Brisbane gets set to host the NRL grand final thanks to Queensland’s day of zero new COVID cases, as New South Wales announces a “dramatic drop” in cases and a change to quarantine requirements.
Live updates
By Jessica Riga
Pinned
By Jessica Riga
We’re going to close the blog here
Thank you for joining us today! You can stay up to date with all the latest updates and breaking news here on the ABC News website.
We’ll see you tomorrow. Until then, take care. Here’s one last otter to see us home.
By Jessica Riga
WA indentifies 12 COVID cases aboard tanker docked in Fremantle Harbour
Testing has identified 12 positive cases of Covid 19 in 22 crew members who came in on an oil and chemical tanker which docked in Fremantle Harbour yesterday.
Three crew members have been taken to hospital. Two of those are in ICU. The others are quarantining on the ship.
There has also been a diplomat from Serbia who flew into Perth on 29th September test positive for COVID.
The man in his 30s flew in with his wife and child and all were self-quarantining in an apartment. The diplomat tested positive a few days later and the family has since been transferred to hotel quarantine.
Four close contacts have been identified – people who work at the apartments and the driver who picked them up from the airport. All of those people are self-quarantining.
The WA Health Department says the case is very low risk to the community.
By Jessica Riga
Air New Zealand to require full COVID-19 vaccination for international travellers
Air New Zealand, the country’s flag carrier airline, says it will require passengers on its international flights to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in what is one of the world’s strictest policies for travellers.
“Being vaccinated against COVID-19 is the new reality of international travel — many of the destinations Kiwis want to visit are already closed to unvaccinated visitors,” Air New Zealand’s Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said in a statement.
New Zealand plans to reopen its international borders, which have been closed since March 2020 to anyone who is not a New Zealand citizen, early next year.
Air New Zealand would implement the vaccination policy from February 1, the airline said.
“As with anything, there will be some that disagree,” Mr Foran said.
“However, we know this is the right thing to do to protect our people, our customers and the wider New Zealand community.”
By Jessica Riga
Melbourne bus services disrupted after workers test positive
Reporting by Yara Murray-Atfield
Two staff members working for Melbourne’s Transdev bus services have tested positive, leading to significant disruptions on five routes.
The Victorian Department of Transport said a worker from the Doncaster and North Fitzroy depots had contracted COVID-19.
A “large number” of other workers are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus.
The department said people utilising the following routes should check the PTV website or app to see how their journey would be affected:
Route 234 – Garden City to Queen Victoria Market
Route 235 – Fisherman’s Bend to Queen Victoria Market
Route 246 – Elsternwick to Clifton Hill
Route 906 – CBD to Warrandyte
Route 907 – CBD to Mitcham
Audience comment by TerryHart
I just wanted to say what a great job the two nurses at the Victorian conference did. Both the personal stories and the detail of how they are planning ahead were terrific. They were very impressive, handled it all confidently and were very straightforward. Obviously they feel it all very much but I really appreciated hearing from them. Well done to both.
By Jessica Riga
US surpasses 700,000 COVID deaths
The United States has recorded over 700,00 COVID deaths, with President Joe Biden calling the figure a “painful milestone”.
“The astonishing death toll is yet another reminder of just how important it is to get vaccinated,” he said in a statement.
He says the nation has “made extraordinary progress” in the fight against the coronavirus in the past eight months because of vaccines.
Biden says thanks to vaccines, “hundreds of thousands of families have been spared the unbearable loss that too many Americans have already endured during this pandemic.”
He notes more than three-quarters of all Americans age 12 and up have received at least one vaccine dose, including nearly 94% of all seniors.
AP
By Jessica Riga
Melbourne is set to become the most locked-down city in the world
By many calculations, Melbourne will pass Buenos Aires this week as the most locked-down city on the planet.
The Argentine capital has spent 244 days in lockdown during the pandemic.
Melbourne is set to far exceed the record, with Victoria’s roadmap indicating the state will only reach its next vaccination target of 70 per cent double dose vaccinations at about October 26.
While the levels of stringency have differed throughout the pandemic, Victorians may spend a total of 267 days in lockdown before restrictions and reasons for leaving home are again lifted.
By Jessica Riga
New isolation requirements and greater business flexibility: Here’s what’s changing in NSW
The NSW Health Minister has detailed new isolation requirements and how he expects businesses to enforce vaccination rules when the state opens back up.
The updated rules aim to give more flexibility to the fully vaccinated and prevent constant closing and reopening of businesses.
The updated rules will apply from October 11, which will be about four days after the state hits the 70 per cent double-dose vaccination target.
By Jessica Riga
New Zealand records 33 new COVID cases, Waikato region goes into snap lockdown
New Zealand has recorded 33* new locally acquired coronavirus cases, 32 in Auckland and 1 in Waikato.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the areas of Raglan, Te Kauwhata, Huntly, Ngaruawahia, and Hamilton city will move to Level 3 restrictions from 11:59pm on Sunday for five days.
The announcement comes a day before the government is expected to announce whethe Auckland will remain in lockdown.
(*One case reported publicly today, located in Hamilton East, is not included in today’s figures due to the time of reporting. This case will be included in tomorrow’s data.)
By Jessica Riga
Shadow Industry Minister Ed Husic tells Insiders Gladys Berejiklian played politics with public health
By Jessica Riga
Clarification around the 10 deaths in NSW
Some of you are asking about a clarification around the ten deaths reported in NSW today.
At first, Brad Hazzard said a child under 10 was one of the ten people who died of COVID. A few minutes later he clarified and said the child was in ICU.
“When I was referring to the cases of the young child, that was actually the ICU. The child has not passed away,” he said.
He then listed the ages of the 195 people in ICU:
3 are aged between 10 to 19
7 are in their 20s
17 are in their 30s
35 are in their 40s
49 are in their 50s
44 are in their 60s
35 are in their 70s
4 are in their 80s
Of those 195 people in ICU:
140 are not vaccinated
41 had received their first dose
14 had received two doses
93 people are on ventilators
This is what we know about the ten deaths NSW Health is reporting:
NSW Health is today reporting the deaths of 10 people with COVID-19 – six women and four men. Two people were in their 50s, four people were in their 60s, two people were in their 70s and two people were in their 80s.
Three people were from south western Sydney, three people were from western Sydney, one person was from south eastern Sydney, one person was from the Eastern Suburbs, one person was from the Wollongong area, and one person was from the Nepean Blue Mountains area.
Four people were not vaccinated, four people had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and two people had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The two people who had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine both acquired their infections in aged care facilities.
A man in his 80s from western Sydney who died at Auburn Hospital acquired his infection at Hardi Aged Care Facility in Guildford. This is the fifth death linked to this outbreak.
A woman in her 80s from western Sydney who died at Campbelltown Hospital acquired her infection at Northcourt Aged Care Facility in North Paramatta. This is the first death linked to this outbreak.
A woman in her 60s from western Sydney died at Westmead Hospital. Her infection is associated with Mount Druitt Hospital. This is the second death linked to this outbreak.
Two people died at home. A man in his 60s from the Wollongong area was not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions. A woman in her 50s from the Eastern Suburbs had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. She tested positive to COVID-19 following her death.
By Jessica Riga
NRL fans! These lovely people are running pop-up vaccine clinics at Lang Park ahead of the grand final
So you can get your jab before the big game!
By Jessica Riga
Ask and you shall receive
well done Jessica and team at ABC! I think we should celebrate the end of press conference bonanza with another otter ?
-Nat
Otters are the best. I named my middle child Otto after seeing the Otters at Dubbo. So much joy.
-Utterly Otterly
Oh my! Please enjoy this mama otter with her little baby.
By Jessica Riga
NRL grand final is still going ahead, but with COVID restrictions
Can we get our cancelled tickets back for today now please?
-Cancelled
Sorry Cancelled, the NRL grand final is still going ahead with a reduced crowd of 39,000.
By Jessica Riga
By Jessica Riga
VIC: Premier says there has not yet been a demand to justify more ICU beds
Reporting by Yara Murray-Atfield
Last year, the government announced it would scale up to 4,000 extra ICU beds across the state.
That promise has not been fulfilled, with ministers and the premier saying there had not yet been the demand to justify the beds.
Both nurses speaking at today’s press conference have discussed the fact their wards are at or nearing capacity.
“We’ll open beds as we need to,” Mr Andrews said.
“Because ICU beds are so precious, and because you don’t have unlimited numbers of staff, we don’t open ICU beds and then have them empty, with a nurse at the foot of the bed waiting for a patient.”
He said the state was hoping and “working as hard as we can to have less patients, not more”.
He reiterated his regular assertion that the biggest challenge was staffing, not equipment.
By Jessica Riga
VIC: Breakdown of today’s cases
Mr Weimar says the geography of the outbreak remains the same:
497 cases in the northern suburbs
361 cases in the west
236 cases in the south-east, where there is a continuing growth in cases
73 cases in the east
52 cases in regional Victoria
Mitchell Shire: 9
Shepparton: 8
Latrobe: 7
Ararat: 4 (linked to the Meatworks cluster)
Ballarat: 4
Geelong: 5
A few isolated cases elsewhere
Mr Weimar says the regional picture looks “pretty stable”, but there are 425 cases in total outside of Melbourne.
By Jessica Riga
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By Jessica Riga
VIC: 70 per cent of today’s cases are under 40
COVID Commander Jeroen Weimar is providing an update:
In the last 24 hours, 47 Victorians came into hospital with COVID
Over half, 54 per cent, are under the age of 30
70 per cent of those cases in the last 24 hours are under the age of 40
“We are talking about young people, and largely unvaccinated young people,” he says.
Mr Weimar says staying home, getting vaccinated and complying is “a small price to pay” to keep hospitals from being overwhelming
