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Well, that’s been a busy few weeks. We are no longer prepared to put an end date on our coronavirus blog because, as many of our regular readers know, that just angers the coronavirus gods and we end up with a new cluster – and the forced return of our blog.
So as Victorians, tired but hopeful, emerge from another lockdown, we’ll wish you a wonderful weekend and perhaps we’ll see you again on Monday. Or perhaps not.
It’s been a pleasure to be here with you all today.
Get tested, get jabbed and stay safe!
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has had her COVID-19 vaccine dose.
The Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in New Zealand and the country has secured 10 million doses, enough for its population to receive two doses.
After the vaccination today, Ms Ardern said she never wanted to be among the first to get the jab and the front-line workers had been the government’s focus.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern receives her first Pfizer vaccination on Friday. Ardern’s first dose comes just over four months after the first person was vaccinated in New Zealand.Credit:Getty Images
“But I also need to be a role model and this demonstrates that it’s safe, that it’s effective and that it’s really important that everyone is vaccinated when they have their opportunity,” she said.
Ms Ardern yesterday announced the rollout plan for the general population with those aged over 60 offered vaccinations from July 28 and those over 55 from August 11.
Following that, those over 45 will be eligible from mid to late August, and those over 35 from mid to late September. The remaining members of the general population, aged 16 and over, will be eligible from October.
“From the end of July we will enter a new phase of our vaccination program when we start receiving the bulk of our vaccines and are able to broaden the rollout considerably to the wider population,” Ms Ardern said in a statement.
As of 11.59pm on Tuesday, there had been a total of 891,702 Pfizer doses administered in New Zealand including 567,188 first doses and 324,514 second doses.
There are currently no queues for COVID-19 vaccines at two of Melbourne’s mass vaccination hubs, including the centre inside the Royal Exhibition Building.
The Health Department’s website is currently showing no delays at many vaccination centres across the state and this recent photo from Getty Images shows the walk-in queue at the Carlton centre doesn’t make it out the front door.
The COVID-19 vaccination centre at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton on Friday afternoon.Credit:Getty Images
The website is also showing no delays at the Melbourne Showgrounds centre in Ascot Vale, but notes the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre site is not currently taking walk-ins.
Coronavirus cases in Victoria were growing at a rate of 10 per cent to 30 per cent a week before the statewide lockdown started on May 27, Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng has revealed.
Asked about Victoria’s effective reproduction rate, or “Reff”, by Nationals MP Danny O’Brien at the public accounts and estimates committee this afternoon, Professor Cheng confirmed it was between 1.1 and 1.3 before the lockdown.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng.Credit:Joe Armao
“1.3 would mean we expect 30 per cent more cases after six or seven days, so that is still a growing epidemic,” he said.
“What we really need is to get it below one. And I think, for example, at one point last year it was 0.9 or so. That is still a very slow rate of decline.”
Professor Cheng, who is the acting Chief Health Officer in place of the on-leave Brett Sutton, said a sharp intervention such as a lockdown was therefore needed to bring the Reff number well below one.
“Otherwise you’d be extending it for a long period of time. But 1.3 is clearly too high and it does mean an epidemic that is continuing to spread.”
He estimated that by the end of Melbourne’s two-week lockdown last Thursday, the Reff was 0.7.
Earlier, Mr O’Brien – not to be confused with Liberals leader Michael O’Brien – probed Health Minister Martin Foley on why a statewide lockdown was necessary when there were no cases in regional Victoria. Mr Foley said all decisions were based on public health advice.
NBA championship winner Matthew Dellavedova has spoken up for more than 40 Victorian teenagers who can’t play at the national under-16 basketball championships due to a ruling from WA Health officials.
Basketball Victoria had worked for several weeks with the players, coaches and parents from the Vic Metro and Vic Country under-16 male and female sides to create a way the teenagers could be admitted to WA to play in the national titles set for July 4-11 in Perth.
But less than 24 hours before the teams were scheduled to travel to a school camp site in Bridgetown in country WA to quarantine for 14 days, the WA government nixed the plan citing concerns over the shared toilet and shower facilities.
Vic Country boys are one of four Victorian sides denied the chance to play at the under-16 nationals in WA next month. Jet Kneebone is pictured playing for Vic Country at the 2019 event.Credit:Basketball Victoria
Basketball Victoria had previously been assured by camp management that they had hosted other big groups for quarantine purposes while local police had cleared their arrival and the local hospital had agreed to do COVID-19 testing during their stay.
The travelling party of 70 had committed to more than 24 days away from home and would be playing despite the bulk of the group being unable to play or train regularly for over a month due to the recent lockdown in Victoria.
Mr Dellavedova, a former Vic Country player, urged authorities to find another way to allow the players to play at the nationals which were first run in 1955 and remain a springboard for many athlete athletes including NBA all-star Ben Simmons, AFL star Christian Petracca and Opals and WNBA star Liz Cambage.
“This is really sad for the kids, has to be a better solution,” Mr Dellavedova tweeted along with a broken heart emoji.
Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said each state made its own health rules.
“It’s incredibly disappointing for the under-16 teams that were scheduled to go to Perth,” Mr Merlino said.
“Basketball Victoria got in touch with my office late yesterday [Thursday] and I completely understand their frustration.
“It’s inappropriate for me to have a go at public health advice in other jurisdictions. They’re the rules that WA Health have set for anyone travelling in from Victoria for that event.
“But I do understand their frustrations and I’m dealing with this issue as education minister as we try to sort out how to play these kind of national, interstate events within our government school system.
“It’s a very hard thing to deliver in this current environment.”
The WA government said the party of 70 players, coaches and parents would need to do hotel quarantine in WA at their own expense which was too expensive for many in the group with a combined cost of around $250,000.
Basketball Victoria chief executive Nick Honey said the association had received mixed messages from the WA government and his players were shattered to miss the event.
“In spite of the best attempts of our staff and the amazing sacrifices made by players, coaches and parents alike, we were informed on Thursday evening that self-isolation at the nominated facility was no longer an option,” Mr Honey said.
“We were assured that this facility met the necessary standards for our 70-person travelling group to self-isolate and the teams have done everything in their power to get to Western Australia and abide by the rules.
“It is disappointing for the Western Australian Government to send mixed messages and effectively stop our Victorian under-16 representatives from representing their state.”
Victoria’s deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng has explained the conflicting considerations for government decision-makers in countering conspiracy theories around vaccines.
Speaking at the public accounts and estimates committee, Professor Cheng said society generally split into three groups around vaccine enthusiasm: those who are very enthusiastic, those who will never get vaccinated and a “large group of people in the middle, who want someone else to go first perhaps”.
Responding to Liberal Democrat MP David Limbrick’s statement that he believed a vacuum of information around vaccines was allowing conspiracy theories to thrive, Professor Cheng said communications were generally targeted at that middle group of people who were slightly hesitant. As a result, those communications should be mainstream and accessible.
“You don’t want to give conspiracy theorists too much oxygen because it in some way validates the message and brings it into prominence where they might otherwise not get very much hearing,” said Professor Cheng, deputising as acting Chief Health Officer in place of Brett Sutton today.
“Equally, frank misinformation does need to be addressed at some level. So it’s a difficult issue and clearly there are a lot of conspiracy theories around, so you can’t address them all.“
Acting Premier James Merlino criticised the federal government for a lack of advertising around the vaccine earlier today.
Questioning to Health Minister Martin Foley and the Health Department continues until 4.55pm.
Denied the chance to watch their team bid to host the A-League grand final in their own city, Melbourne City fans can still cheer them on this weekend when they take on League newcomers Macarthur in the second semi-final.
City won the premiership and earned the right to host their own semi final. However, COVID restrictions in Melbourne saw the A-League match moved to Sydney, where Macarthur is based, in the hope of attracting a crowd and generating revenues.
Had the match been played at AAMI Park as scheduled, it would have been behind closed doors.
Frustrated City players and management are resigned to travelling this weekend, but their fans cannot. So the club is organising a livestream of the event at Welcome to Thornbury on Sunday afternoon, giving fed up fans – some of whom had booked flights to Sydney which have now been cancelled – a chance to get together.
City captain Scott Jamieson made his feelings clear about the decision to shift the match at such short notice.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” he said. “The decision to take it away from the team that earned it is utterly disappointing. But at the same time, the decision has been made. Greg (O’Rourke, head of the A-League) made the decision and that’s on Greg and his team, so it is what it is.
“We move forward and that’s all you can do.
“I have many views but I will choose to air them at a different time. Ultimately, I will say that the team that has finished first hasn’t got a home semi-final and that’s on Greg and his team and they’ve made that decision.
“We let everyone [at City] say their piece yesterday and air their frustrations internally. And then we had a good sleep and now we’re ready.
“All I can say is that ultimately, all you guys know, all we know is that we won the league and, essentially, you earn the right to play at home. For some reason that hasn’t been properly disclosed, they’ve moved our game to Sydney.”
A coronavirus-infected couple from Victoria who sparked a COVID-19 scare after crossing the Queensland border at Goondiwindi have been fined $4000 each by police.
Police will allege the duo travelled into Queensland on June 5 after having been in Victoria and deliberately provided false information to obtain a Queensland Border Declaration Pass.
They travelled through NSW to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, visiting several places including Toowoomba.
The pair were released from hospital on Friday after undergoing treatment for COVID-19.
Queensland police interviewed the 48-year-old man and 44-year-old woman and they were issued with a penalty infringement notice for failing to comply with a COVID-19 border direction by providing untrue information.
More than 900 contacts of the couple were tested by Queensland Health, while a new temporary vaccination site was opened in Caloundra earlier this month after a spike in people coming forward to receive the jab following the COVID-19 scare.
Vitriol between the Victorian government and opposition MPs over Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has broken out within minutes of the public accounts and estimates committee resuming this afternoon.
Professor Sutton is absent today because he is on leave, replaced by Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng.
Liberal MP Richard Riordan’s first question to Health Minister Martin Foley was whether it was his decision for Professor Sutton not to attend this afternoon’s hearings.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.Credit:Eddie Jim
Labor MP Gary Maas interjected with a point of order, questioning the relevance of the question to the topic of the hearings, which are focused on the state budget.
Other opposition MPs were none too impressed. “The protection racket starts”, exclaimed Liberal MP James Newbury, followed by Nationals MP Danny O’Brien, who pointed out the budget papers mentioned “COVID” 1004 times and Professor Sutton four times.
Crossbencher David Limbrick, from the Liberal Democrats, stepped in to say he also thought it was a fair question.
Mr Riordan followed up by asking Mr Foley whether he thought it was a good look that Professor Sutton was “out wining and dining in Canberra when the rest of Victoria was not able to” this week. Professor Sutton flew up to Canberra on Wednesday for medical events that continued into yesterday.
Mr Maas again interjected to question the relevance and Mr Newbury responded furiously. “This is a farce,” he said.
Victorian Health Department secretary Euan Wallace then said that Professor Sutton went to Canberra in a working capacity and therefore it was appropriate to travel.
“He was at work in Canberra on behalf of our state,” Professor Wallace told the committee.
Victoria’s public accounts and estimates committee has returned for its afternoon session, where Health Minister Martin Foley will face questions over his health portfolio until 4.55pm.
Acting Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng is also in the session, deputising for Professor Brett Sutton who is on leave.
To update you on the furore around Professor Sutton’s absence, Mr Foley told media earlier this week that the Chief Health Officer’s role wasn’t relevant to the topic of the committee hearings, which is the state budget.
Professor Allen Cheng and Health Minister Martin Foley will answer questions at a parliamentary committee hearing today.Credit:Scott McNaughton
Then, it was revealed Professor Sutton would be on leave, having attended meetings and the annual dinner of the National Health and Medical Research Council in Canberra on Wednesday.
The state opposition has accused him of dodging accountability and leaving Victoria while Melbourne was under a 25-kilometre movement limit, which they say sends a bad message to the public.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, who also attended the dinner, is among those to defend the Chief Health Officer today, telling media his travel was essential.
And finally, for those wondering what the public accounts and estimates committee actually is, it’s comprised of a panel of 10 Victorian MPs: five Labor, three Coalition, Greens MP Sam Hibbins and crossbencher David Limbrick from the Liberal Democrats.
They hold hearings and subsequently compile reports scrutinising essential government operations. Currently it’s all about last month’s state budget, but we can expect some questions about the recent lockdown and government’s management of COVID-19.
You can watch the session live via our 11.17am post.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMirwFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvdmlkLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtZWFzZWQtYXMtYXN0cmF6ZW5lY2EtdmFjY2luZS1yZWNvbW1lbmRhdGlvbnMtY2hhbmdlLWNhc2VzLWdyb3ctaW4tbnN3LTIwMjEwNjE3LXA1ODF5ei5odG1s0gGvAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvdmljdG9yaWEtY292aWQtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzLXJlc3RyaWN0aW9ucy1lYXNlZC1hcy1hc3RyYXplbmVjYS12YWNjaW5lLXJlY29tbWVuZGF0aW9ucy1jaGFuZ2UtY2FzZXMtZ3Jvdy1pbi1uc3ctMjAyMTA2MTctcDU4MXl6Lmh0bWw?oc=5
2021-06-18 04:06:53Z
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