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Victorian health authorities have added another tier 1 site with anyone who watched the new Emma Stone movie Cruella at Crown on June 12 at 7.30pm told to quarantine for 14 days.
The movie screening, which was in Cinema seven at Village Cinemas Crown between 7.30pm and 10pm, was attended by a person who has since been diagnosed with the virus, so anyone at the movie needs to get a COVID-19 test and quarantine for 14 days.
Anyone who was at the movie complex at Crown on June 12 from 7.15pm to 8pm and 9.45pm to 10.30pm, anyone who used the toilets at the public food courts between 9.45pm and 10.15pm plus anyone who visited Gradi between 10pm and 10.45pm needs to get a COVID-19 test and isolate until receiving a negative result.
Several tier 2 sites were also identified.
New Victorian exposure sites:
Pascoe Vale
Speedway Automotive and Quick Stop Food Store (Petrol Station)105 Kent Road Pascoe Vale VIC 3044
12/06/2021 5:45pm - 6:15pm
Case attended venue
Tier 2 - Get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result. Anyone who has visited this location during these times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result. Continue to monitor for symptoms, get tested again if symptoms appear.
Southbank
Village Cinemas Crown - Screening of Cruella in Cinema 7 Shop 5/8 Whiteman Street Southbank VIC 3006
12/06/2021 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Case attended venue
Tier 1 - Get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from exposure. Anyone who has visited this location during these times must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure.
Southbank
Village Cinemas Crown - General complex Foyer/snack bar Shop 5/8 Whiteman Street Southbank VIC 3006
12/06/2021 7:15pm - 8:00pm
Case attended venue
Tier 2 - Get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result. Anyone who has visited this location during these times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result. Continue to monitor for symptoms, get tested again if symptoms appear.
Southbank
Village Cinemas Crown - General complex Foyer/snack bar Shop 5/8 Whiteman Street Southbank VIC 3006
12/06/2021 9:45pm - 10:30pm
Case attended venue
Tier 2 - Get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result. Anyone who has visited this location during these times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result. Continue to monitor for symptoms, get tested again if symptoms appear.
Southbank
Public Toilets - Crown Casino, Level 1 Food Court (near KFC and Subway) 8 Whiteman Street Southbank VIC 3006
12/06/2021 9:45pm - 10:25pm
Case attended venue
16/06/2021 10:30pm
Tier 2 - Get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result. Anyone who has visited this location during these times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result. Continue to monitor for symptoms, get tested again if symptoms appear.
Southbank
Gradi at Crown (400 Gradi Crown) 8 Whiteman Street Southbank VIC 3006
12/06/2021 10:00pm - 10:45pm
Case attended venue
Tier 2 - Get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result. Anyone who has visited this location during these times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result. Continue to monitor for symptoms, get tested again if symptoms appear.
Victoria Police has made no applications to access QR check-in data for help solving crimes, the acting Premier says, but detectives in Perth have used information the codes collect in a bikie murder probe.
On Wednesday acting Premier James Merlino said any requests by police to use QR code data would need to come via a court order, but he was unaware of that happening since the systems were installed.
“No requests have been made,” Mr Merlino said.
Police have not sought access to data passed to the government via Victoria’s QR code system.Credit:Joe Armao
Data collected as part of the check-in system is encrypted and kept for only 28 days, he said.
On Wednesday, Victoria’s acting Police Minister Danny Pearson was asked by Liberal MP James Newbury at a parliamentary committee if police had access to data captured by the QR system.
Mr Pearson said Service Victoria had a record of people’s names and phone numbers and that information was passed to the Health Department where required to match with people’s addresses.
“In the event that the police wish to subpoena that, or a court order to access that data, that is something that would be dealt with through the normal processes,” he said.
A police spokeswoman confirmed all warrant applications must be approved at court.
Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson defended his force accessing SafeWA check-in data, carried out as part of murder and stabbing investigations.
He said the actions were lawful and done in exceptional circumstances, seeking information relating to the shooting of former Rebels bikie boss Nick Martin at Perth Motorplex in December and a separate stabbing in Victoria Park in March.
Read more: QR data not used by Victoria Police but could help solve hit on WA bikie boss
Victorians may not be able to get to Queensland, but New Zealand could be back on the cards.
New Zealand is preparing to lift its Quarantine Free Travel pause with Victoria next week.
NZ COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins announced on Thursday his government would extend the current pause to 11.59pm next Tuesday, June 22.
Mr Hipkins said all signs pointed to being able to lift the pause next week unless the situation in Melbourne changed.
This would allow quarantine free flights to resume from Victoria to New Zealand.
“It has been determined that the risk to public health in New Zealand continues to decrease and, at this time, public health officials consider it unlikely there is further widespread community transmission in the state,” Mr Hipkins said in a statement.
“However, in line with our precautionary approach we consider this short extension to be prudent.
“New Zealand health officials will keep a close watch on developments in the state but at this point their advice is that we would expect to be in a position to lift the pause at the end of the five-day extension. This will be reviewed if the situation changes.”
People living in Greater Melbourne will be banned from entering Queensland for another seven days.
The extension of the hot spot declaration comes ahead of school holidays, which begin on June 26 for Victoria, Queensland and NSW, with many people likely worried about whether trips north need to be cancelled.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said authorities were also urging people to reconsider their need to travel to NSW.
But Queensland Health has yet to state when they might be able to lift restrictions and whether it could be before the school holidays begin.
“We are continuing to monitor the situation in Victoria,” A Queensland Health spokesperson told The Age on Thursday morning.
“With Victoria announcing yesterday they will continue to have some local restrictions in place, the hotspot will remain in place for Greater Melbourne at this time.
“We will review the border restrictions for Greater Melbourne as Victoria continues to ease restrictions locally.
“Anyone who has been in Greater Melbourne in the last 14 days is only able to enter Queensland if they are a returning Queensland resident or required to enter for a limited range of essential reasons.
“Queensland residents returning to Queensland from a hotspot must quarantine for 14 days upon entering Queensland in government arranged accommodation at their own expense.”
NSW Health lists Victoria as an affected area which means anyone travelling to the state from Victoria must complete a self-declaration when entering while anyone who has been at a place of high concern, ie an exposure site, can’t enter NSW.
Northern Territory lists all Melbourne council areas as declared hot spots which demands anyone travelling to the territory from those areas needs to undergo 14-days quarantine.
Tasmania lists regional Victoria as a low risk so residents from those areas can enter the state as long as they register with the Tas e-Travel system while metropolitan Melbourne is listed as high-risk so anyone who has been in Melbourne in the past 14 days cannot enter Tasmania unless they are an essential traveller.
Western Australia requires anyone from Victorian to do 14 days of mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the state.
South Australia won’t allow anyone residents of greater Melbourne to enter and returning residents need to quarantine for 14 days. People from regional Victoria can travel to the state but need to take a COVID-19 test on arrival and isolate until they receive a negative result.
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Testing numbers in Victoria are up again, but so are wait times at some of the testing sites.
The wait in Bourke Street, Melbourne, is a whopping six hours, and it’s three hours at St Vincent’s Hospital.
According to the website, the Melbourne Showgrounds has extra capacity but the wait time is still about an hour, as is the wait at Northern Hospital, and Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.
As always, check the website before you go: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/where-get-tested-covid-19
After a little blip, active coronavirus cases dropped by one today to 54, down from 55 yesterday.
The other piece of good news from this morning is that testing numbers have risen again after dropping over the long weekend.
And here’s the record of daily local cases - it’s always a relief to see that red line hit a zero!
Victoria isn't the only state managing QR code controversy, WA Police have conceded they are not actively enforcing mandatory contact tracing registers and have not issued a single fine or warning to a business or patron for not checking in at a venue.
The requirement to sign-in at public venues was introduced by the state government in December, with most businesses required to ensure each customer checks in using a QR code or manual form.
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson defended police accessing SafeWA data while investigating the shooting of bikie boss Nick Martin earlier this year.Credit:WAtoday
Department of Health data showed QR code check-ins peaked in February and May, shortly after Perth lockdowns were lifted, however June sign-ins are on track to record a 25 per cent drop compared to the previous month.
Asked by WAtoday what enforcement action, if any, had been taken in relation to contact tracing compliance, WA Police initially redirected the query to local councils, with a spokesman saying police did not have carriage of the compliance.
However, councils were quick to clarify their designated roles.
“Local government have an educative and informative role in relation to contact register checks, with WA Police being the lead agency for enforcement action associated with non-compliance with the current contact register directions,” a City of Cockburn spokeswoman said.
“Only police can enforce compliance with contact register directions,” the City of Gosnells said in a statement.
Local councils were given authority in February to review whether businesses had appropriate contact tracing registers as part of their routine health inspections, but officers are only able to caution venues, and don’t have the power to reprimand a customer for not checking in.
While police aren’t actively enforcing the use of the contact registers for public health purposes, they have been issuing warrants to the Department of Health to access the data for investigations.
The breach of the public’s trust is expected to result in fewer people checking into venues.
Read more: Zero fines in six months: WA Police are not actively enforcing mandatory COVID check-ins
The Andrews government assured the Commonwealth it would use the one-off additional doses of Pfizer it received to fully vaccinate Victorians, and declared it was incumbent upon the state to ensure that supply was available for second doses.
Acting Premier James Merlino on Wednesday took a swipe at the federal government for the lack of certainty on the supply of the Pfizer vaccine, with Health Minister Martin Foley on Monday declaring the vaccine rollout was being hampered by limited doses arriving from the Commonwealth.
People wait to be vaccinated at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building.Credit:Getty
The Morrison government has disputed there are supply constraints, while the Andrews government has maintained it cannot keep up with the rate of demand at the current level of supply.
“The Commonwealth made it very clear to all states and territories at the last national cabinet that we don’t need to make provisions for second doses because they will retain them. If they can’t do that, then they shouldn’t be publicly scolding states for holding doses back,” Mr Merlino said.
“Victorians have turned out in their thousands to get vaccinated, but we can’t maintain this rate without certainty about supply from the Commonwealth.”
The Age can reveal that Mr Foley wrote to his federal counterpart Greg Hunt thanking him for providing an additional 130,000 doses of AstraZeneca and 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine to meet the increased demand for vaccine uptake in Victoria.
Read more: Top-up Pfizer would be used to fully vaccinate Victorians, state government told Commonwealth
The AFL isn’t the only sports league wrestling with coronavirus’ impact on their fixtures, as the American NBA reminds us.
Just days after leading NBA club Phoenix Suns to a fairytale berth in the Western conference finals, star point guard Chris Paul has entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
He is listed as being out indefinitely.
AP reported Paul has been vaccinated which could help him return sooner than other players who have missed two weeks or more earlier in the season.
The Suns swept the Denver Nuggets 4-0 in their best of seven games semi-final series and are awaiting to face the winner of the series between the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz with Paul scoring 37 points and dishing out seven assists in the deciding game four.
The Suns have never won an NBA title and were last in the NBA Finals in 1993 before losing to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
In recent years the Suns have struggled before acquiring the 36-year-old Paul in the off-season with the veteran star credited with inspiring their run back into the playoffs where they are four wins from the NBA Finals.
The NBA’s COVID-19 protocols are used to isolate players from their teammates if they have COVID-19 or have been a close contact of a confirmed case.
“One of the things we’ve said, if you’re nutty enough to listen to me around here, we’re just going to do the next right thing,” Phoenix coach Monty Williams said.
“And that’s focus on the next practice, the next film session. I just left our gym and the spirit was unreal. Our guys understand that we’ve dealt with stuff this year, other teams have dealt with it, it’s just part of the NBA.”
The NBA also announced on Thursday morning AEST time that one player had tested positive to COVID-19 in the 164 players tested since June 9. They didn’t specify if that player was Paul.
The start date of the Western Conference finals will be confirmed once the Clippers v Jazz, tied 2-2 heading into game five today, is completed, the earliest it could start is Monday AEST time.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMipwFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvdmlkLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtdG8tZWFzZS10b25pZ2h0LWluLW1lbGJvdXJuZS12YWNjaW5hdGVkLW51cnNlLXRlc3RlZC1wb3NpdGl2ZS0yMDIxMDYxNi1wNTgxa2guaHRtbNIBpwFodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvdmlkLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtdG8tZWFzZS10b25pZ2h0LWluLW1lbGJvdXJuZS12YWNjaW5hdGVkLW51cnNlLXRlc3RlZC1wb3NpdGl2ZS0yMDIxMDYxNi1wNTgxa2guaHRtbA?oc=5
2021-06-17 00:27:02Z
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