Summary
- Victoria’s five-day, hard lockdown has ended and greater Melbourne is no longer considered a COVID hotspot. Residents are now free to travel more than five kilometres from their homes and the four reasons for leaving home have been revoked, but some restrictions on public and private gatherings remain.
- Victoria has recorded no new local COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row, although one new case has emerged in hotel quarantine. NSW recorded no new local cases for the 31st day in a row on Wednesday and Queensland recorded its 41st straight day of zero cases.
- Debate rages among scientists over whether a nebuliser really was the source of Victoria’s Holiday Inn outbreak, as the Andrews government has suggested. Meanwhile, the man blamed for spreading the virus by using the nebuliser is pushing for an independent review of his case.
- More than 35,000 of Sydney’s frontline workers will roll up their sleeves to receive a COVID-19 vaccine within just three weeks from Monday.
- Visit our new vaccine tracker, which shows how many people around the world have been vaccinated so far and which countries are leading the charge.
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France reports 25,018 new coronavirus cases as Parisians flock to the beach
More than 25,000 new coronavirus cases emerged in France overnight, up from 19, 590 reported on Tuesday.
Another 310 people lost their lives to the virus after 586 people died on Tuesday.
The country’s death toll now stands at 83,122.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said earlier on Wednesday the health situation in France remained fragile and that the vaccination pace in the country was not in line with French people’s expectations.
More than 3.3 million COVID-19 vaccination shots have been administered and Mr Attal said three-quarters of the people in nursing homes had received their first dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, Parisians have flocked to the French Atlantic coast where sunny weather and a spike in visitor numbers have given beaches an air of summer.
At upmarket La Baule, a five-hour drive west of Paris, hotels and holiday homes saw a flood of last-minute bookings as Parisians left the capital at the start of a two-week school holiday that is normally the height of the skiing season.
Ski lifts closed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“We will go to the mountains later, when we can ski again, but it is so much better here than in Paris. My husband is tele-working from here, with an ocean view,” said Clemence Martin, a school teacher whose in-laws own a house in La Baule.
La Baule, whose winter-time population of about 17,000 swells more than tenfold to 180,000 in summer, saw hotel occupancy rates rise over February last year, its mayor Franck Louvrier said.
“Normally, we are not the number one destination for French people in February, but this year people have traded their ski suits for anoraks,” Louvrier said.
He said more people now were living year-round in La Baule, with lockdowns and curfews making life in cities more stressful. Travellers who cannot do that often extend their stay by working remotely from the coast for a while.
“People want to live and work in holiday land. With home working, that is perfectly possible,” he said.
He added that La Baule was also attracting people from northern Europe, some of them thanks to the region’s advanced cycling infrastructure.
Restaurants remain closed nationwide, but some in the food industry said holidaymakers were compensating losses by preparing lavish dishes at home.
“Since restaurants are closed, people treat themselves to delicacies like lobster and langoustine. There are more people and their food budget is up; for us it is good,” said Sara Grandjean, a fish vendor at the La Baule covered market.
France has recorded 3,514,147 confirmed cases – the sixth-highest tally in the world.
UK gets approval to infect healthy volunteers in world’s first coronavirus ‘challenge trial’
Britain will become the first country to deliberately infect healthy volunteers with the coronavirus, now that the country’s ethics body has approved a “human challenge trial”.
The effort, funded by the British government, aims to accelerate scientific understanding of vaccines and treatments.
The first stage will see up to 90 adults, aged 18 to 30, exposed to the coronavirus “in a safe and controlled environment” to gauge the smallest amount of virus needed to cause infection.
The UK says the human challenge trials could ‘give ourselves the potential to test new vaccines very quickly’.Credit:Getty
Infecting healthy people with a potentially deadly virus - even in small doses and controlled settings - is controversial. And some in Britain have questioned whether there’s still a need, given the rapid authorisation and rollout of highly effective vaccines. More than 15 million people in the UK have already received at least one jab.
Robert Read, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Southampton, said the current vaccines, while very good against most of the strains circulating, “may not actually be the last vaccines that we use globally”.
The human challenge trials could “give ourselves the potential to test new vaccines very quickly, and that’s really the primary purpose of this effort”.
The volunteers in the first study will receive about $6,243 for their participation, which will involve 17 days of quarantining at the Royal Free Hospital in north London and follow-ups over 12 months.
Jacob Hopkins, 23, is hoping to take part in the trials, and is waiting to hear back about his various background health checks. “I’m not ignorant to the real risks, but I’ve gone through rigorous pre-screening, and the risks are very, very minor for someone who is young, fit and healthy,” he said.
His biggest concern is the potential long-term effects, “but that’s still not enough to make me change my mind. I want to help bring an end to this as soon as possible”.
The Washington Post
Crippling weather hampers vaccine distribution in the US
More on vaccine news, but turning our attention overseas, crippling snow storms in the US are hampering the country’s vaccination drive.
The icy blast has injected more confusion and frustration into the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination drive just when it was gathering speed, snarling vaccine deliveries and forcing the cancellation of countless shots around the country.
Across a large swath of the nation, including Deep South states like Georgia and Alabama, the snowy, slippery weather either led to the closing of vaccination sites outright or held up the necessary shipments, with delays expected to continue for days.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said doses expected this week were delayed by weather elsewhere in the country, forcing the city to hold off making 30,000 to 35,000 vaccination appointments.
AP
Check out our new COVID-19 vaccine data tracker
By Craig Butt
We have launched our new vaccine data dashboard, which tracks how many people around the world have been vaccinated so far and which countries are leading the charge.
Once vaccine doses start getting administered in Australia next Monday, we’ll be adding a pane to focus on local progress.
We’re going to keep continuously updating this new vaccine data centre – much like the virus data centre we launched last year.
Our tracker uses the total number of people fully vaccinated as our main metric of success rather than the number of doses administered. That means at the moment the dashboard somewhat understates the level of progress worldwide, because most vaccines require two doses at least one month apart to achieve their optimum efficacy and, as of today, the pace of progress worldwide means most people who have started their course have not yet received their second shot.
Global cases pass 109.8 million
The global tally of confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University, has passed 109.8 million.
More than 2.4 million people have died from COVID-19. But on a more positive note, more than 61.7 million people have recovered from the virus.
You can explore our data centre below:
Upcoming: Victorian COVID-19 update within the hour
We know you like to keep on top of Victoria’s daily updates, so here is a heads up: Health Minister Martin Foley and COVID-response commander Jeroen Weimar are due to give a coronavirus update at 10.30am AEDT.
We will bring you their press conference live, so do stay with us.
Melbourne’s CBD the morning after lockdown
My colleague Chloe Booker is in the CBD this morning and says the 96 tram from St Kilda was only half full at 9am.
Shops in Bourke Street Mall are yet to open, but a red “closing down” sign is a reminder of retailers’ struggles as city dwellers trickle past in low numbers, most still wearing masks despite them no longer being mandatory outdoors (when you can properly socially distance) from today.
Commuters are wearing face masks in the CBD as they make their way to work this morning. Credit:Scott McNaughton
Turning the corner onto Swanston Street, the foot traffic picks up towards Flinders Street Station as workers return to the office.
It’s far from the bustling city we once knew, but Melbourne is once again letting out a soft hum, Chloe says.
Revealed: No deal yet for boosted AstraZeneca doses
By Emma Koehn and Kate Aubusson
The head of AstraZeneca’s Australian operations says no agreement had been struck with the federal government to supply more than the 50 million doses already on order or on how much additional doses may cost as states and territories wait to learn what share of the vaccines they will receive.
The issue will be crucial if the AstraZeneca vaccine needs to be altered to boost its efficacy against more infectious virus variants.
The first vials of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine at Seqirus/CSL in Parkville.Credit:Seqirus/CSL
In NSW, more than 35,000 frontline workers will receive their first doses of the overseas-manufactured Pfizer vaccine within three weeks from Monday.
Social distancing about to get harder on Sydney public transport
By Tom Rabe
Green dots on Sydney’s public transport will soon be irrelevant, as patronage approaches 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, meaning commuters will struggle to adhere to social distancing during peak hour.
The dots, implemented to ensure passengers were appropriately distanced, may only be useful during off-peak times, NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance says.
Mr Constance said the city’s network was “bouncing back” as people returned to work after months of dwindling patronage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NSW government is anticipating a surge in public transport patornage.Credit:Louise Kennerley
The number of people using Sydney’s public transport network reached 60 per cent of pre-COVID levels on Tuesday. The government is predicting double-digit increases across the network later in the week. Some recent weekdays have already surpassed 1.4 million trips, or more than 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Two per cent of the city’s services are pushing past the recommended social distancing measures, which are marked by green dots on trains and buses. Mr Constance said they would still be a useful guide during non-peak periods.
“It does remind people, particularly in the off-peak services, to go and sit on one and keep a bit of distance from people. Obviously its practicality in the middle of a peak service where everyone has come to the station at the same time, that’s a bit more problematic,” Mr Constance said.
Despite the green dots soon becoming redundant amid peak-hour services, Mr Constance said the government was not immediately going to change its public transport plan.
Immune system protects children from severe COVID-19, Australian study finds
By Melissa Cunningham
When Francesca Orsini noticed her daughter Beatrice had a runny nose last winter her thoughts turned to her family in Italy who were engulfed in a devastating coronavirus outbreak which had killed thousands.
“We got her tested and she came back positive two days later,” the 36-year-old Italian migrant said. “I was really scared. I couldn’t believe it was happening to us. We had seen what happened to our grandparents and parents back home and how terrible it had been for them.”
Francesca Orsini and Alessandro Bartesaghi with their children Beatrice (right) and Camilla (left). Credit: Justin McManus.
The day after Beatrice, then aged 5, was tested, Ms Orsini and her husband Alessandro Bartesaghi woke up with flu-like symptoms.
“We knew immediately that we had the virus too,” the biostatistician said. Their then one-year-old daughter Camilla also had the virus, despite not showing any symptoms before being tested.
For more than two weeks, Ms Orsini and Mr Bartesaghi were almost bedridden with extreme fatigue, fevers, headaches and muscle pain. They also lost their sense of taste and smell.
“Camilla had a slightly runny nose the day the test came back, but that was all,” Ms Orsini said. “Beatrice’s symptoms never really got worse either.”
Now, new research reveals infection-fighting cells in a child’s immune system rapidly target coronavirus, clearing the disease before it has a chance to take hold.
As part of an Australia-first study, researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute analysed blood samples from 48 children and 70 adults across 28 Melbourne households who had been infected with or exposed to COVID-19 during the state’s deadly second wave.
“What we found was that children are less likely to become infected with the virus and up to a third are asymptomatic, which is strikingly different to the higher prevalence and severity observed in children for most other respiratory viruses,” Dr Melanie Neeland, who led the research, said.
The researchers also identified that the children were likely being protected from severe COVID-19 because their innate immune systems – our first line of defence when we become infected with a virus – was quicker to attack the disease than an adult’s.
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2021-02-17 23:01:00Z
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