Coronavirus live news Australia: Auckland hit with snap lockdown
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered New Zealand’s largest city into a three-day lockdown from midnight on Sunday (10pm AEDT) after three cases emerged in the community.
- First Australian vaccines to arrive this week
- Pressure mounts on PM over virus response
- Two new local cases in Vic, one in quarantine
- Tennis player tests positive
- Mask rules lift in WA
- Victorian lockdown may deliver $1bn blow
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the coronavirus crisis.
Victoria has two new locally-acquired cases of Covid, and another in quarantine, as snap lockdown continues. with a fresh cloud over Australian Open.
An international tennis player who appeared at Rod Laver Arena and travelled through Melbourne Airport has tested positive to coronavirus. Meanwhile, mask rules have lifted in WA, and it’s been revealed the cost of the five-day lockdown to Victoria’s economy could reach a billion dollars.
Geoff Chambers, Simon Benson 11.30pm: New dole: one welfare payment for all
Welfare payments could be streamlined into a single payment for unemployed Australians receiving up to a dozen other supplements or subsidies under a proposal being considered by the Morrison government as it maps out options for a permanent rise in the JobSeeker rate.
The Australian understands an option flagged at a meeting of the expenditure review committee of cabinet last week was a significant reform package to accompany any increase to the dole when the $150-a-fortnight coronavirus supplement expires at the end of March.
It comes as new JobKeeper data to be released on Monday shows while 2.3 million workers moved off JobKeeper in December in another sign of economic recovery, Victoria lagged behind other states in its road back from the pandemic.
John Ferguson, Robyn Ironside 10.45pm: Traveller lockout, quarantine hotels may close
Victoria is investigating dramatically scaling back the number of returning travellers it takes and using publicly owned assets instead of hotels in a major shake-up of its quarantine program.
Senior Andrews government officials are debating the cuts, and the abandonment of dysfunctional centres like the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn, a possible new front in a row between the states and the Morrison government over who should operate the hotel quarantine program.
The Australian National Audit Office has also launched its own investigation over whether border measures have been informed by sound advice and co-ordinated effectively, with inquiries to also consider whether travel restrictions have been effective.
Rebecca Urban 10.10pm: ‘False negative’ has tracers on the run
Thousands more Victorians have been ordered to undertake urgent COVID-19 tests and isolate after a rare false negative test returned by a hotel quarantine worker, who later tested positive, sent contact tracers scrambling to investigate new sites of potential public exposure dating back almost a week.
A woman in her 50s and a three-year-old child who attended a private function in Coburg on February 6 along with the worker from the Holiday Inn have tested positive for coronavirus, it emerged on Sunday.
The mother of the child has been tested but has returned conflicting results, including a weak positive, that are undergoing further investigation. Her workplace contacts at Alfred Health have been tested as a precaution.
The function venue on Sydney Road in Melbourne’s northern suburbs was confirmed as an exposure site only late on Friday.
As a result, several extra potential public exposures have emerged dating back to February 8, including a Woolworths supermarket and Ferguson Plarre bakehouse in Broadmeadows and two swim and recreation centres in Pascoe Vale.
The Queen Victoria market has been declared an exposure site after an infected individual visited early on February 11.
Rhiannon Down, Agencies 9.25pm: EU fast-tracks vaccine to fight variants
The EU has agreed to fast-track approvals of vaccines updated to target coronavirus variants, the bloc’s health commissioner said on Sunday, following criticism of the bloc’s sluggish vaccine drive.
European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said the change would allow for the bloc to have “faster” access to “suitable vaccines available without cutting corners on safety”.
“We looked at the process together with the European Medicines Agency,” Ms Kyriakides told German daily Augsburger Allgemeine.
“And we have now decided that a vaccine, which has been improved by a manufacturer based on its previous vaccine to combat new mutations, no longer has to go through the entire approvals process.”
The EU’s vaccine rollout has been criticised for delays that have left its vaccination efforts behind the US, UK and Israel.
READ MORE: Parental burnout — time to take it seriously
Olivia Caisley 8.45pm: Labor launches IR scare campaign
Labor has rolled out a new campaign to target Scott Morrison’s industrial relations laws as it moves to convince voters that the Coalition has used the coronavirus pandemic to encourage insecure work with few or no protections for sick and holiday leave.
Sticking it to ordinary workers is no way to help Australia recover. But that's exactly what Scott Morrison's new industrial relations laws would do – they'd give employers even more tools to cut your pay.
— Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) February 14, 2021
Help us stop your pay being cut at https://t.co/0Pl9RxGM8I #auspol pic.twitter.com/TS6YiKJa2R
The advertisements, which are booked to run on television in every state and territory from Sunday, suggest the Prime Minister’s industrial relations laws will cut the wages, conditions and penalty rates of Australians workers.
“As if employers didn’t have enough power over workers now Scott Morrison wants to give them even more tools to cut their pay,” the ad says. “Employers can use Scott Morrison’s new industrial relations rules to slash your wages and conditions and slice away your penalty rates and overtime.”
The advert uses Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s new pitch of the party being “on the side” of Australians. ‘‘Sticking it to ordinary workers is no way to help Australia recover, when it comes to your job Scott Morrison and the Liberals are not on your side,” it says.
Glynis Traill-Nash 8.05pm: Cash boost keeps event in vogue
The Australian fashion industry has been handed a lifeline in a bid to get the sector moving after the coronavirus pandemic.
Australian Fashion Week has been added to a list of events eligible for the federal government’s $50m business events grant program targeted at trade shows and conferences. Those grants are part of a $1bn relief and recovery fund set up in response to the economic impact of COVID-19.
Those involved in the Sydney event can apply for funding of up to half the cost of participation, capped at $250,000.
Rhiannon Down 7.25pm: New Victorian exposure sites
Victorian health authorities have added public transport routes and Queen Victoria Market to the list of COVID-19 exposure sites after the state recorded two more cases on Sunday.
A confirmed case visited the fruits and vegetables section of the iconic marketplace on Thursday morning, and made a number of journeys to reach the markets via tram.
“Four new locations have been added to our list of Tier 1 exposure sites following further investigation by our public health team,” the state Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The new hotspots were revealed as health authorities confirmed the two new cases included a three-year-old child and a woman from a separate household.
- Yarra Trams No. 58 – 9:40am – 9:55am (Start: Queen Victoria Market / Peel Street #9. Finish: Bourke Street / William Street #5)
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 14, 2021
Anyone who visited these locations must isolate, test and remain isolated for 14 days.
The child’s mother has returned three different test results in the past 24 hours but there was a question mark over her status.
Victorian health authorities urge anyone who visited the market or boarded the No 11 and 58 tram at the following times to immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days:
● Yarra Trams No. 11, starting at D 16, Harbour Esplanade/Collins Street, and finishing at William Street/Collins Street: on Thursday, February 11, from 7.55am to 8.10am.
● Yarra Trams No.58, starting at Bourke Street/William Street and finishing at Queen Victoria Market/Peel Street on Thursday from 8.10am to 8.25am.
● Queen Victoria Market, Queen Street Melbourne, in Section Two, Fruits and Vegetables, and the Section Two female toilets on Thursday from 8.25am to 10.10am
● Yarra Trams No. 58, starting at Queen Victoria Market/Peel Street and finishing at Bourke Street/William Street on Thursday from 9.40am to 9.55am
READ MORE: Parental burnout — time to take it seriously
Peta Bee 6.45pm: Parental burnout — time to take it seriously
When you hear the term “burnout” what do you picture? Dead-eyed commuters, perhaps, or stressed-out executives drowning under deadlines. But new research shows that it’s parents — working from home, overseeing their children’s schooling, keeping it all together — who are now the ones at risk.
Burnout, a form of severe exhaustion caused by uncontrolled chronic stress, was initially identified as a work-related phenomenon. For the past five years, however, Moira Mikolajczak, a professor of psychology at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, has been researching its growing effects on parents. She has found that increasing numbers are suffering from what she describes as “an exhaustion syndrome, characterised by feeling physically and mentally overwhelmed by their role as a parent”.
Agencies 5.59pm: Snap lockdown for Auckland
Auckland has been forced into a three-day lockdown after three COVID-19 cases emerged in the community.
The city’s 1.7 million residents were told to stay at home from midnight (10pm AEDT), when the level-three lockdown begins, with schools and businesses to close except for essential services.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the lockdown is “just in case it could be one of the more transmissible strains of Covid that we need to act with a high degree of caution around.”
New Zealand confirmed a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in the community on Sunday, with a family of three testing positive including a woman who works for a catering firm servicing international flights.
“They are new and active infections,” Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins said.
Authorities downplayed any link to inflight meals because of an eight-day gap between the woman’s last day at work and when she tested positive.
“There are a number of gaps in our knowledge around these cases,” Mr Hipkins said. “One of the things I’m looking for is more information on the likely source ... that’s still a piece of the puzzle that’s missing.
“We’ll also be looking for whether there is any evidence Covid-19 could be out there in the community and circulating amongst others.”
New Zealand detected several cases of COVID-19 three weeks ago, ending a run of more than two months with no cases in the community.
Those cases were traced back to a hotel where the people had completed quarantine after travelling from overseas.
The woman and her daughter tested positive Saturday before the father returned a positive sample Sunday.
Hipkins said there was no immediate need to introduce new restrictions while health officials investigated the source of the infection.
The daughter’s school will be closed for two days while all staff and pupils are tested.
READ MORE:
Brian Knowlton, Nina Larson 5.45pm: US, WHO demand Wuhan virus data
The US and a World Health Organisation expert have demanded more data from Beijing about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, after a WHO mission to China struggled to make headway.
A team of WHO experts and Chinese counterparts visited key sites around the city of Wuhan, where Covid cases were first detected, but said they had not been able to shed light on the nature of early transmissions.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said his country had “deep concerns” about the early findings of the investigation.
Peter Benembarek, who led the WHO mission, told Agence France-Presse late on Saturday his team had asked for more data.
“We want more data. We have asked for more data. There is a mix of frustration but also a mix of realistic expectations in terms of what is feasible under which time frame,” Dr Benembarek said, adding he hoped the requested data would be made available.
The four-week WHO mission to China to uncover the origins of the coronavirus wrapped up last week with no conclusive findings.
Eli Greenblat 4.55pm: Corporate leaders push for national quarantine approach
Australia’s corporate leaders have hit out at the hotel quarantine system that has now triggered the latest Victorian lockdown and have urged Canberra to step in with a national standard before more damage is done to a recovering economy.
Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott — one of the nation’s most powerful business leaders — wants the federal government to take a more hands-on approach to hotel quarantines operating across Australia.
Mr Scott, whose Perth-based conglomerate employs 30,000 people in Victoria, on Friday pushed for a review of the best way to run hotel quarantine sites for inbound Australian travellers, declaring them a vulnerability to fighting the pandemic, and the adoption of a national standard to enhance the system.
Read the full story here.
Olivia Caisley 4.15pm: Extend JobKeeper until pandemic ends, says ACTU boss
Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus has called for JobKeeper to be extended for as long as the pandemic lasts. She has also backed Labor’s industrial relations policy proposal, declaring it will ensure gig economy workers get the basic rights of other workers.
Ms McManus reiterated the importance of the coronavirus vaccine rollout to job security, as she cautioned medical experts — not employers — should decide whether to make the jab mandatory.
It comes as Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers spruiked the party’s IR election policy platform, announced by Anthony Albanese last week, and accused Scott Morrison of “washing his hands” of the COVID-19 response and being too slow on the vaccine rollout.
Read the full story here.
Kat Lay 3.45pm: One person in a hundred turning down vaccine
Only one per cent of people offered a coronavirus jab in Britain have turned the chance down, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The figures will help allay fears that a reluctance to take the vaccine could harm the effect of the rollout, with doctors and public health chiefs expressing concerns that poor uptake rates could prolong the pandemic.
The ONS social survey found that, overall, only one person in 100 offered vaccination had declined, but with variation between age groups. The figure for those aged 30-49 was 5 per cent; for the 50-69s it was 2 per cent, and for the over-70s it was less than 1 per cent.
Ministers have launched a renewed drive to encourage everyone in the first four priority vaccination groups to come forward this weekend. The government set a target to offer jabs to everyone over age of the 70, the clinically extremely vulnerable, and health and care workers before Monday, a group believed to total 15 million.
Government figures showed that more than 14 million people in the UK had received a first dose by Thursday, suggesting that at the current rates 15 million could have been vaccinated by today. However, some people in the next priority groups have started receiving jabs.
READ MORE: Extend JobKeeper until pandemic ends, says ACTU boss
Philip Sherwell 3.15pm: Beijing refusing to hand over samples linked to ‘pre-Wuhan Covid’
Scientists investigating the origins of the coronavirus in China were not given access to water and blood samples they asked for after learning of possible Covid-19 infections earlier than the first recorded cases.
Chinese officials insisted the raw data was unavailable but the rebuff to a World Health Organisation (WHO) team has deepened concerns about Beijing’s efforts to conceal the spread of the virus in 2019.
Peter Daszak, a British zoologist on the WHO mission, which ended last week, praised Chinese co-operation and openness during its visit to Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first identified. “We did get access to critical new data throughout,” he tweeted yesterday. But the trip was not always smooth for the virus-hunters.
“There were certainly some tensions, heated debates and arguments in our meetings with Chinese counterparts,” said Dominic Dwyer, an Australian virologist on the mission. “There was excellent teamwork on the WHO side. But we were in meetings with 40-50 people on the Chinese side, including scientists and experts but also officials from the foreign affairs ministry and other people. There was not always agreement.”
One of the main challenges emerged after the experts learnt that more than 90 people needed hospital treatment for Covid-like symptoms in central China in the two months before the first official cases were recorded in Wuhan in December 2019.
It is widely believed that the virus must have been circulating before those known infections. But evidence of the earlier spread would embarrass Beijing.
READ MORE: Who will pay for Saudi journalist’s gruesome murder?
Olivia Caisley 2.25pm: ‘No change’ to NZ travel bubble despite outbreak
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says there will be no change to the travel bubble with New Zealand despite three new cases of community transmission announced on Sunday morning.
Professor Kelly said that he had spoken with his Kiwi counterparts and Australian heath authorities would continue to monitor the situation.
“The important point is we are very closely associated with that information coming straight to us from the authorities in New Zealand as it happens,” he said.
“At this stage there will be no change to the green zone flights coming from New Zealand. We feel at the moment that the risk is very low but of course we will look at what those exposure sites are in New Zealand.”
READ MORE: Trump slams Democrats after acquittal
Olivia Caisley 2.10pm: Three million Pfizer doses received by June
Health Minister Greg Hunt says that frontline health and quarantine workers and aged care residents will be first in line to receive the Pfizer jabs due to arrive by the end of this week.
“Our aged care residents and our staff and of course our aged care residents are vulnerable and our frontline health workers and disability residents and staff for disability care centres,” he said on Sunday.
“So that is phase 1A and we think it will take the better part of six weeks.”
He said he hoped that 700,000 people in Phase 1a would be vaccinated within six weeks of starting and that the Therapeutic Goods Association was expected to make a decision on whether it would approve the AstraZeneca jab shortly.
Mr Hunt said he expects Australia to receive 3 million Pfizer doses by the end of June.
More to come...
Olivia Caisley 1.57pm: Government to tackle jab challenge with multicultural groups
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the commonwealth is paying special consideration to how government information about the vaccine is delivered to the nation’s multicultural communities.
He said the vaccine rollout in the UK had been challenging among those with English as a second language because critical health information had not been delivered as effectively as it could have been.
“We have seen from the UK that one of the challenges is people from particular backgrounds where they may not have English as a first language have the information” he said.
“If they have the information, if their communities are supporting them, then the vaccine take-up will be higher and many of those are, of course, in an age group where they are more vulnerable.”
A senate committee scrutinising the government’s response to the pandemic heard last year that there had been some translation errors in federal and state government health messages.
READ MORE: Australia’s new panic buying — property
Olivia Caisley 1.49pm: Australia’s vaccine rollout on track, delivery this week
Health Minister Greg Hunt says that Australia’s vaccine rollout is “on track” with the first coronavirus vaccine doses due to arrive from Europe before the end of the week.
Mr Hunt said on Sunday that once around 80,000 doses of the Pfizer jab arrived in Australia, they would be checked for damage and tested by the Therapeutic Goods Association as part of the nation’s focus on “safety, safety and safety.”
“They will look to see that all of the vials are intact and haven’t had seals broken and they will also do much testing as part of that,” he said on Sunday.
“Some of that has been done in Europe. Additional tests will be done here in Australia. Our number one priority is safety, safety, safety, and we will continue to follow the plan.”
High-risk frontline healthcare workers, including emergency department staff and ICU staff, will also be included in the first phase of the vaccine rollout.
Aged care residents and staff and disability care residents and staff are also on the priority list.
Vaccine doses will continue arriving at the rate of around 80,000 doses per week from early March.
Pfizer has been contracted to supply a total of 20 million doses of vaccine to Australia.
Read the full story here.
John Ferguson 1.40pm: New Melbourne cases linked to private party
A private function in Melbourne’s northern suburbs has been linked to several coronavirus cases.
A three-year-old child and a female Holiday Inn hotel quarantine worker have tested positive to coronavirus.
While not from the same family, they were both at a private function in Coburg on February 6.
A third case that emerged yesterday, that of a man in his 30s, also was linked to the party.
The infected quarantine worker returned a false negative test as part of normal procedures but later tested positive.
“This is an exceptionally rare occurrence,” said Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.
Victorian COVID-response commander Jeroen Weimar said the hotel worker tested negative a few days before the party and had previously been on the hotel’s third floor.
She again tested negative but this reading was inaccurate.
This is not common but can happen.
It wasn’t until days later that the infection was detected.
Authorities believe the mother of the three-year-old may also have been infected but are awaiting updated test results.
READ MORE: Editorial — State paralysed as Premier panics
Agencies 1.10pm: Pandemic tops agenda as UK hosts G7 leaders’ meet
Britain said Saturday it will use the first leaders’ meeting of its G7 presidency next week to seek more global co-operation on coronavirus vaccine distribution and post-pandemic recovery plans.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host G7 heads of state for a virtual meeting on Friday, their first gathering since April 2020 and US President Joe Biden’s first major multilateral engagement since taking office last month.
They are meeting at a seaside retreat in Cornwall in southwestern England on June 11-13, after last year’s gathering in the United States was shelved because of the pandemic.
Johnson is eager to boost Britain’s post-Brexit profile and his own international standing, after criticism of his tactics during the country’s fraught divorce from the European Union and his support for ex-US president Donald Trump.
He has vowed to focus his G7 presidency on better co-ordinating the international response to the pandemic, as well as climate change ahead of Britain hosting a UN conference on climate change, COP26, in November.
READ MORE: This incompetence could not be more stark
Jess Malcolm 12.24pm: NZ records three new locally acquired cases
New Zealand has recorded three new locally acquired cases of COVID-19.
A father, mother and daughter all from the same family have tested positive in South Auckland, health authorities confirmed on Sunday afternoon.
The mother works at an airport laundry and catering facility at Auckland airport.
New Zealand COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins announced a number of new exposure sites. The daughter’s school will also be closed on Monday and Tuesday as a precaution, as reported by stuff.co.nz.
This comes as two people in hotel quarantine were confirmed as positive cases on Saturday. It is unknown whether they are linked to the new cases.
READ MORE: Andrews caught in the great Catch-22 of 2021
John Ferguson 12.16pm: Melbourne hotel cluster grows to 16
Melbourne’s Holiday Inn coronavirus cluster has grown to 16 with a woman and a child becoming infected but the overwhelming majority of close contacts have tested negative.
Victoria reported three new coronavirus cases yesterday, two local and one in hotel quarantine.
Health Minister Martin Foley said that of the 129 direct contacts from the Holiday Inn cluster, 127 had so far tested negative with two tests being waited on.
Victorian testing commander Jeroen Weimar said one of the overnight positive cases was a three-year-old child.
The child’s mother has returned three different test results in the past 24 hours but there was a question mark over her status.
The woman and child have been in isolation since February 13 but may have been infected a week earlier.
There have been four extra exposure sites added.
More to come …
Courtney Walsh 12pm: AusOpen ‘to go on as normal’ despite positive test
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said that the event will continue as normal despite the positive COVID-19 test of a player in Melbourne last week.
Greece ATP Cup player Michail Pervolarakis revealed he had tested positive to coronavirus after arriving in South Africa for a Challenger event a couple of days ago.
He left Melbourne on Tuesday and travelled through the Middle East on the way to South Africa, where another player has subsequently tested positive on the weekend.
“He travelled to the Middle East and then in South Africa and after spending a day in South Africa, tested positive,” Tiley told Channel 9.
“We were notified by him of that and we now leave it up to the health authorities.
“We provided them with all the information yesterday and while there is a link in the fact that he left here, five days ago, it will be up to the advice of the health authorities like we’ve done every day.
“We just provide the information to them, they provide advice and make decisions.”
The AO boss said those playing in the Australian Open and the WTA Tour Phillip Island Trophy tournament also being held at Melbourne Park.
“Anyone on site that has any symptoms related to COVID is required to immediately isolate and test,” he said.
“We haven’t had any of that. We will go through the normal procedures and take the advice from health (authorities).
“If they want us to have more people tested, we will do that. At this point, there’s been no indication about.”
Debbie Schipp 11.45am: Qld: no new cases locally or in quarantine
Queenalnd has recorded no new cases of Covid overnight, neither locally-acquired or in hotel quarantine.
The Sunshine State has seven active cases, all detected in hotel quarantine, with 6217 tests conducted in the 24 hours to Sunday.
Meanwhile, Queensland Health says it has contacted all of about 1500 people who were at the high-risk site of terminal 4 at Melbourne Airport before they flew into Queensland.
All have been told quarantine in their homes for 14 days and get tested.
Jess Malcolm 11.40am: No new local cases as NSW reaches 28-day milestone
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours to 8pm last night.
It is the first time NSW has gone 28 consecutive days without a locally acquired case since the pandemic began.
Testing rates were up in the last 24 hours with 16,302 tests reported following 13,088 yesterday.
There were 2 new cases recorded in hotel quarantine.
John Ferguson 11.35am: Vic Health Minister to address the media
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and Victorian testing commander Jeroen Weimar will hold a media conference at noon.
They are expected to discuss further details of two new locally acquired cases of coronavirus recorded in the past 24 hours.
READ MORE: Covid whitewash ‘a moment of communist achievement’
Jess Malcolm 11.31am: New Vic cases linked to function
Victoria’s two new locally acquired cases are expected to be linked to the private function in Coburg in Melbourne’s north.
Yesterday’s only new local case was a Point Cook man in his 30s who attended a gathering at an unnamed “function venue” at 246 Sydney Road, Coburg.
He contracted the highly infectious, UK strain of COVID-19 through his friend who worked at the Holiday Inn.
Authorities confirmed on Saturday that the gathering was of particular concern to contact tracers as the man was thought to be infectious when he attended.
A new testing clinic was opened in Coburg late on Saturday afternoon to get ahead of the cluster.
Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley is expected to address the media later today.
Victoria recorded one more case in hotel quarantine today, following over 21,000 tests.
There are currently 22 active cases in the state.
READ MORE: James Kirby — CBA in a league of its own and pulling away
Natasha Robinson 11.09am: First Australian vaccines to arrive this week
Australia’s first shipment of Pfizer vaccines will arrive in the country this week in a high-security operation, with the first vaccinations to begin within days after arrival.
Health minister Greg Hunt confirmed that about 80,000 doses of the first Pfizer vaccines would be exported from Belgium this week where they will arrive in Australia under tight security and be taken to a central distribution point.
The Therapeutic Good Administration will then complete final testing of the vaccines to ensure quality before doses are distributed around the country on a per head of population basis. They’ll be taken to hospital hubs and directly to aged care centres, with hospitals told to be ready to administer the first jabs from February 22.
“I’ve spoken to the country head of Pfizer and have confirmed that the vaccines are on track for arrival by the end of the week,” Mr Hunt told The Australian. “Commencement of vaccinations - subject to arrival, quality and temperature controls - will take place in the last week of February.”
New Zealand confirmed it would begin its vaccination program on February 20, but Mr Hunt said a firm date for the first Australian jabs had not been decided yet. “We’re not picking a particular day,” he said. “We’re always cautious until the vaccines are in hand.”
Distribution firms with specialist experience in cold-chain logistics have been contracted to transport the Pfizer vaccines, which must be kept at minus-70 degrees celsius to avoid the breakdown of the mRNA that contains the genetic instructions for the body’s cells to make the coronavirus spike protein.
READ the full story here.
Olivia Caisley 9.35am: PM ‘washing his hands’ of vaccine, quarantine issues
Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers has slammed Scott Morrison for failing to deliver a national quarantine program and for being too slow to rollout the COVID-19 vaccine as he accused the Prime Minister of “washing his hands” of the critical issues.
Dr Chalmers said Australia had not been at the “front of the queue” for vaccines as Mr Morrison had suggested with the nation still yet to roll out its inoculation program.
He welcomed news that the commonwealth was in negotiations with the Northern Territory government to almost triple the capacity of the Howard Springs facility in Darwin to take 2000 overseas travellers per fortnight, up from 800.
But he said it was a case of too little too late as 40,000 Australians were still stranded overseas.
READ the full story here.
John Ferguson 9.15am: Vic reports three new virus cases, two local
Victoria reported three new coronavirus cases yesterday, two local and one in hotel quarantine.
The Department of Health reported a total of 22 active cases on Sunday
morning, with no lives lost.
There were 21,475 test results received. The large testing sample will please health officials but there will be concern about any locally acquired cases.
Today and tomorrow will be crunch days for Victoria amid concerns of higher numbers in the wake of the hotel quarantine failures.
Yesterday there were 3 new cases reported – 2 local, 1 in hotel quarantine. 21,475 test results were received. Got symptoms? Get tested, #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 13, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/JUbCZSf2f4
Matt Dathan 8.55am: UK blasted for ‘shambolic’ quarantine policy
Border officials have attacked the UK government’s “shambolic” quarantine policy and say that the country risks becoming a “superspreader” because of how lax the rules are.
Staff warned they would have no power to stop travellers “legging it” at airport terminals to escape the quarantine rules and had limited powers to detain people at the border.
They said that they had been given no guidance on where to direct individuals once they have passed through the border, risking people mixing and spreading contagious variants.
Scientists say the rules for those quarantined in hotels are too lax.
The government has finally published the new rules for travellers arriving from 33 “red list” countries, barely 48 hours before they come into effect on Monday.
People will be allowed to leave their hotel rooms to exercise but a maximum length of time they can be outside is not stated. Guests must not leave hotel premises and must be supervised by security staff, and hotels must have procedures to ensure they do not have too many people exercising at once.
READ MORE: UK strain — false facts are infectious
The Economist 8.35am: Why the endemic endgame is nigh
Even miracles have their limits. Vaccines against the coronavirus have arrived sooner and worked better than many people dared hope. Without them, the pandemic threatened to take more than 150 million lives. Yet, while the world rolls up a sleeve, it has become clear that expecting vaccines to see off COVID-19 is mistaken. Instead the disease will circulate for years, and seems likely to become endemic. When COVID-19 first struck, governments were caught by surprise. Now they need to think ahead.
To call vaccination a miracle is no exaggeration. A little more than a year after the virus was first recognised, medics have already administered 148 million doses.
However, despite all the good news, the coronavirus is not finished with humanity yet. COVID-19 will continue to circulate widely. There is a growing realisation that the virus is likely to find a permanent home in humans. And that has profound implications for how governments need to respond.
Read the full analysis on why governments need to start planning for COVID-19 as an endemic disease.
Christine Kellett 8.15am: Four new Melbourne exposure sites revealed
Victorian health authorities have added four new locations to its list of tier 1 exposure sites following further investigation by its public health team. All are in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs.
Anyone who visited the following locations are advised to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Monday, February 8:
– Elite Swimming, Pascoe Vale – 5pm – 6pm
Tuesday, February 9:
– Woolworths Broadmeadows Central, Broadmeadows – 12:15pm – 12:30pm
– Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, Broadmeadows – 12:30pm – 12:45pm
Wednesday 10th February
– Oak Park Sports and Aquatic Centre, Pascoe Vale – 4pm – 7:30pm
Anyone who visited these locations must isolate, test and remain isolated for 14 days.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 13, 2021
For a full list of exposure sites and locations where you can get a #COVID19 test, visit: https://t.co/Q81LWfynQE #COVID19Vic
READ MORE: Chris Kenny — Knee-jerk leaders are kicking us to the kerb
Agencies 7.30am: Ex-president ‘got secret jab’ in vax scandal
Ex-Peruvian health minister Oscar Ugarte took up his old role again Saturday, after his predecessor resigned over claims that a former president was vaccinated against Covid long before the jab was available to the public.
Ugarte, a physician who had served as health minister under President Alan Garcia from 2008 to 2011, was sworn in again on Saturday, and thus became Peru’s fifth health minister since the coronavirus pandemic emerged in the South American country 11 months ago.
He succeeds Pilar Mazzetti, who had served as health minister since July. She presented her letter of resignation on Friday to President Francisco Sagasti, state television reported.
Ugarte is taking office at a time Peru is being hammered by a second wave of Covid. Hospitals have been overrun, with more than 14,100 coronavirus patients, and have reported a lack of oxygen to treat those with breathing problems.
Peru began its immunisation program on Tuesday
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Blake Antrobus 6.45am: Strict mask rules lift in WA
Face masks will no longer be mandatory in Western Australia, as the last of Perth’s strict lockdown measures ease.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan confirmed on Saturday the last of the restrictions would be eased after no new local cases of coronavirus were recorded overnight.
In addition, no cases were recorded in hotel quarantine either.
Under the eased restrictions, masks will no longer be mandatory across the state from midnight Sunday.
Some restrictions, including capacity rules, restrictions on remote Aboriginal communities and mandatory contact registration, will still remain.
The easing comes after Perth and the Peel and South West regions went into a five-day snap lockdown on January 31 when a hotel security guard in Perth tested positive for COVID-19.
The lockdown ended February 5 but restrictions on mask wearing, limited gatherings and four-square metre rules have remained in place.
NSW travellers will be allowed into WA from Tuesday, provided they fill out a declaration form upon entering the state.
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Mandy Squires 6.30am: Snap lockdown delivers billion-dollar blow
Victoria’s snap lockdown has landed a potential billion-dollar blow on the state’s already battered economy, with restaurants set to lose $100m and florists $36m, the Sunday Herald Sun reports.
Retail had taken a hit “in the hundreds of millions of dollars”, while the state’s powerhouse building and construction sector had been brought to a standstill, sector bosses said.
Industry leaders on Saturday demanded compensation for losses suffered by businesses which had been geared up for their biggest weekend of the year, only to be suddenly shut down.
Some restaurants and function venues lost upwards of $100,000 this weekend alone, with lucrative Valentine’s Day bookings and weddings cancelled.
High-level sources told the Sunday Herald Sun the cost to Victoria of the five-day, hard lockdown could be as high as $1bn.
Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) chief Felicia Mariani said the tourism industry had been worth $2.5bn a month to the Victorian economy before COVID, but was now completely shut down.
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Courtney Walsh 6.15am: Player tests positive after Melbourne ATP tennis
A member of the Greek ATP Cup team who played in Melbourne earlier this month has tested positive to COVID-19 in South Africa.
Michail Pervolarakis teamed with Stefanos Tsitsipas in the team event and was beaten by John Millman in a singles rubber 11 days ago on Rod Laver Arena.
The 24-year-old, who did not play in the Australian Open due to a low ranking, revealed he has subsequently tested positive to the virus.
The Herald-Sun revealed his last match in Melbourne was on February 5, before he flew out of Melbourne Airport on February 9, the same day a an infected person worked at Brunetti cafe in Terminal 4, triggering the latest lockdown.
Pervolarakis did not transit through Terminal 4, but his close contact with Tsitsipas, who remains in the Australian Open draw, has raised concerns.
According to the Victorian Department of Health, the COVID-19 incubation time ranges from one to 14 days
Pervolarakis on Saturday night posted: “Just to clarify few things … got tested negative in Melbourne before leaving and the nurse said that I most likely got it on the plane or on my stop in Doha.”
The world No 463 is understood to have left Australia on Tuesday. It is believed he tested negative to COVID-19 prior to boarding a flight for South Africa.
He is upset with the conditions he is enduring in quarantine in South Africa, where he is playing a low-tier event.
“After a 24 hour play travel day from Australia to South Africa I’ve been diagnosed positive to COVID-19,” he wrote in a social media post.
“I am completely asymptomatic at the moment and will have to quarantine in an isolation facility in Potchefstroom. I am not a person who complains, but feel I that I need to express my disappointment with the conditions we are in.”
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Agencies 6am: US has ‘deep concerns’ on WHO probe in China
The US Government had ‘‘deep concerns’’ about China’s early response to the COVID-19 crisis and wanted Beijing to “make available its data from the earliest days of the outbreak”, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday.
The statement came days after a World Health Organisation team of inquiry returned from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the pandemic, and suggested the virus might have originated with frozen seafood products, not from a Chinese lab as some have suggested.
Mr Sullivan expressed “deep respect” for the WHO — which the US is rejoining after the Trump administration quit it to protest its virus response — but said protecting its credibility was “a paramount priority”.
The virus has caused almost 2.4 million deaths since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Saturday.
The US is the worst-affected country with 480,902 deaths followed by Brazil with 237,489, Mexico with 172,557, India with 155,550 and the UK with 116,287.
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