Coronavirus live news Australia: Medical probe into Brisbane mystery infection; Daniel Andrews says ‘I have a long rehab journey’
Queensland investigates its hospital transmission and injured Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews releases his first picture since leaving intensive care.
- Daniel Andrews reveals long road to recovery
- New Qld restrictions amid outbreak
- One new case linked to Brisbane hospital
- ‘No extra danger’ in vaccine scare
- Brisbane hospital in lockdown as doctor tests positive
- Police question hotel quarantine security firm
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the coronavirus crisis. Here is how Saturday unfolded:
Brisbane is on alert for 72 hours and a major inner-city hospital is in lockdown after a doctor tested positive to COVID-19. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer has dismissed concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine being linked to blood clots. Meanwhile, tourism bosses say the government’s cheap-flight stimulus package is ‘aimed at the wrong places’.
Steve Zemek and Anthony Piovesan10pm:Andrews makes first public ‘appearance’ since fall
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been pictured for the first time since his fall, sharing a hospital photo of himself wearing a back brace as he got “settled into new digs” in a tweet on Saturday night.
“Good to get out of ICU and settled in new digs,” he wrote.
“Thanks for all your messages and well wishes. It really means a lot.’’
In an earlier tweet, Mr Andrews said that he would not undergo surgery in the near future as he continues his rehabilitation.
The Alfred Hospital intensive care unit director, Associate Professor Steve McGloughlin, said the Premier remained in a stable condition.
“Mr Andrews is comfortable and doing well,” he said.
“There is no plan for surgery at this stage.’’
Mr Andrews added: “The good news is no surgery for now – but the doctors tell me recovery and rehab is still going to be a very long journey.”
He also thanked the doctors and nurses looking after him.
On Tuesday, Mr Andrews slipped at a holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula, fracturing his T7 vertebrae and breaking several ribs.
He was on Tuesday night transferred to a specialist trauma centre at The Alfred hospital following an MRI.
There are fears Mr Andrews could be out of action for more than a month and his mobility “greatly reduced” after that, according to a spinal trauma surgeon.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr John Cunningham – while not Mr Andrews’s doctor – said based on the description of the Premier’s injuries he would expect him to be out of action for weeks.
NCA NewsWire
READ EARLIER: Andrews predicts ‘very long’ road to recovery
Agencies9.30pm: EU states seek summit on ‘unfair’ rollout
Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Latvia have called for a EU summit to discuss “huge disparities” in the distribution of vaccines, according to a letter published Saturday.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz suggested on Friday that some members of the EU might have signed “secret contracts” with vaccine companies to receive more doses than they were entitled to as per EU-wide agreements.
Mr Kurz and his four counterparts on Friday sent a letter to Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, claiming that “deliveries of vaccine doses by pharma companies to individual EU member states are not being implemented on an equal basis”.
“If this system were to carry on, it would continue creating and exacerbating huge disparities among member-states by this [northern] summer, whereby some would be able to reach herd immunity in a few weeks while others would lag far behind,” the letter said.
The EU has blamed its sluggish vaccine rollout on supply and delivery problems and continues to lag behind the US, Israel and Britain in terms of the percentage of the population that has already received at least one dose.
Anglo/Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Saturday announced a fresh shortfall in planned vaccine shipments to the EU, citing production problems and export restrictions.
“AstraZeneca is disappointed to announce a shortfall in planned COVID-19 vaccine shipments to the European Union (EU) despite working tirelessly to accelerate supply,” it said in a statement.
The company had previously warned it was facing shortfalls from its European supply chain due to “lower-than-expected output from the production process”.
“Unfortunately, export restrictions will reduce deliveries in the first quarter, and are likely to affect deliveries in the second quarter,” it said.
AFP
READ EARLIER: ‘No extra danger’ in latest vaccine scare
Hayden Johnson and Danielle O’Neal8pm:Rush to understand Brisbane transmission
Low contact with people and the limited time a woman doctor spent in the community has prevented Greater Brisbane from being plunged into a snap lockdown.
The experienced doctor was treating two COVID-19 positive patients at the Princess Alexandra Hospital at Woolloongabba early on Wednesday after they were brought in from hotel quarantine.
The woman worked shifts at various locations within the hospital on Wednesday and Thursday before developing symptoms on Thursday evening and getting tested on Friday morning.
Authorities are now scrambling to understand how the unvaccinated doctor contracted the virus from her patients.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Sonya Bennett said she “wore appropriate PPE during the time she was with the patients”.
Dr Bennett expects authorities to confirm by Sunday that the woman has the UK strain, but said she was doing “very well”.
“She’s concerned, like the rest of us – but she’s come forward very quickly and she’s been tested within two days after having seen the case so we can’t ask for more,” Dr Bennett said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the doctor’s time in the community had “been very short and very limited in her contacts”.
“That’s also another positive for us,” she said.
The Courier-Mail
FULL report is here
Jess Malcolm5.30pm:Young guns see an opening, give it a shot
Young Australians are launching business ventures by taking advantage of cheap office space abandoned during COVID-19, breathing life into the suburbs and regions.
With the economy growing by 3.1 per cent in the last quarter, young people have been encouraged to seize opportunities, capitalising on cheap rent, affordable lending and government loan schemes.
Mike Samaha, 28, was working as a consultant at Deloitte, but lost his job during a round of redundancies at the company last June. He decided to use the opportunity to turn his hobby of making bagels into a business.
With the help of some friends who were graphic designers and carpenters, the doors of his bagel shop, Mensch, in Sydney’s Surry Hills, were opened on Saturday.
“It’s been six months of a slog, and it’s kind of like your baby now,” he said.
Mr Samaha said the high number of commercial vacancies helped him get a start.
Read the full story here.
Jess Malcolm4.52pm:Victoria may declare Brisbane areas ‘red’ zones
Victorian authorities have announced some areas of Brisbane may be re-designated as red or orange zones, pending any further cases of community transmission in the coming days.
The Victorian department of health will also be contacting all arrivals into Victoria from Brisbane since March 10.
It also urged anyone who visited the exposure sites in Brisbane to get tested and self-isolate.
“Anyone in Victoria who visited these sites at the designated times will be treated as a primary close contact and are required to quarantine for 14 days,” the statement read.
“Victoria’s Department of Health is monitoring further developments in the case, including the possible addition of further exposure sites.”
READ MORE: Katrina Grace Kelly — PM must bear some responsibility for Porter scandal
Jess Malcolm4.33pm:New OECD Cormann calls for co-operation
Newly elected OECD chief Mathias Cormann has called on member countries to “work with [him]” in his role, committing to find the best policy solutions for the region.
The former Australian finance minister shared his delight to be elected into the role, while speaking to reporters in Perth.
“I’d like the Prime Minister for the amazing support he has provided for this campaign, as well as Premier Mark McGowan, and our governor Kim Beazley,” he said.
“It is an incredibly exciting opportunity, and there’s a big job to be done to help drive stronger, cleaner, fairer, more inclusive growth.”
Mr Cormann said his experience serving as the finance minister will help him add value to policy considerations in the new role.
He also singled out climate change as a “significant economic and environmental” challenge for the world.
“We need genuine and ambitious activity on climate change.”
“It requires a globally coordinated approach to be effective.”
Read the full story here.
John Stensholt4.25pm:Get back to work, billionaire tells Covid whingers
Billionaire property developer Lang Walker has a message for people who are worried about what to do as a result of the pandemic: get on with it.
Walker, 75, who has seen many ups and downs in the property cycle in Australia during his years in business, says while no one could have foreseen the COVID-19 pandemic, he believes “crises seem to happen every 10 years”.
He is of a firm belief there will always be major, often unforeseen, events, usually every decade or so, and inevitably they will need to be dealt with. Sydney-based Walker is a prominent member of The List — Australia’s Richest 250. The 2021 edition will be published in a special issue in The Weekend Australian next Saturday, March 21.
Like many members of The List, Walker watched markets crumble a year ago when in mid-March the COVID-19 pandemic intensified.
The value of shares on bourses around the world plunged. Office workers decamped en masse and would spend the best part of the next 12 months working from home.
But his property giant Walker Corporation has pressed on with building the biggest commercial property project in Australia: the $3.2bn Parramatta Square development that he believes will be a second Sydney CBD, one day accommodating more than 30,000 workers.
Read the full story here.
Jess Malcolm 3.49pm:Some Queensland restrictions ease
Millions of Queensland residents will enjoy some easing of coronavirus restrictions today as the state moves closer towards life as normal.
This comes despite one case of community transmission recorded, linked to two positive COVID-19 cases in a large Brisbane hospital.
Residents are now able to host up to 100 people at their home, up from 50 yesterday.
Outdoor events will now be able to be held at a maximum of 500 people, which is up from 100 previously.
Elevators will now be able to hold up to six people per trip, enabling more people to move more easily in office buildings.
There is also now no limit on the number of people allowed to be in camping sites from today.
Social distancing rules and the two-square-metre rule in venues will still apply.
READ MORE:Peter van Onselen — Libs in a mess still doing better than Labor
Paul Garvey3.30pm:‘No need to change travel plans over Brisbane outbreak’
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan says there is no need for people to change their travel plans yet in light of the latest Covid case in Queensland.
WA is currently scheduled to reopen to all other states from Monday, when quarantine requirements for arrivals from Victoria will be lifted.
Asked whether people planning to travel between WA and Queensland should reconsider, following a case of community transmission that prompted the state to close all hospitals to visitors, Mr McGowan said the government hadn’t considered reintroducing travel restrictions.
“We haven’t had any advice at this point in time that there are any problems,” he said.
“We are going to monitor it over the next day, we will probably have another meeting today, and certainly tomorrow to work out what should happen but I’ve had no advice about that at this point in time.”
Mr McGowan said the state’s emergency committee meeting had met this morning to discuss the case, while he had been in contact with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“The advice we currently have is that we will need to watch and see what is occurring in Queensland before we take further decisions,” he said.
“Obviously it is a concerning situation, but the good news is that the person in question seems to have acquired the virus very recently and it’s been picked up very quickly.”
READ MORE: Newspoll points to McGowan landslide
Jess Malcolm:3.12pm:Daniel Andrews confronts ‘very long road to recovery’
Daniel Andrews has confirmed he will not need surgery, but will have a “very long” road to recovery.
The Victorian Premier broke ribs and fractured vertebra when he slipped and fell on wet stairs at a holiday house on the Mornington Peninsula on Tuesday.
In a statement he posted on Twitter, Mr Andrews thanked healthcare workers at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne where he is being treated.
“The good news is no surgery for now — but the doctors tell me recovery and rehab is still going to be a very long journey.”
“Our thanks to the entire team at Alfred for their care and professionalism. Like all our health professionals, they are the best of Victoria.”
Mr Andrews has now been moved from the intensive care unit, into a ward in the hospital.
Intensive Care Unit Director Steve McGloughlin said the Premier was in good spirits and remained in a stable condition.
“Mr Andrews is comfortable and doing well,” Professor McGloughlin said.
READ MORE: Flight caps — but no one said anything about boats
James Dean2.45pm:Goldman signals total return to office
Goldman Sachs has told its 41,000 employees that they should all be back in the office by the end of the northern summer, sooner than expected.
David Solomon, chief executive, said that the speed of the vaccine rollout indicated that the end was in sight for working-from-home arrangements.
With the end-of-summer deadline, the Wall Street investment bank has brought forward by months the date by which it expects its staff to return to their offices. In January Solomon said that he expected all employees to be back by the end of the year.
Solomon, 59, who lives in New York, is no fan of home working and has commuted to and from Goldman’s headquarters in Manhattan for most of the pandemic. He has described working from home as an “aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible … It’s not a new normal.”
Jamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, said in September last year that his bankers, particularly young ones, were not as productive working from home as they were at the office. For bankers of all ages, productivity seemed to dip in particular on Mondays and Fridays, Dimon said.
Goldman and JP Morgan were quick to encourage staff to return to the office after the initial wave of the pandemic had subsided, but this was derailed when cases started to rise again.
READ MORE:Cormann made chief of OECD
Jess Malcolm:2.16pm:WHO approves J & J vaccine
The World Health Organisation has approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, calling it a “safe and effective tool against COVID-19”.
The news comes after the single-dose jab won approval from the European Union on Thursday.
It has also received the green light from regulators in the United States, Canada and South Africa.
The WHO said the J & J jab had been granted an “emergency use listing” which assesses the suitability of new health products during public health emergencies, and is quicker than the regular licensing system.
WHO authorisation paves the way for the jabs to be used as part of the Covax initiative aimed at ensuring equitable access to vaccines in poorer countries.
Over 500 million doses of the J & J jabs have been promised to the facility and the WHO hopes it can be rolled out through the scheme from July.
Clinical trials have found that the J & J shot was 67 per cent effective at preventing people from getting COVID-19.
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Heath Parkes-Hupton1.45pm:PM joins pledge to rollout a billion vax doses
The US, India, Japan and Australia have pledged to roll out one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific following a historic summit overnight.
The nations ratified the move hoped to accelerate the end of the pandemic at the first joint-leaders meeting of ‘the Quad’ – the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue – a strategic forum between the countries.
US President Joe Biden, and prime ministers Narendra Modi, Yoshihide Suga and Scott Morrison held a virtual conference early on Saturday morning Australian time in what Mr Morrison described as a “new dawn” for the region.
The doses will be manufactured at facilities in India, with Quad partners to support the process through funding and logistical assistance in regards to production, procurement and safe delivery of the shots.
Pharmaceutical company Biological E plans to produce one billion doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the end of 2022.
Australia has committed $US77m ($99.2m) for the provision of vaccines and “last-mile” delivery support with a focus on southeast Asia.
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Jess Malcolm1.30pm:AstraZeneca shuts down vaccine safety fears
AstraZeneca has been forced to defend its coronavirus vaccine over concerns about a potential link to blood clots, after some European and Asian countries suspended the news of the COVID-19 jab.
The pharmaceutical company shut down any concerns over its safety, saying it found no evidence of increased risk.
“An analysis of our safety data of more than 10 million records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country” AstraZeneca said.
“In fact, the observed number of these types of events are significantly lower in those vaccinated than would be expected among the general population.”
The controversies have taken a toll on public confidence in Europe, with millions of AstraZeneca jabs sitting unused, angering experts who say the rows are setting the inoculation campaign back.
The majority of Australians will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been heralded for its relatively cheap price, and easy storage.
READ MORE:Greg Sheridan — China prepares for war as Quad fights back
Jess Malcolm1.10pm:Greg Hunt out of hospital
Health Minister Greg Hunt has confirmed he has been discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for cellulitis on his leg.
In a statement on Twitter, Mr Hunt personally thanked the nurses and doctors who cared for him.
“I want to thank the extraordinary staff at both St Vincent’s Public and Private Hospitals in Sydney who took care of me during my stay,” he said.
“I particularly want to thank the nurses, Paru, Neave, Sushma, Miru, Tracey and Bina, as well as my doctors David and Michael.”
“There are many others, particularly in my journey through the Emergency Department whose names I didn’t learn, but whose care and attention was deeply appreciated.”
He will return to federal parliament on Monday, and will undertake a course of antibiotics to help his recovery.
“I am also very thankful for all the messages of support both to myself, my family and my office.”
READ MORE:Paul Kelly — Australia at the crossroads as reality bites
Jess Malcolm12.45pm: Covid cases on the decline in the US
North America bucked a world trend this week, recording a decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases.
It was the only continent that recorded a decrease in the number of new cases, recording four per cent less than last week.
Its death toll also continues to drop, recording 13 per cent less this week.
Europe overtook the US as the political area recording the biggest weekly death toll, but still saw its number of deaths decrease by four per cent. Case numbers in Europe spiked by six per cent.
But the pandemic is still rampant in some parts of the world.
Latin America’s case numbers surged by 15 per cent, while cases in the Middle East rose by 5 per cent.
The biggest spike was recorded in Pakistan, which tallied an increase of 86 per cent in the number of new infections this week. Bulgaria, Paraguay and the Philippines are also experiencing new waves of the virus.
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Jess Malcolm 12.05pm:Premier defends vaccine rollout progress
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended her state’s vaccination rollout, calling the campaign a “slow and steady process”.
In response to questioning as to why the infectious doctor linked to the Brisbane hospital was not yet vaccinated, Ms Palaszczuk confirmed that not everyone working in hotel quarantine has been vaccinated.
“We know we’re getting a lot of people that are testing positive coming in from high-risk countries at the moment,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I think we’ve seen something like 40 in the last fortnight. So it is high-risk. Once again, this is once again why I keep talking about regional quarantine.”
“It’s a slow and steady process to get this right. As we get more and more supply, more and more people are going to get vaccinated.”
More to come …
Jess Malcolm11.53am:Qld authorities announce new restrictions
Queensland authorities have instated new restrictions on hospitals and aged care facilities as the state records one case of communtry transmission today.
All hospitals will now be closed to visitors, as well as mandatory mask wearing in the facility.
The same will apply to aged care facilities, detention facilities and disability services.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Sonya Bennet also said there are now three high risk sites after the person visited these venues while infectious on Thursday afternoon and evening.
These sites are as follows:
The Morning After cafe at West End where the person was there present from 2:00pm to 3:15pm.
Corporate Box gym at Greenslopes where the person attended between 5:45pm and 7:00 pm
Stones Corner hotel at Stones Corner on Thursday evening between 7:00 pm and 7:45pm.
“A large amount of contact tracing is going on as we speak, and we’ll know more about the number of contacts in the next 24 to 48 hours,” she said.
More to come …
Jess Malcolm11.44am:Queensland records one new case of community transmission
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed Queensland has recorded one new case of communtry transmission, following 5,657 tests.
The doctor who tested positive to COVID-19 on Friday, had been assessing two positive cases on Wednesday. She developed symptoms on Thursday, and came forward to get tested.
The doctor was out in the community on Thursday, but health authorities said people should “feel assured” that there were minimal places she visited.
Ms Palaszczuk also confirmed the patients in hospital have the UK strain and it is expected the infected doctor also has the UK variant.
The infected doctor had not been immunised.
Three high-risk sites have been identified, including a cafe, gym and a hotel.
The Premier, who is speaking at a press conference in Brisbane, said the next 72 hours “will be pretty critical” in terms of containing the outbreak.
“We must remind ourselves that we are only in week three of the vaccine rollout,” Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.
The doctor was wearing PPE at all times when she was with the infected patients.
She also confirmed that the doctor came forward for testing very quickly after she developed symptoms, giving authorities confidence that the outbreak can be contained.
“What we know about this virus is that it is highly infectious. Both the rapidity at which the doctor became infectious and the fact there were no identified breaches shows that,” Ms D’Ath said.
“We’ve seen that here in Australia before and we’ve seen it around the world. Certainly the hospitals are looking at that and trying to identify any particular cause that may need improvement.”
More to come …
Jess Malcolm11.30am: Now new cases recorded in NSW
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, following almost 10,000 tests.
This marks 55 days that NSW has been free from community transmission of COVID-19.
There was one case recorded in hotel quarantine. NSW Health also said that one case reported earlier this week was excluded following “further testing”.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) March 13, 2021
One new case was acquired overseas, and one case reported earlier this week was excluded following further testing. pic.twitter.com/OLSFv8iYJ6
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Jess Malcolm11am:Expert expects Brisbane transmission
Infectious disease expert Dr Paul Griffin says he expects some transmission of COVID-19 in the Brisbane hospital in lockdown, given the virus’s high transmissibility.
This comes after a doctor who had been in contact with COVID-19 patients at Princess Alexandra Hospital on Wednesday morning, and tested positive on Friday.
“What we need to do now is have a look at what might have contributed there and see if there are ways to improve but obviously a few things here that may have contributed that we will know about in the fullness of time,” Dr Griffin said on the ABC.
“What is really clear with this virus is that even though we’ve got excellent control in this country and people have done a fantastic job to get to that point.”
“It won’t go away any time soon and now we have a vaccine and that will obviously help, but we are not there yet to the rollout where it will protect people.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will address the media later this morning
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Jacquelin Magnay10.42am: Outrage as cops use Covid to ban murder vigil
London Metropolitan police commissioner Cressida Dick is facing legal pressure after her force refused to allow a pro-women’s protest following an arrest of one of her armed officers for murder.
Wayne Couzens, 48, was arrested on Thursday for the kidnap and murder of marketing executive Sarah Everard who went missing off the streets near Clapham Common on March 3, three days after he was accused of indecent exposure involving a different woman in South London.
A body found close to Mr Couzens’ home in Kent has been confirmed as Ms Everard’s.
He is now recovering in custody after he was found with “serious self-inflicted head injuries” in his Wandsworth cell a day after his arrest.
Read the full story here.
Jess Malcolm10.13am: 100m vaccine doses administered in US
Health workers in the United States have administered more than 100 million COVID-10 vaccine doses, around 30 per cent of the world’s total so far.
A total of 101,128,005 shots have been administered, according to the latest tally posted Friday afternoon by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Joe Biden’s administration had initially targeted achieving this milestone by his hundredth day in office, on April 30.
But the goal was quickly revised up to 150 million shots in the first 100 days, and this week Mr Biden said there will be enough vaccine to cover the whole adult population of 258 million by the end of May.
More than 340 million doses of Covid vaccines have been administered worldwide.
READ MORE: Peter van Onselen — Even Libs in a mess doing better than Labor
Jess Malcolm9.40am:Government accused of pork barrelling with travel stimulus
Federal Labor MP Jason Clare has accused the federal government of pork barrelling in their selection of destinations in their latest tourism package.
“Talking about Tasmania — they picked three airports all in the north of Tasmania where the marginal seats are, but they didn’t pick Hobart even,” Mr Clare told the ABC on Saturday.
“Hobart is the only international airport in Tasmania — this is supposed to fill the gap left by an absence of international tourists and they don’t put Hobart on it because it is not a marginal seat.”
“I can only think this mob has form. They did it with sports rorts. We are getting this again.”
The $1.2 billion package will run from April to July to increase flights to priority tourist destinations to stimulate the economy.
READ MORE:State counting cost of hotel quarantine
Jess Malcolm9.30am:Italy plunged into lockdown again
Italy has been plunged into another lockdown as it struggles to contain the rapid spread of new variants of COVID-19.
Schools, restaurants and museums were ordered to close across the country from next week, after the Prime Minister Mario Draghi warned of a new wave of infections.
A majority of regions — including those containing Rome and Milan — were classified by Health Minister Roberto Speranza as high-risk red zones from Monday, with all residents told to stay home except for work, health or other essential reasons.
All other regions will be in medium-risk orange, meaning museums, restaurants and bars are closed but schools remain open. Only Sardinia escapes restrictions, designated a low-risk “white” area.
“More than a year after the start of the health emergency, we are unfortunately facing a new wave of infections,” Mr Draghi said.
“The memory of what happened last spring is vivid, and we will do everything to prevent it from happening again.”
READ MORE:No one noticed Italy’s silent bomb until it went off
Jess Malcolm9.18am:Victoria records no new cases
Victoria has recorded no new cases of COVID-19, following over 16,000 tests.
There were no new cases recorded in hotel quarantine.
There are now just three active cases in the state.
Yesterday there were no new cases reported. 16,612 test results were received. Thank you to everyone who got tested - #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) March 12, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/h68jWVQZZ6
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Joe Kelly, Robyn Ironside9am:Cheap flights ‘aimed at wrong places’
Broome, one of the 15 destinations for which the government is providing half-price flights, is already fully booked according to the WA Tourism Council that is pleading for Perth’s inclusion in the scheme and warning up to 20,000 jobs in the city are at stake.
The half-price flights — the centrepiece of the government’s $1.2bn package to revive tourism and aviation — are being attacked by critics who warn some of the routes, including several to the Sunshine Coast and Broome, have already been enjoying record visitor numbers and bookings.
“Where are all these new visitors going to sleep? On the beach?” asked West Australian travel agent Callum Chambers. Matthew Findlay, a director at Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting, said the criteria on which the discounted airfares were selected — all of which apply only to interstate routes — was “not entirely clear”.
Read the full story here.
Natasha Robinson, Richard Ferguson8.30am:‘No extra danger’ in latest vaccine scare
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, has dismissed concerns that the AstraZeneca vaccine may be linked with blood clots, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to defend the speed of the nation’s vaccine rollout.
Professor Kelly said the Australian government did not believe people who received the AstraZeneca jab were at any greater risk of blood clots, following the suspension of the vaccine in Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
Denmark health authorities are investigating the death of a 60-year-old vaccinated woman from a coagulation disorder and another illness from a pulmonary embolism in a person who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine. No link has been established with the vaccine.
Read the full story here.
Joseph Lam8am:Doctor positive, Brisbane hospital on alert
A Brisbane hospital has been placed in immediate lockdown after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
The action was taken at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane’s Woolloongabba, about 5km from the CBD, after a positive result was received from a senior doctor.
Queensland Health said the doctor had come into contact with several patients who had tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. The doctor did not attend work on Thursday or Friday, but did go out in public on Thursday.
“Tests indicate low level of the virus, which means the staff member may have only been infectious in the community for around one day on the 11th (of March),” a statement read.
“All patients, staff and families this person interacted with are being identified and appropriate actions are being taken.”
Following the positive test, all staff and patients will be required to wear a mask. Non-essential visitors will not be allowed to enter the hospital.
Read the full story here.
David Ross7.30am:Police question Victorian hotel quarantine security firm
The security company at the centre of the Melbourne quarantine disaster has been slapped with a second show cause notice by police, which may result in the company being removed from NSW’s hotel quarantine scheme.
Unified Security, which was contracted for the lion’s share of work in the Victorian hotel quarantine scheme, had its licence placed under review by NSW police in September.
The NSW Police Security Licensing Enforcement Directorate (SLED) launched the investigation into Unified Security after The Australian published evidence that senior government bureaucrats held concerns around the wind-up of a business that previously traded as Unified Security Group.
Read the full story here.