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Victoria records 1438 new cases of COVID-19
By Broede Carmody
Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.
The state has recorded 1438 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and five deaths.
Today’s cases is a record for Victoria and up from yesterday’s record tally of 950 cases.
The Department of Health has not said how many cases are linked to known outbreaks or how many people were already isolating when they tested positive.
Zero cases were detected in hotel quarantine.
There are now 11,018 active cases of coronavirus across the state.
Today’s numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 65,497 coronavirus tests (the highest number of daily tests this year).
Pfizer and Moderna now available to over 60s in NSW
By Lucy Carroll and Rachel Clun
People in NSW aged 60 and over will now have access to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines after the state changed its guidelines on who can get mRNA jabs.
On Sunday, Health Minister Greg Hunt said the country will have enough Pfizer and Moderna doses to cover all eligible people by the end of October.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are now available to people over 60 in NSW.Credit:AP
The change comes as eligibility guidelines in Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Tasmania were updated earlier this month, allowing people aged over 60 to opt for Pfizer.
There are about 30,000 people aged 70 and older who are yet to have a first dose in NSW.
Read the full story here.
Union has some concerns about NSW’s back-to-school plan
By Broede Carmody
As reported earlier, NSW students are set to return to the classroom a week earlier than originally anticipated due to the state’s high level of vaccination.
Those in kindergarten, years 1 and 12 will return from October 18 and teachers must be vaccinated.
However, one of the state’s education unions has flagged some concerns about the plan.
The Independent Education Union’s acting NSW secretary, Carol Matthews, has questioned whether school buildings will be properly ventilated by next month.
Here’s what she had to say on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise earlier this morning:
Look, will we are quite disappointed about the lack of consultation about the changes.
There was no consultation, certainly with the union for the non- government sector, and I don’t know whether our employers were consulted. I suspect they weren’t.
It’s one thing for teachers to be ready for classes - I’m sure they will be - but it’s quite another for the buildings to be ready for the students.
One of the things we have really learnt with this virus is that good ventilation and air filtration is important and you can’t do that overnight.
Big test awaits as Victorian construction industry prepares to reopen
By Michael Fowler, Paul Sakkal and Ben Schneiders
Melbourne’s building industry is set to reopen on Tuesday after a two-week hiatus, despite a growing COVID-19 outbreak at the construction union headquarters.
The cluster has infected four CFMEU officials and forced hundreds of people into self-isolation, including union leader John Setka.
Melbourne’s construction industry has been shut down for almost two weeks.Credit:Getty
A vaccine mandate for construction workers, a key factor behind last week’s violent protests that are believed to have sparked the union office outbreak, has not been removed and proof of having received at least one dose will be a prerequisite for entry at worksites – though the method of enforcement remains unclear.
Construction sites will return to at least 25 per cent capacity, or slightly more, two weeks after the sector, which employs 320,000 people, was closed.
Read the full story here.
More regional NSW locations on alert for COVID-19
By Daniella White
A growing number of regional NSW locations are being put on alert for COVID-19.
NSW Health has released a list of 35 towns and cities where venues have been added to the state’s list of exposure sites.
The locations include Batemans Bay, Broken Hill, Byron Bay, Tweed Heads and Narooma. The full list of exposure venues can be viewed here.
Anyone who visited the sites is a casual contact and must get tested and isolate until receiving a negative result.
Yesterday, authorities warned that while daily cases numbers are declining in Sydney, they are surging in parts of regional NSW.
Childcare centres, primary school among Victoria’s latest exposure sites
By Cassandra Morgan
In case you missed it, Victorian health authorities identified a number of new COVID-19 exposure sites last night, including several childcare centres and a primary school.
Narre Kids Early Learning and Kinder at Narre Warren, in Melbourne’s south east, was declared a tier-1 or close contact site between 9am and 4.30pm on Monday, September 27 and Tuesday, September 28.
Delahey Children’s Centre, in the city’s north west, was declared tier 1 for Thursday, September 23 between 1pm and 6pm. Meanwhile, Aspire Childcare Atherstone Estate at Strathtulloh (in the outer west) was declared tier 1 for Monday, September 27 between 8.30am and 10.30am.
Truganina Early Learning Centre in Melbourne’s west was also declared tier 1 for Thursday, September 23 between 7am and 4.30pm, while Kensington Community Children’s Co-operative in the inner north west was declared tier 1 on Thursday, September 23 between 9am and 3.30pm.
St Margaret’s Primary School at Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s north west, was declared tier 1 for Thursday, September 23 between 8am and 4pm.
A full list of Victorian exposure sites can be found here.
Sydney schools to reopen a week earlier, classes to start from October 18
By Jordan Baker, Tom Rabe and Lucy Carroll
Sydney students will return to school a week earlier than originally announced after the state government reviewed its back-to-class plan amid faster than expected vaccinations, with kindergarten, year 1 and year 12 students now returning on October 18.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell also wants all schools across the city to reopen at the same time, in a sign that the government has stepped away from earlier plans to close those in areas with high rates of COVID-19 community transmission.
High school students will need to wear masks when schools reopenCredit:Getty
The NSW crisis cabinet made the decision on Wednesday, a senior government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed, and will meet later this week to consider an overhaul of the state’s contact tracing methods.
Victorian health workers told to ‘prepare psychologically’ for surge
By Paul Sakkal and Farrah Tomazin
Prominent GPs have called for a new after-hours COVID-19 health hotline, as one paramedic describes Victorian emergency department conditions as “already apocalyptic” and the Andrews government warns the worst is yet to come.
With unprecedented demand on hospitals and calls to triple zero reaching levels on Monday not seen since the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event, state health officials have given welfare briefings this week urging front-line workers to “prepare psychologically” for a difficult few months as Victorians emerge from lockdown.
Melbourne GP Nathan Pinskier, who provides doctors to the Victorian government for COVID-19 testing and hotel quarantine, is part of a group of doctors proposing an after-hours service to field calls from patients and suspected cases, to give people an option other than calling triple-zero.
He said COVID-19 patients were currently monitored by a “fragmented” system of public hospital networks and community health services.
Read the full story here.
COVID spreads between double-dosed as CHO warns Qld won’t keep it out
By Matt Dennien and Stuart Layt
One of the latest new Queensland cases of COVID-19 could be the state’s first recorded transmission of the virus between two people who were fully vaccinated.
As the state health authority battles to keep the Delta strain at bay, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young warned she expected the virus to be circulating widely in the community well before year’s end.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Credit:Matt Dennien
“Once the community’s all vaccinated, we will get virus circulating and people will get sick, but the chances of them needing intensive care and dying with the disease are enormously lower,” she said.
Just one new local COVID-19 case was reported by Queensland authorities on Tuesday: a fully vaccinated close contact of an Eatons Hill-based aviation trainer believed to have contracted the virus from an international pilot.
While not included in Queensland’s figures, a Gold Coast-based truck driver spent Saturday to Monday infectious in the community before testing positive in NSW.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
By Broede Carmody
Good morning and thanks for reading our live coverage.
It’s Thursday, September 30. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll keep you informed of some of today’s biggest stories as they unfold.
Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.
- Sydney students will return to school a week earlier than originally expected. Those in kindergarten, years 1 and 12 can now return to school on October 18. A week later, years 2, 6 and 11 will return. Then, on November 1, all remaining grades will head back to the classroom. Yesterday, NSW recorded 863 new cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths – the deadliest 24-hour reporting period for the state so far. Meanwhile, people in NSW aged 60 and over will now have access to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
- Victorian healthcare workers are being told to brace for a surge in hospitalisations once Melbourne emerges from lockdown off the back of high vaccination rates. Meanwhile, the Victorian Health Department is facing $95 million in fines over alleged infection control breaches in state-run hotel quarantine. And the construction union’s Melbourne office has been labelled a tier-1 exposure site due to last week’s violent scuffle involving people unhappy about the building industry’s vaccine mandate. Victoria recorded a record 950 coronavirus cases yesterday and seven deaths.
- New COVID cases have Brisbane and the Gold Coast on high alert. Queensland recorded one new community case yesterday, a close contact of an aviation worker who was one of Tuesday’s four cases. A truck driver working between NSW and Qld was also among yesterday’s numbers, but has been added to NSW’s official tally. Hundreds of people have been ordered into home quarantine, but neither Brisbane nor the Gold Coast has been placed in lockdown.
- The ACT recorded 22 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday and one death. Ten coronavirus patients are in Canberra hospitals and Chief Minister Andrew Barr wants the territory out of lockdown by the middle of next month.
- In Western Australia, the men who snuck into the state from Victoria to watch the AFL grand final have been locked-up until their next court appearance. One of the men has tested negative to coronavirus. However, authorities are continuing their investigations after the other man returned an inconclusive test (though it is likely to be a false positive). Both face time in jail. WA’s vaccine commander says the men “knowingly put others at risk”.
- And in overseas news, YouTube says it will block all anti-vaccine content. And Fumio Kishida, Japan’s former foreign affairs minister, will become the country’s new prime minister.
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2021-09-29 22:21:34Z
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