Summary
- NSW recorded four locally acquired cases, with one from the Avalon cluster yet to be linked to a source. Despite NSW Health reservations, the upper northern beaches will exit lockdown at midnight tomorrow.
- Victoria recorded no new cases for a second day, as Premier Daniel Andrews flagged he would make border announcements next week.
- Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown and masks will be mandatory until Monday after an employee at one of the city's quarantine hotels tested positive to the UK strain of COVID-19.
- State and territory leaders will discuss whether to tighten precautions on international arrivals at a special national cabinet meeting. All states and territories are set to begin testing hotel quarantine staff daily.
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia could start vaccinating vulnerable groups of the population in February. The federal government sealed a deal with Novavax for a further 51 million vaccine doses.
Latest updates
Watch LIVE: South Australian Premier Steven Marshall will address the media
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall is due to give an update at 12.20pm AEDT. Watch live below.
Panic buying frenzy as Queensland shoppers defy warnings
By Toby Crockford, Felicity Caldwell, Matt Dennien and Lucy Stone
Queensland Health have issued an urgent call to Brisbane residents not to panic-buy, reminding people that supermarkets are an essential service and will remain open throughout the three-day lockdown.
"There are no concerns that supermarket supplies are at risk during this three-day period," a Queensland Health statement says.
Queue at Woolworths in Paddington, morning of January 8.Credit:Matt Dennien
"Those attending supermarkets, particularly during busy periods, are reminded to practice social distancing and hand hygiene, wear a mask and follow all health advice."
A matter of minutes after Queensland's Chief Health Officer said there was no need to panic buy ahead of the state's three-day lockdown this morning, queues formed rapidly at supermarkets across the greater Brisbane area as people rushed to buy up toilet paper and other supplies.
An extensive line quickly formed down most aisles and snaked all the way to the checkouts at Woolworths in Paddington in Brisbane's inner-north-west. There was also a long queue just to get into the store.
The quick-fire panic buying was not limited to Brisbane, with Coles at Ipswich - also one of the local government areas going into lockdown this weekend - descending into chaos.
Panic buying has reportedly spread as far as the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, which are not going into lockdown at all.
Greenslopes Plaza has a queue wrapping around to Coles.Credit:Nine
All states and territories will test hotel quarantine staff daily
By Sumeyya Ilanbey
All states and territories will be testing hotel quarantine staff daily.
National cabinet has endorsed the Andrews government's push for the rest of the country to adopt Victoria's hotel quarantine screening process, including testing air crew on arrival.
Other premiers and first ministers pushed for weekly testing of hotel quarantine workers but were overridden, the Victorian government confirmed to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Upper northern beaches will leave lockdown despite 'reservations' about mystery case source
The upper northern beaches area is on track to leave lockdown after midnight on Saturday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has confirmed.
"Obviously, people of the northern beaches have had a challenging time in the last few weeks," he said. "Clearly, we were hoping there would be no reservations about opening up the northern end."
But he said one case, the man in his 40s first reported yesterday whose source of infection was still to be determined, "has caused public health officials a degree of anxiety".
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard.Credit:James Alcock
However, he said the high testing numbers reported in the northern beaches before Christmas had given health officials the confidence to lift restrictions despite their concerns.
"It is really the unknown that is worrying. It could be an indicator of unknown chain or chains of transmission still circulating in the far end of the northern beaches," Mr Hazzard said.
"But the view has been taken on the basis of the response we saw, particularly before Christmas, from the northern beaches residents, in their willingness and capacity to come out and get tested in enormous numbers.
"Public health has confidence, sufficiently, that if we can expect a similar response from the northern beaches, then we can, with confidence and some reservations, open up."
He said the most worrying part of today's case was that he had previously shown negative results.
"It is concerning. Perhaps, and there is no clarity here, perhaps he had a second infection of the virus. It is possible," Mr Hazzard said.
"Can I say to all of our friends on the end of the northern peninsular and northern beaches: yes, we are about to get you as normal as possible in a COVID environment in Greater Sydney. But please, please, come out and get tested."
Dr Chant said health authorities were "considering multiple scenarios to explain why this gentleman got it".
"But at the moment there is no clear-cut answer and we have to take seriously the risk that this person has been inadvertently exposed in the shopping centre or other limited exposure venues. We are doing testing, and that is why the best thing the community can do is to come out in force."
Six overseas travellers in NSW have tested positive for UK strain; four have South African strain
Six returned travellers have tested positive to the UK variant of COVID-19 in NSW during the pandemic, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has revealed.
A further four travellers have tested positive for the South African variant, according to results received last night, and are in managed NSW Health facilities.
"Further testing is under way to confirm these results, but as a precaution the 16 people who were accompanying that flight have, as a precaution, moved to [NSW Health accommodation]," Dr Chant said.
"There are concerns that this South African strain does share a similar mutation from the UK that may be associated with increased transmissibility. That is why we are taking a very cautious approach there."
Two cases with the UK strain and four cases with the South African strain are currently being treated by NSW Health. "They will be cleared when they are assessed to be no longer infectious," Dr Chant said.
Dr Chant said calls to block travel or flights from the UK considering the new strain would not necessarily be effective.
"I think we need to take a precautionary approach and that is why we are taking a precautionary approach," she said.
"One of the challenges of just targeting one particular country or UK strain is that we are a world, international travellers go everywhere, and I think we have learned that with COVID, we cannot block a particular group at a particular point in time.
"You must watch out because there will be mutation arising everywhere. I am pleased to say we have great genomic expertise in New South Wales, we are sequencing the virus whenever we get it from our overseas travellers."
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said new strains and mutations of a virus were "obviously a challenge" but not unusual.
"That is what happens and is the reality. Many viruses circulate to our community that in past times, like SARS, MERS and so on, were major issues for parts of the world. From time to time variation can occur which presents increased and decreased risk," he said.
Queenslanders in NSW will have to follow isolation advice
Acting NSW Premier John Barilaro says his state will not be closing the border to Queensland in light of today's Greater Brisbane lockdown.
"At no point during this pandemic have we ever had a knee-jerk reaction or treated the border like a light switch," he said.
Acting NSW Premier John Barilaro addresses the media during a press conference this week.Credit:James Alcock
"But we will be applying the same level of restrictions to those who are coming or those who are in NSW who have come from those areas [in Queensland]."
"If you are in the midst of travelling from Brisbane, as we speak, to NSW and you come from those [lockdown] areas, we expect you to abide by the isolation rules that would have applied to you as if you stayed Brisbane.
"If you have visited Brisbane and you are on your way to NSW, isolation rules will apply to you. If you are already in NSW and you have travelled to New South Wales from those locations since ... 12.01am on the 2nd of January, we expect you to stay isolated."
He asked people driving over the NSW-Queensland border to document their exact travel itinerary.
"I urge the public here in NSW to do the right thing and follow the rules and work with the government and our health officials," Mr Barilaro said.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the Brisbane lockdown was "a step the Queensland government have taken and they feel is necessary because of this particular variant of the virus".
"We are happy to ensure the rules they are putting in place for Queensland will apply to Brisbane people and people in Queensland until January 2," Mr Hazzard said.
"I would first of all say, if you don't have to come from Brisbane, don't come in the next few days. Comply with your government's requirements."
Four new local cases in NSW
NSW has recorded four new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 in the 24 hours prior to 8pm AEDT last night.
Two were close contacts linked to the Berala cluster, one was a close case linked to the Croydon cluster and one was the man reported yesterday connected to the Avalon cluster.
Three of those cases were already in isolation when they tested positive: a woman in her 50s and teenage boy who were household contacts of a case in the Berala cluster, and a child who was the close contact of a case in the Croydon cluster.
"One case remains under investigation, a gentleman in his 40s on the northern zone of the northern beaches [who] was mentioned yesterday in the conference," Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.
"Investigations continue into the infectious source of [that] man in his 40s who tested positive for COVID several days after completing a 14-day period of isolation. He was asymptomatic through his isolation and tested negative on three occasions through his isolation period."
"We have tested everyone [around] the gentleman and have not managed to find the source. We are having a couple of test results pending on some more casual contacts," Dr Chant said.
Seven cases were also recorded in travellers in hotel quarantine.
There were 26,112 tests conducted in the 24 hours until 8pm AEDT yesterday.
"But that number is on the low side," acting Premier John Barilaro said. "My plea at the end of this week is to continue the testing over the weekend, continue to get tested regardless of symptoms, mild or not."
Watch: NSW authorities provide COVID-19 update
We will now turn our attention to NSW, where acting Premier John Barilaro, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant are due to give a COVID-19 update. You can watch their press conference here from 11am AEDT.
It's been a busy morning in COVID-19 news, particularly for Queensland. To catch you up:
- Greater Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown from 6pm AEST tonight. Masks will also become mandatory during that period, which is due to end 6pm AEST Monday. You can read more about the latest restrictions in Queensland here. It follows a Brisbane hotel quarantine worker being diagnosed with the UK variant of COVID-19 yesterday.
- Victoria recorded no new locally acquired cases for a second day, Premier Daniel Andrews announced. He also repeated that he hopes to announce the removal of the border between Victoria and NSW next week.
- Premier Andrews said there would be more news to come later, in terms of advice for Victorians in Queensland and those looking to travel. Tasmania has declared Greater Brisbane a high risk area, and warned any arrivals who have been there since January 2 will need to immediately quarantine for 14 days. We'll bring you more updates on state borders as they come.
- The federal government has sealed a deal with Novavax for 51 million vaccine doses. This comes on top of the Pfizer/BioNTech and University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines, which were the subject of its announcement yesterday.
- And more news is still expected later today, after national cabinet meets to discuss tightening travel protocols to protect against the UK mutant strain of COVID-19.
Federal government seals deal with Novavax for 51 million vaccine doses
By Emma Koehn
Novavax, the Nasdaq-listed biotechnology company that has seen share price gains of more than 2400 per cent over the past year, has sealed its purchasing deal with the Australian government for 51 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The Maryland-based business told investors on Thursday evening US time that it will start working with the Therapeutic Goods Administration on approval for the doses.
The vaccine is still in phase three trials in the US and Mexico. Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Business Officer John Trizzino told this masthead this morning that the company expects to pass data on to the regulator as it becomes available.
“The regulatory pathway is all dependent on phase three,” he said.
Trizzino confirmed that it is still aiming to deliver initial doses to Australia in the middle of this year if the product is successful. Shares in the company closed up 3.5 per cent to $US128.18.
The Novavax vaccine is in addition to the Pfizer/BioNTech and University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines, which were factored into the federal government's vaccine rollout plan as announced yesterday.
Australia has entered four separate agreements for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, if they are proved to be safe and effective.
In case you missed it, below is the plan for who will get the vaccine when:
Supermarket queues form in Brisbane, but CHO says 'no need' to panic buy
There are already reports of busy supermarkets and long lines forming in Brisbane, as residents prepare to enter a three-day lockdown from 6pm AEST tonight.
Queensland state political correspondent Felicity Caldwell said people were lined up to get into Aldi in Fairfield and were social distancing, but not yet wearing masks.
She said the Fairfield Coles store was "the busiest I have ever seen it", as the checkout queue stretched the length of the store. Lines were also forming outside Coles at Greenslopes shopping centre within 15 minutes of the Queensland government's announcement.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has told people not to panic buy. "There is absolutely no issue, all our shops are fully stocked, there will be nothing stopping that from happening," she said this morning.
"There is no need to go and buy up big. If you've got enough at home for the next three days, just stay home and wait until next week to do your shopping."
People in Brisbane will still be able to go shopping while wearing masks during the three-day lockdown, and restaurants and cafes will still be able to provide takeaway services.
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2021-01-08 01:03:00Z
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