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Summary
- Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout is ‘going to plan’, says Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd. Flying squads of nurses are travelling around the country to immunise aged care residents, as healthcare workers and quarantine and border staff roll up their sleeves in hospital hubs. Our online calculator will tell you where you are in the vaccine queue.
- The second batch of Pfizer vaccines - 166,000 doses - arrived in the country on Monday night. Listen to our latest Please Explain podcast: Is the COVID-19 vaccine the beginning of the end?
- Victoria has recorded no new COVID-19 cases for the fourth day in a row. New South Wales reached its 36th day without a local case on Monday, while Queensland also recorded no new locally acquired cases.
- The coronavirus death toll in the US has passed 500,000, the highest reported of any nation in the world. The lives lost, as recorded by Johns Hopkins University, match the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled a four-step plan to ease England’s lockdown by June and also touted plans for a possible ‘vaccine certificate’ to allow entry into pubs, restaurants and offices.
Watch live: NSW COVID-19 update
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is due to provide an update on COVID-19 at 11am AEDT as the vaccine rollout continues in her state.
You can watch her press conference live, below:
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’Just ridiculous: Palaszczuk urges federal government to approve Toowoomba quarantine facility
By Lydia Lynch
Queensland’s Premier has ordered the federal government to “just get on with it” and approve a proposed quarantine facility outside Brisbane in southern Queensland.
The proposed quarantine mega-hub on the outskirts of Toowoomba would be built by a private company.
Annastacia Palaszczuk said it is “all about whether the federal government is going to allow international flights to land there”.
Brisbane’s Hotel Grand Chancellor, which saw an outbreak of the UK variant of coronavirus last month. Credit:Attila Csaszar
“This is just ridiculous, the departments are talking at length about these issues and it makes logical sense,” she said.
“The federal government should just get on with it.
“In all honesty, this should have been set up by the federal government months ago, they have had a year to do this.”
The federal government has said the proposal lacks detail, including who will staff the facility.
No flinching: Anthony Albanese gets his COVID shot
By Rachel Clun
There was no flinching as federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese got his first COVID-19 vaccine this morning.
Mr Albanese was immunised alongside Labor MP Peta Murphy, who has metastatic breast cancer, and Greens Leader Adam Bandt.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese receives a COVID-19 vaccination from registered nurse Yom Mapiou .Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The Opposition Leader said getting vaccinated in front of dozens of reporters and camera people was about showing the public that vaccination can save lives.
“It’s safe and doesn’t hurt. It’s a very good thing to happen. And it’s important that we encourage, as people in public life, people to get vaccinated,” he said.
Ms Murphy said she volunteered to be vaccinated to show it was safe for people with underlying health conditions. Those people will begin receiving vaccines in the next phase of the rollout from late March.
“If you fall into category 1b, then the public health message is that if you’re worried about anything, talk to your GP, talk to your specialist,” she said. “But like me, [if you] get the advice that it’s safe, get vaccinated.”
Out of luck and out of work, Peter Shnek just wants a job
Today, The Age continues its series on the people whose livelihoods - and lives - were upended by the pandemic.
My colleagues Henrietta Cook and Clay Lucas have spoken to 56-year-old Peter Shnek, who is surviving on JobSeeker payments.
He is a capable, reliable worker, but he has been overlooked by employers in favour of younger people.
At the age of 56, Peter Shnek found himself suddenly unemployed.Credit:Chris Hopkins
Before losing his job, Shnek was earning almost $1000 a week. But now, luxuries such as porterhouse steaks at the local pub have been replaced with cans of baked beans.
During his months of unemployment he has exhausted his savings. He sold his airconditioning unit and then his green Kawasaki motorbike.
“I loved it like my child,” he says.
“That was my only escape. I used to go riding on the weekends up in the mountains. I’d go out on the motorcycle and felt free.”
His Netflix subscription has been cancelled, his unpaid utility bills are mounting and his internet connection has been cut off.
This means Shnek is unable to apply for jobs from home and lodges applications via his employment agency, Matchworks. He has to apply for 12 jobs per month to qualify for JobSeeker.
Victorian government opens ‘market sounding’ tender for new quarantine facility
By Summeya Ilanbey
The Victorian government is “sounding out the market” on how best to establish purpose-built quarantine facilities to replace the state’s beleaguered hotel quarantine program.
The Department of Premier and Cabinet released its “market sounding” tender this morning, calling on businesses in the health, construction and logistics sectors to provide their insights, potential offerings and other information relevant to building a successful quarantine model.
The Howard Springs quarantine facility near Darwin was initially built as mining accommodation. Credit:Louise Radcliffe-Smith
Premier Daniel Andrews last week announced his government was examining alternatives to the current hotel quarantine model that has had several leakages of coronavirus into the community. He said it would be based on the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs model, which is a camp 25 kilometres outside Darwin’s CBD.
“People would be in the same location but would not be sharing the same spaces, so they’re not under the same roof line,” Mr Andrews said.
“It would be a cabin-style, village-style environment, where there would be fresh air, where there would be not zero risk, but lower risk.”
He said government officials were investigating using parcels of land near Melbourne and Avalon airports, and that the planning work was “well advanced”.
Through its so-called “market sounding”, the Department of Premier and Cabinet is asking businesses to “share [their] perspectives” on possible locations, infection prevention and control considerations, design and construction considerations, and how the purpose-built facility could meet Victoria’s immediate quarantine requirements as well as potential long-term uses.
Queensland’s Anzac Day parade a ‘priority’: Palaszczuk
By Lydia Lynch
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says her state will host traditional Anzac Day marches during the pandemic because she has made it a “priority”.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said it was too early for his state to make a decision about whether it would allow mass gatherings to commemorate Anzac Day on April 25.
Brisbane’s Anzac Day parade in 2015.Credit:Michelle Smith
Asked what made Queensland different, Ms Palaszczuk said, “well we have sat down and we have got on with it”.
“We have been making this a priority, I tasked this to my Assistant Minister, he reported back to me, we talked with [the Chief Health Officer] and today we are able to make this announcement.
“People have got to put plans in place, Anzac Day is not too far away.”
‘No community transmission in Australia today’: Queensland CHO
By Lydia Lynch
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer says there is probably no community transmission of COVID-19 circulating in Australia today.
Explaining why she had decided to recommend that Anzac Day marches were safe to go ahead this year, Dr Jeannette Young said Queensland had seven active cases, compared with more than 270 on April 25 last year.
“We do not have community transmission here in Queensland today, and we probably do not have community transmission anywhere in the country today,” she said.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young.Credit: Supplied
“That is what the difference is, that is why we can move forward and, quite rapidly really, return to normal.”
Why are politicians getting vaccinated?
By Rachel Clun
Politicians and high profile Australians have been getting vaccinated around the country.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison got his first dose, alongside Chief Health Officer Professor Paul Kelly and Chief Nursing Officer Professor Alison McMillan. Yesterday, South Australia’s premier Steven Marshall also received the vaccine in front of a pack of journalists and cameras.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday.Credit:Edwina Pickles
And this morning Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Bandt were the latest in a string of high profile Australians to receive the vaccine.
But why are politicians getting vaccines already?
Health Minister Greg Hunt explained the thinking yesterday. He said it was not about politicians skipping the queue, but rather about showing confidence in the vaccines.
“There is a reticence about being seen to seek a priority and none of us have wanted to do that,” he said.
“But equally, there’s a duty to provide that confidence, and so what we’re doing is showing, if we think it’s safe, if we’re willing to do this, then it’s safe for every Australian.”
Breaking: JobSeeker to rise permanently by $25 a week
By Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright
As we flagged earlier today, the government has committed to increasing the JobSeeker payment.
Unemployed Australians will be given a permanent $25 a week rise to the JobSeeker payment when the coronavirus supplement ends in March, following months of speculation about the future of the dole.
The dole is increasing by $25 a week.Credit:Jason South
The government’s expenditure review committee met on Friday to discuss the rate of JobSeeker and held a cabinet meeting on Monday night. A proposal to increase the unemployment benefits to $615.70 a fortnight or about $44 a day after March 31 – up from the base rate worth $565.70 a fortnight – is set to be taken to the party room this morning.
The new rate would be equivalent to an increase of just under $4 a day.
At the moment, with the $150 supplement, unemployed households are receiving $715.70 a fortnight. The supplement is also paid to those on other government payments, such as Youth Allowance, Austudy and Parenting Payments.
The extra supplement was worth $550 at the height of the pandemic when the unemployment rate spiked in July at 7.5 per cent but was tapered down as the economy recovered.
No new cases in Queensland
By Lydia Lynch
Queensland had recorded its 47th consecutive day of no locally acquired COVID-19 cases.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said no new cases were detected in hotel quarantine on Tuesday either.
There are seven cases active across the state and 6176 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
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2021-02-22 23:52:15Z
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