Coronavirus live news Australia: Restrictions return in NZ, revelation on Victoria’s struggle with contact tracing
New Zealand faces a week of restrictions after another new local case emerged. And more has come out on Queensland’s refusal to pay a NSW hotel bill.
- Virus bungle doctor sanctioned before
- New one-dose vaccine gets emergency approval
- ‘Left-wing extremists using Covid to inflame tensions’
- State of Origin war erupts over expenses
- More NSW vaccination locations unveiled
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the coronavirus crisis and the day’s events. Here is how Saturday unfolded.
New Zealand faces a week of restrictions after another new local case emerged. And more has come out on Queensland’s refusal to pay a NSW hotel bill. It has also been learned the doctor at the centre of the vaccine dosing bungle at a Brisbane aged-care centre had previously been sanctioned by the national health regulator over the inappropriate prescriptions. Meanwhile, a parliamentary inquiry has heard left-wing activists are using Covid to inflame tensions and justify the use of violence in Victoria.
Hayden Johnson9.30pm:Queensland reportedly agreed to pay hotel bill
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles’ pledge this week to tear up a $30m hotel quarantine bill sent by NSW has been dealt a blow with news the state’s then-treasurer Jackie Trad agreed to pay the cost during national talks just weeks before she was deposed last year.
The Sunday Mail (Qld) can reveal Ms Trad was among the nation’s treasurers who, at a Board of Treasurers meeting on April 1, 2020, agreed that states would fund the costs of hotel quarantine accommodation.
Mr Miles has since reneged on that pledge, filming a video of himself tearing up the invoice and insisting the state won’t pay until the Commonwealth develops a national approach to quarantine.
According to meeting minutes, Ms Trad agreed costs would be reconciled among states and shared according to residency of people.
Mr Miles, now Queensland’s Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, was health minister last year.
Ms Trad quit her ministry last year over allegations of political interference she denied, and subsequently lost her seat of South Brisbane to a Greens challenge in the October general election.
The Sunday Mail (Qld)
FULL REPORT is here
READ EARLIER: State of Origin war erupts over expenses
Agencies8.45pm:NZ’s Covid-19 lockdown hits cricket, yachting
A community coronavirus outbreak in Auckland has forced New Zealand cricket bosses to hastily reschedule two Twenty20 matches against Australia as other affected sports assessed their options.
A NZ Cricket spokesman said the third match in the current T20 series, to be played in Wellington on Wednesday, would go ahead but without spectators.
Game four, scheduled for Auckland on Friday, has been moved to Wellington and, again, will be played behind closed doors.
The spokesman said they would wait for government advice on whether crowd restrictions would be lifted before deciding if there will be spectators at the final game of the series in Tauranga on Sunday, March 7.
Sport is not allowed under Auckland’s level three and the Government’s snap decision meant it was unlikely the start of the America’s Cup final between holders Team New Zealand and Italian challengers Luna Rossa would go ahead on March 6.
In Super Rugby, Aotearoa, the Waikato Chiefs play the Otago Highlanders in Hamilton on Friday, while the Canterbury Crusaders host the Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday with both matches presumably in empty stadiums.
AFP
Staff reporters8.30pm:Auckland faces seven-day virus shutdown
Auckland would go into level-three restrictions requiring “stay at home if possible’’ and travel restrictions, probably for seven days, from 6am on Sunday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday.
The rest of the country faces minor level-two restrictions from 6am.
A new COVID-19 case was detected in the community on Saturday afternoon. The person, aged 20, went to the GP in the afternoon on Friday for a COVID test, then went to the gym after that.
Ms Ardern said that was “frustrating”.
It has not been confirmed if the new case is definitely linked to an earlier cluster.
Cabinet met this afternoon after the latest case was detected.
With AFP
FULL REPORT:Auckland goes back into lockdown
READ EARLIER:Victorian restrictions eased again
Christine Lacy6.45pm:Tracing reboot didn’t start until lockdown ended
Key elements of Victoria’s outdated and trouble-plagued contact-tracing system’s digital upgrade didn’t start until October 26 — the same day Premier Daniel Andrews announced the end of the state’s 111-day lockdown.
A 30-page government contract, seen by The Weekend Australian, reveals that the Boston Consulting Group was paid $11.48m to design and implement the COVID-19 digital contact-tracing system.
The key contract details emerged as Mr Andrews announced on Friday that Victoria’s COVID restrictions were easing to allow more visitors at home, extra staff to return to work and the relaxation of the rules around wearing masks.
The BCG contract for the COVID-19 Digital Test, Trace, Isolate System Phase 2 ran for just under two months, with a further 30-day warranty period extending the deal to January 23 this year.
The contract was entered into to remove Victoria’s dependency on its existing Public Health Surveillance System, a more rudimentary and manual notifiable diseases system that was implemented in the state in 2012.
The contract reveals that while the project launched on October 26, the formal agreement with the international consulting giant wasn’t officially signed by newly appointed Health Minister Martin Foley until November 25.
FULL REPORT is here
Agencies 6.39pm:US stimulus plan for pandemic goes to Senate
The US House of Representatives passed a $US1.9 trillion ($2.47tn) coronavirus relief package early on Saturday US time, hailed by Democrats as a critical step in funnelling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened local governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic.
Four days after the COVID-19 death toll surpassed 500,000 in the US, the sprawling measure backed by US President Joe Biden and seen as a moral imperative by many now heads to the Senate for consideration next week.
“After 12 months of death and despair, the American recovery begins tonight,” congressman Brendan Boyle told the House chamber shortly before lawmakers approved the package on an rare post-midnight vote of 219 to 212.
No Republicans voted for the bill.
The sharply partisan result comes weeks after Mr Biden’s January 20 inauguration, when he called for unity in the face of a once-in-a-century health crisis.
The package cleared the House despite a major setback for Democrats, when a key Senate official ruled Thursday that the final version of the bill cannot include a minimum wage hike.
Mr Biden had campaigned extensively on raising the national minimum wage to $US15 an hour, from a rate of $US7.25 that has stood since 2009.
He aimed to include it in the rescue plan, which directly provides $US1400 payments to most Americans and allots billions of dollars to boost vaccine delivery, help schools re-open and fund state and local governments.
It extends unemployment benefits, set to expire mid-March, by about six months, as well as a moratorium on evictions for millions of people struggling to pay rent.
The bill is on track to be the second-largest US stimulus ever, after the $US2tn package Donald Trump signed last March to fight the pandemic’s devastating spread.
AFP
READ EARLIER:US experts approve J & J vaccine
Frances Vinall6.30pmVirus tests urged for 11 Melb suburbs
COVID-19 fragments have been detected in wastewater in Melbourne’s outer west, with residents urged to get tested.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the viral fragments were “weak” but residents and recent visitors to the area with “even mild symptoms” should arrange a coronavirus test immediately.
The suburbs in the wastewater catchment area are Taylors Hill, Plumpton, Hillside, Sydenham, Delahey, Caroline Springs, Burnside Heights, Kings Park, Albanvale, Burnside and Deer Park.
Professor Sutton said the viral fragment was from a sample collected on February 22.
“Anyone who has been in these suburbs and has any symptoms of COVID-19 from 20 to 22 February is urged to get tested,” he said.
NCA NewsWire
FULL REPORT is here
Frances Vinall and Brendan Rees 6.10pm:Anti-vaxxers protest outside minister’s office
A group of anti-vaccination protesters gathered at Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s office in Victoria on Saturday to rally against the country’s rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.
The group made speeches on a small platform in front of a liquorland in Somerville, on the Mornington Peninsula, in Mr Hunt’s electorate of Flinders.
The rally was met by a heavy police presence including members of the Public Order Response Team, mounted branch, dog squad and local officers.
About 2.45pm the crowd burst into cheers in approval for rogue MP Craig Kelly, who left the Liberal Party this week after attracting controversy for his views on masks and vaccinations.
NCA NewsWire
READ MORE from here
Robert Lea5.50pm:Pandemic sends British Airways spinning to record loss
The owner of British Airways plunged to a 7.4 billion-euro (11.6bn) loss in 2020 and is burning through cash at a rate of 185 million euros a week.
Desperate to plug the torrent of money pouring out of the business, International Consolidated Airlines Group yesterday called on governments to agree common COVID-19 testing standards and to introduce health passports to get people flying again.
The annual losses at IAG included 313 million euros of costs covering the redundancies of 10,000 BA employees. The job losses, accounting for 25 per cent of the carrier’s workforce amid the threat of a fire-and-rehire program, have been labelled by British MPs as a “national disgrace”.
IAG is the airline conglomerate that houses BA as well as Iberia and Aer Lingus, the former state airlines of Spain and Ireland, and Vueling, the Spanish short-haul carrier.
The worst performance in the group’s ten-year existence came after a 70 per cent slump in revenues from 25.5 billion euros to 7.8 billion euros as passenger numbers fell from 118 million to 31 million and the number of flights was cut by 66.5 per cent on average last year.
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Ellie Dudley5.30pm:WA records no new cases
Western Australia has recorded no new community transmitted cases of COVID-19, and none in hotel quarantine.
WA Health is monitoring three active cases of COVID-19. The total number of confirmed cases for the state stands at 913.
To date, 24 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – 17 of the UK strain and 7 of the South African strain.
READ MORE: Nikki Gemmell — Tall poppy syndrome is holding us back
Ellie Dudley4.54pm:Vanuatu to open travel bubble
Coronavirus-free Vanuatu has announced plans to begin opening its borders, beginning with a travel bubble with New Caledonia.
From April, the “Tamtam Bubble” will allow access to Efate Island, Vanuatu’s largest island and home to the capital Port Vila.
A government spokesman on Saturday said that a meeting of leaders would occur next week “to formalise the Tamtam Travel Bubble between Port Vila and Noumea.”
Vanuatu Prime Minister Bob Loughman told community leaders New Caledonia was chosen because it is “a low-risk country with no active community cases for more than 28 days”.
Priority will initially be given to people travelling on compassionate grounds for healthcare, education, employment, technical assistance and visiting family and friends.
The two-way travel bubble is named after the tamtam drum, which is common in Melanesian countries as a means of communication.
Vanuatu recorded its only case of the virus in November 2020, in a returned traveller from the United States.
Meanwhile, New Caledonia hasn’t registered a new case since December, with a total of 57 cases since the pandemic began.
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Emily Godsen4.05pm:Pension chief quits after trip to UAE for vaccine
The British boss of Canada’s largest pension fund has resigned amid outrage at his decision to travel to the United Arab Emirates to receive a private COVID-19 vaccination.
Mark Machin’s departure from Canada Pension Plan Investments was announced yesterday, less than 24 hours after his trip was revealed.
CPP Investments manages almost dollars 500 billion of assets on behalf of more than 20 million people. It is based in Toronto and has offices worldwide. Machin, 54, had led the group since 2016.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Machin had flown to the UAE this month with his partner and had received a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It reported that he had told contacts he used local connections to obtain the vaccine and would remain in the country to receive a second dose.
The story provoked particular anger because of the slow progress of the immunisation program in Canada, where fewer than two million people have been vaccinated. Canada has also advised residents to avoid all non- essential international travel.
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Ellie Dudley3.20pm:US on track to reach 100m vaccinations in 100 days
Joe Biden has said the country’s vaccine program remains “on track” to reach 100 million vaccinations in 100 days.
Speaking during a visit to a vaccination hub in Texas, the US President continued to encourage all Americans to get the COVID-19 jab.
“This can be a great American achievement, being the only country in the world to reach 100 million shots in hundred days, this could unite us as a country to vaccinate America, to protect America, to heal America. And I know we can do this,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the country passed the 50 million vaccination mark.
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Nicholas Jensen2.40pm:5000 refusing to pay for hotel quarantine
Returned travellers are refusing to foot the bill for their two-week quarantine, with many adamant they won’t be paying on principle, as debt collectors chase more than 5000 people for unpaid fees.
While some travellers say they are unable to afford the average $5000 charge for a family of four, others are furious they are being made to pay for what they perceive as government bungles.
Some claim the hotel facilities are so appalling that no one forced to endure the conditions should have to pay.
Michael Ledsome, who paid more than $20,000 for plane tickets home for his family from Turkey, is refusing pay his quarantine bill, saying that while he’s in a financial position to do so: “It’s a matter of principle, it’s my right to refuse to pay.”
While intending to return home before a July deadline, Mr Ledsome said he and his family were instructed by the Australian embassy in Ankara to not risk international travel.
He also complained that his pregnant wife and three-year child — who left for Perth before him — had been given prior permission to quarantine at home, but on arrival were told to enter a hotel quarantine with “no opening windows or proper medical support”.
Read the full story here.
Ellie Dudley2.20pm:South Australia records no new cases
South Australia has recorded no new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19, and none from overseas.
Yesterday, the state conducted 2875 tests. A total of 1371 vaccines have been administered in SA.
The state currently has three active cases, all in medi-hotels.
READ MORE:Why rising star Liberal MP Nicolle Flint is quitting politics
Robyn Ironside2pm: Canberra cash helps Rex profits take off
Regional Express airlines has managed to increase its half-year profit 45 per cent to $9.9m after tax, with the help of significant federal government assistance.
In the six months to December 31, the airline saw passenger numbers slump 71.2 per cent resulting in a 70 per cent hit to revenue.
Freight revenue also fell but funds from charter operations increased 10 per cent.
Total airline revenue of $65.6m was almost doubled by government grants and assistance worth $59.4m.
Rex chairman Lim Kim Hai acknowledged the government help, saying without that assistance the airline would have had to shut down 90 per cent of its network.
“On behalf of all regional carriers and the regional and rural communities they service, we offer our grateful thanks to the federal government,” said Mr Lim.
Read the full story here.
Ellie Dudley1.15pm: ACT records no new cases, just 478 tests
The ACT has recorded no new cases of coronavirus, after 478 tests were recorded over the past 24 hours.
The territory now vaccinated 980 people, and has no active cases.
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Ellie Dudley12.55pm:UNSC votes for improved access to vaccines
The UN Security Council has voted in unanimous approval to a resolution calling for improved access to COVID-19 vaccines in conflict-hit or impoverished countries.
It was the second resolution on the pandemic passed by the council since it began a year ago.
“Voting for vaccine equity is important and we appreciate that,” said World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in welcoming the vote.
“But the concrete steps should be taken, and waive IP to increase production, coverage of vaccine and get rid of this virus as soon as possible,” he told reporters. “The UNSC can do it if there is political will.”
The resolution was co-sponsored by all 15 members of the council.
“We are all facing the same threat, the same pandemic and international co-operation and multilateral action is needed,” the AFP reported one anonymous diplomat to say.
“This resolution could be a step in a good direction.”
The resolution also hints at a warming of relations at the UN between the United States and China since President Joe Biden took office.
The new resolution approved Friday stresses “the urgent need for solidarity, equity, and efficacy” in fighting the pandemic in countries with limited access to vaccines.
The resolution “invites donation of vaccine doses from developed economies and all those in a position to do so to low- and middle-income countries and other countries in need.”
It also “calls for the strengthening of national and multilateral approaches and international co-operation … in order to facilitate equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines in armed conflict situations, post-conflict situations and complex humanitarian emergencies.”
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Ellie Dudley12.15pm:Victorian restrictions eased today
Greater Melbourne is set to have restrictions eased from this morning, as the state records another double doughnut day.
As announced by Premier Dan Andrews yesterday, the state has returned to “Covid safe summer settings” — the same as those in place prior to Christmas.
They are as follows:
– Up to 30 people from any number of households can visit your home each day
– Up to 100 people from any number of households can gather in public
– On-site office work cap lifted to 75 per cent of the workforce
– Masks have to be carried at all times, but are only mandatory in:
– Large retail stores like shopping centres, department stores, supermarkets
– Public transport or when travelling in a commercial passenger vehicle or tour vehicle
– When visiting a hospital
– When visiting or working in an aged care facility
READ MORE: Warm welcome to Victoria’s summer rules
Ellie Dudley11.33am:NSW notches 41-day virus-free streak
New South Wales has recorded no new cases of locally transmitted coronavirus, and six that were acquired overseas.
Today marks a 41 day streak for the state of no community transmission.
A total of 12671 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, compared to 15498 the day prior.
Dr Michael Douglas from NSW Health also pointed out the “milestone” of 5 million tests that have no been conducted for the state.
“NSW Health continues to urge anyone with any cold-like symptoms to come forward for testing, and to isolate until they receive a negative result,” he said.
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Natasha Robinson, Richard Ferguson11.10am:Restrictions already on vaccine bungle doctor
The doctor at the centre of the vaccine dosing bungle at a Brisbane aged-care centre had previously been sanctioned by the national health regulator over the inappropriate prescription of medicinal cannabis.
Sujoy Roychowdhury, who holds a medical degree from the University of Tasmania, had conditions placed on his licence by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency after complaints over his practice.
Dr Roychowdhury was barred from possessing, supplying, prescribing or administering any natural or synthetic medicine cannabis products and was required to be supervised at any practice that employed him.
A senior practice manager or other senior representative overseeing Dr Roychowdhury’s practice was required to submit monthly reports to the regulator certifying that the doctor was complying with the restrictions.
Dr Roychowdhury was employed by Healthcare Australia, which has a contract to administer COVID-19 vaccinations in aged-care centres in NSW and Queensland. On Wednesday, he dosed two elderly residents, aged 88 and 94, with four times the correct dosage of Pfizer vaccine. The patients suffered no ill effects.
Read the full story here.
Ellie Dudley11am:US experts give J & J vaccine the tick of approval
US panel of independent experts have voted unanimously in favour of recommending Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 shot for emergency approval.
The vaccine will be the third to have been approved in the US, following the Pfizer and Moderna shot.
The US Food and Drug Administration brought together the group of 22 members, and included leading scientists as well as consumer and industry representatives.
“We’re going to use every conceivable way to expand manufacturing of the vaccine … and make even more rapid progress in getting [shots] to people’s arms,” President Joe Biden said from Houston shortly after the vote.
Johnson & Johnson said they aim to deliver a total of 20 million doses to the United States by the end of March, with 100 million by June, though the US is pushing to expedite that timeline.
While the recommendation is not binding it is expected to be followed.
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James Hall10.33am:Linda Reynolds released from hospital
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has been released from hospital two days after being admitted due to a pre-existing medical condition.
Ms Reynolds was admitted on the advice of her cardiologist ahead of a highly anticipated appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday in the wake of the Parliament House rape allegation scandal.
“As a precautionary measure, Minister Reynolds has this morning been admitted to a Canberra Hospital,” a statement said earlier this week.
Ms Reynolds had come under intense scrutiny for what she knew and her treatment of her former staffer Brittany Higgins who was allegedly raped in the minister’s office.
The senator is expected to take time away before returning to ministerial duties in mid-March.
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Ellie Dudley10.13am:Queensland records no new cases
Queensland has reported no new cases of locally transmitted coronavirus, and one new case from overseas.
The overseas case was detected in hotel quarantine.
The state now has 12 active cases.
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Ellie Dudley9.40am:Liberal MP denies ‘culture of cover-up’
Liberal MP Russell Broadbent has denied a culture of cover-up within the Liberal Party following the latest allegation of rape to rock federal parliament.
“I have no knowledge of a culture of cover-up within the Liberal Party, absolutely none, and I have been around for longer than most,” Mr Broadbent told the ABC on Saturday, following claims that a woman had recently accused a federal cabinet minister of rape more than 30 years ago.
“That is not my experience at all.”
Mr Broadbent said it was “time for truth telling … and for any sort of consideration around the political issues to be put to one side.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing Ged Kearney said Parliament House needed “real structural reform”.
“As the Prime Minister said the other morning in his speech on the UN-Australia International Women’s Day Breakfast about protecting women and reflecting, we want to hear about real structural reform,” she said.
She said the Labor Party was undergoing a “cultural change”, and the current government “really must act”.
READ MORE:Liberal rising star Nicolle Flint quits as new rape claim surfaces
Ellie Dudley9.30am:Queensland border now open to Melburnians
The Queensland border has been opened to greater Melbourne from this morning, allowing travellers to enter the state without a border pass or mandatory quarantine.
The region was declared a hotspot on February 13, after an outbreak at the Holiday Inn quarantine facility.
Queensland’s border is now open to every state and territory in Australia.
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Ellie Dudley9.15am:Victoria records no new cases
Victoria has recorded no new cases of community transmitted COVID-19, and none acquired from overseas travellers.
A total of 10,297 test results were recorded across the state, after two local cases were reported yesterday.
The state now has 15 active cases.
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Geoff Chambers9am:‘Left-wing extremists using Covid to inflame tensions’
Victoria Police says the right-wing extremist threat does not “exist in a vacuum”, and warned left-wing extremists have also used the COVID-19 pandemic to inflame tensions over the environment and “authoritarian” governments.
In its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism, Victoria Police said right-wing extremism was “directly influenced by a symbiotic relationship with the threat of left-wing extremism”.
It said that in addition to violent conflict at organised right-wing extremist events, left-wing extremists were “mimicking overseas-based (left-wing extremist) movements (such as ANTIFA) to justify the use of violence to promote civil unrest and target perceived enemy groups”.
Victoria Police, in its submission, said the far-left presented the pandemic in various forms “from a manifestation of the human impact on the environment … on the one hand, to a deliberate attempt by governments to achieve authoritarian control over their populations”.
Read the full story here.
Stephen Rice, Michael McKenna8.30am:State of Origin war erupts over expenses
Victoria will reimburse the NSW government for housing its residents in hotel quarantine, further isolating Queensland, which is refusing to pay a $27m bill amid a worsening row between the states about who should pick up the tab for border arrangements.
Hit with a total bill of $86m for thousands of interstate residents using the state’s hotel quarantine in the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said Queensland would ultimately be judged “in the court of public opinion” for politicising the issue and refusing to pay its share.
“All the people who have worked so hard to get Australians back home and keep them healthy and safe in quarantine could rightly feel ripped off by this peculiar display,” Mr Perrottet said. “Ultimately, it’s the Australian public and the court of public opinion who will judge what is a fair, reasonable and responsible approach.”
But Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles has refused to pay what he calls the “ridiculous” bill and said the federal government should pick up the expense.
Mr Miles said the NSW bill covered thousands of arrivals from Queensland, some of whom had been away from Australia for a long time and had given the addresses of relatives. He said 6058 people with addresses in NSW had arrived in Brisbane over the same period.
“The idea that states invoice each other based on what addresses people give when they arrive is ridiculous,” he said.
Read the full story here.
Rhiannon Down8am: NSW vaccination locations unveiled
NSW Health will open five major vaccine hubs and almost 100 regional satellite sites from next month, to support the rollout of the COVID-19 jab.
The vaccination sites will initially focus on priority groups including frontline healthcare and border workers and will begin operations from March 15 through to April.
The major hubs will be based in Newcastle, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour and Dubbo hospitals, and vaccines will be distributed to 99 regional sites from there.
The vaccine will become available to the rest of the population through local GPs.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the arrival of the vaccine was the turning point for NSW, and the rollout would move swiftly from essential workers to the broader population. “NSW is on track to achieve its goal of more than 35,000 vaccinations in the first three weeks with thousands of frontline workers already receiving their first doses thanks to excellent work of our NSW Health staff in the three initial hubs,” she said.
Read the full story here.
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