15am:AstraZeneca vaccine for all over-40s at NSW hubs
Anyone in NSW over 40 will now be able to get AstraZeneca at the government’s mass vaccination hubs across the state as it attempts to get on top of a worsening outbreak.
The government is also working to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine to more pharmacies across the state, flagging this will be possible “very soon”.
Gladys Berejiklian also announced residents of the Hunter, Wollongong, Macquarie Fields and Fairfield will be able to come forward for vaccination with the new state government hubs set to open next week.
“We have increased our capacity and our access and now all we need are the extra doses and every time we get the extra doses we will make sure they get into arms which is so critical and so important,” she said.
Health authorities are also pleading for people not to leave home if they have symptoms as a number of medical centres and pharmacies have been listed as exposure sites.
The NSW Premier called out to the people of southwest Sydney to stay home, as a large number of new cases overnight were family and friends of positive cases.
If you are an essential worker especially in Fairfield, you are being asked to not leave home if you have symptoms, and do not work across multiple sites.
“It is a fact that if you get the virus, the next people who will get it will be those you love the most,” Ms Berejiklian said.
READ MORE: Palaszczuk’s border warning
Jess Malcolm11.01am:NSW records 112 new local cases
NSW has recorded 112 new cases of locally acquired infections up to 8pm last night.
There are at least 34 cases who spent time in the community while infectious.
Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the overwhelming majority of new infections were close family or friends of previously announced cases.
Health authorities are urging residents of both Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown in the city’s southwest to stay home amid fears it has spread rampant in the community.
There were over 48,000 tests conducted yesterday.
Of the new locally acquired cases, 64 are linked to a known case, 41 are household contacts and 23 are close contacts.
There are currently 48 cases still under investigation, sparking fears that contact tracers are not able to keep up with the pace of the Delta variant.
There have now been 63 people admitted to hospital, with 18 people in intensive care and four people requiring ventilation.
NSW recorded 112 new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/dpcXzL8Y80
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 12, 2021
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant issued a stern message to all people in Sydney about the dangers of the virus, warning people of all ages can get very sick and require hospitalisation.
“I can say that you don’t need to have an underlying health condition to be in hospital with Covid,” she said.
“Covid is a serious disease and is associated with hospitalisation and death.
“The risk increases with age and for those underlying health conditions.”
Officials are also concerned about an emerging cluster in an apartment block in the city’s eastern suburbs where eight cases have emerged across five households.
“This is a reminder of the risk that Covid poses and why we were requiring masks and have been in indoor common property areas of residential premises and also discourage social gatherings or any gatherings across household groups in those apartment buildings as well.”
READ MORE:NSW records 112 new cases
Max Maddison10.59am:‘I did chuckle’: Hunt responds to Rudd story
Health Minister Greg Hunt says reported help from former prime minister Kevin Rudd to fast track Pfizer doses didn’t “add to the outcome”, as he defends the Morrison government’s Covid-19 vaccination advertisement, saying it sends a “strong message”.
Reports in the ABC that senior Australian business figures turned to Mr Rudd in a bid to bring forward Australia’s Pfizer vaccine supply were rubbished by Mr Hunt, who said the procurement was the result of hard work undertaken by the federal government.
“I did chuckle when I saw the story,” Mr Hunt told Ray Hadley on 2GB. “We appreciate all the help, even if it hasn’t added to the outcome.
“I’m happy for all the Australian people that we have been able to achieve this.”
Amid considerable criticism of the federal government’s new Covid-19 scare campaign, involving a young woman on a ventilator in hospital gasping for breath, Mr Hunt said the advertisement was purposely designed to drive home the seriousness of the outbreak.
“This is a deliberate strong message which says given the outbreak in Sydney anybody can catch it, anybody can pass it on and anybody can suffer the agonising consequences,” he said.
READ MORE:Hunt downplays Kevin Rudd’s Pfizer ‘intervention’
Remy Varga10.56am:Sydney removalist who visited Vic, SA tests positive
A Sydney removalist who visited Victoria and South Australia has tested positive for Covid-19.
The man is believed to have been infectious when working in Victoria and SA on July 8 and 9.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said NSW Health authorities alerted their interstate counterparts late Sunday night.
He said work identifying exposure sites and close contacts was being undertaken by contact tracers and the information would be released soon.
The man, who is an interstate removalist, will be included in NSW’s case numbers on Monday.
Jess Malcolm10.38am:NSW outbreak’s peak still to come: AMA
Australian Medical Association Vice President Chris Moy says it was evident from mid-last week that the Sydney outbreak would spiral out of control amid concern the previous lockdown settings were not effective.
Doctor Moy said it’s clear the risk profile of the outbreak has now changed and that the peak of the outbreak is still yet to come.
“The movement has to stop,” he told Sky News. “Where we are now is at a level that hopefully people have got the message. Only go to work if you absolutely have to, only go to the shops if you absolutely have to.”
He has also urged all people in other states to get vaccinated as early as possible, considering strict PPE protocols and social distancing requirements makes mass vaccination harder and slower during an outbreak.
“It’s very difficult to vaccinate while there is an outbreak going on,” he said.
“For everyone else, go get vaccinated right now.”
READ MORE:Sydney doctor reveals grim virus reality
Lydia Lynch10.23am:Travel exemptions to NRL players’ families
Annastacia Palaszczuk said travel exemptions will be given to the families of NRL players to allow them to move to Queensland following an emergency meeting of the Australian Rugby League Commission on Sunday.
Twelve NRL teams will relocate to southeast Queensland as the Covid-19 situation in NSW deteriorates.
Nine Sydney clubs as well as Newcastle, Canberra and the Warriors will be spread across three hubs in Queensland.
The Queensland Premier confirmed authorities would allow players families to relocate with them.
“It is very hard on families with the NRL players,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“They will be in their distinct hubs, so we are facilitating that the immediate family members can move with them and they will be in those tight hubs.
“It is up to the NRL to police that but we will be monitoring that very closely as well.”
Travel from Greater Sydney was banned last month for people without an exemption.
READ MORE:NRL flees to Queensland hubs
Lydia Lynch10.13am:Queensland resists introducing hard border with NSW
Queensland has held off reinstating a hard border with New South Wales.
NSW recorded another 77 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, at least 33 of which were in the community during their infectious period.
The state is bracing for at least 100 new COVID-19 cases on Monday.
Annastacia Palaszczuk said a hard border was not needed at this stage because Greater Sydney was still in lockdown.
She said authorities were keeping a close eye on sewage testing in regional NSW.
“We have had extensive discussions this morning and we will be having those extensive discussions each and every day,” the Queensland Premier said.
Victorian authorities closed the state’s border with NSW and the ACT at midnight while SA and WA blocked travel last month.
Meanwhile, Queensland recorded zero community-acquired cases for the fourth consecutive day.
“We haven’t had a case infectious in our community now since July 5,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Mandatory mask wearing and density restrictions will be eased from 6am Friday and visitors will be allowed at hospital and aged care homes again.
Dancing will also be allowed.
READ MORE:State’s tough restrictions to ease
Robyn Ironside10.09am:Air New Zealand begin NSW ‘rescue flights’
Air New Zealand will begin a series of “rescue flights” from Tuesday to bring stranded Kiwis home from New South Wales as the Covid-19 outbreak sweeping through Sydney worsens.
The flights to Auckland and Christchurch will be numbers restricted to align with the number of spaces available in managed isolation facilities in New Zealand.
As a result only 40 to 60 people are expected to be able to travel on each service.
Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said they were experiencing a very high volume of calls and messages and would endeavour to get residents home as quickly and safely as possible.
“We recognise this is a very stressful and emotional time for those customers wishing to return from New South Wales,” said Ms Geraghty.
“Our teams have worked tirelessly with the government over the weekend to get these managed return flights up and running so we can reconnect Kiwis with their loved ones.”
She said flights would be available on a “first-in, first-served basis”.
“Around 20 per cent of all available managed isolation facility spots will be reserved for compassionate grounds which will be managed by the government,” Ms Geraghty said.
“We appreciate our customers’ understanding and patience as our teams work to ensure they are kept up to date.”
The trans-Tasman bubble is currently not operating between New Zealand and New South Wales and Queensland.
Those in other states and territories travelling to New Zealand are now required to get a pre-departure Covid test at their own expense to confirm their negative status.
READ MORE:Bold plan to vaccinate new group
Jess Malcolm9.55am:NSW Premier to speak at 11am
Gladys Berejiklian will address the media at 11am this morning alongside Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant and Police Commissioner Mick Fuller.
Authorities are expected to announce case numbers above 100, after the NSW Premier said on Sunday she would be “shocked” if they were anything less.
Police have also said they will be cracking down on compliance of stay-at-home orders, announcing a major shift towards being more firm than fair amid the worsening outbreak.
Compulsory check in to all workplaces and retail settings will now be enforced today, with authorities pleading with people to diligently sign to allow contact tracers to track any potentially exposed cases.
The state recorded 77 infections on Sunday bringing the total number in the latest outbreak to 566.
Jess Malcolm9.35am:Next few days cases ‘critical’
Infectious diseases expert Catherine Bennett says high case numbers detected in recent days would be “unnerving” NSW Health authorities considering they would have been infectious in the community over a week ago.
Professor Bennett said the next few days’ case numbers were critical in helping officials understand just how far the virus has spread.
“As they go and find those cases, test the people around them and find more cases, it’s not good in terms of the total case numbers,” she told Today.
“It probably tells us that they’re finding more cases out of this and getting a better understanding of how far the spread has gone.”
Professor Bennett also said the graphic new advertising campaign targeting Sydneysiders to stay home might work considering the success of previous public health campaigns designed to warn against smoking and road traffic accidents.
READ MORE:Ethical dilemma posed by vax ‘objectors’
Glenda Korporaal9.25am: Economic recovery depends on rollout: Cormann
The world economic recovery faces “serious downside risks” from any new outbreaks of more lethal Covid-19 variants, OECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann has warned.
In an exclusive interview with the Australian from the G20 meeting in Venice on the weekend, the former federal finance minister said the most important economic priority at the moment was to accelerate the rollout of the vaccine.
“Economic policy priority number one, two and three remains to vaccinate as many people all around the world as possible, as quickly as possible,” he said.
“The concern remains that new variants of the virus will create more lethal waves of infections, with a new wave of economic hardship.”
The OECD’s official forecast is for global economic growth to increase to 5.8 per cent this year, a more upbeat scenario than the 4.2 per cent projected by the organisation last December.
But the latest outbreak of the Delta strain of the Covid virus is now generating new concerns for economic policymakers.
READ thefull story
Jess Malcolm9.05am: Call for more pharmacies to join rollout
Pharmacy Guild President Trent Twomey has called on the federal government to allow more pharmacies across the country to join the vaccination rollout, saying over 3000 are trained and ready to go.
"There were just some stand-out morons over the weekend"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) July 11, 2021
NSW Police Minister David Elliott blasts some Sydneysiders for "pushing the envelope" and breaching stay at home orders during the city's coronavirus lockdown. pic.twitter.com/2oqbW1wtVF
Some 113 pharmacies in three states will begin administering Covid jabs from today in a bid to ramp up the rollout, with many concentrated in regional and remote areas.
But Mr Twomey said the commonwealth should bring more city-based pharmacies online, saying pharmacies could administer the vaccines in a similar fashion as they do the flu shot.
“We’re really hoping that with the support of the New South Wales government, the national government will reverse their hold or blockage or deferral on pharmacies in major metropolitan areas which should see up to an extra 900 pharmacies in greater Sydney come on board,” he told Sunrise.
Mr Twomey said some three million Australian received their flu shot in pharmacy settings last year.
READ MORE: Sydney’s bleak midwinter
Max Maddison8.55am:Sharma calls for more financial support for business
Liberal MP Dave Sharma has called for more economic and financial support for businesses in Greater Sydney, as he backs the confronting vaccine campaign, saying there’s a “degree of complacency” across the community at the moment.
With the state and federal government at loggerheads over who will provide substantial financial support, Josh Frydenberg revealed he had turned down a request from his NSW counterpart to reimplement JobKeeper for businesses affected by the lockdown.
But while not calling directly for the wage subsidy program, Mr Sharma said signs the lockdown could extend for another four weeks meant there was “certainly a need” to provide support to struggling firms.
“I think we’re in for a longer lockdown than we first envisaged, and business and workers will need our support to get through this,” the Wentworth MP told Sky News on Monday morning.
Despite staunch criticism of the federal government’s vaccination advertising campaign, Mr Sharma said the community needed to take public health orders seriously, and the ad was designed to ensure they came forward to get their jab.
“It’s important. There probably is a degree of complacency within Sydney – I think we’ve all seen it,” he said. “Because we expected that, like with previous lockdowns, this would be over quite quickly and the numbers would remain low.”
READ MORE: Business ready for vaccine rollout
Max Maddison8.35am:Bowen calls for return of JobKeeper
Opposition spokesman for health Chris Bowen has called for JobKeeper to be reimplemented for businesses impacted by lockdowns.
With Greater Sydney struggling with an extended lockdown which appears likely to continue for weeks, businesses have called for greater government support, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Josh Frydenberg have disagreed over where the funding will come from.
The McMahon MP called on the Treasurer to design a support package similar to the wage subsidy package which could be injected into regions when they went into lockdown.
“It needs to be JobKeeper, or something very like it. The beauty of JobKeeper was it kept the employment relationship between the employer and the employee – i.e. when things get back to normal, the employee goes back to work and has been paid over the lockdown,” Mr Bowen told ABC’s Radio National.
“The current arrangements don’t do that, it’s direct payments through Centrelink. There needs to be a carefully designed package. It shouldn’t be Sydney specific, it should apply to all lockdown areas.”
READ MORE: Gruelling challenge for doctors on frontline
Jess Malcolm 8.30am:Another double doughnut day for Vic
Victoria has recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, and no new infections in its hotel quarantine system.
There were 19,239 test results received, and the state administered 12,005 doses on Sunday.
There are currently just 19 active cases in the state.
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 11, 2021
- 12,005 vaccine doses were administered
- 19,239 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/XvdtKuRWlG
Jess Malcolm8.25am:Break Covid rules, ‘visit the courthouse’
NSW Police Minister David Elliott has commended Sydneysiders for obeying stay-at-home orders over the weekend, reporting police are “quite comfortable” with the levels of compliance.
While he had been pleased with briefings from police, Mr Elliott threatened authorities would not be afraid to step up enforcement for people flouting the rules.
Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Worboys said on Sunday police will start to be “more firmer than fairer” following reports of large groups of people gathering to play cards and PlayStation over the weekend.
“That means they will not be using the high levels of discretion they have in the past in the last couple of days,” Mr Elliot told Today.
“They have been working with communities particularly those communities that don’t listen to mainstream media and maybe haven’t got the message so the days of excuses will soon
end and you will find yourself with either a $1,000 ticket or a trip to a courthouse.”
Mr Elliott also said he thinks people will respond well to the new graphic advertising campaign encouraging people to stay home, and that people would not be “at a loss” listening to the message.
“I think people will respond and it is a talking point to make sure people realise what they put at risk by flouting the rules and what they’re putting at risk by not getting the Covid shot.”
READ MORE:Covid rescue mission for business
Max Maddison 8.15am: Frewen defends vaccination ad campaign
Vaccine commander Lieutenant-General John Frewen says the decision to use a confronting Covid-19 vaccination ad wasn’t made “ lightly”, but leaves people in “no doubt” about the seriousness of getting the virus.
The Morrison government’s confronting advertising campaign, which depicts a young woman on a ventilator struggling to breathe, has been blasted for being insensitive. But Lieutenant-General Frewen said there was “serious consideration” about whether it was required, but leant on expert advice.
“It is absolutely confronting and we didn’t use it lightly,” Lieutenant-General Frewen told Nine’s Today show on Monday morning.
“There was serious consideration given to whether it was required and we took expert advice. We took medical advice from Professor Kelly and we thought it was the time to run that ad in Sydney right now.”
READ MORE: PM slides as women turn away
Jess Malcolm7.55am:Sydney outbreak outpacing Vic’s deadly second wave
Burnet Institute epidemiologist Mike Toole has warned the Sydney outbreak is moving much faster than Melbourne’s deadly second wave, warning residents could be in lockdown for at least another four weeks.
Professor Toole told Sky News Melbourne took 37 days to reach 566 total cases, which Sydney reached on Sunday in just 25 days.
“The pace of this outbreak is actually faster than Victoria’s second wave and that is due to the Delta variant which is very infectious,” he said.
“The proportion of new cases that have been out in the community is very concerning. Keep in mind those new cases were infected four to seven days earlier.
“If 33 people were out in the community it is inevitable that there will be more spread. We are basically seeing what happened a week ago.”
Professor Toole said it was “impossible” Sydneysiders would be freed from lockdown this Friday, saying it took Melbourne seven weeks to drive 100 cases a day down to zero.
He said another four weeks lockdown after this Friday was needed to reduce numbers permanently, and was a distinct possibility.
He also urged authorities to implement a Victorian-style stage four lockdown, limiting travel to 5kms, closing down all non-essential retail and imposing a curfew.
READ MORE: Gruelling challenge for doctors on frontline
Jess Malcolm7.40am:Warning hospitals may cancel elective surgery
St Vincent’s infectious diseases physician David Anderson said Sydney hospitals may have to cancel non urgent medical procedures if case numbers surge, with hospitals already facing unprecedented demand in winter.
Doctor Anderson said the healthcare system may be forced to cancel elective surgeries to make space for a wave of Covid-19 cases if the outbreak gets out of control.
“Winter is already our busy time,” he told Today. “We already had, even before this Covid wave, unprecedented bed blocks across the state and we are still doing elective surgery and the Covid clinical activity comes on top of what is already an extremely busy time for the healthcare system.
“It just makes everything we do less efficient and means we can’t do our normal jobs.
“We can’t look after patients with cancer, with heart attacks, with strokes as efficiently as we could if we weren’t looking after Covid as well.”
Dr Anderson said hospitals are not yet overwhelmed, but will need to consider where the systems could be further stretched or how to share the load.
READ MORE: Sydney’s bleak midwinter
Jess Malcolm7.25am:Plibersek: Vax ads useless without enough doses
Shadow Minister for Education Tanya Plibersek has taken aim at the federal government’s new targeted graphic advertising campaign which features a young woman in hospital gasping for breath.
Ms Plibersek criticised the approach of using a young person sick with the virus considering the age cohort is not yet eligible for vaccination.
Will the federal government's new ad campaign convince Australians to get vaccinated against coronavirus? 🤔
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) July 11, 2021
MPs @Barnaby_Joyce and @Tanya_Plibersek joined @Natalie_Barr to discuss. pic.twitter.com/yQYM6hflaV
“We know from the New South Wales government that people who are being hospitalised with this (Delta virus) include younger people in their 20s and 30s,” she told Sunrise.
“You’d think with that kind of experience in that kind of track record, they do a better job, and one of the problems with advertising campaigns and perhaps the reason it’s taken so long is if you encourage people to go and get vaccinated, you’ve got to have enough of the vaccine available, and we simply haven’t.”
Ms Plibersek also called for more economic measures to help individuals and businesses struggling under Sydney’s Covid restrictions, saying most people “just barely scraped through” the first lockdown.
READ MORE: Vaccine ads ‘weak, ineffective’
Jess Malcolm7.05am: Littleproud backs NSW open state strategy
Agriculture minister David Littleproud has taken aim at some state and territory premiers for locking down prematurely and demanding Covid relief funding, backing the NSW government for resisting calls for restrictions and keeping the state open.
Mr Littleproud told Today the federal government has to strike a balance between providing emergency Covid economic relief packages and protecting people’s health.
“That’s about making sure we don’t have state premiers, not necessarily NSW which has done a very good and measured job in terms of lockdowns, but we have other states that have been jumping the gun on this and just expecting the good old Australian taxpayer to foot the bill,” he told Today.
“It is a great business model. They look strong and the Australian taxpayer foots the bill.”
Mr Littleproud said the strong working relationship between Gladys Berejiklian and Scott Morrison means Sydney residents can expect a targeted and measured economic support package.
He refused to say whether the commonwealth will funnel more Pfizer vaccines into the state amid the unfolding Covid outbreak, but assured people the vaccine rollout was ramping up.
READ MORE: Fordham told to fire up at Gladys
Jess Malcolm6.50am:Passengers exposed in Launceston-Melbourne flight
Victorian health authorities are urgently contacting passengers on a Qantas flight between Launceston and Melbourne after they were potentially exposed to Covid-19.
Officials are investigating the case of a Launceston hospital worker who tested negative but flew home to London and returned a positive test result.
Qantas Flight QF1542 departing Launceston at 10:15am and landing in Melbourne at 11:20am on 2 July, has been listed as a Tier 2 exposure site.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 10, 2021
If you were on this flight, you should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result. [1/2] pic.twitter.com/P1RyzRDRrn
Tasmanian and Victorian public health services say they are acting out of caution, as the worker spent two weeks in isolation in Tasmania making it unlikely that he caught the virus there.
It is suspected the person caught the virus while travelling from Australia to the UK.
The worker spent a brief time in Melbourne airport but the Melbourne domestic and international terminals are not considered exposure sites.
Tasmanian health authorities have added several exposure sites including a bottle shop, Salvation army store and an Officeworks but officials say the risk is low.
READ MORE: Hunt downplays Rudd intervention
Jess Malcolm6.25am: NSW braces for more than 100 new local cases
Sydneysiders are bracing themselves for locally acquired cases to surge past 100 after NSW Health added dozens more exposure sites overnight and Gladys Berejiklian warned the outbreak will get worse before it gets better.
Several major inner city shopping centres were added as contact venues late Sunday night, as the state recorded 77 new cases on Sunday with 33 new infections active while in the community.
âš ï¸PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – VENUES OF CONCERNâš ï¸
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 11, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues of concern that have been visited by confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/OYIGOxpxtY
Miranda Westfield, Fairfield Forum shopping centre, Neeta City shopping centre, Westfield Eastgardens are among some of the new venues added by NSW joining a long list which include several appliance stores, supermarkets and medical centres.
NSW recorded its first death during the latest outbreak on Sunday in a woman in her 90s who died in Liverpool Hospital, reinforcing authorities’ pleas for people to stay home and stop visiting extended families and friends.
It comes after the federal government launched its new campaign for the vaccination rollout which urges Australian to “arm themselves” against the virus.
Sydney residents are also encouraged to stay home by a targeted, new graphic video of a young woman gasping for breath in hospital.
There have now been 52 hospitalisations related to Covid-19, with 15 people in intensive care and five on ventilators.
Victorian authorities also slammed shut their border to NSW and ACT as the outbreak worsened, upgrading the entire regions to “red zones” under their traffic light permit system.
READ MORE:PM slides as women turn away
Patrick Commins 5.50am: Covid ‘turbocharges’ Sydney house prices
Covid-19 has “turbocharged” house prices and will leave Sydney buyers having to shell out an extra $125,000 to purchase a property, new KPMG modelling says.
The analysis shows homebuyers across the country now face a “Covid premium” for their houses as part of a global phenomenon driven by a dramatic fall in borrowing rates during the pandemic as central banks moved to boost economic activity.
The KPMG modelling estimates Brisbane property buyers will be paying 10 per cent more for homes by the end of 2023 thanks to the pandemic — $660,000 versus $600,000 had the health crisis not occurred.
The Covid premium in Sydney is similar in percentage terms, but equates to a larger dollar value thanks to the city’s already inflated property prices: $1.24m against $1.12m in the counterfactual where there had been no virus.
For comparison, the median Sydney house price in late 2019 was $986,000, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
READ the full story
Jess Malcolm 5.30am:Clamp down or ‘be overwhelmed’
Epidemiologists and outbreak management experts have called for tougher restrictions as the Sydney outbreak surged to 566 cases, stoking fears NSW contact tracers are losing their grip on the virus.
As Sydney entered a new dynamic of the outbreak on Sunday, recording 77 new cases of locally acquired transmission, some epidemiologists warned of similarities to Melbourne at the start of its deadly second wave and fear an exponential rise in cases if authorities don’t clamp down.
While infection rates have slowed in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, authorities are concerned about rapid transmission of the Delta variant across social groups and connected households in the southwest suburbs, which now account for most of the new cases.
A Miranda David Jones department store, a Wetherill Park Officeworks and a Glebe JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman were among venues added to exposure sites on Sunday night, raising questions about people leaving home for non-essential items.
As department stores remained open across Sydney, Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly refused to define what shopping is allowed, instead insisting people must stay home unless they absolutely needed something.
But UNSW epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws said the communication was confusing, allowing people to interpret the rules as they saw fit.
“It’s not working because people are not infection-control experts, most people will interpret the rules in a fashion that allows them latitude,” she said.
“A lockdown is highly effective when it’s done completely, not with retail shops open …”
READ the full story
Stephen Lunn5.15am:Melbourne CBD ‘won’t recover until 2024’
Melbourne’s CBD economy will not return to pre-Covid levels until late 2024 or early 2025, when there will still be almost 20,000 fewer people working in the central city than before the pandemic began.
A study by Deloitte Access Economics reveals the flight of workers from Melbourne’s CBD was deeper than other capital city centres in 2020, driven by the more severe lockdown, and will take longer to recover.
The study said Melbourne’s CBD endured an “unprecedented shock” as a result of the pandemic and lockdown, with economic activity more than halving from $75bn in 2019 to $35bn in 2020.
But it’s recovery timeline projects a relatively strong rebound in 2021, up 16.9 per cent to $41bn, and then a big bounce in 2022 with economic activity jumping by 33 per cent to $55bn.
By late 2024 or early 2025, it is projected to have returned to its 2019 mark of $75bn.
Melbourne’s office workers will be slower back to work than other states, and will still be 5.5 per cent or 19,700 workers short of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the five-year forecast period.
Sydney will have about the same number of workers in its CBD by 2025 as there were in 2019, according to the projections.
The study does not factor in Melbourne’s lockdown last month or Sydney’s current lockdown.
READ the full story
More Coverage
Add your comment to this story
Inflation cools, prompting RBA cut in August
Headline and underlying inflation are back where they need to be for the Reserve Bank to make another interest rate cut
Is climate change stealing your salad?
Fruit and veg just once a year? A $100 lamb roast? Today on our daily news podcast The Front – wild claims about climate change and how to sort truth from fantasy.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout