Stay up to date with all the COVID-19 news in our blog — as it happened

By Daniel Smith

Case numbers and press conferences

• Victoria: 1,221 new cases, 4 deaths

• NSW: 250 new cases

• Qld: 0 new cases, watch the press conference

• ACT: 11 new cases

If your state or territory isn’t listed, it’s because we don’t have either the day’s case numbers or a time for the relevant press conference. We’ll update this post as more information comes in.

Goodbye for now

Friends, we’re going to wrap it up there. Thanks for joining me and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for more!

Protest in Melbourne CBD

Meanwhile, in Melbourne, thousands of people have marched through the CBD to protest against the state’s COVID measures. 

The rally began at the State Library before making its way to the steps of State Parliament, where people listened to speeches. The protest has been noisy but peaceful. 

Changes in NSW Health case reporting

Good afternoon Daniel,

Is it true that from Monday, Nsw case reporting changes that they no longer differentiate between locally acquired and overseas?

-Chaitanya

Hi Chaitanya, yes, that’s the case. 

“From Monday 15 November, NSW Health will no longer provide a breakdown of locally acquired and overseas acquired COVID-19 cases in its daily updates, but instead provide a total of all cases,” a NSW Health spokesperson told Nine News.

Due to quarantine-free travel in the state, the source of infection can no longer be accurately reported on a daily basis, NSW Health said. Rather, the breakdown of local and overseas acquired cases will be reported in NSW Health’s weekly COVID-19 surveillance reports.

Brazil’s top court rules that companies can require employee vaccination 

While we’re overseas, let’s touch on Brazil, where 14,598 new cases were recorded and 267 deaths.

Brazil has suffered the second-deadliest coronavirus pandemic outside of the US, and the count came after the country’s Supreme Court suspended a government order that prevented companies from requiring employees to provide proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Justice Luis Roberto Barroso said the pandemic had killed 610,000 Brazilians and it was reasonable to surmise that the presence of unvaccinated employees posed a threat to the health of the others.

“The lack of vaccination interferes with the rights of others,” he wrote in his judgment, issuing an injunction sought by four opposition parties.

The government order was issued earlier his month by Labor minister Onyx Lorenzoni, who said that allowing companies to fire employees who refuse to get vaccinated was absurd and a violation of their rights.

Dutch government orders three-week partial lockdown amid COVID surge

We touched on this earlier this morning in our overseas whip-around, but worth focusing on a little more – caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced a three-week partial lockdown amid surging COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands.

The lockdown, which begins Saturday night Dutch time, is the first to start in western Europe since a new wave of infections began surging across parts of the continent.

Under the lockdown, bars, restaurants and supermarkets will have to close at 8pm, professional sports matches will be played in empty stadiums, and people are being urged to work from home as much as possible. Stores selling non-essential items will have to close at 6pm.

Mr Rutte also said social distancing would return. Masks are already widely mandated, including in shops and public transport. Separately, the government announced it would bring forward the start of a campaign to administer booster shots to older citizens and healthcare workers. 

You can read more here.

Two Canberra schools added to exposure list

Meanwhile, in the ACT, two more Canberra schools have been added to the list of COVID-19 exposure locations.

Bonython Primary School from Tuesday, November 9 to Thursday, November 11, and Duffy Primary School from Monday, November 8 until the following Thursday have been added to the list of COVID-19 affected schools.

Authorities say parents and carers who haven’t been contacted directly by ACT Health need to take no further action.

Meanwhile, New South Wales authorities recorded five new cases in the Canberra region, with four in Queanbeyan and one at Pambula.

Qld authorities still trying to find link between Gold Coast cases

Let’s continue the Queensland theme for another post – health authorities say there’s still no clear link between two mystery COVID cases on the Gold Coast. 

Two men, one of them an Uber driver, tested positive earlier this week. At this stage, there’s been no further spread.

Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Peter Aitken says contact tracing is continuing.

“It is still a concern… and we’d obviously like to get a full 14-day incubation period. Until that happens we’ll just continue to do the same thing.  If you’re in crowded places on the Gold Coast, and you can’t socially distance, we would encourage you to wear a mask. Importantly, if you’ve got symptoms, come forward and get tested.”

Q+A+C

Hey Dan ! Going to be triple vaxxed shortly. Is there any information on how that shows on my vaccine certificate??

-Triple vaxxed

Hey there Triple! We actually did an article on booster shots a few weeks ago, which may be helpful – you can check it out here. Basically, you won’t be required to show your booster shot on your vaccination certificate per se – it will just show your most recent two shots – but it will be recorded in the national immunisation register.

What real chance does Queensland have of reaching 90% vaccinated, with all the Anti Vaxxers and persons that can’t be Vaccinated.

-Dennis Martin

Hi Dennis, my precognition is on the fritz, so I’m not really able to answer that question. Queensland authorities, however, seem reasonably confident that it’s possible – Acting Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy, who is Vaccine Operations Coordinator, said a few weeks ago that the target could be reached “early next year”.

Thanks Daniel for the link to “Tracking the Jab”.

Just what I needed to keep me motivated and interested.

I’m a numbers guy

🤣🤣🤣

-Another Optimistic Victorian!

Details on the border pass process

Ms D’Ath is back up now, answering questions. 

She’s asked about how the border pass system will work once the state hits the 70 per cent mark.

She says even if the state hits that target tomorrow, it will take around 24 hours for the new system to go live. People will need their border pass, their proof of vaccination and a negative test result to get their pass.

She also warned people against trying to enter without being vaccinated or having a negative test result. 

“If you think you can get a border pass and get on a plane and get off at the other end and not get caught if you haven’t had your vaccinations or your test… there will be regular checks as people get off flights and we will be able to check that people are complying with home quarantine.”

“You tick all those boxes you will be eligible and you’ll get a border pass and you’ll be able to get on that plane.”

‘We’re not out of the woods yet’

Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Peter Aitken says although Queensland recorded no new cases, “we’re still not out of the woods yet, we have a long way to go”.

“We’re so close to 70 per cent [double-dose] but I’m also excited about reaching 81.11 per cent first dose … the closer we can get to 90 per cent, the better.”

Queensland records 0 new cases of COVID-19

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath says the state is at 69.39 per cent double-dose, and is “so close to hitting that 70pc double dose target”.

9,212 tests were conducted on Friday and Queensland Health administered 17,227 vaccinations.

Ms D’Ath says people on the Gold Coast are still being urged to get tested, with contact tracers still trying to find the source of the two locally acquired cases that emerged this week.

Watch the Qld update

We’re expecting an update from Queensland authorities soon – you can watch it in the stream above or on ABC Brisbane’s Facebook page.

Qld to hit 70pc double-dose target tomorrow or Monday

Speaking of Queensland, the state is poised for the first stage of its long-awaited reopening as outlined in its COVID roadmap. 

Just over 81 per cent of Queenslanders (16+) have had their first dose of a vaccine, while 69.4 per cent are fully protected. The state is likely to hit the key figure of 70 per cent either tomorrow or Monday, paving the way for people to enter the state from declared hotspots.

People entering must be fully vaccinated, arrive by air, have had a negative COVID test within the previous 72 hours, and undertake two weeks’ home quarantine. Meanwhile, the state government is holding another vaccination blitz at schools this weekend. Clinics will operate at more than 50 schools across Queensland in areas where vaccination rates have fallen behind.

Queensland update at 10am local time

Any news on the time of QLD update?

-Waiting waiting

Ask and ye shall receive.

Why aren’t Victoria’s numbers dropping?

Why aren’t our numbers in Vic dropping like they did in NSW? Wish we were only recording 200 – 300 cases!

-Still high

Hey SH, this is a question we get a fair bit, as you can imagine! My colleagues Tegan Taylor and Dr Norman Swan covered this in yesterday’s Coronacast episode, which is well worth a listen – you can do so here.

Essentially, the hypothesis is that Victoria’s outbreak is pretty different to the one in New South Wales. In NSW, cases were confined to a relatively small number of LGAs and authorities really focused on those areas with contact tracing and vaccination drives. They even took vaccines out of other areas to distribute to the LGAs where there were cases. 

In Victoria, however, cases were quite widely spread. That meant their resources have been stretched thinner on the ground and they were unable to pour a large concentration of vaccines into a few LGAs, so there’s more virus circulating in the community. 

The good news is that although cases numbers have plateaued around the 1,000 to 1,500-mark, we’re seeing the hospitalisation rate dropping, as well as a very gradual decline in the number of cases in the ICU (because once people are sick, they tend to stay sick for a while). Dr Swan says this may simply be the new normal Victorians need to adjust to – higher case numbers, but of lesser severity. Our numbers guru Casey Briggs illustrates this with his graph from yesterday:

SA ‘needs to be prepared as possible’ for borders to open

Over to South Australia, where the vice-president of the Australian Medical Association says he’s concerned the state won’t reach its vaccination target within 10 days.

South Australia’s borders will reopen on November 23, with authorities confident the state will reach its 80 per cent double-dose target by then.

Currently, 73 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated, and the AMA’s Chris Moy says vaccine rates have stalled at a critical time.

“We need to get that up, really make sure we’re as prepared as possible because we’re significantly behind NSW. Really, for anybody who’s not vaccinated, we need you vaccinated as soon as possible.”

NSW records 250 new COVID-19 cases

Victoria has recorded 1,221 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths