Summary
- NSW recorded four new locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. An additional case, which will be reported on Wednesday, has sparked concern about transmission in western NSW.
- Victoria recorded just one new case of local transmission from 37,509 tests on Wednesday, with an additional two cases in returned travellers in hotel quarantine. A positive case attended the MCG during day two of the Melbourne Test.
- Crowds at the Sydney Test between Australia and India will be capped at 25 per cent of the Sydney Cricket Ground. Spectators from some western Sydney suburbs around Berala will be fined $1000 if they attend.
- Victoria's COVID-19 response commander has warned the border with NSW could remain shut for all of January. The ACT will ban people from Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong for at least another week, with travellers risking an $8000 fine.
- One in 50 people in England had COVID-19 in the week between Christmas and the New Year, new statistics show. The UK recorded another 61,000 new infections on Tuesday.
Watch LIVE: NSW acting Premier provides COVID-19 update
NSW acting Premier John Barilaro, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant and Transport for NSW acting deputy secretary for Greater Sydney Howard Collins will provide a COVID-19 update at 11am AEDT. Watch it live below:
Latest updates
Australia will take a similar vaccine approach to trusted countries: Hunt
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has outlined the government's commencement schedule for the coronavirus vaccine, anticipated to begin in early March.
"We've been able to bring our vaccination commencement schedule forward from the middle of the year to late March, and now early March," he said on 2GB this morning, responding to calls for a faster roll-out.
He said Australia was taking a similar approach to Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan - jurisdictions that have been among the most successful handling the virus - and had committed to a full safety assessment process.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia was committing to a similar vaccination time frame as "trusted" countries such as South Korea, New Zealand and Japan.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"They're all looking at a very similar time frame. [It] puts us in the group of countries that have been highly successful but very thorough," Mr Hunt said.
He said those pushing the government to commit to an earlier date were seeking to follow the paths of Europe and North America, which had been less effective in responding to the pandemic.
Mr Hunt confirmed three groups would be eligible for the first round of vaccinations: frontline workers (particularly those dealing with international arrivals); health workers; and aged care residents.
"Then we’ll work through it in terms of age and other priorities which are currently being finalised by the medical expert panel... working down in age and then other vulnerabilities," he said.
The latter group would include people with a disability and Indigenous people. "That’s still being finalised but it's not a surprising approach: simply follow the vulnerability and the risk of transmission or consequence of infection," he said.
Mr Hunt said the government's priority was protecting Australians and maintaining confidence in vaccinations. Australia's vaccination rate was about 95 per cent for five-year-olds, he said, and he wanted to maintain that rate.
New Victorian case had contact with someone from NSW; hard border to remain
By Liam Mannix
Professor Allen Cheng, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, says the infected mystery case who attended the MCG did have contact with someone from NSW on Christmas Eve.
However, that person does not report feeling unwell – they are still waiting on test results – so Professor Cheng said he believed it was unlikely that was who passed on the case.
But Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said the Black Rock cluster and the new mystery case underlined the need for a hard border with NSW.
The Black Rock cluster has already been linked to NSW. Genomic work to determine where the mystery case came from is underway, but Minister Foley said it was likely that case was linked to NSW as well.
He said the hard border would remain until Victoria was confident NSW had its outbreak under control.
“At the moment, we aren’t that confident, so the border remains in place,” he said.
“It is unlikely the border will be removed before the end of January. But this is a day to day, week to week proposition.
"We see evidence of NSW virus spread in both numbers and geographic distribution. We want to make sure the Victorian community has every protection in place.
“We can and should get on top of this cluster. But we’re not there yet. And we won’t be for a little while yet.”
Professor Cheng said the decision to list Chadstone and the MCG as possible sites where the man may have contracted the virus was precautionary, and that there are several other locations where he could have caught it.
"To be honest, the household links and the people he visited are more likely to be links, but we’re trying to be cautious," he said.
The Boxing Day Test was the first in a long line of high-profile events scheduled over the next few months, including the Australian Open.
While Professor Cheng praised the MCG’s COVID-safe plan, he said the issue meant the state government was now reviewing all major events planned over the next few weeks.
Will you need to get tested or isolate due to the new alerts?
Victoria's COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar anticipates thousands of people will be affected by the new alerts, triggered by a mystery coronavirus case who may have become infected at the MCG or Chadstone shopping centre.
The Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging anyone who was in the Great Southern stand, zone five of the MCG, between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on December 27 to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
The same applies to a number of stores at Chadstone shopping centre, attended between 6am and 2pm on December 26. Exact details will be available on the DHHS website soon.
Have you been affected? Will you need to isolate? Let us know below.
Thousands of Melburnians will need to get tested, as Victoria hunts for source of mystery case
Victoria's testing tsar Jeroen Weimar says the new mystery COVID-19 case means several thousand people will probably need to get tested and go into isolation, as the government hunts for the source of infection.
The man in his 30s first developed symptoms on December 30 and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services was notified of his positive test on January 5.
"Given he has not visited any high-risk Victorian exposure sites or travelled to NSW, a number of acquisition sources are being investigated," a DHHS statement says.
The man was not infectious when he attended the Boxing Day Test and is not linked to any other case or to the Black Rock restaurant outbreak. The MCG is being investigated as a potential source for the infection.
Mr Weimar said there were about 7000 or 8000 people in zone five of the MCG on the day the infected man was there.
"A number of close contacts have already been identified and contacted and testing of these people has been undertaken. Contact tracing interviews are continuing to ensure we identify all primary and secondary close contacts," the DHHS statement says.
"The decision to identify the MCG and Chadstone shopping centre has not been made lightly and is precautionary to ensure people are informed and able to take appropriate actions."
Other possible sites for the source of his infection have been identified at Chadstone shopping centre on Boxing Day (December 26), between 6am and 2pm.
Stores he visited include Culture Kings, Huffer, JD Sports, Jay Jays, H&M, Uniqlo, Myer, Superdry, Footlocker and Dumplings Plus.
The Victorian government has asked its public health team to review the state's return to work timetable in light of the few infectious cases. Some 50 per cent of the private sector, and 25 per cent of the public sector, were due to return to work on Monday.
Positive case attended MCG during day two of Test
By Liam Mannix
A person with coronavirus had visited the MCG on day two of the Melbourne Test, the Victorian government has announced - making it an exposure site.
Anyone seated in the great southern stand at the MCG on December 27 - day two of the Boxing Day Test - is being asked to get a test and go into isolation until they receive a negative result.
Importantly, the state government says the man is believed to have not been infectious when he attended.
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan provides a health update, revealing a new mystery case in Victoria who attended the Melbourne Test and Boxing Day sales.
But anyone in the Great Southern stand on December 27 between 12.30pm and 3.30pm needs to get tested and go into isolation. That will likely represent many people.
The case was in zone five on the fourth level of the Great Southern stand. The MCG was operating a COVID-safe plan, meaning the state government believes it has excellent contact-tracing information from the stadium's ticket data.
Adding to the issue, the state government also says the infected person visited Chadstone shopping centre - Melbourne's largest shopping centre - on December 26 between 6am and 2pm.
To clarify, the infected man is not believed to have been infectious at either the Boxing Day sales at Chadstone nor on day two of the Boxing Day Test.
Instead, the state government believes he may have acquired the virus at those locations on those times - meaning someone else was likely infectious.
"This person was not infectious at the boxing day sales or the MCG. We’re more worried about who might have given him the infection," Professor Allen Cheng, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, said.
That is why people at those locations do not need to do 14-day quarantine. Instead, they are being asked to get a test and isolate until the results come back negative.
The state government says the new case - a man in his 30s who returned a positive result yesterday - is a mystery case.
That is worrying, because it means it is not clear who he got the virus from, raising the possibility of undetected chains of transmission.
Watch LIVE: Victorian acting Premier and Health Minister give COVID-19 update
Watch live below from 9.45am as Victorian acting Premier Jacinta Allan and Health Minister Martin Foley give a COVID-19 update. The state has recorded just one new locally acquired case of COVID-19 today.
South Africa and Brazil struggling to find space for the dead: the latest from overseas
We'll bring you Victoria's COVID-19 update live at 9.45am today, with acting Premier Jacinta Allan and state Health Minister Martin Foley due to front media. At 11am, we will show the update from NSW acting Premier John Barilaro, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant.
But in the meantime, here are a few more updates from overseas where the situation has been worsening in many countries.
Motorists line up to take a coronavirus test in a parking lot in Los Angeles this week.Credit:AP
- First, the 2021 Grammy Awards will no longer take place this month in Los Angeles and will broadcast in March due to a recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. An average of six people die every hour from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, and health officials fear the incoming Christmas and New Year’s surge.
- In Europe, Italy and Germany extended their Christmas lockdowns and Germany reported one of its highest daily death tolls. Spain is restricting travel, and Denmark lowered the number of people who can gather in public from 10 to five. France is likely to announce tougher measures Thursday, and Ukraine is closing schools and restaurants starting Friday.
- In Latin America, some warn the worst is yet to come. Brazil's number of patients in intensive care reached its highest level since August, just as the nation reopened shops and offices after the end-of-year holidays — and it still hasn't approved or received any vaccines. Some Brazilian hospitals re-installed refrigerated containers outside to hold the corpses of COVID-19 victims.
- Mexico’s capital has more virus patients than at any point in the pandemic and is flying in doctors from less hard-hit states. Its beach resorts are readying for more cases after thousands of U.S. and European tourists visited over the holidays.
- In Africa, Zimbabwe reintroduced a curfew, banned public gatherings and indefinitely suspended the opening of schools. In South Africa, which is seeing yet another fast-spreading variant of the virus and is the continent’s hardest-hit nation, authorities re-imposed a curfew, banned liquor sales and closed most beaches.
- And in Asia, even pandemic success story Thailand is fighting an unexpected wave of infections, blamed on complacency and poor planning. The government is locking down large parts of the country, including Bangkok, and considering tougher measures. Japan is getting ready to declare a state of emergency this week, beefing up border controls and speeding up vaccine approval after a surge of cases around New Year’s Eve.
AP
'I am so angry about it': Hazzard warns NSW clinics should not charge for COVID-19 tests
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has said he is angry about reports a western Sydney pathology clinic charged a family for a COVID-19 test, and will make clear to private labs that all tests should be provided for free.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said COVID-19 tests should always be free.Credit:Rhett Wyman
Labor MP Lynda Voltz, who is the member for Auburn, said one family had been charged $120 for their child's COVID-19 test when they couldn't produce a Medicare card.
"I’ve seen the receipt. This happened at a clinic that is advertised by NSW Health as a testing centre," Ms Voltz said in a statement.
"This is not the first instance nor the first clinic that has been brought to my attention by local residents who are being told they must pay for a test."
Speaking on radio station 2GB this morning, Mr Hazzard said he had also seen the receipt.
"I must say, that I am so angry about it," he said. "I have already been on the phone to the deputy secretary of [NSW Health]."
Mr Hazzard said NSW Health had generally had good help from private laboratories and the issue was most likely a result of miscommunication, but that he would be repeating the message on Wednesday.
"These tests should never be charged... In the end result, it should be absolutely free to the person who is helpfully coming forward to be tested," he said.
One in 50 people in England had COVID-19 over Christmas
By Bevan Shields
We briefly turn our attention to England, which has had its first day in national lockdown as infections surge around the country.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show 1 in 50 people in England had COVID-19 in the week between Christmas and the New Year. In London, where the new variant is raging, one in every 30 people were infected.
"One in 50 is really quite a very large number indeed," said Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer.
The UK recorded another 61,000 new infections on Tuesday and there is no evidence that the second wave is slowing like it has in the rest of Europe.
A further 830 deaths were recorded, bringing the overall official toll to 76,305.
The outbreak is so severe and widespread that the best chance of reducing how many people are infected, hospitalised and killed by the pandemic now rests on the rollout of vaccines.
However supplies of the UK's two approved products - one by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca and another developed between BioNTech and Pfizer - will take months to ramp up, forcing health officials to alter the dosing schedule so that more people can get the jab sooner.
Boris Johnson's top health adviser concedes there is a "small but real" worry that expanding the window between the first and second coronavirus vaccine jab could spawn a new mutant strain.
The UK government needs to vaccinate at least 2 million vulnerable people by mid-February to have a hope of ending a nationwide lockdown caused in part by a highly transmissible new variant which has sent infection rates soaring across Britain.
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2021-01-05 23:54:00Z
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