Victoria is opening Australia’s first drive-through vaccination clinic at the site of a former Bunnings Warehouse in Melton, with bookings open to the public from tomorrow.
This live blog has now closed. Here’s a summary of Sunday’s main COVID news:
- South-east Queensland’s lockdown will lift from 4:00pm, but some restrictions will remain, after seven new local cases were reported, all linked to the school outbreak.
- Cairns and Yarrabah will be plunged into a snap three-day lockdown from 4:00pm, after an “unexpected” case of COVID-19 in the community.
- Residents in Penrith will be subject to tougher restrictions after a spike in COVID cases as NSW records 262 new infections and another death.
- Victoria recorded 11 new local COVID-19 cases. Premier Daniel Andrews has announced Victorians aged 18 to 39 will be able to access the AstraZeneca vaccine from selected mass vaccination hubs from Monday.
- Health Minister Greg Hunt says he expects the Moderna vaccine will be approved within a fortnight, and deliveries will begin in the middle of next month.
Live updates
By Jessica Riga
Pinned
Today’s case numbers and press conference times
If you don’t see your state or territory, don’t worry — it means no press conference has been scheduled or case numbers are yet to be released.
Queensland
Case numbers: 9 new community cases
Victoria
Case numbers: 11 locally acquired cases
Press conference: 11:45am
NSW
Case numbers: 262 locally acquired cases
Tasmania
Case numbers: No new cases
By Jessica Riga
We’re closing the blog here
Thank you for following along with us today!
Until next time, take care.
By Jessica Riga
By Jessica Riga
By Jessica Riga
Answering your questions about south-east Queensland’s eased restrictions
There was a cursory comment about travelling to regional areas. Was this guidance or part of the new rules?
-Scheduled traveller
Hi there. While lockdown restrictions have eased, Queensland Health says to “avoid travelling to regional Queensland” if you’re in one of the LGAs coming out of lockdown.
Did anyone understand the rules around LGAS? I understand we can’t travel to regional qld but can we within 11 lgas?
-Confused Queenslander
Yes you can. Health authorities just want people from those LGAs to avoid travelling to regional Queensland.
Hi! I’m in Brisbane, and am a little confused about a few of the mask rules. Do you wise ABC folk know whether I need to wear a mask when visiting other people’s homes, or when other people outside of my immediate household visit my home? I’m assuming that I do, but can’t find answers to those specific scenarios from QLD Health.
-Mask Enthusiast
Hello! This is what the Queensland Health website says about mask wearing.
Some restrictions will continue to apply for the next two weeks, including: Mask wearing at all times (including workplaces) except when eating or drinking, or exercising with your household or one other person.
You can find Queensland Health’s guidance on mask wearing here, but below is just the section about wearing masks indoors:
You must wear a face mask at all times when you indoors, including workplaces, even when social distancing is possible, unless:
- you are at your residence and there is no one else there except people you live with
- you are alone in an office with the door closed
- you are eating or drinking
- it is unsafe to wear a mask
By Jessica Riga
Moderna vaccine to be approved within a fortnight, doses rolling out in mid-September
Health Minister Greg Hunt says he expects the Moderna vaccine will be approved within a fortnight, and deliveries will begin in the middle of next month.
The Federal Government has bought 25 million doses of the vaccine, 10 million to be used for primary vaccinations, and 15 million as boosters.
It’ll be first approved for adults, before the Therapeutic Goods Administration considers the vaccine for children aged 12 to 18.
Mr Hunt says it will begin rolling out in around six weeks.
“There are no red flags, there are only very positive signs about a highly effective vaccine,” Mr Hunt said.
“We’ll see an extra million in September, probably more towards the middle of September but we haven’t got final guidance. And then 3 million a month through October, November and December.”
By Jessica Riga
Missed the Victorian COVID update? Catch up here
Premier Daniel Andrews has announced Victorians aged 18 to 39 will be able to access the AstraZeneca vaccine from selected mass vaccination hubs from Monday, bolstering the existing access through GP clinics.
Mr Andrews said the option would be offered at nine sites, as the state battles to bring its Delta outbreak under control.
“They’ll be able to go online, book an appointment … they’ll then have a conversation upon arrival with a doctor,” he said.
By Jessica Riga
Key Event
Tasmania introduces border restrictions for those coming from Cairns
Tasmania has again recorded no positive COVID-19 cases
Contact tracers have now identified 185 contacts of a New South Wales man who received a positive coronavirus test after leaving a quarantine hotel in Launceston last week.
At a press conference this morning, Premier Peter Gutwein said while the risk of community transmission is extremely low, the state would not be taking any chances.
“Over the last three days, nearly 5,000 tests have been run … and I am pleased to report that all tests so far have returned negative results”.
Mr Gutwein has meanwhile announced new Tasmanian border restrictions for people coming from Cairns which will be enforced from 4pm today, after a case was identified in Far North Queensland sending Cairns and Yarrabah into a snap three-day lockdown.
Tasmanian restrictions for 11 local government areas in South East Queensland will remain in place for the time being.
By Jessica Riga
An update on the Flemington tower and the school outbreaks
Here’s the latest from 130 Racecourse Road in Flemington, the public housing tower where eight positive cases were recorded:
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17 people have tested negative on the floor regarded as most at risk
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200 additional tests conducted of other residents from the building, “all negative to date”
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There are still a number of other tests to come back
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Professor Sutton said there had been a “strong partnership” between government departments, not-for-profit groups, the council and community leaders
The eight residents who have tested positive are all from one family unit, and it was confirmed yesterday they have been moved to hotel quarantine.
Two are students who attend the Ilim College Kiewa campus in Dallas, and Mount Alexander College in Flemington.
The schools are communicating directly with families in the first instance, then the schools will be listed as exposure sites.
Professor Sutton said there had been a “really successful response” with Al-Taqwa College.
He said testing rates had been better with the Al-Taqwa outbreak than any other large cohort, such as the MCG during the last outbreak.
People who have to quarantine for 14 days only need to be tested on day 13, but everyone is encouraged to be tested immediately as well. Professor Sutton said more than three-quarters of the Al-Taqwa community —made up of more than 300 staff, 2,100 students and all of their household contacts —had been tested “in a really, really short period of time”.
By Jessica Riga
Key Event
NT announces major change to border policy, non-approved travel from hotspots banned from midnight
The Northern Territory has announced a major change to its border policy, banning non-approved travel from declared hotspots into the NT from midnight tonight.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner says the new rules are being introduced to avoid overwhelming Darwin’s Howard Springs quarantine facility.
Mr Gunner says travellers from declared hotspots will need to prove they have a legitimate reason to travel to the Territory, which will cover residents returning to the NT, essential work and some compassionate grounds.
He says too many people and businesses have been using Howard Springs as a transit point to enter other states.
“There are just too many people now taking the Territory for a ride. We are not going to carry the can any longer – covering the cost of quarantine for people while other states then get the benefits. The jig is up.”
By Jessica Riga
Authorities particularly concerned about the CS Square shopping centre in Caroline Springs
“Our public health team are looking very closely at that site in light of these transmission events,” Professor Sutton said.
“We are concerned about it. These are settings where lots of people move through, where it’s not always absolutely clear that they’ve gone to a named exposure site, but because there’s a shared space or indeed bathrooms, toilets, there are potential exposures there that are not jus the tier 1 listed sites.
“We don’t have absolutely clear linkages to a positive case necessarily, but we know that this overall setting is a concern.
“So it’s not a mystery case for the new cases that have arisen, because we do have them moving through this space and the particular sites around the Spectacle Hub and the Jolly Miller Café.”
The entire CS Square has been listed as a tier 2 site from late July to all of August.
“There’s potential that people have been exposed over that period of time,” Professor Sutton said.
By Jessica Riga
Here’s a breakdown of today’s cases in Victoria:
All of the new cases are linked to the Hobsons Bay cluster, which was first detected when a teacher tested positive last week.
Of the new cases:
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Four are students from Al-Taqwa College, where the teacher works
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Three are household contacts of a confirmed case from the Wolf Café and Eatery in Altona North
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One is a team member at the Newport Football Club, where the teacher’s optometrist partner plays
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Three are linked to the CS Square Shopping Centre in Caroline Springs
- Two of those work at the Jolly Miller Café, which is very close to the Spectacle Club exposure site at the shopping centre
- One works at a real estate agency where no known case has been present, but real estate worker did attend a number of exposure sites within the shopping centre
By Jessica Riga
Will we find the source of this outbreak?
“We are certainly not giving up on looking into it, there’s still a lot of work going into trying to work out exactly what’s happened,” Mr Sutton said.
“That’s important to find out whether there are others in the community that we can track down and test to make sure that there aren’t these unidentified chains of transmission.
“So no stone will be left unturned, but it’s not an easy process when people have recovered, when they can’t recall anything that links to known exposures or known positive cases. It is a difficult process, but we haven’t given up, that’s for sure.”
By Jessica Riga
‘We have got around this very fast’, Andrews says
“In general terms, you would always prefer less cases rather than more, but we have got around this very fast,” Mr Andrews said.
“We have seen a very high percentage of people who needed to get a test to rule them in or out, get that test. We are seeing very strong negative test result numbers, that’s pleasing.
“The challenge for us all is that these cases remain, whilst linked downstream, when you go back to the original, we can’t work out where those two strains of transmission began.
“Genomics helps but it’s not always conclusive, so we’ve got to assume and there is nothing brave about it, it is just logic tells you, the assumption has got to be that there is other people out there who have got this, and have potentially spread it others, and they’re not part of our public health response, they haven’t got tested, they’re not isolating, and that’s why we have these lockdown measures in place
By Jessica Riga
More Pfizer appointments are available next week, too
Mr Andrews said there were “substantial numbers of Pfizer appointments next week”, with more than 10,000 slots still available and even more the next week.
The Commonwealth recently brought forward some of Victoria’s Pfizer supply from September to this month.
“Getting vaccinated is one of the reasons you can leave home,” he said.
“It’s a profound thing you can do to protect your health and the health of everybody else and as I said, get us open and keep us open. That is arguably one of the most important things that all of us can do.”
By Jessica Riga
Key Event
Victoria soft-launches Australia’s first drive-through vaccination clinic
“You book, you drive up, roll down your window, roll up your sleeve, get a jab, it’s that easy,” health official Naomi Bromley said.
“This is a fantastic addition to our existing state infrastructure. It will be a really good and convenient, simple, safe way for Victorians to get vaccinated.
“This first site is at a former Bunnings Warehouse location in Melton. It’s at 149 Barries Road and it’s operated by Western Health.
“Now, the site has been soft launched today. Invitation only, but from tomorrow, it will be open to bookings so, please, jump online, have a look for some of those bookings opening up in Melton and from tomorrow we’ll be welcoming people through for that drive-through model.”
The clinic is starting with Pfizer and from next week will have both AstraZeneca and Pfizer available.
By Jessica Riga
‘The best vaccine is the one that’s availiable to you’
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has stepped up.
“I’d say to any person between 18 and 39 considering getting vaccinated with AstraZeneca, speak to your GP, understand those really, really remote risks and make that informed decision.
“I’m a 52-year-old bloke. If I were 25 and AstraZeneca was the only vaccine available to me today, I would get it.
“Of course, it’s your individual choice but I have said all the way through the best vaccine to get is the one that’s available to you today.”
By Jessica Riga
Here’s where to get the AstraZeneca shot if you want to go to a state-run centre
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Royal Exhibition Building
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Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
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Melbourne Showgrounds
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Sandown Racecourse
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Bayside Shopping Centre, Frankston
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Plenty Ranges Arts and Convention Centre, South Morang
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Former Ford Factory, Geelong
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Kilmore District Health (outpatients building)
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Mansfield District Hospital (Anderson Hall)
By Jessica Riga
Key Event
By Jessica Riga
Key Event
Victorians under 40 to access AstraZeneca vaccine at state run centres from tomorrow
Victorians aged under 40 will now be able to access the AstraZeneca vaccine at state run centres from tomorrow.
The Victorian Government says the expanded access follows recent advice from ATAGI.
Authorities say Astra Zeneca will still be available to 18 to 39 year olds at partipating GP and medical centres.
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