Summary
- NSW has recorded zero locally acquired cases over the last 24-hour reporting period, but one local case was detected in the upper northern beaches after the 8pm deadline.
- Victoria recorded no new cases on Thursday, for the first time in more than a week. Contact tracing teams are still attempting to find the source yesterday's mystery case, who may have acquired his infection at Chadstone Boxing Day sales or the Melbourne Test.
- Masks will be mandatory at the Sydney Test between Australia and India. Residents from some western Sydney suburbs will be fined $1000 if they attend the SCG.
- An employee at one of Brisbane's quarantine hotels tested positive to COVID-19. The positive case could have massive ramifications, as workers are allowed to be out in the Queensland community.
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia could start vaccinating vulnerable groups of the population in February. State and territory leaders will discuss whether to tighten precautions on international arrivals at a special national cabinet meeting on Friday.
Latest updates
Howzat? Rain and musical chairs at the COVID Test
By Tim Barlass
Welcome to, as the T-shirt ($20) in the SCG Team Store describes it, the "Aus v India Summer of Cricket".
There was a lot happening on day one of the third Test, what with COVID regulations, an early dismissal and the rain off and on, mostly on until the afternoon.
Margaret and Joe Mistry, from Blakehurst, defy the elements at the SCG.Credit:James Brickwood
It seems people will pay good money to sit in a (free) diaphanous poncho, in the rain, under an umbrella and wearing a COVID mask.
Excuse the analogy but organisers had seemingly done a good job of moving the goalposts to get the third Test under way. Only 10,000 to attend, 25 per cent of capacity, stay the length of two cricket bats away from strangers and only remove the mask to imbibe liquid (non-alcoholic or otherwise) or to eat. Most importantly, stay in your allocated seat.
Read the full story here.
Alert issued for Melbourne Woolworths, risk level raised at four sites
By Rachael Dexter
A new exposure site at Melbourne's Southland shopping centre has been added to the list of venues visited by COVID-positive people on New Year's Eve.
The Victorian Health Department advises that an infected shopper visited Woolworths supermarket on December 31 between 6pm and 6.30pm.
Anyone who was also in store at that time is being advised to monitor for any symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop.
Meanwhile, the department has raised the risk level of exposures at already publicised exposure sites in Hallam, Mordialloc, Moorabin and Wonthaggi.
Anyone who visited the following sites at the times listed and now being urged to get tested immediately, regardless of symptoms.
- Coles Hallam, 2 Princes Domain Drive, Hallam on December 30 from 6.15am - 6.30am
- Costco Moorabbin, 8 Chifley Drive, Moorabbin Airport on December 30 from 10.45am - 12.15pm
- Woodlands Golf Club, 109 White Street, Mordialloc on December 28 from 12.00pm - 6.00pm
- Wonthaggi Plaza Shopping Centre, 2 Biggs Drive, Wonthaggi on December 28 from 1.30pm - 2.30pm.
Previous advice levels for these four sites was for contacts to only get tested if they developed symptoms. They must now come forward for testing even if they feel well.
Brisbane cleaner tests positive to more contagious UK virus strain
By Matt Dennien
A cleaner who tested positive to COVID-19 after working in a quarantine hotel in Brisbane is infected with a more contagious strain of the virus that originated in the United Kingdom.
It comes as the patient at the centre of a series of personal protective equipment breaches at Perth Airport and in hotel quarantine in Western Australia also tested positive to the UK strain of COVID-19 on Thursday.
The Queensland woman, who is in her 20s, worked a shift at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane's CBD while unknowingly carrying the virus.
She became the first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in Queensland in 113 days after testing positive on Wednesday night.
Health authorities have previously detected the UK strain among the four guests to have tested positive while in quarantine at the site.
The woman, who lives in Algester on Brisbane's south and was said to have "done everything right" by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, is believed to have been infectious from Saturday, January 2.
Chief Health officer Jeannette Young said she had worked only one shift while infectious, on that day, and had travelled to work by train.
Public health alerts have been issued by Queensland health for travellers on the services to and from the city from Altandi station. Alerts were also issued for a number of supermarkets and a newsagency in Sunnybank and Calamvale, two suburbs in the city's south.
Victoria's mystery case linked to NSW northern beaches outbreak
By Rachael Dexter
Victoria's single mystery case has been genomically linked to the NSW northern beaches outbreak, Victoria's Health department has confirmed.
The development rules out fears of another strain of COVID-19 circulating in Victoria, although where and how the man, who is in his 30s, caught the virus is still unknown.
Health authorities are still calling for anyone who attended stores at the Chadstone Shopping Centre on 26 December from 6am to 1.30pm, or who went to the MCG for day two of the Boxing Day Test on 27 December, to come forward for testing.
The health department is still warning the mystery case may have picked up the virus at either of these two locations, and are hunting for the source.
Chadstone stores visited on December 26:
- Culture Kings, Huffer, JD Sports, Jay Jays, H&M, Uniqlo, Myer, Superdry, Footlocker and Dumplings Plus between 6am and 1.30pm.
Day Two Boxing Day test seating location on December 27:
- The Great Southern Stand, Zone 5, of the MCG between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on 27 December.
WA patient at centre of PPE breaches tests positive for UK variant
By Hamish Hastie
The patient at the centre of a series of personal protective equipment breaches at Perth Airport and in hotel quarantine has tested positive to the more contagious UK strain of the coronavirus.
The Department of Health has confirmed the woman in her 80s, who had returned from the United Kingdom on January 2, has the new strain of the virus which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was between 50 and 70 per cent more transmissible than previous strains.
The UK strain of SARS-CoV-2 is cause for concern, an expert says.Credit:Getty
On Wednesday it was revealed a nurse, St John Ambulance officer and Perth Airport worker had all breached PPE protocols while transporting the same traveller from the UK.
The nurse and Ambulance officer were placed in hotel quarantine within hours of their breaches but the Perth Airport worker, who was not wearing any goggles or gloves when helping her off her flight on January 2, had been in the community since then.
Read the full story here.
Labor urges government to show leadership on quarantine, border rules
Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese says the Morrison government needs to show leadership on Australia's coronavirus response, as state and territory leaders prepare for an urgent national cabinet meeting on Friday.
Mr Albanese said on Thursday there should be more of a national approach to the challenges posed by the pandemic, rather than leaving decisions over matters such as border restrictions to states and territories.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"At the moment the states, by and large, have been left in charge of activities, even things that are federal responsibilities, such as quarantining," he told the ABC.
"The federal government needs to show leadership, to respond to recommendations such as that made by [former Health Department secretary] Jane Halton about getting national quarantine facilities in place.
"We need to make sure there's better and more consistent national coordination across the board, and we need to have more regular meetings ... We shouldn't have had a two-month gap."
Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison should "work with the states not to continue to do what he has done up to this point, which is to be critical of Labor states, but be silent when Coalition-held states are doing exactly the same thing on issues like state border controls."
'Extensive testing': CSL inches closer to finishing local vaccines
By Emma Koehn
Under the rollout plan, 3.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be imported from Europe and delivered by the end of next month, pending approvals, giving CSL the time to complete local production.
The listed pharmaceuticals maker, valued at $125 billion, said its Seqirus vaccine plant has been running "24/7" to accelerate production of flu vaccines and antivenoms and clear the way for the production of AstraZeneca doses.
Read the full story here.
'I feel pretty stupid': ACT politician sorry for border rules breach
By Peter de Kruijff
Western Australia Police are investigating a breach of the state's COVID-19 travel restrictions by an Australian Capital Territory politician who called a horse race in NSW on Boxing Day.
Brindabella Liberal MLA Mark Parton, who is originally from York in WA, arrived in Perth on Monday to visit his mother but went into quarantine on Wednesday when he realised he had breached border rules.
Australian Capital Territory MLA Mark Parton has gone into isolation after breaching Western Australia's border restrictions.Credit:Jamila Toderas
Mr Parton, a former radio announcer in Canberra, went to the races in the NSW town of Queanbeyan on December 26 – six days after WA put up its hard border to NSW travellers.
Queanbeyan is just across the border from the ACT.
Mr Parton said in a statement on his political Facebook page that he had only spent a few hours at the races and had "unwittingly breached WA's border restrictions".
"To be honest, it simply hadn’t occurred to me that I had 'travelled to NSW' when I flew into WA this week," Mr Parton said.
"Queanbeyan is just 10kms from my house and at the end of the day I tend to consider it as a suburb of Canberra.
"The crazy thing is that we cancelled New Year's plans in Sydney to enable my WA travel. I feel pretty stupid."
Read the full story here.
Alerts for Wentworthville pharmacy and Avalon Woolworths, chemist
NSW Health has issued alerts for new venues in Wentworthville and Avalon that have been visited by confirmed cases of COVID‑19.
Anyone who visited the ChemSave Day and Night Pharmacy in Wentworthville in Sydney's west on Sunday, January 3, between 10.40am and 10.50am, or between 9.30pm and 9.40pm, should get tested immediately and isolate until receiving a negative result. They should monitor for symptoms and get tested again if any occur.
People who visited the Avalon Woolworths on Sydney's northern beaches at the following times should monitor for symptoms:
- Saturday, January 2, from 3.45pm to 4pm
- Sunday, January 3, from 12.45pm to 1pm
- Monday, January 4, from 6.30pm to 6.50pm
- Tuesday, January 5, from 4.45pm to 5pm
- Wednesday, January 6, from 12.45pm to 1pm
Anyone who visited Chemist Warehouse at Avalon on Sunday, January 3, between 1pm and 1.15pm should also monitor for symptoms.
Australia's virus vaccine doses 'ready to ship' before massive rollout
By Emma Koehn
The pharmaceutical companies developing Australia's coronavirus vaccines say doses are ready to ship as attention shifts to meeting the logistical challenges of delivering them across the country.
Doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are expected to land on Australian shores next month, two weeks after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) registers the product. A Pfizer spokeswoman told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age these would be delivered according to government instructions once the approval was given.
"During the initial pandemic stage, our contracts are with the government, and we will provide doses according to the government’s preferred channel and designated locations," she said.
Meanwhile, 3.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be imported from Europe and the company expects to deliver those doses by the end of next month, pending approvals. The AstraZeneca product, made in partnership with Oxford University, is also being produced under licence in Australia by CSL.
Read the full story here.
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