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Vic government considering crowds for spring racing carnival
By Michael Lynch and Damien Ractliffe
The racing industry is hoping against hope that crowds, even if in limited numbers, will be able to make their way onto Melbourne's celebrated racetracks over the next month, with the spring carnival kicking into top gear on Saturday with the Caulfield Guineas.
Racing Victoria has given the go ahead for restricted numbers of media to attend Caulfield this weekend but owners and spectators are still on the outer, despite the fact that owners will be allowed to attend country venues from next Monday.
Racing minister Martin Pakula acknowledged that the Melbourne Racing Club, Moonee Valley Racing Club and the Victoria Racing Club, who stage the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup respectively, are desperate to bring atmosphere, colour and movement to their venues to preserve some semblance of normality in this most abnormal of years.
"We're working very closely with the metropolitan clubs on their aspirations for their big spring race days," said Pakula, who stressed, however, that decisions are contingent on wider circumstances as the government seeks to continue to flatten the coronavirus curve.
"We'd all love to see connections and maybe some racing fans there during our group 1 classics but we don't want to jeopardise our steady exit from restrictions, nor would we want to put at risk the amazing job racing has done to continue right through this pandemic."
Melbourne has '50% chance or less' of reaching step three easing targets
By Michael Fowler
They suggest Melbourne should follow a number of measures to safely reopen, including increasing the focus on "super-spreaders".
They said super-spreading events, such as when an infectious person goes to work and spreads the virus to their colleagues, must be identified quickly and their close contacts followed up urgently by health officials.
"At our current low case numbers, we can also focus on who the newly identified person has subsequently been in contact with," they said.
Professor McVernon and Professor McCaw, who provide modelling to the state government, said the behaviour of individuals would be crucial to controlling the spread of the virus.
"It's clear Melbourne cannot stay in lockdown indefinitely," they said. "Lockdowns are an emergency brake on widespread community transmission."
Diplomats exempt from hotel quarantine test positive for COVID-19
By Kate Aubusson and James Massola
NSW Health staff are growing increasingly concerned that COVID-positive foreign diplomats exempt from hotel quarantine are a vulnerable gap in the state's coronavirus defences.
Anxiety over diplomatic exemptions intensified within the health ministry when five family members of two Indonesian diplomats were diagnosed with COVID-19 after arriving in Sydney on September 30.
NSW Health staff were called in to trace the movements of the families to identify anyone who may have come in contact with them while infectious.
There is no suggestion that the families breached self-isolation instructions or did anything wrong. When the family tested positive for COVID, they were moved to a health hotel overseen by NSW Health "for the abundance of caution", a NSW Health spokesperson said.
"The families have cooperated fully with NSW Health through the process and present no risk to the broader community," NSW Health said.
But the case exposed the unnecessary risk of transmission and diversion of contact tracing resources posed by the diplomatic exemptions, which relies on embassy staff and their families honouring self-isolation directives – a level of trust not extended to Australians returning from overseas who must pay for their 14-day mandatory stay in hotel quarantine.
Read the full article by Kate Aubusson and James Massola here.
Top female basketball players take pay cut to make shortened season work
By Roy Ward
WNBL players are grateful to be on court but preparing for the toughest campaign of their careers, playing a six-week, condensed season, starting in north Queensland next month.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the deal on Friday, which will see the eight WNBL sides play 14 games each in 32 days, with the top four making the finals. Finals will involve a qualification semi-final and elimination semi-final, a preliminary final and the grand final.
Players have also taken a 15 per cent pay cut for those above the $13,000 minimum wage and shortened the term of their contracts to fit the shorter season.
NSW adds new venues to high-risk COVID spots
By Matt Bungard
NSW Health has alerted the public to three new locations which were visited by people with an active case of COVID-19 over the past week.
"Anyone who attended the following venues is considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received," NSW Health said.
"These cases will be included in tomorrow’s numbers and contact tracing is underway."
The three new venues are:
- Palm Beach Fish & Chips, Barrenjoey Rd Palm Beach on Monday October 5 from 3.45pm to 4pm
- S-mart Eastwood, Rowe St Eastwood on Monday October 5 from 7.30pm to 7.45pm
- Aldi Eastwood on Tuesday October 6 from 11am to midday
How is Melbourne tracking against its step three reopening targets?
By Craig Butt
I've made an update to the graph showing the total number of new cases over the past few days against Melbourne's October 19 reopening target.
The change is because Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services has removed one of the 11 cases announced on Thursday from that day's tally, taking the total for October 7 (the day that person's positive test result was received) to 10.
For Melbourne's 14-day average to meet the October 19 reopening target there can be no more than 70 COVID-19 cases confirmed in the fortnight to that date.
The new cases tally over the past four days has been reduced from 42 to 41, but doesn't change the fact that for Melbourne to reach one of its step three reopening targets it still has to record three or fewer cases over the next 10 days.
The other target is for there to be five or fewer mystery cases (cases where the infection source cannot be traced) for two weeks leading up to October 19.
The reference period for the mystery cases target is October 3 to October 16. There was one case who tested positive on October 3 for whom the infection source could not be traced, two on October 4 and one on October 5.
That means that three days into the 14-day reference period there have been four mystery cases recorded against the limit of five:
As of Friday afternoon, there are 16 cases from the past four days where the infection source is still being investigated, and any of these cases has the potential to be added to the mystery cases tally.
It's worth mentioning, however, that the reopening targets are not set in stone and the state government has flagged it will be looking into the context of the cases before it makes a decision on the next stage of reopening.
Mildura case confirmed as a false positive
A COVID-19 case in regional Victoria's north-west has been confirmed as a false positive by health authorities.
The case in Mildura which was reported on Thursday has now been confirmed as a false positive, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The case will be removed from regional cases totals tomorrow, leaving just four active cases across regional Victoria, all of which are in Mitchell Shire.
Six of Friday's new cases were linked to known outbreaks, including two tied to the Uniting AgeWell aged care facility in Preston and single cases linked to the family outbreak in Frankston, the Butcher Club-Chadstone cluster and the Oddfellows Café outbreak in Kilmore. Five other cases remain under investigation.
The local government areas confirmed to have new COVID-19 cases today are Wyndham, which has two new cases, with single cases in Bayside, Darebin, Frankston, Greater Dandenong, Hobsons Bay, Knox, Port Phillip and Mitchell Shire.
Victoria's total active COVID-19 cases dropped to 195 on Friday, the first time under 200 since June 26. There are now 19 healthcare workers who have the virus, with 45 active cases connected to aged care.
More information on Victoria's outbreaks:-
- An additional staff member connected to Box Hill hospital has tested positive for COVID-19 after an outbreak on the COVID ward, which now includes three staff members and one patient.
- There are still 21 active cases connected to Estia Aged Care Facility in Keilor (a total cluster size of 51).
- 28 active cases are linked to the Chadstone Shopping Centre outbreak.
- The Frankston Family outbreak has seven cases still active, with a total of 12 cases.
- There are now six positive cases linked to Electra Park Medical Centre Ashwood.
- Five cases are connected to the Oddfellows Café in Kilmore.
Qld police fine Vic carnival operators $4000 each for wrong border passes
By Toby Crockford
Queensland police have fined 16 carnival workers $4003 each after they entered the Sunshine State using incorrect border passes on Monday.
The group, which numbered 17 in total, was identified by authorities in the city of Mackay on the central Queensland coast on Wednesday.
They were all quarantined and tested, but all returned negative COVID-19 results. The group claims they only travelled to Queensland to deliver show rides to one location.
However, police allege the group, in fact, intended to stay in the state and operate show rides at various Queensland locations.
Police confirmed sixteen adults were fined on Friday, while the 17th member of the group was not fined because they are only a child.
The group entered Queensland using freight border passes, but detectives say "the group failed to meet strict conditions" attached to this pass.
The carnival workers are on their way to NSW after being ordered to leave Queensland by police.
Fixture drama: Quarantined Vics seek delay in Shield opener against NSW
By Jon Pierik
Cricket Australia is facing more scheduling drama because of COVID-19 restrictions, this time in the Sheffield Shield with Victoria seeking a delay in their opening clash against NSW.
The Vics this week have begun their fortnight of quarantine in South Australia but heightened restrictions mean they are given a police escort to training and can only train in groups of four, of which each member must socially distance.
Peter Handscomb's Vics are under strict quarantine in South Australia for the Sheffield Shield.Credit:Getty Images
This has caused major issues in terms of the fast bowlers having adequate preparation, for the Vics and Blues are due to meet on October 22 - just two days after the Vics emerge from quarantine.
The Shield season starts on Saturday with all six states in South Australia but Victoria and NSW already had a bye in the opening round because of the Vics' need to quarantine because of Melbourne's COVID-19 issues.
Victorian captain Peter Handscomb revealed on Friday that he had raised concerns with his sports science staff and said Cricket Victoria and CA were in discussions.
"It is something that I have flagged with our physio and that kind of department. I want to really make sure our bowlers are getting what they need to be able to play a game two days outside of quarantine, which could be tough," he said.
You can read the full article by cricket writer Jon Pierik here.
Australia travel ban likely to remain until late 2021: industry reacts
By Craig Platt
The Australian tourism industry has called for urgent consultation with the federal government after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg flagged that international borders would remain closed throughout 2021 in an address to the National Press Club this week.
"International travel, including by tourists and international students, is assumed to remain largely closed off until late next year and then gradually return over time, and a vaccine to be available around the end of 2021 is one of the assumptions in the budget," Mr Frydenberg said.
Simon Westaway, executive director of the Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC) said the federal budget painted a "sobering picture" for the travel industry.
He said that while the industry had steeled itself for a closed international border into early 2021, the assumption that borders would only properly re-open in late 2021 demanded "more rigorous debate and engagement between industry and government".
"That new conversation needs to happen now," he said.
While ATIC welcomed the opening of a small travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand, allowing New Zealanders to enter NSW, the ACT and Northern Territory, Mr Westaway said this measure alone achieved little for the industry.
"It's a start, but what's absolutely paramount is a realistic and even boundary-pushing plan to get our international market moving again and with a timeline," he said.
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2020-10-09 08:23:00Z
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