Coronavirus Australia live news: Virgin Australia alert for five flights; Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Wollongong, Blue Mountains in two-week lockdown
Passengers have been alerted to a Covid crew case on five Virgin Australia flights as Sydney and nearby regions cope with a two-week lockdown.
- Virgin Australia alert for passengers on five flights
- All of Sydney, regions plunged into two-week lockdown
- NT worker tests positive at gold mine
- NSW records 29 new cases, lockdown may be extended
- Victoria records one new case
- Sydney exposure sites explode
Welcome to live updates on the latest developments in Australia’s battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
All of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong have been plunged into a two-week lockdown, effective from 6pm on Saturday. New Zealand has suspended the travel “bubble’’ with Australia and an alert has gone out for five Virgin Australia flights. One economist estimates a $2bn loss from the Sydney lockdown.
NCA NewsWire11pm:Alert for five flights after crew member catches Covid
Health authorities have sent an alert to passengers about five Virgin airline flights linked to a confirmed case.
Virgin Australia confirmed on Saturday a “Sydney-based cabin crew member has tested positive to Covid-19 after undertaking a rapid result test”.
“The affected crew member is a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case from a known cluster in Sydney. Virgin Australia understands the crew member was not aware they were a close contact of a positive case until after they completed their last flight,” the statement read.
“The crew member is now in isolation, and Virgin Australia is rapidly contacting all team members who are close contacts,” Virgin said.
“Virgin Australia is requiring those crew members to cease flying, get tested and isolate.”
Virgin Australia said border restrictions with NSW had resulted in few passengers travelling on four of the flights, except for a flight between Brisbane and Melbourne on Friday afternoon.
Passengers in NSW “must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result”. Passengers now in other states must check for local health advice.
All passengers who were on flights with the crew member may also be contacted by health authorities.
The affected aircraft and any Virgin Australia spaces visited by the crew member will undergo deep cleaning.
Flights were:
VA939 (Virgin): June 25, leaving Sydney at 11.51am and arriving in Brisbane at 1.25pm.
VA334 (Virgin): June 25, leaving Brisbane at 2.59pm and arriving in Melbourne at 5.16pm.
VA827 (Virgin): June 26, leaving Brisbane at 9am and arriving in Sydney at 10.14am.
VA517 (Virgin): June 26, leaving Sydney at 11.14am and arriving in the Gold Coast at 12.40pm.
VA524 (Virgin): June 26, leaving the Gold Coast at 1.26pm and arriving in Sydney at 2.47pm.
READ MORE here
Agencies8.40pm:New Zealand suspends all Tasman travel for 3 days
New Zealand on Saturday night announced a three-day suspension of its quarantine-free travel arrangement with Australia, and the NZ government cited “multiple” outbreaks of Covid-19 in Australian states and territories.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the suspension would give officials time to consider measures “to make the bubble safer, such as pre-departure testing for all flights” between the two countries.
The announcement comes as a two-week lockdown begins in Sydney to contain a rapidly spreading outbreak of the Delta coronavirus variant.
More than 80 cases have been reported so far in Australia’s largest city, while a handful of community cases have also been recorded in the Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland in recent days.
“But given the high level of transmissibility of what appears to be the Delta variant, and the fact that there are now multiple community clusters (in Australia), it is the right thing to do to keep Covid-19 out of New Zealand,” Mr Hipkins said.
Mr Hipkins said he understood the inconvenience the pause would cause and added that NZ remained committed to quarantine-free travel with Australia.
NZ has previously paused the bubble arrangement five times with individual states but this is the first time it has put a blanket halt to quarantine-free travel from all of Australia.
Both countries have been among the world’s most successful in containing Covid-19. NZ has recorded just 26 Covid-19 deaths in a population of five million, and Australia has had fewer than 1,000 deaths in a population of 25 million.
The trans-Tasman travel bubble opened in mid-April, more than a year after both countries closed their international borders due to the pandemic. It has been hailed as a major milestone in restarting the global travel industry.
AFP
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Ally Foster8.30pm: Customers rush supermarkets as crackdown widens
Calls from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian not to panic-buy appear to have been ignored by some shoppers rushing to supermarkets.
Residents in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong were placed into a two-week lockdown on Saturday after NSW’s Covid-19 outbreak grew.
Shortly after the lockdown was announced, some supermarkets across the lockdown areas were reported flooded with more shoppers than usual, despite shopping for essentials being one of the four reasons to leave home under the new restrictions.
Shoppers reportedly cleared shelves at some stores, with toilet paper once again becoming a hot commodity. Other staples such as bread, meat, rice and pasta were also being cited.
Photos and videos have emerged online said to show panic buying.
NCA NewsWire
READ MORE: Panic buying reported in some supermarkets
Patrick Commins 7pm:Economy will lose $2bn from restrictions, says Oliver
Sydney’s two-week lockdown will deliver a $2bn blow to the economy, AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver says.
With residents forced to stay at home and businesses closed, the hit to activity will be severe for those affected, Dr Oliver says, but should still prove relatively “minor” overall with previous lockdowns showing Australians were quick to return to business and spending as usual once restrictions were lifted.
“With Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and the Central Coast having around 6.6 million people and covering about 25 per cent of Australian GDP, we estimate a hit to economic activity from the lockdown of about $2bn if it’s contained to two weeks with much of that likely to be recouped upon reopening,” Dr Oliver says.
“Fortunately, as noted above the lockdown is starting relatively early, providing some confidence that it can be contained to two weeks.
“Of course, the risk is greater now that we are dealing with the more virulent Delta variant, but so too was Victoria in late May,” he says.
ALSO READ:Billions at stake as workers flee CBD
READ MORE:State poised for post-lockdown boom
Anthony Piovesan6.10pm:Three people suspected of fleeing lockdown by plane
Police have arrested three people after they allegedly flew a private plane from virus-stricken NSW into rural South Australia, in a clear breach of Covid-19 travel directions.
South Australian police said the trio were arrested in the outback town of Coober Pedy, 846km north of Adelaide, in the early hours of Saturday.
Police alleged their plane left Griffith, in the NSW Riverina, and landed in Coober Pedy on Thursday, which the force said was “against cross-border directions”.
A 39-year-old woman, a 21-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man – all from NSW – were arrested and charged with failing to comply with the Emergency Management Act.
They were refused police bail and will appear in court on Monday.
NCA NewsWire
FULL REPORT is here
Nicholas Jensen5.10pm:Tracing scramble on at NT mine site
Following the detection of a positive Covid-19 case in the Northern Territory, West Australian health officials say they are urgently identifying potential contacts of the case who have since travelled into WA.
On Saturday, NT Health confirmed a worker at the Granites Gold Mine in the Tanami Desert tested positive for Covid-19 after contracting the virus in hotel quarantine in Brisbane.
According to WA Health, the worker, from Victoria, is “believed to have been infected with the Delta variant” at the Airport Novotel Langley quarantine, and was potentially infectious from June 18 to June 24.
The infection has caused 754 workers to go into immediate isolation in remote Central Australia before they can be transferred to the territory’s Howard Springs facility. A further 900 workers, who have since left the mines, are also being urgently contacted and told to isolate.
WA’s chief health officer Andrew Robertson is instructing anyone who travelled to WA from Granites Gold Mine, and was at the mine between June 18 (midday) and June 25, to self-quarantine for 14 days and be tested immediately and at day 11.
“Anyone from the Northern Territory who was not at the mine and has arrived after June 18 is required to get tested if they develop any symptoms that may be related to Covid-19.”
READ MORE:Time to rethink our supply chains
Anthony Piovesan 4.42pm: Fully vaccinated Aussies still not given hope
NSW authorities have refused to say whether people who are fully vaccinated will be exempt from future Covid lockdowns.
Four Sydney local government areas are now in a seven-day lockdown, just a fortnight after Melbourne was plunged into a two-week lockdown.
And with future lockdowns not ruled out, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said it was still “too soon” to be able to say if people who had received both Covid-19 jabs would be exempt from the harsh restrictions moving forward.
“We know the vaccines are very effective at preventing serious disease. We know that for the AstraZeneca, we need the two doses and also with the Pfizer, to have the two doses to have the maximum impact,” she told reporters on Saturday.
“We do, however, know that a proportion of people are not protected, and can become infectious, even if you’re vaccinated.
“If you’re vaccinated and if you get the disease you are less likely to transmit, but it can’t be ruled out.”
Dr Chant said it was still health authorities’ main goal to achieve zero community transmission.
“We cannot have anyone, even though it is a reduced risk (if you’re completely vaccinated), being out in the community,” she said.
“Once we move and get the population vaccinated – and that’s going to still be a while off – we will have to recalibrate our settings.
“As we’ve always said and I think I’ve said for many months we will at some point have to accept that there will be some community transmission, but we do not want that to occur until we have vaccinated all of the adult population and are progressing through with vaccines available for children as well.”
READ MORE:We’re still not getting the point of vaccination
Nicholas Jensen4.10pm:No proof limo driver breached Covid orders: police
NSW Police says there remains insufficient evidence to establish whether the limousine driver, believed to be the source of the state’s current Covid-19 outbreak, breached any public health orders when he transported aircrew from Sydney airport while unvaccinated.
In a statement on Saturday, Commissioner Mick Fuller said: “Yesterday I advised we (NSW Police) had sent the case for urgent external legal advice due to the significance of this outbreak and the community concern.”
However, the advice concluded it was impossible to determine whether the man in his 60s – who insists he is not “patient zero” – or his employer flouted any public health orders.
The limousine driver, who spoke to A Current Affair earlier this week, under the condition of anonymity, said he believes he contracted the virus in the community.
He said he was not working between June 12 and June 14 and that he was tested for Covid, insisting he contracted the Delta strain of the virus from another patron at the Belle Cafe in Vaucluse.
Responding to today’s lockdown announcements, Commissioner Fuller also said officers from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command are continuing to patrol roads on the outskirts of the Greater Sydney area, handing out tickets to those “who aren’t meant to be there”.
“If you leave your home in the Greater Sydney area, you can also expect to see officers patrolling public places and public transport hubs … They are there to keep you safe.”
The statement follows Health Minister Brad Hazzard’s comments from earlier today, in which he said police would “be on the lookout for any vehicles that may have come from the Greater Sydney area”.
“I remind you that they (Police) have all sorts of technology … including recognition of number plates.”
READ MORE:NSW lockdown rules explained — what you can and can’t do
Nicholas Jensen2.48pm:Sydney’s two-week lockdown to be reassessed: Premier
Asked if the lockdown could be extended beyond two weeks, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government would re-examine the situation in seven days.
“I want to be very upfront with the public: this will be for all intents and purposes a two week lockdown … but if there is a dramatic change and the health advice says that we can get out of a lockdown earlier (we will), but I’m not anticipating that.
“The best advice from Health is that we should brace ourselves for additional cases.”
NSW Health is instructing people who have been in the Greater Sydney region, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong, on or after June 21 to abide by the stay-at-home orders for 14 days after they left Greater Sydney.
The following restrictions apply:
Visitors to households will be limited to 5 guests, including children.
Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces and at organised outdoor events.
Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed.
Singing by audiences and choirs at indoor venues or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed.
Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs, but dancing is allowed at weddings for the wedding reception only (with no more than 20 people).
Dance and gym classes are limited to 20 per class (masks must be worn).
The one person per four square metre rule will be reimposed for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals.
Outdoor seated ticketed events will be limited to 50 per cent seated capacity.
NSW Health is treating 64 COVID-19 cases, one of whom is in intensive care. Most cases (92 per cent) are being treated in non-acute, out-of-hospital care, including returned travellers in the Special Health Accommodation.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 26, 2021
More to come …
Nicholas Jensen2.33pm:NSW Premier ‘disappointed but left with no choice’
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said a three-day lockdown would have done nothing to halt the rapid spread of the Delta variant in Sydney, saying she was left with no choice but to tighten restrictions on Saturday.
“Given how transmissible the virus is, given the extra exposure venues, we know that even the best contact tracers in the world can’t stay a step ahead unless we put this in and we need to do it properly. So there was no point doing it for three days or five days because it wouldn’t have done the job,” the Premier has told a press conference — her second for the day — on Saturday afternoon.
“In the last couple of hours we were advised that potentially there are a couple of cases that have been active in the community outside of the areas of concern for a few days.”
“That was enough for us to have to react.”
“We’ve done so well to date, and whilst it’s very disappointing that all of us have to face the next two weeks in the way that we need to, I think all of us understand the unique circumstances in this case.”
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said despite the best efforts of contact tracers, the Delta variant was well ahead.
“As the Premier has indicated, the contact tracing and testing numbers … what we’re seeing is by the time we’ve got there, and uncovered the chains of transmission, we have a number of people infectious in the community.”
Health Minister Brad Hazzard also warned that the virus must be stopped from escaping into NSW regional communities, after flagging viral fragments had been detected in the Bourke sewerage system.
“We are concerned that people may have travelled out into the regions (from red zones) … If you are out in the regions, from June 21 onwards, stop wherever you are and isolate for the 14 days since that period — since you left Sydney.”
“I just want to emphasise that the concerns we have at the moment are extraordinary. The Delta variant of this virus is certainly moving around our community far faster than anyone could have imagined and it’s up to us to fight back.”
More to come …
Nicholas Jensen2.26pm:Financial support for locked-down NSW residents
Following Saturday’s crisis meetings, NSW Premier Berejiklian said the health advice recommended an expanded and extended period of lockdown that will commence at 6pm this evening.
“Given how transmissible the virus is, given the extra exposure venues, we know that even the best contact tracers in the world can’t stay a step ahead unless we put this in and we need to do it properly.”
Ms Berejiklian said there will be no curfew and flagged the potential for financial support during the lockdown.
âš ï¸PUBLIC HEALTH ORDERâš ï¸
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 26, 2021
âš ï¸Stay at home orders extended to all of Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong
âš ï¸Restrictions apply to the rest of NSW pic.twitter.com/iljrIICcK7
“You can leave your home at any stage to purchase any essential goods that you need to and that is a given. Be thoughtful and considerate about fellow citizens and no need to panic buy,” she said.
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said it is important that “we do not seed our regional communities”, urging anyone who had been in Sydney and the Greater Sydney area from June 21 to stay at home for 14 days since you left that area.
“Given we are aiming to get to no community transmission and as we rollout the vaccine, it is important that we get to that as quickly as possible,” Dr Chant said.
More to come …
Nicholas Jensen2.02pm:Greater Sydney, regions plunged into two-week lockdown
All of Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong have been plunged into a two-week lockdown, effective immediately, as NSW health authorities scramble to bring an outbreak of coronavirus under control.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was left with no choice to impose the lockdown given the fast spread of the Delta variant., after 29 new cases of local transmission were recorded in 24 hours.
“From 6pm today, all of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong will go into a lockdown with stay-at-home orders in place until midnight Friday July 9,” the Premier said.
“So essentially, a fortnight from midnight yesterday, all of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong will go into lockdown with stay at home provisions. It means all of us have to stay home unless for the four following reasons. Unless we have to work outside the home or get educated outside of the home, and given school holidays, that obviously doesn’t apply.
“But if you must work outside the home, you’re able to do that. If you need to seek medical attention, including getting a Covid test, getting a vaccine or any other medical attention, you’re allowed to. And you’re also allowed to leave the home for care and compassionate grounds as well. And obviously, you’re allowed outside to purchase goods, essential goods and services.
“There is no need to panic buy. All the shops will be open every day of the week. There is no curfew. You can leave your home at any stage to purchase any essential goods that you need to and that is a given. Be thoughtful and considerate about fellow citizens and no need to panic buy. For the next two weeks, you will be able to exercise outdoors and we appreciate during the school holidays, this could be the only time that people are able to gather outside and in no more than groups of ten. In the regions that we’ve outlined, in no more than groups of ten, you’re able to gather outside for the recreational exercise. ”
More to come …
Nicholas Jensen1.57pm:Watch Gladys Berejiklian’s press conference live
Nicholas Jensen1.50pm:Berejiklian urged to take further action
NSW opposition leader Chris Minns has urged Gladys Berejiklian to take further action to stop the spread of the outbreak, saying “now is not the time for politics” but bipartisan support.
On Saturday afternoon, Mr Minns said the current outbreak must be viewed as a health crisis — not a political crisis — vowing support for the Berejiklian government and its health advice.
Mr Minns encouraged the federal government to consider the rollout of financial support for casual workers.
He also called on the NSW government to offer a small business relief package — similar to that offered to the Northern Beaches — and additional support for the homeless during the lockdown.
READ MORE:Going by the numbers, Frydenberg is on to a winner
Nicholas Jensen1.35pm:NSW Premier to provide second Covid update
After confirming 12 new local cases of Covid-19 earlier today, NSW Health says it will provide a further update regarding Sydney’s unfolding outbreak at 2pm.
It comes after Gladys Berejiklian said Saturday’s cabinet crisis meetings would determine whether Sydney’s lockdown would be extended beyond Friday July 2.
“I am putting everybody on notice that we may need to extend that (lockdown) during the course of the day or tomorrow,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“I want to foreshadow that because of the increasing exposure sites the health advice is evolving, and I will be getting advice … during the day, and if we need to take further action, we will immediately notify the community.”
Of the state’s 29 new infections, announced in the last 24 hours, 28 are linked, with one case under further investigation.
Earlier today, chief health officer Kerry Chant said the state’s contact tracers are struggling to keep up with the speed of the Delta variant, with only 12 of the 29 new cases in “isolation through their infectious period”.
READ MORE:Chris Kenny — Light touch Premier sorely
Nicholas Jensen1.15pm:One NT mine case forces 750 people into isolation
The Northern Territory has confirmed one new case of Covid-19, after a man at the Granites gold mine tested positive for the virus on Friday night, causing more than 750 workers to go into immediate isolation in remote Central Australia.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the case travelled to the NT via Brisbane from Bendigo, Victoria on June 7.
“In Queensland he was directed to quarantine – as they have directions in place for anyone travelling from Victoria – and based on the testing, we believe he caught coronavirus in the quarantine hotel in Brisbane.”
The Northern Territory has confirmed one new case of Covid-19, after a man at the Granites gold mine tested positive for the virus on Friday night, causing more than 750 workers to go into immediate isolation at the site located 540 km from Alice Springs.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the case travelled to the NT via Brisbane from Bendigo, Victoria on June 7.
“In Queensland he was direct to quarantine – as they have directions in place for anyone travelling from Victoria – and based on the testing, we believe he caught coronavirus in the quarantine hotel in Brisbane.”
Following quarantine, the man travelled to the NT to work on the mine site and later received a text advising him that the hotel in Brisbane was a potential exposure site.
“We consider the individual to be potentially infectious from June 18 to June 24. We do not know the variant yet, so we are assuming it is the Delta variant — the worst-case scenario,” Mr Gunner said.
“There are 754 people in isolation on the mine site, approximately 900 people have left the mine site over those days, travelled to Brisbane, Perth, Alice Springs and Darwin airports.”
NT Health are making plans to transfer the 754 workers at the site to the Howard Springs facility.
Mr Gunner said he will hold emergency meetings this afternoon to “consider the information on where the 900 workers are, how many test are required in the territory and when the results will be known”.
READ MORE:Big fish pair keen to reel in Twiggy
Nicholas Jensen12.31pm:NT worker tests positive for Covid in mines
The Northern Territory has confirmed one new case of Covid-19, after a worker at the Newmont Granites gold mine tested positive for the virus.
NT Health believes the worker contracted the virus in Brisbane, saying it is continuing to investigate the case.
The worker is believed to have tested positive for Covid-19 while at the Central Australian mine, located 540 kilometres north of Alice Springs in the Tanami Desert.
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner and the chief health officer Hugh Heggie are due to provide an update at 12.30 AEST.
READ MORE:Rio Tinto accused over dumping artefacts
Nicholas Jensen12.10pm:Victoria records one case linked to Southbank cluster
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has confirmed one new case of local transmission linked to the King’s Park apartment complex in Southbank.
The new case is a confirmed household contact of a “known positive case”, bringing the number of infections associated with the Southbank cluster to 12.
“This person was a primary close contact and has been in quarantine throughout their infectious period, hence no further public exposure sites and no further close contacts have been added from that particular arrangement,” Mr Foley said.
The Victorian Health Department says there are now 146 close contacts associated with the apartment complex.
Concerning the outbreak north of the border, Mr Foley said the Delta variant made its way to Victoria from a super-spreading event in Sydney’s West Hoxton, which was attended by 30 people.
“This is the critical time in running down this NSW Delta strain in Victoria. We need people to come forward if you have been in contact with any of those places.”
“We also know that this is a very important time to protect Victoria’s border with New South Wales.”
19 flights arrived from Sydney on Friday, with more than 1330 passengers screened.
Mr Foley said the majority of passengers were returning Victorian residents, adding that the government’s message was simple: “do not come from a NSW red zone to Victoria and, for Victorians, do not visit red zones in NSW”.
READ MORE:Paul Kelly — Barnaby Joyce turn up the heat on PM
Nicholas Jensen11.25am:This is the scariest time Sydney has seen: Premier
The NSW government will convene a crisis cabinet meeting later today, as the state’s exposure sites have now spread beyond Sydney’s four LGAs currently in lockdown.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said this was “the scariest time Sydney has seen during the course of the pandemic”, adding that “this variant of the virus is contagious and transmissible like no other variant that we’ve seen”.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the situation overnight “highlighted that an increasing number of people have been undetected and infectious in the community”.
NSW recorded 29 new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. This includes 17 cases which were announced on Friday morning. pic.twitter.com/78izt7RJv1
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 26, 2021
Dr Chant confirmed two cases were linked to a “workplace outbreak” at Great Ocean Foods in Marrickville.
“Anyone who worked in, attended or was a customer in Great Ocean Foods — 5/11 Cadogan Street from Monday 21 June to Friday 25 June — and their household contacts is now considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.”
“Anyone who directly received a delivery from Great Ocean Foods from Monday 21 June to Friday 25 June and their household contacts must also immediately get tested and isolate.”
Dr Chant said the other two venues of concern are:
The Cheers Bar on George Street in Sydney’s CBD on Sunday 20 June, between 1.45am-3.30am, and Rebel Sport in Bankstown, on Thursday 24 June between 345pm-4.30pm.
Dr Chant said the state’s contact tracers are struggling to keep up with the speed of the Delta variant, with only 12 of the 29 new cases in “isolation through their infectious period”.
28 of the state’s new cases are linked, with one case under further investigation
“No matter what defensive steps we are taking at the moment, the virus seems to understand how to counter attack in different locations,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
More to come …
Nicholas Jensen11.16am:Lockdown could be extended beyond Friday: Premier
Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the Sydney lockdown could be extended beyond Friday July 2, after confirming 29 new cases of local transmission in NSW, with 17 of those cases already cited on Friday. Twelve of those 29 cases are newly reported.
“I am putting everybody on notice that we may need to extend that (lockdown) during the course of the day or tomorrow. But that will be based on health advice and decisions taken by the crisis cabinet meeting.”
“We do not want this virus transmitting in our regions,” Ms Berejiklian said.
The Premier said the Delta variant was jumping ahead of contact tracers as a previously unseen rate, and in many cases, all household contacts of a Covid- positive person were becoming infected.
More to come
Christine Kellett11.07am:NSW records 29 new cases, Premier issues warning | WATCH
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has foreshadowed further restrictions for Sydney after 12 new local cases of coronavirus were detected in the 24 hours to Saturday morning.
“The situation is worsening beyond what we would have liked to see this morning,” Ms Berejiklian has told a press conference this morning ahead of a crisis meeting called for later today.
“Till 8pm last night, we had 29 cases, 17 of those we are already spoken about during the course of the day, but those additional cases unfortunately have been in exposure sites outside of those Local Government Areas that we had previously determined were our most concern.
“I want to foreshadow that because of the increasing exposure sites that the health advise is evolving, and I will be getting advice, as will Minister Hazzard and our crisis cabinet colleagues from Dr Chant and the health experts during the day, and if we need to take further action, we will immediately notify the community.”
More than 55,000 people came forward for testing yesterday.
The Premier and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant are outlining exposure sites of concern.
Watch it live here:
Nicholas Jensen10.58am:Sydney man chased, arrested for wearing mask below chin
An Eastlakes man is due to appear in court today after he was charged for not wearing “a correctly fitted face mask” in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Friday, NSW Police have said.
At 3pm authorities were patrolling at a shopping centre on Anzac Parade in Maroubra, when they “noticed a man wearing a face mask below his chin”.
Police said the 60-year-old man “became aggressive and ignored directions to leave or wear the mask correctly” after they approached him.
“He then ran away and, following a short foot pursuit, was arrested.”
The man was taken to Maroubra Police Station and charged with “not wearing a fitted face covering in retail business premises and intimidating police officers in the execution of duty”.
The Eastlakes man was refused bail and will appear at Parramatta Bail Court.
NSW Police said they have issued a total of seven $200 fines to residents failing to wear a fitted face covering.
READ MORE: Canadian authorities recall certain type of face mask
Nicholas Jensen10.44am:Queensland records no new local cases
Queensland Health has recorded no new local cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, with 1 case recorded in hotel quarantine.
The Queensland government has instructed anyone who has been in Sydney from June 11 – in one of the four LGAs – to enter lockdown at home for at least one week.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said anyone who has been in a hot spot cannot enter Queensland unless you are a resident or have an exemption.
“If you are a resident you will need to go into hotel quarantine,” she said, adding that Queenslanders should avoid travel to NSW because of the state’s current outbreak.
Chief health officer Jeanette Young also confirmed that “71 per cent of Queenslanders aged 60 or older have now had at least their first dose of vaccine”.
READ MORE:Queensland police officer killed during traffic intercept
Nicholas Jensen9.50am:Premier to provide NSW Covid update
As Sydney enters its first day of a snap lockdown, the NSW government is due to provide a Covid-19 update at 11am.
Since midnight, four Sydney Local Government Areas have become subject to stay-at-home orders, affecting about a million people, as authorities scramble to bring a Covid outbreak centred on the city’s eastern suburbs under control. Twelve new cases were announced yesterday, with 56 people being treated in hospital.
Gladys Berejiklian, Brad Hazzard, Kerry Chant and Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys will address this morning’s press conference.
âš ï¸PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – MORE VENUES AND EXTENDED TIMES FOR PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED VENUES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT ROUTESâš ï¸ pic.twitter.com/qTcv1ircoe
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 25, 2021
READ MORE:Gladys Berejiklian’s telling omission
Tessa Akerman9.10am:Covid out the window as brave souls ‘fought a war’
Covid-19 went out the window for the volunteers at the Kalorama Mount Dandenong fire brigade three weeks ago.
Fifteen people, including locals who had fled their homes and firefighters – took refuge at the centre the night 200km/h easterly winds belted the suburb in Melbourne’s outer east on June 9.
“As a young fella I worked in the army as an engineer attached to an artillery battery,” volunteer firefighter Shayne O’Dwyer said.
“It sounded like a war zone because you could just hear the crack and thud and the wind whistling through,” the 60-year-old said.
“And we are talking not just a howling wind but something like a steam train as it’s getting closer.”
Kalorama Mount Dandenong fire brigade captain Bill Robinson said his team of 22 volunteers delivered about 200 generators to residents in the days after the storm, and they continue to conduct welfare checks on locals.
Read the full story here.
Christine Kellett8.35am:Victoria records one new local case
Victoria has recorded one new case of locally acquired coronavirus, health authorities say.
The new case is a known primary close contact of another case who has been quarantining throughout their infectious period.
It is not known if the latest infection is linked to a man who travelled from Sydney and tested later positive.
The state is currently dealing with 51 active cases of coronavirus.
More than 19,000 vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours.
Reported yesterday: 1 new local case and 3 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 25, 2021
- 19,807 vaccine doses were administered
- 21,595 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/onKTHxh8R4
READ MORE:John Ferguson — Sycophantic support for Dan Andrews could backfire
Ben Wilmott, Nick Jensen8.30am:Exodus from Sydney CBD as virus strikes again
Sydney’s central business district is expected to be deserted from Friday midnight, returning to the depths of last year’s lockdown when the coronavirus pandemic hit local shores in the first such dramatic crackdown in the heart of the NSW capital since the pandemic broke out.
The business community is bracing for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lost trade and lower productivity as workers switch back to home offices and retail and hospitality businesses endure costly shutdowns.
NSW authorities have moved to lock down four local government areas to ensure they have not missed any chains of community transmission.
But it comes at a heavy cost, with early estimates indicating the cost of the restrictions could be as much as $300m per week to the NSW economy.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the move was needed to capture chains of community transmission as the government did not want workers spreading the virus at workplaces.
The main heat is expected to fall on smaller retailers which do not provide essential services, while large malls and many office buildings remain open for a skeleton staff of essential workers.
The city exodus continued across Sydney on Friday afternoon, as professionals tucked computers under their arms and carried cardboard boxes from their offices — ready for yet another stint of remote working.
Read the full story here.
Steve Waterson7.50am:Pandemic wars: Return of the Phantom Menace
Writing on Sydney’s lockdown in The Weekend Australian today, Steve Waterson says leaders have simply come up with a revved-up vocabulary to “keep us on the edge of our toilet seats”.
“Look at what’s happened in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, they cry. There are a few more cases than yesterday – sorry, let me use the correct medical terminology – a cluster has erupted and exponentially exploded! Inevitably, the NSW Premier’s not-so-steely resolve finally crumbled, and a half-million people find themselves locked up like Melburnians.
“I know what’s going on over there. Dad gets contact traced, has a test and to his astonishment, for he has no symptoms, turns out to be Covid positive. He’s isolated at home with his wife and two kids, and they catch it; again, no symptoms, but the major outbreak has quadrupled! No one sick, no one out in the street, but citywide fear and sorry, you have to uninvite 95 of the 100 people who were coming to your daughter’s 21st birthday party tonight.
“Perhaps my version of events is incorrect, but there’s no basis to challenge it because we’re not allowed to know how many people are sick. It would be terrific if the government would put me right and share that information.”
Read the full story here.
Rhiannon Down7.25am:Johnson & Johnson jab given TGA approval
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has given provisional approval to the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, making it the third coronavirus jab to receive regulatory approval in Australia.
The federal government does not currently have a supply deal in place for the single-dose vaccine that has been shown to be up to 85 per cent effective against severe disease from Covid-19 in clinical trials.
The TGA said though the vaccine had been approved after a “rigorous” process it was conditional on its manufacturer Janssen-Cilag, known as Johnson & Johnson internationally, continuing to provide new data on its efficacy.
“This viral vector vaccine is provisionally approved and included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) for the active immunisation for the prevention of (Covid-19) in adults greater than or equal to 18 years of age,” the TGA said.
“The official recommendation is for this vaccine to be given in a single dose.”
📢 Breaking news 📢
— SHPA (@the_shpa) June 25, 2021
The TGA has today granted provisional approval to Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd (known as Johnson & Johnson overseas) for its #COVID19#vaccine#Janssen, making it the third COVID-19 vaccine to receive regulatory approval in Australia. https://t.co/ZXOpPlZdTL
Read the full story here.
Richard Ferguson6.45am:‘Review CSIRO links to Wuhan lab’: Henderson
Coalition senator Sarah Henderson is calling for a full review of the CSIRO’s foreign activities after revelations it condducted research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The Australian revealed this week that the nation’s top research body and several Australian universities had engaged in at least 10 joint projects with the Chinese virus lab in the past decade, which US intelligence has linked to the Chinese military and which is suspected of being at the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Senator Henderson – who has called for a review into CSIRO’s links to the Wuhan Institute for more than a year – said the latest reports show the research organisation had failed “the transparency test” and that it should only conduct foreign research under the strictest circumstances.
“CSIRO should not be conducting research with foreign nationals unless it is strictly in the national interest. Yet, CSIRO continues to fail the transparency test,” she said.
“A full review of all CSIRO foreign research programs is critical. Australians must be confident that none of CSIRO’s foreign research activities or arrangements are jeopardising the national interest or Australia’s national security.”
Read the full story, by Richard Ferguson and Sharri Markson, here.
Yoni Bashan5.30am:Berejiklian’s Covid spin locks in a million
One million Sydneysiders will be confined to their homes for at least a week after Gladys Berejiklian ordered a snap lockdown of the city’s eastern suburbs and CBD to halt a burgeoning Covid-19 outbreak, despite earlier assurances that contact tracing was ahead of the virus and just a small number of cases remained unlinked.
The NSW Premier on Friday mandated that residents who live or work in four local government areas – City of Sydney, Woollahra, Randwick and Waverley – be ordered to stay at home as part of a preventive measure to accelerate virus tracing efforts.
The Weekend Australian has been told the decision was effectively made before a meeting of the state’s crisis cabinet, which convened on Friday morning before the lockdown was announced to the community.
Health representatives at the meeting presented a plan of action and advice, blindsiding some ministers at the table who were not given time to consult with stakeholders. The proposal was queried but alternative plans not offered; it was ultimately supported.
“The decision was made at the crisis committee of cabinet meeting and was based on health advice. It was a collective decision of those in the meeting,” said a spokesman for Ms Berejiklian.
In announcing the measure, the Premier avoided the word “lockdown” but defended the decision as a reasonable and cautious one, given the likelihood of further infections predicted to emerge in coming days.
The orders will apply to people who either live in the four local government areas or who work regularly within them. They will begin from Saturday and are expected to end on July 3.
Residents will be permitted to leave their homes for a handful of reasons, including to shop for food, seek medical care, provide compassionate assistance, or to exercise in groups of 10 or fewer.
The state recorded 22 cases of the virus on Friday, all but three of which were immediately linked to known sources.
Most cases have been linked to the Bondi cluster which currently comprises 65 cases. That outbreak, which has since seeded to other parts of Sydney, has been sourced to an unvaccinated driver who transported international flight crew, according to officials.
For now, only one unlinked case remained under investigation – that of a nine-year-old student from a school in Waverley.
The ACT became the latest jurisdiction to tighten entry requirements on NSW residents, following prohibitions on travel to Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
Read the full story here.
Daniel Sankey5.15am:Greater Sydney’s list of exposure sites explodes
NSW Health has issued dozens of additional Covid-19 alerts for venues and public transport across Sydney.
New venues names at 11.30pm last night include a medical centre in Lakemba, a cinema in Auburn and restaurants in Manly.
The alerts follow the release of an updated list at 7pm yesterday that saw venues at Barangaroo, Double Bay, Cecil Hills, Bondi, Bondi Beach, Waterloo and Kensington named as exposure sites.
Covid-19 has also detected in sewage in Ireland Park, West Camden, St Marys, Lough Park, Maroubra and Auburn, with authorities urging residents from those areas to monitor for cold-like symptoms and get tested.
READ MORE: List of exposure sites explodes
Nicholas Jensen5am:Billions at stake as workers flee Sydney CBD
Shutting down Sydney’s CBD and some surrounding areas for a week will cost billions and have an impact far beyond those directly affected, business and industry leaders have warned, while expressing some relief that the Berejiklian government has thus far avoided locking down the entire city or state.
Thousands of workers abandoned city office towers on Friday afternoon as businesses reeled from the morning’s announcement that four local government areas, including the City of Sydney, were effectively in lockdown for the next week.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting chief executive Jenny Lambert said the business community was taken by surprise, given Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s trenchant criticism of other states racing into lockdown.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said shutting down Sydney’s CBD – where almost 500,000 workers commute every day pre-lockdown – would cost “billions” of dollars over the next week alone.
But Business Sydney acting executive director Damian Kelly said the body backed the decision despite the impact it would no doubt have on the economy.
Read the full story, by Nicholas Jensen and Rhiannon Down, here.
Lydia Lynch4.45am:Morrison chooses Labor seat for quarantine hub
Scott Morrison has rejected claims his push to build a new quarantine hub in a Labor-held seat is politically motivated.
The Prime Minister has offered to pay for a purpose-built facility at an army barracks in Brisbane, sounding the death knell for the Palaszczuk government’s Wellcamp plan near Toowoomba.
In a one-and-a-half page letter to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, seen by The Australian, Mr Morrison said the Wellcamp proposal “does not meet some key requirements” and proposed Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba, near Brisbane Airport, instead.
Ms Palaszczuk has been lobbying for the Toowoomba quarantine centre to be built in Groom, the second safest federal Coalition seat in the country, since February.
Wellcamp was killed off on Friday, as was an earlier pitch to use a mining camp near the central Queensland city of Gladstone, in the vulnerable Coalition-held seat of Flynn.
Mr Morrison’s preferred site is in Wayne Swan’s old seat of Lilley, now held by federal Labor backbencher Anika Wells, and is in the state LNP seat of Clayfield.
LNP operatives do not think the party will win Lilley, last held by the Coalition in 1998.
Read the full story here.
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