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Venue alerts in western Sydney, Melbourne's west and south-east
Although case numbers are dropping across the country, there are still some places in Sydney and Melbourne which health authorities are keeping an eye on.
In NSW, people who were at Campbelltown Golf Club on September 16 between 2pm and 4.30pm must remain in self-isolation until this Wednesday.
Then, there are a number of locations across Sydney and the Blue Mountains, as well as across Melbourne, which health authorities have flagged as places people who were infectious with coronavirus attended before getting tested. Here are lists for NSW and Victoria:
Melbourne to stage part of AFL grand final pre-game entertainment
By Claire Siracusa
The game might have moved away from the MCG due to coronavirus restrictions, but Melbourne will still play a part in the entertainment before the season decider.
The AFL has announced that Mike Brady will perform Up There Cazaly at the MCG. The performance will be beamed onto the big screens at the Gabba and into the Channel Seven broadcast.
The MCG in happier times. Credit:Getty Images
The league said it would be "a nod to Victoria and the traditional home of the Toyota AFL grand final".
The announcement comes as the league and Cochrane Entertainment, the organisation engaged to produce next month's grand final entertainment, are caught in a furore over a call-out for performers for the half-time entertainment.
Dance schools in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast were invited by email to have dancers apply to participate in a "large scale performance" on October 24 that was looking for "strong performers" over the age of 15.
The dance community said it was an example of performers being exploited.
How Melbourne met its step two target
By Craig Butt
The 14-day average for metropolitan Melbourne has dropped to 20.3 today, easily meeting today's target for reopening.
When the state's roadmap for reopening was announced about three weeks ago on September 6, the 14-day average for metropolitan Melbourne was sitting at 90.4.
The target set for today was 30-50 cases, and as you can see from this graph, Melbourne has more than met that goal.
We've used this chart in the blog pretty much every day for the past three weeks, but now step two has been met it will be retired.
But don't worry, the blog won't suddenly be bereft of charts going forward – I'm working on two new graphs today, which we'll post in the blog shortly, that show how Melbourne is tracking against its next reopening target.
Victoria is going for an elimination strategy, claims epidemiologist
By Rachael Dexter
The reason Victoria's COVID-19 restrictions are so much harsher than NSW's is that the Victorian government seems to be going for elimination strategy, according to an epidemiologist from the Australian National University.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Health Minister Greg Hunt hinted that Victoria should go further and faster with restriction easing, pointing to the situation in NSW.
"It will be important that more be done in the weeks ahead to safely ease more restrictions," a statement issued yesterday said. "We note that at similar case levels NSW was fundamentally open while remaining COVID-safe due to a world-class contact tracing facility."
Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist, said Victoria was going further than just trying to control the virus.
"If you look at what Victoria is doing, even though they're not saying it, they seem to be going for elimination," he told ABC TV’s News Breakfast program.
"Because if this was about control, this was learning to live with small numbers of the virus, when you get to the next stage, which is less than five cases per day, as a rolling 14-day average, if it were just about control, then you would skip step 3 and you'd go straight to the final step, or possibly even COVID-normal.
"But Victoria is not doing that. It is looking for periods of no cases for at least 14 days before they start to talk about going to the final step and then no cases for 28 days before going to COVID-normal."
Dr Senanayake said if Victoria achieved elimination, that it would be easier for the whole country to lift internal borders.
"With regard to travel and trade within the country and looking at bubbles, regionally, internationally – everything becomes a lot more attractive."
Some more details on Victoria's cases today
Here are some more details on Victoria's cases today, from Rachael Dexter:
The 14-day rolling average has dropped today to 20.3 from 22.1 yesterday and the number of 'mystery' cases with an unknown source over the past fortnight (measured between September 12 and September 25) is 31.
Both numbers need to reach below five before the next stage of restriction easing.
Meanwhile, Craig Butt tells me this is the first time since June 16 that Victoria's single-day case growth has been in single-digit figures. Here's the trend on a graph (just be aware the 14-day average on this graph is not exact because it does not use the DHHS data which includes excluded cases).
Victoria records just five cases
Victoria has recorded just five new coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period, and three deaths.
Yes, you read that correctly: single digits!
The last time the daily new cases number was so low was on June 12, with four cases reported that day.
with Rachael Dexter
Queensland, NSW premiers announce press conferences
Queensland and NSW's premiers have announced their whereabouts this morning, as the states provide their daily coronavirus updates.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will be joined by Police Minister Mark Ryan to open a counter-terrorism centre at Wacol at 9am.
Then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will be joined by her own police minister, David Elliott, to open a new emergency services training facility at Orchard Hills at 11am.
We expect both premiers will also be providing their daily case numbers and answering questions about the pandemic and, in particular, when restrictions will next ease. Stay tuned for live updates.
Victoria should show how contact tracing has improved: epidemiologist
By Rachael Dexter
The Victorian government needs to explain to the public exactly how contact tracing has improved as the state eases restrictions further, according to the Director of Epidemiology at the Doherty Institute.
Fast, effective contact tracing has been named by multiple agencies as absolutely critical to avoid a repeat of scale infections seen in Victoria's second wave as more businesses begin to re-open and more people begin to move around the community again. Doherty's Professor Jodie McVernon said while there had been a "massive scaling up of capacity" in contact tracing, the public needed to hear and see exactly what that looked like, and a clear plan for how to respond to inevitable outbreaks.
“I think what would be really helpful for the public to hear over the coming weeks is probably more of a dialogue about what that capacity looks like, but also if there is an incursion [outbreak], what is it that the public is going to do? What is the approach going to be? What will be expected of us?" she told ABC Radio National's AM program.
Professor McVernon said clear planning and communication about what would be required of the public happen in the event of new local outbreaks was key to keeping the virus at manageable levels.
“I think some of the government’s concerns has been that people will kind of go crazy when the restraints are lifted, but having that shared understanding that … you don’t need a model to show that there is a 100 per cent probability that we will have more incursions in the future so when those happen, how are we going to respond?” she said.
“It’s a bit like cleaning the house, you know? You can clean the house perfectly, but it’s going to get dirty again so what are we going to do next?"
When asked yesterday if he had assured himself that contact tracing was where it should be, newly instated Health Minister Martin Foley said "not yet".
"But give me another little while and I'm sure I will be getting briefings around how all of those key pillar elements of the suppression strategy will be delivered, because all of government is committed to the strategy."
States must lift borders to save aviation industry: Deputy PM
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has said Victoria's roadmap to recovery is not moving quickly enough, calling on all states to reopen their borders as the federal government announces more relief for the aviation industry.
"We want to get those planes up, flying again not just for the jobs in the aviation sector but [because] people want to travel," he told Today.
"As we head into the warmer months they want to be able to go on holidays in Australia. They want to be able to fly interstate. And they certainly want to have reunions with loved ones, which is always the case over Christmas. They won't be able to do it if the borders are still shut."
Speaking on Sunrise, Mr McCormack defended propping up state regional routes which few people would fly for another six months, saying the purpose of these flights was not just moving people.
"We can get key frontline medical personnel and protection equipment, that personal protection equipment, respiratory devices, the face masks, we can get those [in the air]," he said.
Under the package, to form part of next week's budget, domestic aviation's relief support package has been extended to January 31, with regional relief to continue until March 28.
Mikakos did the ‘honourable thing’ by resigning: Shorten
By Rachael Dexter
Former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has said Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos did the ‘honourable thing’ by resigning from Premier Daniel Andrews’ government over the weekend.
Ms Mikakos resigned on Saturday after the Premier appeared before the inquiry in the the hotel quarantine programs - failures of which led to Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19 – and stated that responsibility for the program was held by Ms Mikakos and her department.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos resigned on the weekend.Credit:Scott McNaughton
In a statement on Saturday Ms Mikakos disputed parts of Mr Andrews testimony, and said she could no longer serve in the Victorian cabinet.
Despite the ongoing, unanswered questions of specifically how the virus was able to seep into the community, and who made critical decision making, Mr Shorten said Ms Mikakos had done the right thing by resigning.
“It’s no small thing to be a health minister during a pandemic,” he told Nine’s Today show this morning.
“Minister Mikakos has done the honourable thing and resigned.”
Some members of the Socialist Left of the Victorian Labor party remain outraged by the circumstances surrounding the end of Ms Mikakos' political career, but sources within the faction have told The Age that the discontent was unlikely to create lasting internal problems for the Premier, who softened his stance towards Ms Mikakos on Sunday.
While some MPs and unionists paid tribute to Ms Mikakos, party sources said there was no appetite for punishing the Premier for his actions.
Mr Andrews said he was saddened by Ms Mikakos’ resignation and that she had tried to telephone him on Saturday morning, while he was on another call.
with Noel Towell
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2020-09-27 23:26:00Z
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