Coronavirus: PM moves on purpose-built quarantine as Victorian cluster grows to 63
The federal government has agreed to help fund a dedicated quarantine facility, signing a memorandum of understanding with Victoria as locked-down state’s cluster grows to 63.
- PM moves on purpose-built quarantine
- ‘No choice’ with Melbourne lockdown
- NSW adds exposure sites
- Daniel Andrews breaks his silence
- Quarantine waste in unit car park
Welcome to live updates on Australia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The federal government has agreed to help fund a dedicated quarantine facility, signing a memorandum of understanding with Victoria.
Victorian authorities say there is no choice other than to continue with Melbourne’s lockdown plans after three new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 were recorded overnight.
Despite NSW Health issuing an urgent alert for anyone who visited a number of new venues on the state’s south coast the state has recorded zero local infections in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday.
Scott Morrison has announced payments of up to $500 for those who are adversely affected if the are in an area declared by the commonwealth as a hotspot. FOLLOW our live political coverage with the latest from Canberra and around the nation with PoliticsNow.
Nicholas Jensen 11.20pm:NZ scrambles to get citizens out of Victoria
The New Zealand government is preparing to repatriate thousands of stranded citizens and essential workers from Victoria, as the pause on quarantine-free travel stretches into its second week.
On Thursday afternoon, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the Victorian pause on the travel bubble would be extended, but said New Zealand would continue to allow “some green zone” flights into the country even if the pause was extended.
New Zealand citizens, permanent residents, essential workers and those with humanitarian exemptions will be permitted to return under the arrangement, providing they self-isolate or return a negative test after landing.
Rachel Baxendale10.45pm:Extension justified by ‘false positives’
Victoria’s health department has confirmed two suspected “fleeting contact” coronavirus cases that helped justify the Andrews government’s decision to extend Melbourne’s lockdown were in fact false positives.
The news — revealed by the department late on Thursday — renewed pressure on the Victorian government to consider lifting the lockdown earlier than planned, with the case for doing so boosted by just three new cases on Thursday, all of which were linked to previously known cases.
The reclassified cases involved a woman who visited a display home in Mickleham in Melbourne’s outer northwest and a man who dined at the bayside Brighton Beach Hotel — both of which had been linked to previous cases.
When Victoria’s lockdown was extended on Wednesday, chief health officer Brett Sutton pointed to the Brighton case as proof of the heightened infectivity of the Indian B. 1.617.1 Kappa coronavirus variant.
“This variant of concern is starting to show up in places where normally it would be less likely,” he said. “So the Brighton Beach Hotel, that was an outdoor dining setting, well ventilated, where we wouldn’t expect transmission to occur.”
In quotes issued to the media ahead of Wednesday’s announcement, Professor Sutton described the variant as a “beast”, warning that it had “moved faster than any other strain we’ve dealt with, and we’re seeing transmission in settings and circumstances we’ve never seen before”.
Stephen Lunn10pm:No forced aged-care staff jab
National cabinet is set to reject a proposal to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all aged-care workers.
The meeting on Friday will discuss the issue after a week of intense political pain for the Morrison government over its handling of aged care during the pandemic, triggered by two nursing home residents and two care workers being infected in the latest Melbourne outbreak.
It is believed mandatory vaccination of aged-care workers won’t be endorsed by the federal and state governments.
National cabinet is expected to accept the advice of the Australian Health Principal Protection Committee, which has again recommended against mandatory vaccination.
The AHPPC recommended against the move earlier in the year on the basis that workers should retain the individual freedom to choose whether to be vaccinated, and amid concerns a shortage of workers in the sector might emerge if it were enforced.
There was also a lack of international evidence about whether being vaccinated was effective against transmitting the virus between worker and resident.
Patrick Commins9.15pm:$100m weekly bill to keep casuals afloat
About 200,000 casuals have likely been unable to work through Victoria’s fourth lockdown and could be eligible for the government’s new Covid disaster payment, at a maximum weekly cost of $100 million.
Scott Morrison on Thursday revealed a national approach to supporting Australians in commonwealth-recognised virus “hot spots” who have lost income as a result of restrictions.
Applicants who declare they remain without work for longer than seven days as a result of health measures will be eligible for payments of $500 or $325 for each week the restrictions continue, depending on whether immediately preceding the lockdown they worked more or fewer than 20 hours, respectively. Those receiving commonwealth income support or special pandemic leave from their employers will not be eligible, nor will workers with more than $10,000 in savings.
Rachel Baxendale 8.30pm:Merlino defends hotel’s dirty linen drop
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino has defended a quarantine hotel that is storing medical waste and dirty linen from positive coronavirus cases in a basement accessed by 450 apartment residents, saying it is following strict protocol.
The Australian revealed on Thursday that the Novotel/Ibis Melbourne Central hotel had been storing medical waste and used linen marked “terminal/positive cases” in the car park under the 408 Lonsdale Street apartment complex.
While the hotel owns the strata title of some parking spaces, the apartment owners’ corporation owns an adjacent roller door exit on to a nearby laneway, a bike store, hard rubbish room, emergency exits and an alarm system, all of which require access to the car park.
Charlie Peel 7.45pm:New hubs a frontline shot in arm
Three new vaccination centres have opened in Queensland, specifically targeting frontline workers, aged care staff and 40 to 49 year olds after an “overwhelming” number of registrations.
The new hubs, adding to 15 already in place, were announced on Thursday after a spike in the number of eligible people under 50 years of age showing interest in receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.
The vaccination centres will remain open on the weekend to anyone who has made a booking and will be used as a trial to up-scale the centres to mass vaccination hubs later in the year.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, who received her first vaccination dose last week, said the 18 new vaccination centres throughout the state had been set up in response to 30,000 registrations from people aged between 40 and 49 in the past week. “All of them will be open on Saturday and 10 will be operational on Sunday as well,” she said. “We hope this weekend will be a platform for us to go forward and to build on our capacity.”
Ms D’Ath encouraged people aged over 50 to book their vaccination through a GP.
Greg Brown7pm:Industry demands a plan to open border
The tourism, agriculture and education sectors are urging Scott Morrison to outline a roadmap to open the international border, warning the “costs of Australia’s isolation continue to multiply”.
Ahead of a meeting of national cabinet on Friday, the National Farmers Federation, the Group of Eight universities and the Tourism and Transport Forum have joined forces to demand clarity over when the border restrictions can be lifted, saying they are “struggling amid an absence of international workers, visitors and students”.
The industry bodies are calling for national cabinet to outline a roadmap that would clarify: the proportion of the population needed to be vaccinated before quarantine-free travel can resume; how Australians would be incentivised to meet vaccination targets; the criteria used to assess “border bubble” arrangements with other countries; and the timeframe for new purpose-built quarantine facilities.
National cabinet’s meeting on Friday is expected to provide updates on international arrival passenger caps but is unlikely to provide a roadmap on reopening.
NFF chief executive Tony Mahar said there should be no further delay in national cabinet outlining a plan for opening the international border, describing the lack of clarity as an “embarrassment”.
“We’re not saying we need to reopen tomorrow. Public safety must always come first, but part of ensuring public safety is planning for the future,” Mr Mahar said.
Rachel Baxendale, Remy Varga6pm:‘Fleeting contact’cases were false positives
Two suspected coronavirus cases that were deemed to have been contracted through “fleeting contact” were false positives, Victoria’s health department has confirmed.
The cases contributed to the Andrews government’s decision earlier this week to extend Melbourne’s lockdown for another seven days.
The reclassified cases include a woman who visited a display home and a man who dined at the Brighton Beach Hotel.
When Victoria’s lockdown was extended on Wednesday, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton pointed to the Brighton Beach Hotel case as proof of the heightened infectivity of the Kappa variant.
“This variant of concern is starting to show up in places where normally it would be less likely,” he said. “
“So the Brighton Beach Hotel, that was an outdoor dining setting, well ventilated, where we wouldn’t expect transmission to occur.”
Professor Sutton was asked about the display home case at Wednesday’s press conference, following reports from the ABC, which had confirmed the false positive with the woman early that morning.
Following analysis by an expert review panel, two cases linked to this outbreak have been declared false positives. pic.twitter.com/MGa0DFeRaU
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 3, 2021
However, he said he was not briefed on the case.
Asked about the Brighton Beach Hotel case at Thursday’s press conference, deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said an expert review panel would be meeting later in the day to review the case.
“Every case we look at again,” he said, when asked whether authorities were “100 per cent” sure it was a positive. “Everything that looks a little unusual undergoes a review process.”
It was not until shortly before 6pm on Thursday that the department officially confirmed both cases were false negatives.
“Moving fast and early to contain and isolate a positive case and test and trace their contacts is a fundamental part of Victoria’s Covid-19 response,” the department said in a statement issued on Twitter.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the department will always enact immediate public health measures in response to the notification of any positive case.
“Cases continue to be reviewed as further information comes to hand. Once contacts are isolated and public health measures are in place, those cases can be re-evaluated, their test results can be re-run and further investigations and reviews can be conducted to confirm their true nature.”
The department said an expert panel review and re-testing through the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory had confirmed the cases were false positives, with associated primary close contacts and exposure sites which are not linked to other genuine positive cases to be reclassified and released from quarantine obligations.
Ahead of the announcement of Victoria’s lockdown extension on Wednesday, Professor Sutton on Tuesday night warned the Indian B.1.617.1 strain was a “beast” which had “moved faster than any other strain we’ve dealt with, and we’re seeing transmission in settings and circumstances we’ve never seen before”.
Nicholas Jensen5.40pm:NSW Service app outage hits Covid Safe check-ins
The Service NSW app has been disrupted for a second consecutive day, leaving NSW residents unable to check-in to venues across the state.
On Thursday afternoon Service NSW said QR check-ins and Dine and Discover vouchers had been affected by an outage, with officials scrambling to bring the app back online.
“Customers are currently unable to login to their MyServiceNSW accounts to perform transactions. Covid Safe Check-In and Dine & Discover vouchers are also impacted. We’re working to resolve this ASAP and apologise for any inconvenience,” Service NSW said on Twitter.
It comes after the app also experienced intermittent disruptions on Wednesday, with the department saying outages were “affecting multiple transactions”.
Use of the app plays a crucial part in the state’s contact tracing system.
Customers are currently unable to login to their MyServiceNSW accounts to perform transactions. COVID Safe Check-In and Dine & Discover vouchers are also impacted. We're working to resolve this ASAP and apologise for any inconvenience. #servicenswpic.twitter.com/E4XosKF52O
— Service NSW (@ServiceNSW) June 3, 2021
Remy Varga5.17pm:PM agrees to help fund state-run quarantine facility
The federal government has given Victoria a memorandum of understanding and is likely to spend millions helping the state build an alternative quarantine facility.
Details of the proposal have yet to be released and it is yet to be confirmed whether the Commonwealth has chosen Avalon Airport or a pet quarantine facility in Mickleham as the site of the new facility.
The Victorian government has been contacted for comment.
Nicholas Jensen5.10pm:TGA reports eight more cases of rare blood clotting
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has reported eight more cases of blood clotting from the AstraZeneca vaccine, with one person currently in intensive care.
According to the TGA’s weekly report, the new cases bring the total number of confirmed and probable cases of Thrombosis Thrombocytopenia syndrome to 41.
The weekly report states there are currently four new confirmed cases of rare blood clots with TTS, and four new “probable cases”.
The four confirmed cases are “a 40-year-old woman from Victoria who is being treated in NSW, a 70-year-old woman from Victoria, an 82-year-old woman from NSW and a 70-year-old man from Queensland”.
The four probable cases have been identified as “a 72-year-old man from South Australia, a 61-year-old female from NSW and a 73-year-old man and 67-year-old woman, both from Queensland”.
The TGA also reiterated the rarity of these clotting cases, saying: “With the ongoing risk of Covid outbreaks in Australia and the potential for severe long-term effects or fatal consequences of infection, the benefits for the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh the risks.”
Nicholas Jensen4.40pm:NSW extends stay-at-home health alert
NSW Health has extended its stay-at-home restrictions for people who have been in Victoria since 4pm on Thursday May 27 for a further seven days.
In a statement NSW Health said these measures remain consistent with Victoria’s restrictions and will be reviewed on Thursday June 10.
For NSW residents living along the Victorian border, the stay-at-home requirement will only apply to those who have been outside the defined border in Victoria since 4pm on May 27.
Anyone who has attended a close-contact venue in Victoria must get tested and self-isolate for 14 days since they were at the venue — regardless of their test result.
Anyone who has attended a casual-contact venue in Victoria must also get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result. Following this they must continue to abide by the stay-at-home order if they have arrived in NSW since 4pm May 27.
âš ï¸PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – ADVICE FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IN VICTORIA SINCE 4PM 27 MAYâš ï¸ pic.twitter.com/9vP80xzhFW
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 3, 2021
Melissa Iaria4.25pm:NZ extends travel bubble pause with Victoria
New Zealand has extended its travel bubble pause with Victoria after the state government decided to continue the Covid lockdown.
New Zealand Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the travel pause with Victoria would be extended a further six days.
“I acknowledge this extension will cause further inconvenience to those who have already had their travel plans disrupted,” Mr Hipkins said on Thursday.
“I also acknowledge that having been prevented from returning for almost two weeks, New Zealanders will be wanting some certainty around when they can start to plan to come home.”
New Zealand officials have assessed the risk as medium for Melbourne but decreasing for the greater Melbourne area.
Its government announced plans for the “carefully managed” return of travellers from Melbourne to New Zealand, from 11.59pm next Tuesday.
READ the full story here.
Angelica Snowden4.10pm:Nurses’ plea: Look at the facts, get vaccinated
Nurses are pleading with Australians to get vaccinated against Covid-19 amid a sluggish national rollout and widespread hesitancy.
In an open letter, one of the country’s leading nurses and Australian Nursing College chief Kylie Ward implored everyone to get the jab.
“With winter now here, we the nursing profession of Australia want you to know that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the best chance you have of protecting you and your loved ones,” the letter read.
“Take it from us, from your nurses, get your COVID-19 vaccination as soon as you can.”
In a bid to tackle high rates of vaccine hesitancy – particularly against the AstraZeneca vaccine which has been linked with rare cases of blood clotting – the letter aimed to reassure the community about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Last year, all we wished for was a vaccine to turbocharge our fight and to get back to ‘normal’. And now we have it. Nurses vaccinate to care for you, ourselves and our loved ones,” it read.
“We know many people are worried about the quality of the vaccines available, their potential side-effects and that no-one wants to be first. We understand. It is a scary time. However, we implore you to look at the facts.”
They include the rigorous Therapeutic Goods Administration approval process the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs had to go through in order to be rolled out. The approval process assessed the safety, quality and effectiveness of both vaccines.
Scott Morrison said on Thursday one million doses of vaccine had been delivered in the past 10 days. Around the country, 4,642,703 doses had been delivered by Wednesday.
It came after Victorians have set daily records for vaccinations, after a Covid-19 outbreak saw numbers spike and long queues at mass vaccination centres.
READ MORE:Covid-19 cash PM had no choice but to cough up
Rachel Baxendale3.30pm:Merlino defends quarantine hotel’s dirty laundry
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino has defended a quarantine hotel which is storing medical waste and dirty linen from positive coronavirus cases in a basement accessed by 450 apartment residents, claiming the hotel is following strict protocol.
The Australian revealed on Thursday that the Novotel/Ibis Melbourne Central hotel has been storing medical waste and used linen marked “terminal/positive cases” in the car park under 408 Lonsdale Street.
While the hotel owns the strata title of some of the parking spaces, the owners’ corporation owns an adjacent roller door exit onto a nearby laneway, a bike store, hard rubbish room, emergency exits and an alarm system, all of which require access to the car park.
Mr Merlino’s comments come as 408 Lonsdale Street resident Sarah Paparo said she was “livid” about the situation, with fellow residents working as food delivery drivers required to walk past hotel quarantine medical waste daily.
READ the full story here.
Genevieve Enright3.20pm:Australia’s latest vaccination figures
Rachel Baxendale3.06pm:Resident ‘livid’ over hotel quarantine waste
A resident of the Melbourne CBD apartment complex which backs on to a quarantine hotel says she is “livid” that hotel is being allowed to store medical waste and dirty linen from positive coronavirus cases in the building’s basement.
Sarah Paparo, 41, who bought her studio apartment at 408 Lonsdale Street in 2018, says residents only received the “vaguest notification” through the building‘s managers in March that the Novotel/Ibis Melbourne Central had been contracted as a quarantine hotel.
“We started to see hotel quarantine residents being unloaded from buses, having not been formally notified, and then there were reports of people seeing medical waste in the carpark, people seeing the (hotel quarantine) workers using our stairs and lobby area, and incidents in terms of the hotel’s people and security trying to prevent our residents from accessing the car park, which they have every right to do,” Ms Paparo said.
The Australian revealed on Thursday that the hotel has been storing medical waste and used linen marked “terminal/positive cases” in the car park under 408 Lonsdale Street.
Rachel Baxendale2.43pm:‘Payment welcome, but many in need will miss out’
Victorian Council of Social Services CEO Emma King has welcomed the federal government will grant disaster relief payments of up to $500 to people who have lost a fortnight’s work due to Victoria’s lockdown, but warned many in need will miss out.
“The Covid Disaster Relief Payment will mean thousands of Victorians can breathe a sigh of relief, but this payment isn’t perfect. It has more holes than Swiss cheese,” Ms King said.
“It doesn’t help you if you’re an underemployed casual, a migrant worker, an asylum seeker or an international student.
“It doesn’t help you if you’re currently unemployed. You’re still meant to rely on the inadequate JobSeeker payment.
“The eligibility criteria is extremely narrow … but it’s better than nothing.”
READ MORE:The disaster payment Scott Morrison had no choice but to make
Dennis Shanahan2.30pm:The disaster payment PM had no choice but to make
COMMENT
Scott Morrison has been forced to buy into giving support to Victorians again faced with lockdown.
The Prime Minister had no choice in principle or politics but has tried to manage the payment so that it is very limited, is not seen just as a Victorian payment, nationalises the decision, shares responsibility and tries to avoid blame.
By treating the payment as a “disaster payout”, which rests on the federal definition of a Covid hot spot breakout, strictly limiting the payments with time limits, bank balances, days in lockdown and to $500 and $325 a week Morrison has tried to limit the cost and spread responsibility.
Rebecca Le May2pm:Bunnings, Kmart shopping frenzy wanes
Sales continue to pull back for Wesfarmers-owned retail giants, including cash cow Bunnings, as the Covid-19 shopping frenzy wanes and consumption returns to normal.
The diversified conglomerate has been a huge beneficiary of Australians being housebound, unable to travel and left with little to do but finally undertake those home-sprucing projects they’d been putting off for years.
But in a strategy day briefing on Thursday, the group said its retail businesses had begun to “cycle the impacts of the pandemic in the prior year from mid-March, leading to significant volatility in monthly sales growth results”.
Looking at the performance of its retail chains over two years, all had continually enjoyed strong sales growth, with customer demand remaining resilient.
“But year-on-year growth has generally moderated and been negative in some months for some businesses due to elevated activity in the prior year,” Wesfarmers said.
Joseph Lam1.24pm:PM rolls out $500 temporary hotspot payments
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a new temporary payment for Australians unable to work in lockdown in areas defined as a commonwealth hotspot.
Mr Morrison announced the payment on Thursday for those who are in lockdown for more than seven consecutive days.
The new payment, called the “temporary Covid disaster payment”, will provide up to $500 for those working 20 hours or more and $320 for those working less than that.
WHO QUALIFIES FOR THE PAYMENTS?
Mr Morrison has outlined the following criteria for the federal government’s new temporary Covid-19 payment plan for people unable to attend work due to being in lockdown in area described as a commonwealth hotspot:
-You must be 17 years or older
-An Australia resident or must be holding a visa of working class
-Must have less than $10,000 in liquid assets
-Be in lockdown in area declared a commonwealth hotspot
-Be in lockdown for more than seven consecutive days
READ the full story here
Emily Cosenza 1.20pm:Toddler admitted to hospital with Covid
A “very unwell” toddler has been taken to an Adelaide hospital after he tested positive to Covid-19.
The two-year-old boy returned to Australia with his family and was taken to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
He was the only person to return a positive coronavirus test on Thursday.
South Australian chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said his family members had returned negative results “at this stage”.
But as the child was not wearing a mask while on the repatriation flight, she said authorities were “a little more anxious” about the possible spread on the aircraft.
Additional testing for all passengers on-board will be implemented as a result.
“As we learnt from the Playford Hotel, we need to make sure as soon as we have somebody test positive, we get them out of that hotel and move them to (the dedicated Covid-19 positive facility) Tom’s Court,” Professor Spurrier said.
“This gives us greater ability to pick up anybody who might have been at higher risk of getting Covid.
“It’s not nice having a little one being very unwell.”
Professor Spurrier confirmed a positive case from Wednesday was also transported to hospital.
The man, aged in his 60s, was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and remains in a stable condition. – NCA Newswire
READ MORE: Don’t touch the footy, health chief warns
Joseph Lam1.13pm:‘Disgraceful’ Victorian MPs campaigning against support
Acting Premier James Merlino says it’s “disgraceful” that Victorian MPs have campaigned against federal government support for residents struggling in the state’s fourth lockdown.
Asked his opinion while addressing media on Thursday, Mr Merlino responded: “I think that is disgraceful.”
“If you talk to any Victoria in business, any Victorian worker who are so disadvantaged, devastated by the lockdown that we must enter into, they would be appalled that anyone, anyone would be advocating to the federal government to ignore the needs of Victorian workers,” he said.
Mr Merlino’s comments arrived after former Victoria premier and Jeff Kennett and Liberal MP Bev McArthur made a number of social media posts saying it was not the federal government’s responsibility to support Victorian residents in lockdown.
Mr Kennett, responding to a tweet from Victorian Trade Minister Martin Pakula, wrote:
“Through the same period all Ministers have exercised a failure of memory before the Inquiry when 800 died. This latest lockdown is again the result of your governments (sic) administrative failures, not the Fed’s. Time your govt accepted responsibility for your failures,” he wrote.
In another tweet he made remarks about Victoria’s ability to contact trace.
“They are responsible for quick, efficient contract tracing that does not waste days by targeting the wrong supermarket.”
Ms McArthur said the government should not provide support for an “incompetent government”.
The Feds should not cover for Vic Govt incompetence and incentivise more cruel lockdowns. How can we expect a miner in WA, a farmer in NSW or a tourism operator in Queensland to pick up the bill for the ineptitude of Vic Ministers? #SpringSt#EndLockdownhttps://t.co/57cGnpzvec
— Bev McArthur MP (@BevMcArthurMP) June 3, 2021
“The Feds should not cover for Vic Govt incompetence and incentivise more cruel lockdowns. How can we expect a miner in WA, a farmer in NSW or a tourism operator in Queensland to pick up the bill for the ineptitude of Vic Ministers?” she wrote.
READ MORE: Covid risk like alcohol and cars, airline body says
Joseph Lam12.48pm:Income support a ‘federal responsibility’
Victoria Deputy Premier James Merlino says it would be “a real disappointment” if the federal government failed to provide income support to workers unable to work due to the Melbourne lockdown.
Mr Merlino on Thursday said it would not be appropriate to disclose the federal government’s support package announcement which he spoke about with the Prime Minister overnight but made clear it was a federal government responsibility.
“Business support is a Victorian government responsibility but support for workers, income support for people who have not got an income due to the Covid outbreak is a responsibility of the federal government,” he said.
“It would be a real disappointment if they walk away from yet another responsibility that is solely theirs.”
Mr Merlino said he understands an announcement would be made later today.
READ MORE: Durie – Could Melbourne lose its big end of town?
Joseph Lam12.27pm:‘Yes, this variant is more infectious’
Victoria Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng says it’s not controversial to say the variant at the heart of Melbourne’s Covid-19 cluster is more infectious.
“It’s not really controversial to say that these variants have been shown to be more infectious,” he said.
“ I spoke to Professor (James) McCaw this morning and we certainly agree that this Kappa strain and the alpha strain are both probably 50 per cent more infectious than the strain that we had last year.”
Allen Cheng's comments on presser now spot on, clarifying difference between increased infectiousness of this strain and how that differs from comments about the serial interval.
— James McCaw (@j_mccaw) June 3, 2021
“The other Indian variant, the Delta strain, B1617, is probably even more infectious than that.”
Professor Cheng added that the authorities had seen a larger number of infections per case.
“It is more infectious, in the sense that more people get infected for every case, so I think that is accurate to say that,” he said.
“The other thing I think that there may be some confusion over is, we have talked about the serial interval, so this is the time between when the first person gets sick to the time that the next person gets is, that time is actually shorter.”
READ MORE: Fear virus strain can infect two hours on
Joseph Lam12.01pm:No choice: Melbourne lockdown to continue
Victorian authorities say there is no choice other than to continue with lockdown plans after three new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 were recorded overnight.
The three new cases include a child from the Whittlesea cluster, a Port Melbourne worker and a 90-year-old aged-care resident from Arcare Maidstone.
The state tested 57,519 people across the state and administered 23,921 doses of the vaccine in the 24 hours to midnight.
Victoria Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said the state was happy with testing numbers but it was facing a vaccine shortage.
“In times of forward bookings, there is a shortage, but I am not sure exactly when that supply will become available,” he said.
“We are trying to do the best we can with the supply we have.”
“We have tested something like 5 per cent of all Victorians in the last week. There will be waits, but we are doing the best we can to try and get people through as quickly as possible.”
Rachel Baxendale 11.20am: Victorian leaders to provide update at 11.40am
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino and deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng are due to address the media at 11:40am.
Professor Cheng’s appearance – the first during the current lockdown – comes after chief health officer Brett Sutton came under fire from other epidemiologists earlier this week for exaggerating the infectiousness of Melbourne’s current coronavirus variant.
WATCH live on the video stream above
Joseph Lam 11.10am: NSW records 0 local cases as contact tracing widens
NSW Health have contacted more than 500 people as they scramble to trace the possible spread of Covid-19 from a Victorian family of four who travelled to NSW and later tested positive for the virus.
The health department confirmed at least 517 people have been contacted as the number of exposure sites had been increased to 10.
“Venues of concern continue to be identified and the associated advice for people who have attended previously reported venues may change,” NSW Health said.
Testing resources have been expanded on the south coast with two mobile pop-up testing clinics at Husky Sport club, Huskisson, and Gundagai Visitor Information Centre.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 3, 2021
Two new overseas-acquired cases were recorded in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,401. pic.twitter.com/u2NfKLiyDh
The state recorded two overseas-acquired Covid-19 cases overnight among the 18,672 tests undertaken.
While testing numbers were down from the 21,551 recorded the day earlier, the state administered a record high 14,595 doses of the vaccine.
Joseph Lam11.01am: ‘Beastly language makes virus look scarier than it is’
Peter Collignon says some of the language used to describe the current Covid-19 cluster in Melbourne has missed the mark.
The ANU infectious diseases physician on Thursday appeared on the ABC to say that there was enough concern about the virus and vaccines and that authorities should be a little more cautious on how they describe the virus.
“We need to make sure that people know this is serious and in case they missed the message – get vaccinated. We do not want to overdo that either,” he said.
“People are fearful enough without using language that gives a level of fear that I do not think is justified on the current data.”
Professor Collignon said descriptions such as “beast” could be taken out of context.
“I think saying that this was different to other strains we had had and that you could brush past people and get it – I think that is language that makes it look scarier than it is,” he said.
“All of these virus strains are beastly and we do not want them all to spread. It is a matter of tempering the language to put things in better perspective.”
“We should probably speak to people in the arts faculty rather than the science faculty about language.”
Professor Collignon added that the lockdown had so far shown positive results in curbing the spread of the virus.
“This is serious, but it is not out of control and it looks like it is under control in Melbourne. We cannot be sure it will continue that way but the signs look good.”
READ MORE: ‘We have lost all trust in Victorian state government’
Ben Packham10.51am: 35,000 Aussies still stuck overseas
More than 35,000 Australians remain stuck overseas including 4260 classified as vulnerable.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials told senate estimates on Thursday that 10,995 Australians wanted to get out of India, which is battling surging Covid-19 infections.
They include 1024 Australians classified as vulnerable, 209 of whom are minors without parents.
Officials said five Australian children who were in India without their parents were returned to Australia in the last week, and 70 had made it back home since October.
READ MORE: Editorial – WHO still a cat’s paw for China
Rachel Baxendale 10.10am: Treasurer hints at Avalon quarantine announcement
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has all but confirmed that the Avalon airport is the federal government’s preferred site for a Victorian quarantine alternative to hotels.
An announcement could be made as soon as tomorrow, with Mr Frydenberg telling 3AW’s Neil Mitchell a “decision is imminent”.
The Andrews government had proposed an alternative site on commonwealth land at Mickleham, on Melbourne’s northwest outskirts not far from Melbourne Airport, but had also supported Avalon – between Melbourne and Geelong – as a second preference.
READ the full story here
Joseph Lam 9.42am:Queensland extends Victoria’s hotspot status
Queensland has extended its hotspot status for Victoria as the state prepares to remain in lockdown for a further seven days.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on Thursday announced the extension, citing the travel of a Victoria family who visited NSW as one of the reasons.
“We do have ongoing concerns in relation to the local transmission of Covid in Victoria. We are now seeing exposure sites in NSW and for that reason we will be continuing our hotspot declaration for Victoria for up to another seven days,” she said.
Thursday 3 June – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 2, 2021
• 0 new locally acquired cases
• 2 overseas acquired cases
• 14 active cases
• 1,621 total cases
• 2,642,706* tests conducted
Sadly, seven people with COVID-19 have died. 1,593 patients have recovered.#covid19pic.twitter.com/UMpBzsS6FN
Queensland Acting Chief Health Officer Sonya Bennett said the border restrictions would remain in place as NSW races to test residents on the state’s south coast who came into contact with a Victorian family who visited and tested positive.
“We’ll review it in seven days.”
Queensland will open up vaccinations to those aged between 40 to 49 over the weekend as 18 new vaccination centres open across the state including the Logan entertainment centre, Rocklea showgrounds and Springfield Tower.
Ms D’Ath announced that the state would invite aged care and disability workers to come forward for a mass vaccination blitz.
“It means in three weeks time we can have our aged-care workforce fully vaccinated,” she said.
The state recorded two new cases among overseas returned travellers over the past 24 hours among 3625 tests undertaken.
The state reminded anyone who visited Victoria and entered Queensland to continue following Victorian restrictions while in the state.
READ MORE: John Ferguson – No going back to any trace of ‘normal’
Ellen Ransley 9.36am:Data puts ‘fit-for-purpose’ quarantine under cloud
New analysis has revealed just how far from “fit for purpose” Australia’s hotel quarantine system really is.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne have found that for every 204 Covid-19 infected travellers that have undergone their mandatory quarantine in Australia there has been one leak.
There have been 21 “failures” in Australia’s hotel quarantine system between April 2020 and June 2021, including eight in NSW, five in Victoria, three in Queensland, three in Western Australia, and two in South Australia.
Many have prompted snap, or extended lockdowns in major cities.
The findings, published in an article for The Conversation, comes as Victoria enters its second week of lockdown, after the virus leaked from an Adelaide hotel into the Melbourne community.
Researchers estimate the current outbreak in Victoria could have economic impacts to the tune of $1bn.
That amount of money, they say, could have built two or more dedicated new facilities that could better protect the country.
Driss Ait Ouakrim, Ameera Katar and Tony Blakely from the University of Melbourne have questioned whether the current hotel-based quarantine system is as “fit for purpose” as federal government officials say it is.
They have argued that it is not, in fact, “serving Australia very well”.
The researchers analysed outbreaks from hotels in Australia and New Zealand, and found there were 4.9 failures per 1000 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases in quarantine – or one failure per 204 infected travellers.
“Since April 2020, on average 305 infected travellers arrived in Australia each month, so that is 1.5 expected outbreaks per month,” the researchers said.
“This doesn’t sound like a system that is 99.99 per cent effective.
The trio warned that Australia’s quarantine system was supposed to be “our first and most important line of defence against COVID-19”.
“If it’s not improved, the risk of outbreaks will increase,” they said.
In order to improve the system, the researchers say travel needs to be capped or “temporarily suspended” from high risk areas and that adequate, purpose-built quarantine facilities should be established.
“Every state and territory should be equipped with Howard Spring-style facilities, with outdoor facing cabins with tree-flowing air,” they said.
“These facilities could be used in priority for travellers coming from high-risk countries.
“This won’t reduce the risk of leaks to zero, although we have not yet seen any leakage out of Howard Springs.”
The Victorian government recently announced a project to build a 3000 bed facility for returning travellers, which the federal government has supported.
The Queensland government has been engaged in an ongoing tit-for-tat with the Morrison government for months over plans to build a dedicated facility 90 minutes west of Brisbane, while the WA Premier has proposed using Christmas Island to house returned travellers. – NCA Newswire
READ MORE:Sheridan – Quarantine centres must be built, and built now
Joseph Lam9.02am: Nature of the beast: Experts have questions
Several epidemiologists have expressed concern over claims the Covid-19 strain at the centre of Melbourne clusters is spreading faster than previous strains of the virus.
Some of the nation’s top epidemiologists including University of Melbourne Professor James McCaw, Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett and ANU infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon raised concerns over whether Victorian authorities have accurately described the nature of the virus.
“There is no epidemiological evidence that this virus spreads faster,” Professor McCaw, told The Age.
“There is no clear reason to think this virus is spreading in different ways.”
“We need to be very cautious. We are on an absolute knife-edge in Victoria about whether we bring this under control rapidly or it develops further. But I don’t think it is helpful to seed alarmist or doomsday-type thoughts into the community.”
Professor Bennett questioned the reasoning behind the lockdown and whether it was the right response.
“We are being locked down because of their fear that they don’t know what they don’t know and there could be more out there that they do know. That is never grounds for a lockdown, not even for continuing one.”
READ MORE: Fears variant can infect two hours on
Rachel Baxendale8.50am:Victoria adds three new local virus cases
Victoria has recorded three new community-acquired cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to Thursday, taking the total number of locally acquired cases in the state since the Whittlesea cluster emerged last week to 63.
The three new cases include that of an 89-year-old resident of the Arcare aged care facility in Maidstone, in Melbourne’s west, where a 99-year-old female resident and two staff members have already tested positive.
The 63 community-acquired cases detected since May 24 include cases linked to Melbourne’s northern suburbs and an associated cluster emanating from Stratton Finance in Port Melbourne, as well as two as-yet unlinked clusters, namely the aged care clusters and four cases in a family from North Melbourne who travelled to NSW.
While all cases are genomically linked to a man from Wollert, in Melbourne’s outer north, who caught the virus in an Adelaide quarantine hotel on May 3, the mode of transmission has not been established.
A record 57,519 tests were processed on Wednesday, up from 51,033 tests processed on Tuesday and Friday’s previous record of 56,624.
Reported yesterday: 3 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 2, 2021
- 23,921 vaccine doses were administered
- 57,519 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/9cCbYkZ8gZ
Victorians also set a new record for state-administered vaccinations, with 23,921 jabs given on Wednesday, up from the previous record of 21,626 last Friday.
The total number of active cases in Victoria is 69, including six cases in recent overseas arrivals in hotel quarantine.
READ MORE: Dusevic – A cloud on our economic horizon
Nicholas Jensen 8.22am:What Fauci knew: Lab theory in bombshell emails
America’s top medical adviser Anthony Fauci was informed as early as February 2020 that Covid-19 exhibited unusual viral characteristics which could have potentially been engineered in a lab, according to emails published.
A trove of private correspondence, obtained by The Washington Post and Buzzfeed, reveal some of the crucial moments leading up to the pandemic in early 2020 when Dr Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sought urgent information regarding the nature and origins of Covid-19.
Dr Fauci, who led the US response to the outbreak, previously rejected claims that Covid-19 leaked from a laboratory setting, but reversed his position in May, admitting that he was “not convinced” the virus had developed naturally and more needed to be done to investigate its precise origins. In one email from Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in California, Dr Fauci was told that Dr Andersen and his fellow scientists had to “look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered”.
READ the full story here
Joseph Lam 7.56am:Frydenberg weighs federal support for Victorians
Josh Frydenberg says the federal government is “considering” rolling out support for Victorians as the state prepares to lockdown for further seven days.
The federal Treasurer on Thursday shot down talk of bringing back the initial JobKeeper payment but hinted at a different supplement for those affected by the lockdown.
“Well, we’re not bringing back JobKeeper, we have no plans to do so,” he said on Sky News.
“But the pandemic is not over and the support from the Morrison government is not over either.”
Mr Frydenberg said he would not pre-empt the support which is expected to be announced over the next few days.
“We’ll have more to say in due course.”
READ MORE: Considering our options, Frydenberg says
Joseph Lam7.37am:NSW alert list of exposed venues grows
NSW Health are urgently seeking anyone who visited a number of venues on the state’s south coast after a family from Victoria who travelled to the region tested positive for the virus.
A further four venues have been added and a number of additional exposure times were added to the list which now includes a total of 10 venues.
The exposure sites have been added as a second aged-care resident tested positive for the virus in Melbourne and the Victorian exposure list grew to 370.
The 90-year-old man was said to have resided in a room adjacent to the first resident to test positive at Arcare Maidstone, where a staff member and their son have also tested positive.
Aged
Aged-care services minister Richard Colbeck confirmed the case in senate estimates on Wednesday afternoon.
“The advice I have is that the resident is asymptomatic,” he said.
When the clock strikes midnight on Thursday, while much of regional Victoria will emerge from lockdown on eased restrictions, Melburnians will remain under tight restrictions for the next seven days.
NSW EXPOSURE SITES
Wednesday, May 19:
Gundagai Craft Centre, 105 Sheridan street, Gundagai, 11am to 12pm;
Junque and Disorderly Antique Shop, 177 Sheridan street. Gundagai, 11am to 12pm; and
Shell Coles Express Big Merino, 1/3 Sowerby street from 1.45pm to 2.05pm.
Friday, May 21:
5 Little Pigs, Shop 4-5, 64-66 Owen Street, Huskisson, from 1am to 11.30am;
Treasure Chest, 74 Owen street, Huskisson from 11.20am to 12pm; and
Coles Vincentia Shopping Village, Vincentia, 12pm-1pm.
Saturday, May 22:
Coles Vincentia Shopping Village, Vincentia, 12pm-1pm.
Sunday, May 23:
● Cooked Goose Cafe (formerly Hyams Beach cafe), Hyams Beach, 10am-12pm;
● Coles Vincentia Shopping Village, Vincentia, 12pm-1pm; and
● Green Patch Camp Ground, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay, all day, until 9am Monday.
Monday, May 24:
● Shell Coles Express, Big Merino, Goulburn, 10am-11:30am;
● Trapper’s Bakery, Goulburn, 10:30am-11:30am.
READ MORE:Victorian man’s family tests positive after NSW travel
Joseph Lam6.40am:Bus route added to Victorian exposure sites list
Victoria’s Covid-19 exposure list continued to grow overnight with almost 400 sites now added.
The latest addition, bus route 357 which travels from through and around Epping, has been listed as a Tier 1 exposure site.
The Victorian Department of Health confirmed a positive case travelled on the bus at the following times:
BUS ROUTE 357
■ Monday, May 24: Epping Station/Cooper St to Liquorland/Harvest Home Rd from 4.44pm to 5.17pm;
■ Tuesday, May 25: Gammage Bvd/Edgars Rd to Memorial Ave/High Street from 8.46am to 9.11am;
■ Wednesday, May 26: Gammage Blvd/Edgars Rd to Epping Station/Cooper Street from 8.46am to 9.11am;
■ Wednesday, May 26: Epping Station to Gammage Blvd/Edgars Rd from 9.22pm to 9.46pm; and
■ Friday, May 28: Gammage Bvd/Edgars Rd to Memorial Ave/High Street from 3.08pm to 3.18pm.
Anyone on board the bus during these times must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.
Reported yesterday: 6 new local cases and no new cases acquired overseas.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 1, 2021
- 20,585 vaccine doses were administered
- 51,033 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/x1EhMbKNjC
READ MORE:Victorian retailers set to lose billions
Joseph Lam6am:Queensland launches $3m tourism voucher giveaway
Queensland is giving out $100 vouchers to tens of thousands of guests within the state in a bid to pump the Gold Coast’s struggling tourism industry.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday announced the new competition which will see $3m worth of vouchers handed out over coming weeks.
The state has handed out vouchers on several occasions since the pandemic took hold last year, with vouchers previously available in the Whitsundays, Cairns and Brisbane.
Similar travel schemes have taken place in other states including NSW which offered residents $100 worth of vouchers to be spent on food and entertainment.
To enter, residents are invited to enter a three-day competition on Monday. There are 30,000 vouchers to give away.
BREAKING: More Holiday Dollars are going up for grabs – this time for the Gold Coast ðŸ–ï¸
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 2, 2021
From Monday 7 June, Queenslanders have 72 hours to enter the draw to win one of 30,000 travel vouchers worth $100 each.#GoodToGopic.twitter.com/CvZOiprKtW
READ MORE:Jack the Insider — How it ends for the anti-vaxxers
Rachel Baxendale5.05am:Daniel Andrews finally breaks his long silence
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has broken more than six weeks of silence to issue a late night Facebook message of encouragement as Victorians prepare to enter the second week of the state’s third lockdown.
Having said on April 18 that his team of medical specialists were confident he would return to work in June following his recovery from a fall in March which saw him fracture his spine and multiple ribs, Mr Andrews on Wednesday night indicated a meeting with his medicos next week would determine the timing.
“I’m sorry I can’t be there with everyone right now but I’m so grateful to James for his leadership,” Mr Andrews said, paying tribute to Acting Premier James Merlino in a postscript to his message regarding the lockdown.
“I have more scans and a meeting with my medical team next week. I’ll let you know how that goes and exactly when I’ll be back on deck later this month.
“See you soon.”
The Premier’s main message, regarding the lockdown, began: “I won’t talk about how hard this is, or why it matters so much. You all know that.”
“But I did want to send a message to Victorians facing another week off work, away from school, or with the kids at home: Just because we’ve had to do this before, doesn’t mean it’s easy to do again. Some of us will be tired. Some stressed. Some sick to the back teeth of this pandemic. Maybe a mix of all three,” Mr Andrews said in the Facebook message issued after 9pm.
“But please know that every individual effort you made today, and everything you’ll do tomorrow and every day after will save lives.
“Record tests, record vaccinations, record fight – we’re doing this to protect our communities, our state and the entire country.
“Be proud of what you’ve achieved and be proud of our state too.
“Keep fighting, Victoria.”
READ MORE:Greg Sheridan — The Victorian government is world class … at excuses
Rachel Baxendale5am:Quarantine hotel waste stored in residential carpark
Hotel quarantine linen marked “Terminal/Positive Cases” is being stored in an underground car park accessed by more than 450 residents of a Melbourne CBD apartment complex.
The shocking revelation has led the 408 Lonsdale St owners’ corporation to consider legal action over what it says are dozens of daily actions by staff at the neighbouring Novotel/Ibis Melbourne Central hotel, who are putting residents at risk of Covid-19 infection.
Since March 30, the 408 Lonsdale St owners’ corporation has been locked in an increasingly heated dispute with the 399 Little Lonsdale St hotel’s general manager over a car park space shared by both buildings, which back onto one another.
Read the full story here.
Simon Benson4.45am:Victoria must go halves on lockdown bailout
Josh Frydenberg has left the door open to providing financial support to Victorians after the fourth lockdown of more than five million Melburnians was extended by at least a week, but assistance would likely be conditional on being matched by the state government.
The Treasurer is resisting pressure from the Victorian government, unions and industry groups to offer a localised version of the JobKeeper payment to the state, saying the wage subsidy program was specifically targeted to help the country during a period of economic hibernation in 2020.
“What we need to think about, obviously given the pandemic is still with us, is how we approach this on a national basis,” Mr Frydenberg said. “It is not about Victoria, or individual cases … it is about on a national basis and we will stick to our principles, namely, our approaches will continue to be national, sustainable (and) where support is offered, it is through existing systems.”
Major employers have already begun standing down staff. Crown Melbourne on Wednesday said the extension of restrictions meant the casino would “stand down the majority of its staff”.
They will be eligible for a one-off, discretionary payment.
Read the full story, by Simon Benson, Remy Varga and Greg Brown, here.
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