Coronavirus Australia live news: Exposure sites reveal Victoria’s complex Covid web; Outbreak cases hit 35
As the list of exposure sites tops 150, the former head of the AMA warns there is a ‘serious challenge’ to get on top of the outbreak.
- Victorian exposure sites top 150
- ‘Serious challenge’ awaits Victoria in virus fight
- Melbourne freedom protests slammed
- We deserve to win elections: Frydenberg
- Secondary school on alert
- Some Melbourne supermarkets ‘high risk’ as cluster grows to 35
- Five new cases in Victoria
- Pub cases put thousands at risk
- Victorians in rush for vaccine
Welcome to live coverage of the latest news in Australia’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic.
As Victoria’s list of Covid exposure sites tops 150, the former head of the AMA warns the state faces a ‘serious challenge’ to get on top of the outbreak. Five new local cases of COVID-19 have been detected in locked down Victoria on Saturday.
Terry McCrann10.18pm:Why this will be Victoria’s last lockdown
Victoria’s – at this stage, seven-day – lockdown has thrown a spanner into the works for the whole country.
Those three words – “at this stage” – point to the key question, the troubling uncertainty, and the risk of more serious and sustained economic and financial pain.
If we get to Thursday and that’s it; the lockdown ends – either the virus outbreak is obviously contained or the Victorian government, acting of course “on heath advice”, believes it’s under control – all 26 million of us can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Yes, it will have been brutal, for the individuals and businesses whacked; yes it will have cost the Victorian and the national economy something north of $1bn.
But we could then draw a line in the sand and move on – move on, especially with an accelerated vaccination dynamic, with Victoria once again ‘helping’ in the same way you help yourself when you stop banging your head against a brick wall.
On that basis, this should be “the last lockdown”. Once we pass some point – 50 per cent community vaccinated, with 75 per cent ‘oldies’ done? – that must be it for any generalised lockdowns.
Patrick Commins9.05pm:No safety net for sacked staff in Victoria
Casual and self-employed workers in locked-down Victorian businesses will be stood down without the backstop of JobKeeper, as economists said the Morrison government would find it difficult, if not “impossible”, to not restart emergency financial support should the restrictions be extended further.
Directly affected businesses – including restaurants, cafes retail shops, gyms, pubs and cinemas – stand to lose the bulk if not all of their income, equivalent to about $300 million in forgone revenue over the seven days, according to initial IBISWorld estimates that do not even capture the wider economic impacts.
Economists do not believe that a week of restrictions would be enough to spark widespread job losses, but unlike in previous shutdowns, many workers can no longer rely on federal subsidies to replace their lost wages.
Luciana Magalhaes8.18pm:Covid killing hundreds of pregnant women, babies
Taíssa Souza, an advertising manager, wasn’t due to give birth until April. But in February she fell so ill with Covid-19 that she struggled to breathe, forcing doctors to deliver her baby son who was pressing up against her disease-ridden lungs.
It was too late. Ms Souza, an otherwise healthy 30-year-old, died three weeks after the caesarean section. She didn’t get to hold her newborn, who was whisked away for fear she would infect him, or say goodbye to her 4-year-old son.
“She was so young, I can’t make sense of it,” said her husband, Victor Silva, a military police officer from this hard-hit coastal city. “Our sons will have to grow up without the affection and protection of a mother.”
More than a hundred pregnant women are dying from Covid-19 every month in Brazil, more than twice the rate last year, according to government figures — a tragedy researchers largely blame on the P.1 variant of the virus that first emerged in the Amazon and overwhelmed hospitals. In total, more than 800 expectant and post-partum mothers in Brazil have died from the disease since the pandemic began.
Remy Varga7pm:Staying positive for my charges during circuit breaker
It’s day one of Melbourne’s latest lockdown and already Kristie Young feels like climbing the walls of the home she shares with her partner and two young children.
However, armed with pantry supplies for baking, Play-Doh for keeping little hands occupied and a schedule for daily walks, she knows she can get through the next seven days.
“You still have to keep to your routines as much as possible or else the days blur and you just feel like you haven’t achieved anything, and I think that’s not a healthy mindset,” she says.
“Especially with the kids, I need to try and stay positive and not let them see that I’m feeling anxious or frustrated. I have to be positive for them and get different activities going.”
While Ms Young takes care of the children, partner Christopher Morrison is working from home in his administration role for the Frankston Aboriginal Association. He lost his previous job during the city’s extended lockdown last year, which was a significant financial blow for the family. This new gig had involved preparing a community lantern festival that would have taken place on Friday.
Courtney Walsh6pm:$55m cuts that could drive AFL coaches out
There is widespread concern among AFL coaches about the stress caused by the cost-cutting measures enacted due to the pandemic.
Alistair Nicholson, who is the chief executive of the AFL Coaches Association, said members were reporting the current working conditions were not sustainable long term.
Some have made public their concerns over the past 12 months about the pressure generated by the significant cuts to the AFL soft cap at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
No matter their financial strength, all clubs are restricted to spending just over $6.1 million on their football department. The 33 per cent reduction from 2019 levels equates to more than $55 million competition wide.
Rhiannon Down5.07pm:Victorian exposure sites top 150
Victorian health authorities have revealed details for at least five new exposure sites, as the state’s list edges higher than 150 locations.
The new exposure venues stretch from Melbourne’s north to southeast, including La Trobe University’s Bundoora campus library, Peninsula Hot Springs reception and Taco Bell on Chapel Street.
A full list of the exposure sites can be found on the department’s website, with anyone who visited the following locations during the window urged to get tested and isolate:
– La Trobe University, Library Level 1, Plenty Road & Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora: May 25 from 11.45am to 3,00pm
– Edu-Kingdom College, 67A Hamilton Street, Craigieburn: May 22 from 1.20pm to 5.00pm
– Peninsula Hot Springs (Reception only), 140 Springs Lane, Fingal: May 21 from 3.00pm to 3.45pm
– Coles Tooronga Village, Tooronga Road, Glen Iris: Mat 23 from 6.10pm to 6.27pm
– Taco Bell Chapel Street, 352 Chapel Street, South Yarra: May 23 from 5.30pm to 6.45pm
READ MORE: How lockdowns have destroyed Melbourne’s soul
Rhiannon Down4.45pm:‘Serious challenge’ to bring Vic outbreak under control
Australian Medical Association former president Tony Bartone says Victoria is facing a serious challenge to bring the latest outbreak under control.
“Look, 150 exposure sites and significantly grown overnight, 15,000 contacts, that is really a huge (outbreak),” Dr Bartone told Channel 9’s Today.
“It’s going to be an effort required to get it all under control and give us the necessary confidence to release that seven day lockdown.”
Speaking from Melbourne, Dr Bartone said despite the rising case numbers, which climbed higher to 35 in the cluster in total today, “there’s a lot of things going in our favour”.
“Certainly the contact tracing teams are working diligently and very, very effectively at this time.
“The fact that we quickly went into those restrictions on Tuesday or Wednesday this week with the masks and the other restrictions that were put in place before the circuit breaker lockdown.
”The fact that we’re all used to knowing what we need to do and to working much more effectively and the fact that we’ve got several hundred thousand Victorians already vaccinated will all add to the confidence to hopefully deal with that.”
READ MORE:Perks of the jab
Rhiannon Down4.35pm:‘Complex web of connections behind Covid outbreak’
Victoria’s testing chief Jeroen Weimar has shared fresh details about how the virus had managed to spread to five additional people through a network of over 150 exposure sites.
Mr Weimar confirmed Saturday’s five new cases were the result of the virus jumping from a food delivery driver to infect four people across two households, including a Mount Ridley college student.
The fifth case included in Saturday’s numbers included a worker at Stratton Finance who had also visited a display home in Mickleham where they infected a staff member.
Some 13 employees at the Port Melbourne based car and asset finance brokers went on to test positive for COVID-19 over several days.
Mr Weimar said a household contact of a case in the Whittlesea cluster, who was infected by case one, was the original point of infection at Stratton Finance, with all contacts now in isolation.
“They were already equal, close contact, identified by the Stratton Finance individual when they were confirmed positive so therefore, we are confident we had that one secured,” Mr Weimar said.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley revealed it was also a Stratton Finance employee who met a friend for a beer at the Mordialloc Sporting Globe, though he remained confident of controlling the outbreak as all the cases could be linked to the outbreak.
“All of these cases have been able to be directly linked back to points of outbreak all of which go back to the Port Melbourne Stratton Finance or the CBD clusters or genetically linked to the South Australian hotel outbreak,” he said.
READ MORE: State-sanctioned death exposes West’s moral decay
Rhiannon Down4.05pm:Melbourne vaccination centre reopens to walk-ins
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre vaccination hub has reopened to walk-ins, after scores of Victorians looking to get vaccinated threatened to overwhelm authorities.
The St Vincent’s-run site was unable to open until 10.30am after “technical difficulties” crashed its booking system, sending lines snaking around the block.
“Bookings only at this stage. We’ll share another update once we are able to open up for walk-ins.”
“Great work by our vaccination team at MCEC getting through the crowds today,” it said,
“We now have the capacity to take walk-ins for vaccinations — head down now!
“MCEC will be open until 6pm today.”
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley commended Victorians for achieving a “hat trick” of records, after thousands of Victorians overwhelmed vaccine sites on Saturday.
“Two days ago, we set a record for our COVID-19 tests, and equally for our vaccinations in Victoria, and we did it yesterday as well and today we landed a hat-trick of records,” he said.
“There were, yesterday, 21,626 vaccinations in our state run centres and when you include the great work still being done by our GP network it’s well over 40,000 vaccinations in Victoria yesterday.
“I take this opportunity to remind everyone that more vaccines and more GPs are coming into the network, and they are invaluable partners in the vaccination program delivery.
“Yesterday, there was also a further record of 56,624 Covid tests.”
Mr Foley thanked the majority of Victorians who were doing the right thing and taking every action to prevent the spread of the virus, as the state recorded 5 new cases bringing the cluster to 35 total cases.
READ MORE:Labor lost in the fog as PM exploits win
Rhiannon Down3.52pm: ‘All Pfizer doses should be sent to Melbourne’
Epidemiologist and WHO adviser Mary-Louise McLaws has urged authorities to boost vaccination efforts and send all available doses of the Pfizer vaccine to locked-down Melbourne whilst it struggles to contain an outbreak of coronavirus.
She said much about the more infectious Indian variant B1617.2 strain remained unknown.
“It is still highly transmissible, but we don’t know how much more,” she told the ABC.
“It’s wise to be careful and it’s wise for people to go and get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The variant is believed to be behind the outbreak in Melbourne, which plunged the state into its fourth lockdown, growing to 35 cases on Saturday.
“I would have liked to have seen all of Australia donate its Pfizer to Melbourne,” Professor McLaws said.
“Because there’s only 21 days between the first and the second dose. When you start getting a good immune response after that second dose, and quite frankly, this could go on for enough time to get that second dose.
“If it’s anything like the Northern Beaches where it went on for 32 days.”
READ MORE:Biden’s $6 trillion spending splurge
Patrick Commins3.40pm:V-shaped recovery flattens as drive fades
After six months of record economic expansion, Australia’s V-shaped recovery is expected to have flattened out in the first three months of 2021 as the early growth impetus from easing Covid restrictions and massive government stimulus fade.
Economists agreed, however, that real national output increased for the third consecutive quarter since the recession ended in the middle of last year, but it would be markedly slower than the growth rates of above 3 per cent in the previous two periods.
They offered an unusually wide range of estimates around the degree of the slowdown, ranging from 0.3 per cent real GDP growth in the quarter – which would leave the economy 0.5 per cent smaller than it was pre-pandemic – to robust growth of 1.4 per cent.
The consensus was for 1.1 per cent growth, based on the median forecasts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Experts agreed on two fundamentals: domestic demand will remain robust amid high consumer and business confidence; and net exports will provide a major drag on real GDP.
ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett forecast a 1.3 per cent lift in GDP amid “broadly based strength: robust household consumption, strong housing construction, recovering business investment and solid public spending”.
Read the full story here.
Rhiannon Down3.02pm:Health chief apologises for vaccine glitches
Victoria’s testing chief Jeroen Weimar has apologised for technology issues affecting the state’s mass vaccination hubs.
“We did have a bit of a problem logging on at (the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre) and the Exhibition Building so two of our sites, the other sides were unaffected by the two of our sites we had problems logging on this morning,” he said.
“Those technical faults were remedied by 10.30 and we were vaccinating people throughout that time but I do appreciate there were some disruption to some of our customers and our patients wanting to get vaccinated …. so I apologise for the inconvenience they suffered.”
Mr Weimar also urged those looking to get vaccinated to check queue length times before arriving, to ensure health authorities did not have to turn anyone away.
“If you are intending to walk up to get your AstraZeneca vaccine at any of our sites, you are welcome to do so,” he said.
“Please check on the website before you go what the length of the queues are at the moment.
“We will ensure that if you are in a queue, we want to make sure you get vaccinated that day and we do not want people waiting all day and not actually making it by the end of the day.
“It is important to please check the length of the queue beforehand and we will ask and tell people if the queue is getting to a point where we don’t think we can vaccinate beyond that point to come back another day.”
READ MORE:Contact fears amid QR delays
Anton Nilsson2.50pm:NSW breaks vaccination record
NSW has broken another daily coronavirus vaccination record with more than 14,000 jabs administered in a single 24-hour period.
The latest tally as at 8pm on Friday night marked the third daily record in as many days.
The mass vaccination hub set up at Sydney Olympic Park, which opened on May 10, has averaged about 5,200 jabs per day over the past five days.
NSW Health has set a daily vaccination record in four out of five of those days, scaling up daily jabs from 12,524 on May 25 – which was the highest daily number at the time – to Friday’s count of 14,190.
READ MORE:Paul Kelly — Vaccination remains our ticket out of Covid
Rhiannon Down2.15pm:‘Too early to say if lockdown will be extended’
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has refused to be drawn on whether Victorians should brace for the seven-day lockdown to being extended, saying authorities were operating on a “day by day” basis.
“It is a seven-day circuit breaker shutdown and what we have been clear and upfront on is that every day we review (it) based on intelligence and material we have before us,” he said.
“It is too early to make that announcement. Today is the second day of seven days.
“We will continue to work through the evidence as it comes in, day by day, and keep Victorians informed and accountable through opportunities like this, through social media, through any other forms that can keep Victorians up-to-date with the evolving situation and more importantly, to keep Victorians engaged in what they can do to keep ourselves, our community, our state, safe.”
READ MORE: Editorial — Shame on merciless bureaucrats
Rhiannon Down1.35pm:Melbourne ‘freedom’ protesters arrested, slammed
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has slammed anti-lockdown “freedom” protesters who gathered in Melbourne’s CBD at midday, leading to several arrests.
Police clashed with protesters at Flagstaff Gardens, where they formed a ring of steel to disperse those gathering in the city park.
As many as a dozen people have been arrested, according to the Herald Sun, as images of several men cuffed and being led away by police emerged.
“Look, the virus does not respond to protests, the virus responds to public health measures,” he said.
“There are five legal reasons to leave your home. Protesting against a virus is not going to work. “And if you do, you are breaching the public health orders and Victoria Police will hold you to account for that, and that involves significant fines.”
Under Victoria’s stage three restrictions, attending a public protest is not permitted and can attract a $1652 fine.
READ MORE:Bosses push for dedicated quarantine
Rhiannon Down1.15pm:‘Most close contacts returning negative results’
Victoria’s testing chief Jeroen Weimar says about 62 per cent of close contacts currently in isolation have returned a negative test result in a promising sign.
“I’m pleased to confirm that of the 3000 primary close contacts, 62 per cent have returned a negative test as of last night,” he said.
“It is encouraging to see the numbers coming forward for testing in the wider community.”
Mr Weimar warned that the high number of exposure sites, which surpassed 150 on Friday, meant the situation remained volatile as authorities frantically work to trace close and casual contacts.
“A large number of exposure sites continue to evolve on our system and we identified those risks based on the type of venue and activity we think has taken place there, the type of movement around the centre, and ventilation and activity going on,” he said.
“All that feeds into the assessment of risk and how we prioritise our efforts around the different exposure sites.
“We will continue to review those sites and particularly as we start to see how some of these cases are looking like they are more infectious and infecting more people and others are clearly less infectious and that of course continues to be reviewed, and from time to time we will re-evaluate those risks.”
READ MORE:Melbourne’s lockdown impact ‘to be felt for a generation’
Rhiannon Down1pm:Melbourne secondary school on alert
Mount Ridley College in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s southeast is on high alert after the school was added to the list of exposure sites.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said health authorities would contact those members of the school community directly to advise on if they needed to take any action.
“There are also a number of other settings that the Department of Health is managing in relation to these cases, not all of which are published online because we have the details of everyone who attended those venues and who may well be at risk,” he said.
“One such venue is Mount Ridley College in Craigieburn. The Department of Education is working closely with the school and the principal who has been in touch with the school community last night.
“My message to the community is that the Department of Health will contact you if there are any actions that you need to take.”
More to come …
Rhiannon Down12.47pm:All five new Victorian cases linked
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has confirmed the five new cases recorded in the past 24 hours are linked.
Four of the new cases were from the Whittlesea area who were close contacts of a worker at a Port Melbourne food business, who was the fifth case.
“Currently there are 45 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria in total,” Mr Foley said. Thirty-five of those cases are a result of the northern suburbs outbreak, with a further 10 in hotel quarantine.
“Yesterday we recorded five new locally acquired cases, four at the city of Whittlesea and a further one linked to the Port Melbourne workplace outbreak.”
Mr Foley said the Port Melbourne case, which resulted in more than 20 new exposure sites being listed last night, had been asymptomatic and visited a “large number” of locations.
“I can advise that the city of Whittlesea cases announced today, those referred to earlier, are actually linked to this particular case,” he said.
“They are direct persons of close contacts, social context, of that particular individual.
“The high risk exposure sites are a number of these grocery stores in both the northern and south-eastern suburbs, and they were over a number of short visits on the 18th and 19 May.”
More to come …
Rhiannon Down12.37pm: Victorians doing the hard yards: PM
Scott Morrison has commended the efforts of Victorians doing the “hard yards” fighting a surge in new case numbers, as the state enters its second day in lockdown.
The Prime Minister thanked Victorians for their efforts in combating the virus at the Liberal party conference in Canberra today, acknowledging that many had been unable to join the convention under health orders.
“They are facing the latest challenge, not a new one but one we’ve overcome many times before,” Mr Morrison said.
“And we think of our Victorian friends and all of those across Victoria today doing the hard yards on Covid this week.
“And we will be working together to get Victoria open again as soon as possible and I believe we will achieve that.
“Every time this virus has confronted us, we have been its match.”
Mr Morrison also credited the Liberals with uniting Australians.
“It was John Howard who said we must govern for all Australians,” he said.
“We are not the party of conflict, we are not the party of Twitter and we are not the party of identity politics.
“That is for others but that is not for us friends. It is not our purpose to set Australians against each other, it is our purpose, and my purpose — especially in times such as these — to bring Australians together to fight the many things we face as Australains.
“So while some would keep fighting us, I’ll keep fighting for Australia.”
Mr Morrison also revealed fresh details of a superannuation reform enabling more flexibility for retirees to draw down on their super funds.
“Today I’m announcing that we’re extending those further,” he said.
“They’ve been in place for two years and so up to the 30th of June next year we will be extending the temporary 50 per cent reduction in superannuation minimum draw down requirements to the middle of 2022.”
READ MORE:Hot-spot care homes get the jab
Rhiannon Down12.25pm:We deserve to win elections: Frydenberg
Josh Frydenberg has praised the government’s economic management, saying the government’s track record of delivery on job creation, tax cuts and business support had secured the nation’s recovery.
The Treasurer, speaking from the Liberal party conference in Canberra today, said the Coalition’s support of Australian families and businesses had earned it repeat election victories.
“We the Liberal party are not here to serve big business, we the Liberal party are not here to service big unions, we the Liberal party are here to serve the Australian people,” he said.
“This is why Australians vote for the Coalition in the Pilbara, they vote for the Coalition in Port Augusta, they vote for the Coalition in Gladstone and Burnie and they vote for the Coalition in the Latrobe Valley and the Upper Hunter.”
Mr Frydenberg also touched on the Coalition’s recent victory in the Upper Hunter by-election, where the future of coal has split Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon from the rest of his party.
“Now I know some of my colleagues have sent Joel Fitzgibbon a membership form,” he said.
“But we don’t want Joel Fitzgibbon’s membership, we want his seat.
“And we say to the workers in the mine, we say to the farmers in the field we say to those on the production line it is Scott Morrison and the Coalition that will always stand up for you.”
READ MORE:A workplace tragedy where no one gets off lightly
Rhiannon Down11.52am:Berejiklian talks up NSW response
Gladys Berejiklian has spruiked her government’s handling of the Covid pandemic in her address at the Liberal party conference today.
The Prime Minister, Treasurer, Liberal state premiers and party members converged on Canberra on Saturday for the Federal Council.
“We have had one lockdown in NSW unfortunately about a year ago, but we used that time to build up our systems, we quadrupled our health capacity and made sure our contact tracers were well resources,” the NSW Premier said.
“We made sure we employed an extra thousand people to be front line contacts for our citizens including many from the airline industry who were unemployed at the time.
“We had the systems in place to be able to weather whatever came our way so we wouldn’t ever go into lockdown again.
“So not only did we make sure our contact tracers are the best in the world … and we actually put the police in charge of all logistical arrangements, we implemented a whole government approach to make sure our health experts were freed up to do what they do best.”
Ms Berejiklian also trumpeted the success of the Service NSW app of which 5.1 million of the state’s population of 6 million adults actively use.
READ MORE:No safety net for sacked staff
Rhiannon Down11.30am:Virus alert issued for Sydney’s west
NSW has recorded zero new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and one new case in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours.
Heath authorities have issued an alert for several suburbs in Sydney’s west after viral fragments were detected in a sewage catchment that services 40,500 people on Friday.
The suburbs implicated include: Homebush West, Strathfield, Concord West, Sydney Olympic Park, Wentworth Point, Newington, Lidcombe, Homebush, Silverwater, Petersham, Liberty Grove, Rhodes, North Strathfield and Concord.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) May 29, 2021
One new overseas acquired case was reported in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,391. pic.twitter.com/wjwrFGTzZp
“NSW Health is aware of returned overseas travellers who have recovered from COVID-19 after being in hotel quarantine, and who live in these catchments,” the department said.
“People who have recently recovered from COVID-19 can continue to shed virus fragments into the sewerage system for several weeks even after they are no longer infectious.
“Nonetheless, NSW Health is asking everyone in the area to be vigilant in monitoring for symptoms, and if they appear, to immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.”
NSW also confirmed that 35 close contacts of Victorian Covid cases had also tested negative, and will remain in isolation for two weeks.
READ MORE: Victoria’s full list of hotspots
Rhiannon Down10.56am:Victoria not paying the price for vaccine rollout: MP
Liberal MP Jason Falinski has defended the government’s vaccine rollout, denying that Victoria is paying the price for the nation’s slow vaccine rollout.
Mr Falinski said the vaccine rollout had been carried out logically and taken care to prioritise vulnerable groups.
“The fact is that we need to roll this out as sensibly as we possibly can and make sure we do it in a meaningful and proper way,” he told ABC news.
“We aim to protect those people most vulnerable to start with.”
Mr Falinski spruiked the government’s vaccine program, saying that despite setbacks the rollout was progressing steadily and in line with the rest of the world.
“There’s no doubt the vaccine rollout had its setbacks. The decision by the medical expert panel to restrict AstraZeneca to people over 50, unlike other jurisdictions where it was only restricted to people under 30.
“Also, we’ve had the situation where the Europeans only shipped 700,000 of the 3.8 million doses we ordered.
“All these things have created problems. But despite that, we’re still further ahead in our rollout at this time than any other country in the world with the exception of the UK and Israel.”
READ MORE:Labor down and on the way out in its heartland
Rhiannon Down10.37am:Technical glitches hampering vaccine rollout
Technical issues have delayed the jab rollout at Royal Exhibition Building mass vaccination centre in Melbourne, as the state battles a third day of tech crashes.
St Vincent’s announced its doors had opened at about 10am on Saturday, after technical issues caused wait times at the vaccination centre to balloon to many hours.
Vaccine update: Our doors are now open at the Royal Exhibition Building. Thanks for your patience!
— St Vincent's (@StVincentsMelb) May 28, 2021
We were delayed opening due to technical difficulties with the booking system.
Bookings only at this stage. We'll share another update once we are able to open up for walk ins.
“We were delayed opening due to technical difficulties with the booking system,” St Vincent’s said.
“Bookings only at this stage. We’ll share another update once we are able to open up for walk ins.”
It comes as reports emerge that Victoria’s Covid hotline also suffered another crash this morning, as Victorians overwhelm services.
On Thursday, the department of health confirmed that a surge of 77,000 callers in a 15 minute window had caused the line to crash, as the state braced for the lockdown to begin at midnight.
Some 630 additional staff were brought on to man the help line which also suffered issues on Friday, but services have been overwhelmed.
“This significant demand unfortunately caused a number of technical issues which network providers have been successfully restoring throughout the day – and more resources will be added,” the department said.
READ MORE:We must own up to our Covid mistakes before it’s too late
Rhiannon Down10am:‘More ads for Harvey Norman than Covid jab’
Anthony Albanese has accused the federal government of complacency in carrying out the Covid vaccine rollout.
The Opposition Leader said the vaccine rollout had fallen behind and called on the government to implement a public messaging campaign.
“We need to have an appropriate public information campaign to encourage vaccinations and we’ve seen nothing,” he said.
“We’ve seen more ads for Harvey Norman in a day than for the rollout of the vaccine and for people to get vaccinated, than we’ve seen in a year.”
Mr Albanese also criticised the government for its slow move towards manufacturing mRNA vaccines onshore.
“We should have put in place a process from the middle of last year to make sure we negotiated with appropriate manufacturing capacities here,” he said.
Mr Albanese also criticised the government’s handling of hotel quarantine, calling on it to build specially designed quarantine facilities to prevent further outbreaks.
“There needs to be appropriate quarantine facilities around the nation,” he said.
“We said that clearly it was part of my budget reply but it’s also something we’ve been saying since last year and the government has ignored that.”
READ MORE: Labor lost in the fog as Morrison exploits win
Tom Dusevic9.40am:‘Tidal wave of projects’ risks pandemic recovery
Australia lacks the skills, planning and construction capacity to deliver a $225 billion taxpayer-funded infrastructure “tidal wave”, putting economic recovery at risk and increasing the likelihood of project delays and housing cost blowouts, the Morrison government’s infrastructure adviser has warned.
An independent review of a 2016 policy blueprint lists serial missteps by governments and neglect on the most pressing reforms, such as using funding incentives to drive best practice, raising construction productivity, developing regional plans and assessing completed projects.
The blunt message from Infrastructure Australia is governments must lift their policy game, work with industry to better price risks, achieve value for money for taxpayers, and stimulate competition in a sector dominated by a few large local players, otherwise productivity will sag and costs rise inexorably.
IA chief of policy and research Peter Colacino said public spending in Australia on major projects in 2023 alone would be larger than the GDP of more than half the countries in the world.
“Following the global financial crisis, our capacity to deliver economic stimulus was capped by the capacity of the market to deliver,” he said.
“So too in 2021, our ability to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic is capped by the ability of the infrastructure sector – and the building sector – to respond to stimulus.”
Read the full story here.
Rhiannon Down9.02am:Victoria records five new cases
Victoria has recorded five new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, as well as two in hotel quarantine. One case remains in ICU.
That brings the total number of active cases in the community to 35.
It comes as Victorians turned up for testing in high numbers on Friday with 56,624 test results received in the 24 hours to 8pm.
Some 21,626 vaccine doses were also administered in the same period, as the threat of a third wave banishes vaccine concerns.
A further 20 possible exposure sites have reportedly been added to the list of venues on alert.
Reported yesterday: 5 new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 28, 2021
- 21,626 vaccine doses were administered
- 56,624 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco…
#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/p1ypBcSf3o
READ MORE:Lockdown rush for Covid vaccines
Christine Kellett8.35am:Struggling Victorians ‘must protect against a loss of hope’
Victorians must protect themselves against a loss of hope, mental health expert Patrick McGorry has warned.
The state’s fourth pandemic lockdown is likely to see many plunged back into despair, with the effects to be felt for a long time to come.
But Dr McGorry, who is Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, said it was important to remember this lockdown was different from ones previously, because of the availability of vaccines and improved techniques for managing outbreaks.
“People have different vulnerabilities and different issues. But I think some people will have been strengthened by having had the experience before, they know what to do, they know how to cope,” Professor McGorry told the ABC on Saturday.
“For others, it will be what we call a second injury. If you are traumatised or have other vulnerabilities from a mental health point of view, and so many people do, it might actually have the reverse effect on people really need help.
“Some people feel, OK, we can hang in for a few more days, but if it is only a few days, if it is just a circuit breaker, that will be one thing, but if it goes on for weeks I would be very worried about what will happen from a mental health point of view.
“Prolonged lockdowns and a kind of loss of confidence, a loss of faith or a loss of hope, in a way, are things we have to protect against.”
READ MORE:Mental health crisis — One million ‘lost’ in lockdown
Peter van Onselen8.15am:Outbreak of government action needed
“Coulda”, “shoulda”, “woulda” – that’s the story of Australia’s plunge back into lockdowns as we brace for potential future Covid-19 outbreaks.
Outbreaks that are happening because hotel quarantining is flawed, especially when it comes to protecting ourselves from virulent new strains.
Outbreaks that are made more dangerous because not enough Australians have been vaccinated – a failure of the slow rollout, exacerbated by vaccine hesitancy.
We coulda built quarantine facilities capable of containing the virus long before now, and we shoulda. We woulda accelerated the vaccine rollout and dovetailed doing so with a better public awareness campaign if we knew this is where we might end up.
But we didn’t and, stuck where we now are, there isn’t much we can do about it. Sure, it’s never too late to get going and construct purpose-built quarantine facilities around the country. In the current budget climate it’s not as though fiscal conservatism is an ideological impediment to the cost. But by the time they would be built it will be too late to avoid further hotel quarantine failures anyway.
We face many months of such failures even if the construction of purpose-built facilities started first thing Monday morning – which of course it will not.
Read Peter van Onselen’s full analysis here.
David Rogers7.40am:ASX record as economists see silver lining in outbreak
The Australian sharemarket struck a record high on Friday as economists saw silver linings in Victoria’s Covid-19 outbreak and iron ore miners rebounded after recent jitters about a retreat in prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 share index closed up 85 points or 1.2 per cent at a record close of 7179.5 points, after hitting an intraday high of 7186.8 earlier in the day.
The all-time high of 7197.2 points was set on February 20, 2020.
While it may be hard to convince Victorians thrown back into lockdown this week that something good may come of the latest Covid outbreak, economists said it could boost vaccination rates, reducing the need for subsequent lockdowns and lost economic activity.
About 15 per cent of Australia’s population have received Covid-19 vaccine doses but only about 2 per cent are fully vaccinated. Victoria continues to lead the states with 23,625 injections given on Thursday and a record 123,871 doses given nationally.
The sharemarket was certainly putting an optimistic spin on the situation.
Read the full story here.
Briana Tavers7am:Anti-vaxxers push ahead with Melbourne rally today
Police have put anti-vaxxers on notice ahead of a planned protest today, which threatens to defy public health stay-at-home orders.
Hundreds of protesters are due to gather in the Flagstaff Gardens at 12pm as part of a “Millions march against mandatory Covid vaccinations” rally organised by a group dubbed the “Health Rights Alliance”.
This is despite organisers bowing out late on Friday afternoon, citing threats of incitement charges from police.
Those attending include members of the “Melbourne Freedom Rally” — the anti-lockdown group who were last year dubbed the “tin foil hat brigade” by Victoria Police’s Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius.
“We will be in attendance to support this event and will not be complying with any CHO directives,” a Melbourne Freedom Rally member said.
Read the full story at The Herald-Sun.
Jon Ralph6.30am:Fixture in limbo as AFL juggles Covid-19 mess
Clubs have been told the AFL will not be able to confirm its Round 12 fixture until some stage next week in another day of high drama for the league.
Greater Western Sydney players and coaches were rejected at Sydney Airport after it emerged the league had not officially requested an exemption for them to enter Queensland for Saturday’s game against Brisbane.
And Melbourne stars Max Gawn and Angus Brayshaw were officially cleared to play against the Western Bulldogs last night despite attending an event at exposure site the Mordialloc Sporting Globe on Tuesday.
A Demons player is now in 14-day quarantine after being at the Tier 1 exposure site in that time, with the incubation period of the virus between 2-14 days.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Friday the league’s plan was still to avoid hubs.
But clubs including Richmond, who remain under the same lockdown rules as if they were in Melbourne, will be in an interstate holding pattern until venues for games including Dreamtime at the ‘G are locked in for Round 12.
Read the full story here.
Sue Dunlevy6.10am:Third Covid-19 vaccine on horizon for Australia
From late September, Australians will be able to get a third brand of Covid-19 vaccine made by US company Moderna.
And from next year, Australians already fully vaccinated will be offered a booster dose of the same drug.
This booster shot is still in development, but early trials show it provides better protection against the South African and Brazilian variants of the virus.
The Moderna jab is an mRNA vaccine similar to the Pfizer jab. It teaches our cells how to make a protein from the virus that causes Covid-19 and triggers an immune response inside our bodies.
For full details on who can use it and how many doses you’ll need, read the full story here.
Rachel Baxendale5.10am:Thousands at risk over pubs’ positive cases
Victoria’s Covid-19 logistics chief has conceded moving to a uniform QR code system for venue check-ins will boost compliance, but failed to explain why the state has taken up to eight months longer than other jurisdictions to make the move.
Jeroen Weimar’s concession came as he issued a plea to people who may have attended five high-risk bars in Melbourne’s south and southeast over the weekend to come forward for testing, amid fears authorities may have been unable to contact a significant number of people who were present but did not check in.
As Victorians spent their first day in a week-long lockdown, four new cases were linked to the Whittlesea cluster, bringing the total to 30.
All four were primary close contacts of the cluster, including one person who is believed to have caught the virus from a friend when they met at the Sporting Globe Bar & Grill in the bayside suburb of Mordialloc on Sunday.
The health department also has concerns about the Three Monkeys Bar and Somewhere Bar in Chapel St, Prahran, The Palace hotel in South Melbourne, and The Local in Port Melbourne.
Read the full story here.
Joe Kelly5am:Melbourne lockdown spurs new rush for vaccine
Victoria is the first state to administer more than 40,000 vaccines in a day as take-up rates accelerate in the wake of a crushing seven-day lockdown, and chief medical officer Paul Kelly sounds a fresh warning that further community outbreaks are inevitable.
On Friday, Victorians aged between 40 and 49 years could arrange for an immediate Pfizer jab by calling the state health department’s coronavirus hotline.
The system crashed after 77,000 calls were made in the first 15 minutes. As of 9am on Friday, 12,000 people had successfully made appointments.
Daily vaccine increases in Victoria in the previous working week ranged from a low of 21,741 on Friday to a high of 26,553 the previous day, but this week grew to 41,389 on Thursday — the day the lockdown was announced.
Read the full story, by Joe Kelly and Rachel Baxendale, here.
Olivia Caisley4.30am:Business heavyweights want dedicated quarantine
Australia’s political leaders are being urged by business and industry heavyweights to establish dedicated quarantine facilities to better manage the Covid-19 health crisis and prepare for future pandemics, given the “catastrophic” consequences of coronavirus leakages from capital city hotels.
As Victoria plunged into its fourth lockdown and as contact tracers scrambled to identify primary and secondary contacts, Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said national cabinet needed to take action.
“Victorians are being plunged into despair and disbelief again by a failure to get the basics right, including our quarantine system,” she said. “This is a wake-up call to start taking the steps to better manage outbreaks and fast-track our vaccination rollout.
“Australians want a way forward that lets them get on with their lives, not a blame game. State and federal leaders should work through national cabinet to consider whether preventing another crushing lockdown means creating dedicated quarantine facilities.”
Read the full story, by Olivia Caisley and Joe Kelly, here.
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