Live: All the coronavirus news you need in one place

By Dannielle Maguire

Cases, hospitalisations and deaths

For a detailed breakdown of cases across the country, check out Charting the Spread.

Can’t see your state? Don’t fret pets! We’ll be updating this post throughout the day as numbers are announced. 

Victoria: 18 deaths and 7,223 new cases. 465 cases are in hospital, 62 of those in ICU

NSW: 22 deaths and 6,686 new cases. 1,614 cases are in hospital, 93 of those in ICU

Tasmania: 371 new cases. 10 cases are in hospital, one of those in ICU 

ACT: 458 new cases. 50 cases are in hospital, 4 of those in ICU

The ACT records 458 new cases 

There are 50 people in hospital with the virus in Canberra.

Four of those patients are in intensive care, with two requiring ventilation.

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We’re standing by for the NSW Premier

Dominic Perrottet’s press conference was slated for 11:00am AEDT.

But don’t worry, you’re not missing it – it just hasn’t started yet. 

I’ll bring you all the COVID news from that press conference when it does kick-off. 

NSW Premier to speak in about 15 minutes

Dominic Perrottet will be holding a press conference about a whole bunch of things – COVID, announcements about local projects and yesterday’s state by-elections.

But we’re only going to focus on the COVID news in this blog.

Tasmania records 371 new cases

There are 10 COVID patients in hospital, but Tasmania’s Department of Health says just five are being treated specifically for the virus – the other five are being treated for unrelated medical conditions. 

There’s one person in intensive care. 

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Victoria records 18 deaths, 7,223 new cases

There’s now 465 cases in hospital, with 62 of those in intensive care and 17 people in ventilators. 

That’s a decrease from numbers from yesterday’s figure of 79.

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Victoria’s Health Department is clarifying today’s numbers

You might have noticed that I didn’t post Victoria’s COVID stats right after NSW’s in the usual one-two punch of coronavirus numbers we’ve become accustomed to. 

That’s because Victorian Health Department deleted its COVID update tweet shortly after posting it.

We’ve been told the department is clarifying the number of patients in intensive care, with that now deleted tweet saying the figure had more than doubled.

Stay tuned!

What were yesterday’s COVID numbers?

While we’re waiting for the Victorian COVID numbers to drop, let’s look back to yesterday:

• Victoria: 19 deaths and 7,224 new cases. 487 cases are in hospital, 79 of those in ICU
• NSW: 32 deaths and 8,183 new cases. 1,650 cases are in hospital, 104 of those in ICU
• Tasmania: 456 new cases. 17 cases are in hospital, 1 of those in ICU
• Queensland: 13 deaths, 3,660 new cases. 508 cases are in hospital, 49 of those in ICU
• ACT: 428 new cases. 51 cases are in hospital, three of those in ICU
• NT: 1425  new cases. 170 cases are in hospital, two of those in ICU
• WA: 27 local cases
• SA: One death, 1,372 new cases. 213 cases are in hospital, 17 of those in ICU

NSW records 22 deaths and 6,686 new cases

There’s now 1,614 cases in hospital with 93 of those in intensive care.

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Catch up on yesterday’s news

To do that, you’re going to need the link to yesterday’s blog. 

Which is right here. 

WA being ‘vigilant’ about Perth hospital worker case

WA Health director general David Russell-Weisz has confirmed a worker at the Perth Royal Hospital has tested positive for the virus. 

While he’s unsure what role the worker has, he says he’s confident in the hospital’s processes to contain transmission. 

Dr Russell-Weisz says contact tracers are narrowing down the people the worker came into contact with: 

“If wouldn’t matter which staff member it was, we would treat them equally, whether they were a doctor, a nurse, a physio. we would go through their contacts, we would go through any staff, patients or family they had been with.

“Obviously there’s a more heightened response because they’re healthcare workers, but it would be foolish to think we cannot get covid in healthcare workers.

“We just need to be vigilant about how we respond.”

All year levels will be back in SA classrooms tomorrow 

SA students in preschool, reception, year 1, year 7, year 8 and year 12 went back to face-to-face learning on January 31.

But students in years 2 to 6 students and years 9 to 11 have been getting through their school work virtually for the past fortnight. 

So when they get to go back to an actual classroom tomorrow, it’s going to be a pretty big day. 

COVID case numbers have been trending downards in SA for the past few days, but Premier Steven Mashall says people can’t be complacent.

He says he doesn’t expect case numbers to spike as the result of a return to school, but he does anticipate it’ll see a decrease in the average age of those infected with the virus.

Good morning!

Welcome back to another COVID blog.

I’ve got my bloggin’ spoon ready and I’m keen to use it to scoop out some smokin’ hot COVID news for you. 

And in case you’re wondering – yes, I carved the bloggin’ spoon myself… from a bigger spoon.