Coronavirus Australia live news: PM commits 20m doses to world vaccine effort
Scott Morrison has pledged 20 million doses to assist the British effort to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022.
- You will be found out: warning to border dodgers
- Five Victorians caught fleeing to Queensland
- No new local cases in Victoria
- ‘Gamechanger’ to defeating pandemic worldwide
- New cluster sparks masks backflip
- Police delay border hopper interviews
- Clotting death amid new vaccine fears
Welcome to updates on Australia’s battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Scott Morrison will commit 20 million doses to assist the British effort to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022 with the Prime Minister saying Australia was playing its part on the global stage to combat the pandemic.
As Victoria’s restrictions ease, Queensland health minister has message for border dodgers: ‘you will be caught’.
At least five Victorians have been caught sneaking across Queensland’s border this month.For the first time since the current outbreaks emerged, there have been no new locally-acquired infections in Victoria in the 24 hours to Friday. According to new research, the CoronaVac vaccine has proven to be 100pc successful in preventing death and severe disease. And a new mystery cluster of four cases in a household in Melbourne’s north has spooked Victorian health authorities, prompting a backflip on plans to ease rules governing the wearing of masks outdoors.
Rachel Baxendale9.00pm:Surgery to resume, but without visitors
The Andrews government has succumbed to pressure from medical professionals and agreed to allow elective surgery to resume in Melbourne hospitals from Tuesday, but hospital patients still face an ongoing ban on visits from loved ones due to coronavirus restrictions.
News that there had been no new community-acquired cases of coronavirus in Victoria on Friday also renewed calls for a relaxation of rules that prevent Victorians from having guests in their homes or driving more than 25km until at least next Thursday.
Health authorities warned that the current outbreak was not over, pointing to recent unlinked clusters and coronavirus detections at four Victorian sewage treatment plants where there are no known active cases.
The decision to allow elective surgery follows calls from patients and medical professionals, who highlighted what they saw as a double standard that has allowed Melburnians to go to a restaurant or get their nails done, but not have a medical procedure in a sterile environment with vaccinated doctors and nurses.
Read the full story here.
Adeshola Ore8.00pm:Call to get moving on travel bubble
Tourism and industry groups are urging the federal government to fast track a quarantine-free travel bubble between Australia and Singapore, after Scott Morrison and his Singaporean counterpart confirmed the scheme will include a pilot program for students.
The Prime Minister also flagged that the travel bubble would focus on mutual recognition of digital vaccination certificates. Ahead of his departure to the G7 summit in the UK, Mr Morrison met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He confirmed the city-state would be next in line for a travel bubble with Australia, after two-way travel resumed with New Zealand in April.
The commencement date will be linked to vaccination and transmission rates, with Mr Lee saying it would require the “majority” of the Australian population to be inoculated. Singapore has vaccinated more than one-third of its population, but less than 3 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the negotiations between the two leaders came “not a moment too soon,” after they were paused following a recent Covid-19 breakout in Singapore.
Read the full story here.
Geoff Chambers6.45pm:Morrison commits 20m doses to workd vaccine effort
Scott Morrison will commit 20 million doses to assist the British effort to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022 with the Prime Minister saying Australia was playing its part on the global stage to combat the pandemic.
Mr Morrison made the announcement after touching down in the UK at the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire after his flight was diverted four hours north of Cornwall due to heavy fog.
Ahead of the G7 leaders’ meeting, Mr Morrison flagged he would be advocating for a free and open Indo-Pacific and provided an assurance the 20 million vaccines being committed by Australia would be rolled-out in the immediate region.
“These 20 million doses will go to support doses in our region, to ensure that we continue to exercise our responsibility,” he said.
Mr Morrison said Australia had the capacity to make the commitment because it had put in place supply contracts “many times over what is needed for the Australian population.”
“That puts us in a very strong position,” he said. “I’ve had discussions in recent weeks with Pacific leaders and leaders in South-East Asia and I know that’s greatly appreciated that Australia will be doing its bit in our region, but also as part of a global effort.”
“I really do commend Prime Minister Johnson for bringing us together to put even more effort into this area because the virus doesn’t know boundaries … the virus goes where it will.”
Mr Morrison said the extra doses came on top of Australia’s $100 million commitment in support for the COVAX initiative aimed at ensuring equitable access for vaccines across the globe, including for lower and middle income nations unable to pay for jabs themselves.
The key issues on the agenda at the G7 identified by Mr Morrison included the Covid-19 pandemic, the recession, the global recovery, climate change, the transition to new energy sources and stability in the Indo-Pacific and the world.
Amid reports that Joe Biden plans to use the G7 meeting to lobby the group against Chinese economic coercion and its treatment of Uighurs in XinJiang, Mr Morrison said that Australia always welcomed the “great friendship and support that we have from our ally the United States.”
He said Australia would discuss defence and technology co-operation at the G7, as well as the importance of maintaining strong supply chains across the globe, arguing the meeting was about “ensuring a world that favours freedom.”
Mr Morrison said that all nations should be able to “trade with each other and all countries, wherever they are, whoever they are … without coercion.”
He said there was “no substitute for leaders getting together” but noted the pandemic was raging outside Australia, noting that the UK was recording 7,000 cases a day despite having a vaccination rate on first doses of well over 70 per cent.
However, Mr Morrison said there was a “bit of work to do yet” on finalising a free-trade agreement with the UK.
Finn McHugh6.35pm:Victoria overtakes NSW in vaccinations
More vaccine doses have now been administered in Victoria than NSW, as vaccination rates spiked during its latest Covid-19 outbreak.
Restrictions began to ease in Melbourne on Friday after a two-week lockdown, after the virus jumped the SA border at the end of last month.
Just over 48,000 doses were administered in Victoria on Thursday, almost 8000 more than in NSW, taking the state’s total to 1,558,081.
That figure stood at roughly 31,000 more than NSW, where 1,527,100 doses had been administered.
Finn McHugh 5.45pm:Victoria won’t get more federal support
Support for Victorians is now a matter for the state government, after its lockdown “dented confidence” and cost jobs, the Treasurer says.
Melburnians woke up to eased restrictions on Friday, after an initial seven-day lockdown was extended to the end of this week as the state brought its latest Covid-19 outbreak under control.
The federal government in June unveiled a new emergency payment for Australians stuck in commonwealth-designated Covid-19 hotspots, with the Commonwealth to cover the cost of payments to individuals and the states to fund those to businesses.
Speaking after talks with state and territory treasurers on Friday, Josh Frydenberg said states “make decisions about lockdowns” and were responsible for additional support once the payment was no longer available.
“It’s very clearly defined. It relates to where there is a commonwealth hotspot, and now that hotspot has been lifted here in Victoria,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
Jack Paynter 5.10pm:Vaccine hesitancy ‘could lead to thousands of deaths’
Almost 5000 Victorians could die from Covid-19 in just 12 months if the virus is “left to run” without a public health response, new modelling has revealed.
Experts say the research, developed by the Burnet Institute, has highlighted the need to preserve public health measures as a key line of defence against coronavirus even with high vaccination coverage.
The COVASIM mathematical modelling also suggested Australia was unlikely to achieve herd immunity with current levels of vaccine hesitancy and the higher infectiousness of new variants.
Rachel Baxendale4.29pm:Driving through floods ‘could be the last decision you make’
The SES has urged Victorians not to drive through floodwaters, amid fears the Traralgon Creek in the Gippsland town of Traralgon in Victoria’s east could rise to above major flood level on Saturday.
The warning follows the death on Thursday of a man in his 60s at Woodside, 70km southeast of Traralgon, and the discovery of a woman’s body in floodwaters at Glenfyne, 45km east of Warrnambool, in Victoria’s southwest, on Friday morning. Both appear to have died while attempting to drive through floodwaters.
SES Victorian chief operating officer Tim Wiebusch said severe weather on Wednesday night had resulted in “tree carnage” and closed roads across the southern part of the Great Dividing Range, from the Macedon Ranges to the Central Highlands, Yarra Ranges, Dandenongs and across to the Latrobe Valley and Bass Coast.
Mr Wiebusch said there had been more than 7,400 requests for SES assistance since Wednesday night, more than 5,800 of which had related to fallen trees.
“We still have over 100 roads that are now closed as a result of the tree carnage,” he said.
Mr Wiebusch said about 2,500 requests for assistance were still yet to be cleared, with reinforcements being provided by SES and CFA volunteers from all over the state, Forest Fire Management Victoria and the forestry industry.
The two most significant ongoing road closures are those of the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road and Maroondah Highway from Healesville to Narbethong, both east of Melbourne.
Mr Wiebusch said 42 flood rescues had taken place over the past 24 hours, with an emergency warning in place for the Yarra River at Coldstream, northeast of Melbourne, on Friday afternoon, in addition to the evacuation order for Traralgon.
Flood warnings are also in place for Sale and the Mitchell river in Gippsland, in Victoria’s East, and for the Thomson and Werribee rivers in the hills to the north and west of Melbourne.
“We can’t emphasise enough to never attempt to drive through flash floodwaters. It could be the last decision you make.”
Already on Thursday, 30 homes had been impacted by flooding in Traralgon, Hazelwood and Maffra in Gippsland.
“The challenge for our community in Traralgon is while the water has receded and the Princes Highway has reopened, we are expecting to see up to another 80-100mm of raib over the Traralgon catchment later today and throughout the night.
“The advice that we have is that it will result in a renewed major flooding.”
READ MORE: ‘Gorgeous girl’ killed in floodwaters
Debbie Schipp3.50pm:You will be found out: Border dodgers warned
As Victoria’s restrictions ease, the nervous wait continues for many across NSW and Queensland regions after lockdown dodgers sparked a flurry of testing at exposure sites in both states.
Queensland has issued a grim warning to those attempting to jump the border illegally after police reveal five more people were caught fleeing lockdown for the Sunshine State.
Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said “random intercept” checks had turned up five people have failed to comply with directions coming into Queensland, including two women who crossed at Goondiwndi, the same crossing the Victorian couple who have since tested positive to Covid-19 in Caloundra made, on June 4.
“Two women were intercepted having come across the Goondiwindi border … and they have been issued with penalty infringement notices of $4003,” Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said.
“On top of that, we have had another male person who has come into Dalby via the Coolangatta border who has also been fined for having an untrue declaration on their border pass, and two persons in the Wide Bay district to have come up from Victoria as well who had no border pass at all.”
Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath pulled no punches – with a stark warning to those coming to Queensland “who do not have the exemptions or travel declarations to do so”.
“We will be making sure that you are found. This is an offence. You cannot come into this state if you are from a hotspot and put our state at risk. And we will make sure that you will face the consequences if you do that,” she said.
“So these people who think that they can avoid our border controls by jumping in their car and coming across, it is every chance that you will be found out. Either someone will be picking up the phone and telling us, or the police will be doing intercepts and finding you.”
The couple who sparked the Covid crisis could face prosecution in three states, and possible jail time.
Police are waiting to interview the infected pair — who are in isolation in Sunshine Coast Hospital — until it is deemed safe.
Rachel Baxendale1.50pm:New warnings for four Victoria wastewater areas
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton has urged all Victorians living near four wastewater catchments, to monitor for coronavirus symptoms and get tested.
The call comes after fragments of the virus were detected in recent days in Melbourne’s north and east, as well as in Central Victoria.
Anyone who lives in or visited the following locations between June 3 and June 7 is urged to be vigilant:
– Glenroy, Hadfield, Oak Park, Pascoe Vale, in Melbourne’s north;
– Burwood East, Forest Hill, Glen Waverley, Scoresby, Vermont South, Wantirna South, Wheelers Hill, in Melbourne’s east;
– Balwyn, Balwyn North, Blackburn, Blackburn, North, Box Hill, Box Hill North, Bulleen, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Donvale, Mitcham, Mont Albert, Mont Albert North, Nunawading, in Melbourne’s east;
– California Gully, Eaglehawk, Epsom, Huntly, Jackass Flat, Maiden Gully, Marong, North Bendigo and Sailors Gully, near Bendigo in Central Victoria.
Professor Sutton warned that Victoria was “at the halfway point in many respects” in overcoming the current outbreaks.
He said Victorians should expect to get tested multiple times over the winter cold and flu season.
“There are many people who’ve been tested, who’ve gotten over an illness, and of course we’re in winter, who’ve developed symptoms again.
“So of course if it’s a worsening of some normal symptoms, if you’ve had symptoms resolve but again you’ve got upper respiratory tract infections symptoms, sore throat, runny nose, cough, fever, you really must get tested again.
“We will all go through winter as Victorians, probably needing to test once or twice or three times.
“That is the only way we can be sure we know where coronavirus is, and to run it out of the state.”
Professor Sutton also welcomed sustained vaccination numbers, with approximately 20,000 people visiting state-run centres most days, and another 30,000 being vaccinated through GP clinics.
“The higher coverage we get, the better off we are. It is our long-term way out of this,” he said.
READ MORE:Regional Victorians now allowed to travel to Qld
Rachel Baxendale1.50pm:Victoria’s mystery clusters both Kappa variant
Genomic sequencing has confirmed both of Victoria’s new mystery coronavirus clusters are the Kappa strain of the virus, and linked to the wider Whittlesea cluster which emerged on May 24 and originated with a man who caught the virus in an Adelaide quarantine hotel before returning to Melbourne on May 4.
The two latest clusters comprise four members of a household in Reservoir, in Melbourne’s north, and a couple from Melton, in the city’s outer northwest, who tested positive after travelling to Queensland.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton said the source of acquisition for the Reservoir household remained unclear, despite some “critical” close contacts testing negative.
“Some blood testing will be done for those cases to determine how far into their infection they are, when it most likely began, to help us investigate exactly when it was transmitted and where,” Professor Sutton said.
He said Victorian health authorities were also investigating the acquisition source for the Queensland couple, who were finally interviewed by Victorian contact tracers late on Thursday, after undergoing the same process with Queensland and NSW authorities on Wednesday.
Victoria is still yet to list exposure sites for the couple, who left the state on June 1, despite NSW having done so within an hour of Queensland making the first case public on Wednesday.
“We have been looking quite a bit earlier than June for that acquisition, where they may have picked it up, whether or not they were infectious through that,” Professor Sutton said.
“It is difficult to say though. It does seem to be that they were right at the end of their infectiousness when they were tested in Queensland, so we need to go back to determine where they picked it up.
“Like the Reservoir household, the variant of concern appears to be the Kappa variant for these cases as well.”
Authorities are investigating links between the couple and the Craigieburn Central shopping centre, which was visited by nine people who subsequently tested positive for the virus.
READ MORE: Graham Kelly – the cancer researcher who saved his own life
Rachel Baxendale 1.35pm: ‘The week ahead probably won’t be all zeros’
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton has warned the state is likely to have more cases of community-acquired coronavirus confirmed in coming days, despite having no new cases on Friday.
“The week ahead probably won’t be all zero cases,” Professor Sutton said, citing thousands of primary close contacts who are currently in quarantine, “some of whom will become positive”.
He also warned that it had been less than 48 hours since Victoria detected new cases of “uncertain acquisition”.
The source of four cases in a Reservoir household in Melbourne’s north is yet to be identified, with health authorities also still investigating where a Melbourne couple who tested positive in Queensland may have contracted the virus.
“That’s a real lesson that we yet see cases. There’s still lots of investigation to go, and a really strong reason for everybody with symptoms to get tested, because you might be part of those unknown chains of transmission.”
Professor Sutton said there were 3400 primary close contacts of positive cases in isolation in Victoria as of Thursday, with 900 having tested negative and cleared their 14 day period in the previous 24 hours.
READ MORE:Why people fear the return to the office
Adeshola Ore 1.15pm:Singapore travel bubble ‘can’t come too soon’
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says a travel bubble between Australia and Singapore should be established swiftly.
Scott Morrison has flagged that the quarantine-free travel bubble would focus on early pilot programs for students and set-up a mutual recognition of digital vaccination certificates. Following a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister said the nation would be next in line for a travel bubble with Australia.
“Negotiations between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on quarantine-exempt, two-way travel come not a moment too soon,” the chamber’s acting chief executive Jenny Lambert said.
“ACCI strongly supports an arrangement that enables free movement of migrants, workers, international students and tourists, as well as goods and services.”
Ms Lambert said Australia was “continuing to haemorrhage billions in lost revenue” across numerous sectors including tourism, higher education and hospitality.
“Reopening our borders in a staged and safe manner is vital in meeting critical worker shortages, increasing international student enrolments and growing foreign tourist arrivals,” she said.
Last month, the chamber published a four-stage proposal for Australia’s reopening. Under the plan, fully vaccinated Australians would be eligible to travel to medium-risk countries once at least 80 per cent of the most vulnerable – essential workers and people aged 70 and over – were immunised.
READ MORE: ‘We must learn to live with China’
Heidi Han 12.50pm:Delta variant’s swift, intense spread in southern China
Faster development of severe illness, more fevers and higher viral loads are among the key features of the Delta variant of Covid-19 that dominated the latest outbreak in southern China, according to Chinese experts.
The fast spread of the Delta variant led to strict “stay home” orders in parts of Guangzhou — Chian’s third largest Chinese city, where more than 13 million people reside — after a spike of cases in the centre of Canton province.
“Patients progressed into a severe or critically ill stage within only three or four days after the onset of symptoms,” Zhongde Zhang, a specialist in the local medical team, told Chinese state media.
“About 10 per cent to 12 per cent of patients enter severe and critical conditions, which is higher than before.”
According to Zhang’s clinical findings, Delta variant patients had more obvious symptoms, with about 80 per cent developing fever, and “a very high viral load, which decreases at a very slow speed”.
It echoes observations of another local chief doctor, Weiping Cai, who revealed that patients’ nasopharyngeal swab tests showed the viral load was “nearly double that of last year”.
The disease also developed faster: “the incubation period last year was 5.9 days on average, while this time it only takes 3.2 days”, Cai said.
Between May 21 and June 9, Guangzhou reported a total of 119 local acquired cases, including 112 confirmed cases and seven asymptomatic infections.
The partial lockdown in Guangzhou, also a sister city of Sydney, was the toughest China had taken since its height of the pandemic, when Wuhan and surrounding towns of Hubei province in Central China were in lockdown for 76 days.
It remains unknown how the latest wave of infections started in the major port city that accounts for over 90 per cent of China’s inbound arrivals during the pandemic.
Rachel Baxendale 12.30pm:Elective surgery to resume in Melbourne next week
Melbourne hospitals will be permitted to resume elective surgery from Tuesday, Acting Premier James Merlino has confirmed.
The decision follows immense pressure from patients and medical professionals, who highlighted what they saw as a double standard which has seen Melburnians able to go to a restaurant or get their nails done, but not undergo a medical procedure in a sterile environment with vaccinated doctors and nurses.
Victoria’s health system has been under great strain in recent months due to delayed treatment as a result of last year’s 112-day lockdown.
“This has been an anxious time for many Victorians whose surgery was delayed due to the pandemic,” Mr Merlino said on Friday.
“I want to advise the Victorian community, Melburnians, from Tuesday next week, hospitals will be able to restart their elective surgery lists, giving Victorians certainty they will get the care that they need.
“It is not as simple as flicking a switch. Hospitals need time to scale up. They need staff and resources available to ensure that Victorians needing surgery will receive world-class care that our health services have always provided. We will work hard to clear the backlog as quickly as possible.”
Mr Merlino said Victoria was in the midst of a $300 million elective surgery blitz, with an extra $136m provided in the recent state budget expected to fast-track 18,000 surgeries.
Hospital patients and aged care and disability facility residents are still unable to receive visits from loved ones under Victoria’s current restrictions.
Rachel Baxendale 12.15pm:Victorian virus outbreak ‘nowhere near over’
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino has hailed the state’s first day with no new coronavirus cases since the first of the current clusters emerged on May 24 as a “terrific outcome”, but warned that the outbreaks are “nowhere near over”.
“We cannot be complacent but it is good news to be at zero,” Mr Merlino said.
Amid terrible weather on Thursday, there were 17,604 tests processed in Victoria in the 24 hours to Thursday night, down from 23,679 tests on Wednesday, 28,485 on Tuesday and well down from the June 2 record of 57,519.
Mr Merlino said the number was “good given the extreme weather conditions”, but warned authorities would like to see higher testing numbers, particularly near Craigieburn, in Melbourne’s outer northwest, where the Craigieburn Central shopping centre – linked to nine positive cases – is being investigated as a possible exposure site for a couple who subsequently tested positive for the virus in Queensland.
“I am asking Victorians that if you live in the Craigieburn area and did not get tested yesterday, please go out and get tested today, please make plans today to get tested immediately,” Mr Merlino said.
He said the easing of restrictions overnight on Thursday night meant more people would be moving around Melbourne, making getting tested and checking in using QR codes even more important.
READ MORE:Maccas, Woolies, Coles on virus alert
Rachel Baxendale 11.55am:121,000 Vic homes still without power after storms
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino has thanked State Emergency Services volunteers for responding to more than 7,400 requests for assistance since wild storms destroyed houses and causes flooding across large parts of the state.
More than 121,000 Victorian homes are still without power, with weather warnings still in place across the state.
Mr Merlino, who lives in the storm-ravaged Dandenongs, east of Melbourne, warned the clean-up was only just beginning.
“We know it is not over yet,” he said.
“It was quite extraordinary leaving home and driving through the Dandenongs to work this morning, having a few different routes to go through to get off the mountain – massive trees across homes, across the roads, so my thanks again to all of the wonderful SES volunteers and everyone in our emergency services for the work that you do.”
Mr Merlino offered his thoughts and prayers to the loved ones of a man in his 60s who lost his life in floodwaters in Gippsland in Victoria’s east on Thursday.
READ MORE:Man dies as wild weather causes ‘absolute carnage’
Darren Cartwright11.26am:Nearly 1000 contacts of Melbourne couple identified
Queensland Health has identified more than 950 contacts of a Melbourne couple who broke Victoria’s lockdown laws and have since tested positive to coronavirus.
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said there were up to 402 close contacts of the husband and wife who are quarantined in Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
Overall, contact tracers have identified 959 either close or casual contacts and the genome sequencing has shown the couple has the Kappa variant which is slightly less infectious but still a variant of concern, Dr Young said.
Lydia Lynch11.23am:Queensland’s Melbourne ban in place for another week
Travel to Queensland from Greater Melbourne will remain restricted for at least another week.
Queensland lifted its border restrictions for regional Victoria on Friday when Melbourne’s two-week lockdown ended.
The state will review its closure to Melbourne in another week.
Police have encouraged Queenslanders to dob in border dodgers from Covid-hot spots as the state relies on an honesty system for those arriving via road.
At least five people escaping Victorian restrictions have been nabbed in Queensland this month.
The penalty for lying on a border pass is a $4000 fine.
READ MORE:Maccas, Woolies, Coles on alert
Rachel Baxendale11.18am:Merlino, Sutton to speak at 11.40am
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino, chief health officer Brett Sutton and State Emergency Service COO Tim Wiebusch are due to address the media at 11:40am.
The news conference comes as Melburnians enjoy their first day of relative post-lockdown freedom, amid lingering concerns over missing links between coronavirus cases detected in recent days and previously identified outbreaks.
Mr Wiebusch is expected to provide an update on damage caused by severe storms which have destroyed houses and resulted in the death of a man in his 60s who became trapped in his car in floodwaters in Gippsland on Thursday.
You can watch the press conference live at the top of this blog.
READ MORE:Astonishing virus result
Joseph Lam11.16am:One quarantine case, no local cases in NSW
NSW has recorded one new case of Covid-19 in hotel quarantine overnight among an overseas returned traveller.
The state recorded 18,525 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, down from 19,810 the previous day.
Over the same period NSW Health administered 15,623 COVID-19 vaccines, a third of which took place at Sydney Olympic Park vaccination hub.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 11, 2021
One new overseas-acquired case was recorded in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,422. pic.twitter.com/qTvvwlgN1d
Lydia Lynch11.02am:Five Victorians caught fleeing to Queensland
At least five Victorians have been caught sneaking across Queensland’s border this month.
People fleeing coronavirus restrictions in Victoria have been driving through NSW and into Queensland, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.
“We will be making sure that you are found,” she said.
“This is an offence. You cannot come into this state if you are from a hotspot and put our state at risk.
“So these people who think that they can avoid our border controls by jumping in their car and coming across – it is every chance that you will be found out.
“Either someone will be picking up the phone and telling us, or the police will be doing intercepts and finding you.”
A Victorian couple who ignited a multi-state Covid-scare when they escaped Melbourne’s lockdown and tested positive remain in an isolation ward.
Travel to Queensland from Greater Melbourne has been banned since May 28 following an outbreak in Victoria.
READ MORE: Annastacia’s jab and truth serum gone to the dogs
Adeshola Ore10.50am:Australia-UK free trade deal ‘very close’
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says Australia and the UK are “very, very close” to an in-principle agreement free-trade deal between the two nations.
Following the G7 summit in Cornwall this week Scott Morrison will travel to London for a meeting with his British counterpart Boris Johnson at Downing Street where the pair hope to sign a deal.
Senator Birmingham, who last year launched negotiations for the post-Brexit deal, told Sky News: “It’s always useful in these negotiations to have some deadlines there and the leader’s meeting is a strong deadline.”
“From Australia’s perspective, we’ve always been clear from when I first launched these negotiations, that we’ll only do a good deal if it’s a good deal and if it is in Australia’s national interest to do the deal.”
British farmers are concerned the deal could have negative financial impacts for them by allowing Australian producers tariff-free access to the UK market.
Senator Birmingham said Australia would be looking to have as “open market as is possible for Australian goods to enter as free as tariffs and free as quotas as can be negotiated.”
READ MORE:‘We must learn to live with China’
Amy Silver10.39am:Why people fear the return to the office
The reduction of Covid restrictions means many people must now return to working together in offices. For many of us, our bodies and brains will be distracted by the threats we feel as we emerge from the safety of our bubbles.
When our fear systems are activated, our fight (defend/attack/blame) or flight (avoid/freeze/run) reactions kick in. When we act in fear, our intelligence is dulled, we become distracted, our thoughts become more muddled, and our decision-making abilities become more biased as our brain tries to take shortcuts. We probably make poor choices. Fears and worries will cut down our connection, our communication and keep us looking towards stability, not innovation. Fear will eat at our engagement and motivation. Our collective intelligence will suffer and the impact will be on our productivity, capacity and capability.
Leaders need to manage people’s fears. Here are five things you can do to help.
Lydia Lynch9.54am:‘They should not have left’: Premier takes aim at couple
Annastacia Palaszczuk has hit out at the Victorian couple who ignited a multi-state Covid-scare when they fled Melbourne’s lockdown.
Police are yet to interview the pair who are isolating in a Covid-ward at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, but authorities have confirmed they were not granted an exemption to enter the state.
“Honestly, everyone needs to do the right thing,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“There was a lockdown on down in Melbourne, they should not have left Victoria, it just puts people at risk.
“I know there is an investigation into that, I do not want to jeopardise that investigation but we want to make sure we are keeping our country, and I especially want to make sure we are keeping Queenslanders safe.”
No new Covid-19 cases have been linked to the couple in Queensland.
READ MORE:Truth on couple who fled to Queensland
Joseph Lam9.20am:New research points to mixed vaccine benefit
Researchers have found that mixing Covid-19 vaccines has boosted the immune response of recipients, producing a spike in antibodies.
The news arrives as Several European nations and Canada have resorted to recommending different Covid-19 vaccines as a second dose for patients facing extended wait periods due to vaccine shortages.
Early data has found the approach, seen as a last resort, could actually benefit those who receive multiple vaccines, according to reports in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s magazine.
The story cites three recent studies where researchers discovered strong immune responses in blood tests from recipients who received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after the AstraZeneca vaccine
“Two of the studies even suggest the mixed vaccine response will be at least as protective as two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech product, one of the most effective COVID-19 vaccines,” it read.
It also cites Berlin Charité University Hospital infectious disease expert Leif Erik Sander who found that 61 health care workers given two vaccines about 10 to 12 weeks apart produced a spike in antibodies at levels comparable to those who received Pfizer-BioNTech three weeks apart.
READ MORE: Boris sets ambitious global vaccine target
Lydia Lynch9.13am:‘We’re at final hurdle for Olympics’
A vote on whether Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympic Games will be held on July 21.
The International Olympic Committee has decided to progress Queensland’s bid to a vote at the Tokyo games next month.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said 84 per cent of venues were already built to host events for the games.
“It is not in the bag yet, but we are at that final hurdle,” he said.
READ MORE: Maddie Groves quits Olympics because of ‘misogynistic perverts’
Rachel Baxendale8.45am:No new local cases in Victoria
Victoria has recorded no new community-acquired cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to Friday, for the first time since the first of the current outbreaks emerged on May 24.
Reported yesterday: 0 new local cases and 1 new case acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 10, 2021
- 20,752 vaccine doses were administered
- 17,604 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19VicData#COVID19Vicpic.twitter.com/OiWWxIXpLO
Amid terrible weather on Thursday, there were 17,604 tests processed in Victoria in the 24 hours to Thursday night, down from 23,679 tests on Wednesday, 28,485 on Tuesday and well down from the June 2 record of 57,519.
State-administered vaccination centres gave 20,752 jabs on Thursday, on par with 20,784 on Wednesday and up from 19,533 on Tuesday, but still down on last Thursday’s record of 24,169.
The total number of active cases in Victoria is now 75, down from 78 on Thursday, 83 on Wednesday and 94 on Tuesday, indicating early outbreak cases are recovering.
This number includes cases in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, with one new hotel quarantine case confirmed in the 24 hours to Thursday.
The zero day comes after lockdown restrictions in Melbourne eased on Friday. Victorian health authorities are still working to establish the movements of a couple who left their Melton home in Melbourne’s outer northwest on June 1 and travelled through NSW to Queensland where they tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
A possible link has been established to the Craigieburn Central shopping centre, which was attended by nine other positive cases.
Work is also ongoing to identify links between the main outbreaks and four members of a household in Reservoir, in Melbourne’s north, who were confirmed as having tested positive on Thursday.
A range of exposure sites in the Reservoir, Thomastown, Epping and Bundoora areas have since been listed.
Authorities are also urging residents near three wastewater treatment plants in Melbourne’s east and north to be on alert from symptoms after coronavirus fragments were detected in sewage from three sites where there are currently no confirmed cases.
The detections in Pascoe Vale in Melbourne‘s north, and Scoresby and Vermont in the east, come after unexpected detections in the Bendigo area on Wednesday and last week.
The latest cases follow four new cases on Thursday, one new case on Wednesday and two new cases on Tuesday, and bring the total number of community-acquired cases in Victoria since May 24 to 93.
The majority of those cases are genomically linked to a man in his 30s who caught coronavirus in an Adelaide quarantine hotel and returned to the northern Melbourne suburb of Wollert on May 4.
As was confirmed on Tuesday, at least 15 of the cases, centred around a West Melbourne family, are linked to a genomically distinct Delta cluster sparked by a man in his 40s who arrived in Melbourne from Sri Lanka on May 8.
Of 89 community-acquired cases in Victoria to Wednesday, 32 have been linked to the main Whittlesea cluster, which was the first to emerge on May 24, while an associated cluster centred on the Stratton Finance workplace in Port Melbourne comprises another 32 cases.
A further 10 cases have been linked to the Arcare aged care facility in Maidstone, in Melbourne‘s west.
While the Whittlesea, Port Melbourne and Arcare outbreaks are all genomically linked to the Wollert man, direct links to the Wollert man and the Arcare outbreak have not been established.
READ MORE:Astonishing Victorian virus results
Adeshola Ore8.28am:Tragic AZ death must be kept in perspective: Dutton
Defence Minister Peter Dutton says the second Australian fatality from blood clots likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine needs to be kept in perspective.
The TGA reported on Thursday a 52-year-old NSW woman died after developing blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“As tragic as clearly it is for that family, we have seen circumstances where in Canada 23,000 people have died from Covid and there have been some devastating numbers right around the world,” Mr Dutton told Channel 9.
“We haven’t had that here and we don’t want it, which is why the vaccine rollout is important. I think as you have seen in Victoria people have lined up in huge numbers to get the vaccine because they know this is our only pathway out of Covid.”
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly on Thursday said the death was “extremely unfortunate” and an “extremely rare event”.
READ MORE: Woman dies after receiving vaccine
Joseph Lam8.11am:Indian doctors say gangrene, hearing loss linked to Delta
A Mumbai-based cardiologist says doctors in India are witnessing severe side effects to the Delta Covid-19 variant including hearing loss and gangrene.
Dr Ganesh Manudhane told The Sun he has seen a growing number of patients suffer from gangrene since the first wave of the virus struck India last year.
“I saw three-to-four cases the whole of last year, and now it’s one patient a week,” Dr Manudhane said.
Some medics have said severe gastric upsets, hearing impairment and blood clots that lead to gangrene have been linked to the deadly Delta variant.
Chennai Apollo Hospital infectious disease physician Abdul Ghafer told Bloomberg the virus has become more unpredictable as new variants emerge.
“Last year, we thought we had learned about our new enemy, but it changed,” Dr Ghafer said. “This virus has become so, so unpredictable.”
Dr Ghafer said he’d also seen a rise in diarrhoea among patients with the virus.
READ MORE: ‘We are being confronted by a great power’
Joseph Lam7.54am:‘Gamechanger’ to defeating pandemic worldwide
Researchers say China’s second Covid-19 vaccine has proven 100 per cent successful in preventing severe disease and death in late-stage trials, according to new research published by Nature.
CoronaVac, produced by the same company behind China’s first approved vaccine Sinovac, was found to have 51 per cent efficacy in curbing the virus spread. But importantly while its efficacy rates are low, its ability to prevent severe disease has led to the vaccine becoming China’s second approved for emergency use by the World Health Organisation.
WHO today validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac #COVID19 vaccine for emergency use, giving countries, funders, procuring agencies & communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 1, 2021
More â¬‡ï¸ https://t.co/Uy0xmGlAIT
A recent study in Brazil found the vaccine reduced cases, hospitalisations and deaths, leading its trial leader Ricardo Palacios – medical director of clinical research at the Butantan Institute – to declare it could be “a game changer in controlling the pandemic”.
The approval on June 1 as well as ambitious campaigning in more than 40 countries could lead to further distribution of CoronaVac to low-income countries.
Over 600 million doses of the vaccine have been administered globally.
READ MORE:‘We must learn to live with China’
Joseph Lam7.15am:PM to meet the Queen next week
The Queen is set to meet Scott Morrison at Windsor Castle next week after she addresses world leaders at the G7 Summit.
The Prime Minister is expected to meet Britain’s head of state for a one-on-one meeting after the summit has ended before he departs for Paris.
Mr Morrison made a quick stopover to meet Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday to discuss travel bubble arrangements before the summit begins.
The Queen will begin the annual diplomatic discussion on Friday in Carbis Bay, addressing leaders from Canada, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
Leaders are expected to discuss climate change and global efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.
READ MORE:G7 replaces tax rules with roulette
Greg Brown6.40am: Boris sets target to vaccinate the world
Boris Johnson will urge G7 leaders to adopt a target of delivering one billion vaccines to developing nations to inoculate the world for Covid-19 by the end of next year.
Writing in The Australian on Friday, the British Prime Minister says the G7 summit this weekend will “begin a new effort” to develop a vaccine for the next communicable virus within 100 days, down from 300 days during the Covid pandemic.
But infectious disease experts have warned Mr Johnson’s plan is unrealistic, although Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has backed the need for wealthy nations to “accelerate the spread of vaccines in developing countries”.
In contrast to Australia’s delayed rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, Mr Johnson writes that Britain and other countries are “inoculating their populations more swiftly than anyone thought possible. Now we must bring the same spirit of urgency and ingenuity to a global endeavour to protect humanity everywhere. It can be done, it must be done – and this G7 summit should resolve that it will be done.
“I want the G7 to adopt an exacting yet profoundly necessary target: to provide one billion doses to developing countries in order to vaccinate everyone in the world by the end of next year.
“Nothing like this has ever been tried, and if you doubt whether it can be done I would urge you to take heart from the unprecedented feats already achieved in the adversity of this pandemic.”
READ BORIS JOHNSON: G7 goal is to build back better
Jon Kamp6.25am: More Covid deaths this year than in all of 2020
More people have died from COVID-19 already this year than in all of 2020, according to official counts, highlighting how the global pandemic is far from over even as vaccines beat back the virus in wealthy nations.
It took less than six months for the globe to record more than 1.88 million COVID-19 deaths this year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The university’s count for 2021 edged just ahead of the 2020 death toll on Thursday.
These numbers underscore a worsening divide between developed and developing nations as President Joe Biden and the leaders of the other Group of Seven advanced economies prepare to gather in England to discuss next steps in the pandemic response.
While Western nations like the US, Canada and the UK celebrate low caseloads and declining deaths thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, the intensified pandemic in parts of Asia and Latin America propelled global deaths higher.
“We are living through our worst moment since the start of the pandemic,” Argentine President Alberto Fernández said late last month.
His country is facing its longest and most severe wave, with well over 500 people dying of COVID-19 on average every day. The government has implemented new lockdowns that are among the most stringent in South America, including the closing of commerce and restrictions on drivers, as well as the suspension of classes and religious ceremonies.
The numbers collected by Johns Hopkins reflect official counts of COVID-19 deaths from nations around the world, adding up to a global tally that recently topped 3.7 million. Patchy recording of COVID-19 cases and deaths means the true toll is likely substantially higher, disease experts say.
Dow Jones
READ MORE: Woman dies after receiving vaccine
Rachel Baxendale5.05am:Household cluster sparks outdoor masks backflip
A new mystery cluster of four cases in a household in Melbourne’s north has spooked Victorian health authorities, prompting a backflip on plans to ease rules governing the wearing of masks outdoors.
The about-face came despite an admission from Victoria’s Covid logistics chief, Jeroen Weimar, that there has been no evidence of outdoor transmission of the virus this year.
Victoria’s latest cases include a man in his 80s, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 50s and a man in his 20s who all live in the same household in Reservoir in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
How they caught the virus remained a mystery on Thursday, with the man in his 80s the first to return a positive test result on Wednesday, followed by the others. Victoria’s health department said authorities had also tested “a number of high-risk primary close contacts of the cases outside of the household” and all had returned negative results, although no detail was provided on the nature of the “high-risk”.
Exposure sites visited by household members included a shopping centre in Bundoora and a service station in Thomastown on Monday, and a grocery store in Reservoir and Bunnings in Thomastown on Tuesday.
Acting deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said instances of outdoor transmission had been confirmed during Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus last year.
“They’re not very common but they do occur. When there are active cases in the community, I think it’s a small thing to ask for people to continue to wear masks at all times when outside of home,” Professor Cheng said.
Read the full story here.
Lydia Lynch5am:Police delay Queensland border hopper interviews
A Covid-positive couple who fled Melbourne’s lockdown for Queensland will not be interviewed by police until they are no longer infectious, as the state dodges another lockdown for now.
A 44-year-old woman and her husband triggered public health alerts in NSW and Queensland when they tested positive to the virus after mingling in the community while contagious. The couple, who did not have an exemption to enter Queensland and who are co-operating with authorities, remain in isolation at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
They crossed into the state through Goondiwindi on June 5, but travel from Victoria to Queensland was banned on May 28. Goondiwindi mayor Lawrence Springborg said he was concerned about “what appears to be a flagrant breach of Covid Hotspot protocols and unauthorised access to Queensland”.
Police will not interview the couple until health authorities are confident they are not infectious. However, Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said the pair was “towards the end of their illness” so the risk of them infecting others was not as high as when they travelled through Victoria and NSW.
Seventeen of the couple’s close contacts have been tested and three of those have returned negative results so far, including the woman’s parents.
Read the full story here.
Joseph Lam4.45am:Clotting death amid new vaccine reaction fears
As vaccinations increase more serious reactions to the AstraZeneca shot have emerged.
The TGA reported that a 52-year-old NSW woman had died after developing blood clots in her brain with low platelets – consistent with the syndrome thrombosis with thrombocytopaenia (TTS) – after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. The woman developed a blood clot in her brain associated with haemmorhage.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly said the death was “extremely unfortunate” and an “extremely rare event”. “I will point out that it is only the second death with now over 3.6 million doses of this vaccine being given across Australia,” he said.
The first reported person to die after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was a 48 year old NSW woman.
Other deaths reported this week included a NSW man, 55, who developed blood clots in his lungs eight days after receiving the jab, and a 78-year-old man from Western Australia who died from multi-organ failure.
The TGA said an expert group could not conclusively determine if the 55-year-old’s death was related to the vaccine.
Read the full story, by Joseph Lam and Natasha Robinson, here.
More Coverage
Kerr’s trashy outburst should’ve been the end of the story. Sadly, it’s not
Two women. Two court cases. Each much ado about nothing. But there is a bigger tale here about a plodding prime minister who took too long to intervene.
Trump’s Gaza gambit is brazen and naive
Donald Trump has shown the gulf between his position and Anthony Albanese’s, wedging Labor on Palestine. But his plan to ‘own’ Gaza won’t work.