Covid Australia: States react to NSW outbreak; AstraZeneca vaccine now recommended for over 60s
Victoria is the latest state to slap NSW with new border restrictions, while 12 blood clot cases potentially linked to the AstraZeneca jab have prompted a major vaccine rethink.
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Victoria is imposing new Covid-19 restrictions on NSW following an outbreak of the virus, while South Australia and Tasmania have shut their borders to anyone who visited a “high-risk” site.
The Victorian Health Department announced late on Thursday that the chief health officer was assessing the risks of community transmission within NSW.
“(He) has initially designated the NSW local government areas of City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra as orange zones under Victoria’s travel permit system,” the department tweeted.
Anyone arriving into Victoria from those areas must obtain an orange zone permit, isolate and get tested upon arrival, and stay isolated until they receive a negative result.
Those who have arrived into Victoria from June 11 must isolate, get tested and stay isolated until negative.
“The chief health officer strongly advises those planning to travel from Victoria to the City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra LGAs to reconsider,” the department warned.
Anyone arriving into Victoria from City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra LGAs must obtain an orange zone permit at https://t.co/v9Ej7FMa8U, isolate and get tested upon arrival and stay isolated they receive a negative result. [2/6]
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 17, 2021
South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens gave his state’s border update earlier on Thursday after NSW authorities revealed an outbreak of the virus in Sydney’s east had risen to three cases.
He said the border was closed to anyone who had been to a “high risk” area, and anyone who had already arrived in South Australia should isolate and contact SA Health for advice.
South Australians who have been at high-risk spots and are still in NSW are urged to isolate there and contact SA Health to discuss getting home.
“Given some of the locations that are mentioned, there’s a possibility that we’ll have people in South Australia who had visited in recent days,” Mr Stevens told reporters.
“We don’t have a specific number, but given that we’re talking about isolated, high-risk locations, we don’t anticipate that this will have a significant impact on the broader community.”
Meanwhile, Tasmania has conditionally closed its border and called on anyone who has visited a site since June 11 to isolate and get tested.
“Anyone who is planning on travelling to Tasmania who has been to any of these high-risk premises at the specified dates and times will not be permitted to enter the state,” Tasmania’s director of public health Mark Veitch said.
‘SERIOUS’ BLOOD CLOTS FORCES BIG VACCINE CHANGE
The AstraZeneca vaccine is now only recommended for people aged over 60 after “rare” but “serious” blood clotting occurred in 12 patients over the last week.
Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed on Thursday the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine be administered to people aged over 60.
Mr Hunt said the government had accepted ATAGI’s “strong, clear advice”, but insisted Australia remained on track to offer all eligible Australians a vaccine by the end of the year.
“What we also know is that, for those who are in the 50 to 59 group, it is a change, and we recognise that that does bring some challenges,” he said.
“They will now have access the Pfizer that they do need, and we ask for their patience whilst the general practices are rolled out.”
Pfizer was now the preferred vaccine for people aged 50 to 60, and access to the Pfizer jab would “immediately” open to the 40 to 59 age range, or 2.1m people.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly said new information had revealed 12 new cases of a “rare but sometimes very serious clotting condition” linked to AstraZeneca in the past week.
“That’s been the key new information that has been that has gone to ATAGI, and they’ve based that on the risk-benefit equation now, the risks are outweighing the benefit in that particular age group,” he said.
The threat was far less serious from the second dose, and ATAGI still “strongly recommended” those who had already received one dose to complete their vaccination.
“If you’ve had the first dose, make sure you get your second dose,” Professor Kelly said.
Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy said “we are picking up more cases of this condition than just about anyone in the world”.
Professor Murphy warned those aged over 70 faced a mortality rate of more than 10 per cent if they contracted Covid-19, urging them against avoiding their vaccination.
SYDNEY CLUSTER GROWS
The Sydney Covid-19 cluster has grown to four and the Delta strain has been confirmed in at least one case.
Two new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in Sydney overnight, New South Wales Health officials said on Thursday.
One of them is linked to the two cases that were revealed by NSW Health on Wednesday, which have been included in Thursday’s numbers, but officials were unsure about the fourth.
The linked case is a woman in her 70s who tested positive for Covid-19 and had attended the Belle Cafe at Vaucluse, which is a venue of concern.
The fourth case included in Thursday’s numbers is a man in his 40s who tested positive in Baulkham Hills but officials are determining whether it is a false positive given his viral load is low.
The initial case, a man in his 60s, has the Delta strain of Covid-19, Dr Kerry Chant confirmed.
The man has not been overseas in recent times but does work as a limousine driver, which includes transporting international flight crew.
“Last night, pathology confirmed that this gentleman has the Delta strain of the virus and this strain does not match anything that‘s been uploaded in Australia at this time,” she said.
“But it does match perfectly a sequence that’s been uploaded from the US.”
His wife also returned a positive result.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the 70-year-old woman visited a cafe also attended by the driver or his wife.
“We can further update you this morning saying a woman of 70 years of age, who was at the Belle Cafe in Vaucluse has also tested positive. So it’s really, really important for everybody in the eastern suburbs or everybody who may have attended any of those venues to follow the health advice,” she said.
The virus was also detected in a man aged in his 40s in Baulkham Hills. The viral load in that cases was low, so an investigation was under way to see if it was a false positive.
Dr Chant said the man had no connection to the other three cases.
“The gentleman had high CT values and for us, that means a low viral load. We do the usual things. So when you get that, you are uncertain about the timing of infection, so we repeat the testing the next day,” she said.
“Sometimes it can be early in an infection when you get the high CT value-low viral load. High CT values can indicate that you might be beginning to be infectious or it could be an old infection or a false positive.”
CONCERN OVER NURSE’S POSITIVE CASE
A Victorian nurse who tested positive for Covid-19 after working on a dedicated coronavirus hospital ward worked across multiple facilities, it has been revealed.
The breach was confirmed by the state’s Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar on Thursday morning, who said he was “exceptionally concerned and disappointed” that it happened.
The fully vaccinated nurse, who tested positive to the virus on Tuesday, worked on the Covid ward at Epping Private Hospital where three Arcare residents were relocated about 11 days ago.
Mr Weimar said the Victorian health department had a provision stating staff working in a dedicated Covid-19 ward with positive patients were not to work across multiple sites.
“We have very clear expectations and strong requirements of the designated Covid wards to look after our most vulnerable patients who are who are suffering with Covid,” he said.
“One of those expectations is that staff are dedicated to that particular ward and do not work elsewhere.
“I’m very concerned and disappointed that this has occurred.”
Mr Weimar said the health department would be following up with Epping Private Hospital to seek an explanation on how and why the breach occurred.
Twenty-two staff at the hospital have been identified as close contacts and are now completing 14 days quarantine.
The nurse also attended a vaccination clinic on June 14 for her final dose of the Covid vaccine.
Another 30 people there – five staff and 25 patients – have also been identified as close contacts of the nurse and will also complete 14 days isolation.
“This really highlights of course the importance of not seeing staff working across multiple sites where we have known Covid case,” he said.
It came as Victoria’s health authorities added a number of major retail centres to its growing list of Covid-19 exposure sites.
On Thursday afternoon, central Melbourne Kmart as well as Melbourne Central and QV Melbourne were identified as tier two exposure venues, while a sushi restaurant on Lonsdale Street was added to the tier 1 list.
Sakura Kaiten Sushi II, at 282 Lonsdale St on June 13 between 12:30pm and 1:50pm is now a tier 1 venue, meaning those who were at the restaurant at this time need to get tested and quarantine for 14 days.
NEW ZEALAND EXTENDS BORDER CLOSURE TO VICTORIA
New Zealand has kept its border with Victoria slammed shut for at least another five days.
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Thursday the risk of the Covid-19 outbreak in greater Melbourne was decreasing, and accepted public health officials advice was it was “unlikely there is further widespread community transmission in the state”.
But a five day extension of the ban until 11.59pm Tuesday was “in line with our precautionary approach”.
“New Zealand health officials will keep a close watch on developments in the state but at this point their advice is that we would expect to be in a position to lift the pause at the end of the five-day extension,” Mr Hipkins said.
“This will reviewed if the situation changes.”
NZ authorities were also closely watching the developing Covid-19 situation in Sydney.
It comes as Queensland confirms it will require all travellers to the state to fill out a Queensland Travel Declaration.
From 1am on June 19 anybody entering Queensland will be required to complete a new Queensland Travel declaration - an online form designed to make contact tracing “so much easier”, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
The Premier revealed restrictions on travel to Greater Melbourne would also remain for another seven days, and advised residents to reconsider trips to Greater Sydney in light of the Bondi outbreak.
VICTORIA EASES RESTRICTIONS
It comes after Victoria announced a massive easing of restrictions for Melbourne.
Speaking a press conference on Wednesday, Victoria’s Acting Premier James Merlino announced the 25km Melbourne travel limit would be lifted from 11.59pm on Thursday.
Other changes include being allowed to have up to two visitors at your home per day, and public gathering limits will increase from 10 to 20 people. Gyms will also reopen.
But there was one major new rule introduced for Victoria’s upcoming snow season.
“Melburnians travelling to the snow at this season, a requirement for everyone to get a covert test within 72 hours of departing for Victoria’s Alpine resorts,” Mr Merlino said.
It came as a vaccinated nurse has tested positive to Covid. There are fears she worked a shift while potentially infectious.
While Mr Merlino said masks would no longer be required outdoors, he revealed they would still be recommended to be worn outdoors when social distancing of 1.5m couldn’t be maintained.
“Everyone must continue to wear them indoors, whether it is shopping, on a train or at a workplace,” the Acting Premier said.
When asked if Victoria could have mask wearing indoors for the entire winter, chief health officer Brett Sutton said it would continue to be evaluated.
“We will think it through, depending on how cases go,” Professor Sutton said.
“We want to maintain people being engaged in those behaviours but we don’t want to fatigue people.
“If it is a case of some specific high-risk settings, of course we have kept that in mind.
“That has been our advice on public transport, airports and rideshare, but we don’t want people to be fatigued by mask wearing and basically not doing it and seeing others not do it.”
It came as there were five new local cases in Victoria, two of which were previously revealed on Tuesday. The three new cases are all linked to current outbreaks.
There were also three new coronavirus infections recorded in hotel quarantine. The number of active cases in Victoria is 55, up from 54 on Tuesday.
The new cases came from 17,538 test results, while 14,870 vaccine doses were also administered in the past 24 hours.
Residents at the Kings Park apartment complex in Southbank have now been forced into two weeks lockdown after two more positive cases were recorded on Tuesday afternoon.
The health department has now expanded the number of primary close contacts associated with the outbreak to include all residents and visitors to the complex from June 2 to 14.
“They will be required to quarantine for 14 days,” the health department said.
“A full public health response was initiated, including rapid onsite testing of more than 200 residents.”
Originally published as Covid Australia: States react to NSW outbreak; AstraZeneca vaccine now recommended for over 60s
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