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World Health Organisation addresses ‘fleeting’ transmission of Delta strain
By Latika Bourke
Health officials at the World Health Organisation say there is not yet enough evidence to confirm a growing belief in Australia that the Delta variant of COVID-19 can transmit in just five seconds rather than 15 minutes.
While the Delta variant — which is currently dominant in Britain and now seeding an outbreak in Sydney — is known to be more transmissible than earlier variants, Australian officials have raised the possibility that the virus can spread in the amount of time it takes to breathe in.
Dr Mike Ryan, director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said the concept was scientifically possible as the virus mutated to become “fitter” as it sought to replace previous versions.
“It can shift the infectious dose, in other words the virus may be more efficient at infecting cells and you need less virus to cause an infection,” Dr Ryan told a virtual news conference from the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva on Saturday morning.
He said other details about the newer strains were “not fully understood”.
NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has said a person infected with the Delta variant at Sydney’s Bondi Junction Westfield caught the disease in a “scarily fleeting” encounter, according to CCTV footage.
Queensland COVID-19 update
By Georgina Mitchell
Queensland’s Health Minister and Chief Health Officer are giving a COVID-19 update in Brisbane.
Watch it live here:
NSW Premier, Police to give COVID update at 11am
By Georgina Mitchell
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will give an update on the state’s COVID-19 situation at 11am.
She will be joined by Health Minister Brad Hazzard, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant, and NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys.
Masked up Sydneysiders. Credit:Renee Nowytarger
The update is expected to address the growing Bondi cluster, stay-at-home orders and other public health directives which came into force at midnight, and efforts to suppress the transmission of the virus.
We’ll bring updates to you live when it happens.
Victoria reports one new local case, already in isolation
By Georgina Mitchell
Residents of NSW and Victoria have been urged to get a COVID test for even the most minor flu-like symptoms, including a runny nose, cough or a sore throat, as the highly-contagious Delta variant circulates in the states.
Victoria has recorded one new local case in the last 24 hours, and three in hotel quarantine. The Department of Health said the local case is “a known Primary Close Contact who has been quarantining throughout their infectious period”.
The NSW Health department released a list late on Friday of locations attended by confirmed cases of COVID-19, including public transport and venues in the city’s north, west and east.
‘Astonishingly low’ number of aged care staff vaccinated amid COVID outbreak
By Clay Lucas
Two-thirds of staff working in aged care homes across Australia remain unvaccinated, figures from the federal Health Department show.
Figures released to The Age show that only 33.6 per cent of staff have received their first immunisation. Of 263,000 workers, just over 88,000 had received their first shot and about 43,000 had received a second dose by this week.
Vaccine recipients wait at the Barwon Health vaccination hub in Geelong on June 6.Credit:Luis Ascui
Professor Joseph Ibrahim, head of Monash University’s Health Law and Ageing Research Unit, said: “It’s an astonishingly low number vaccinated. It’s difficult to understand given staff were in the priority group, and we are in the middle of winter, which is the most dangerous time.”
All aged care residents and staff were meant to be vaccinated in the first phase of the Morrison government’s vaccination rollout, which began in February and was meant to be completed in six weeks.
It is voluntary for aged care workers to get vaccinated, and voluntary for them to advise their employer if they have been immunised.
In Melbourne, two men who tested positive for coronavirus after being linked to a Sydney super-spreader event were unvaccinated despite being older than 60 and therefore eligible for the vaccine. Both of the men work at a dry-cleaning shop at Sandringham, in Melbourne’s south-east. One of the men was infected in Sydney.
More cases of COVID-19 expected
By Georgina Mitchell
More cases of locally-acquired COVID-19 are expected to be announced today, after 22 cases were recorded yesterday.
On Friday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said contact tracers have been able to link all of the cases in the outbreak apart from one, a nine-year-old child from Waverley. She said due to the contagiousness of the strain, NSW is “likely to see more cases in coming days, mainly from household contacts.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a press conference on Friday.Credit:Janie Barrett
“We anticipate that close to 100 per cent of everybody in a household is likely to get the virus if one person has had positive test results,” Ms Berejiklian said.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said NSW Health will start to report separately the number of cases already in isolation, compared with those who were not, amid expectations numbers will rise rapidly in coming days among already-identified close contacts.
“I expect the numbers to be high. Cases are going to arise where people have been totally in isolation for that full infectious period – they pose no risk to the community,” Dr Chant said.
Meanwhile, Victorian chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton confirmed yesterday that two positive cases in Victoria have the highly contagious Delta variant. This was expected, as the first man contracted the virus in Sydney, where the current outbreak is of the Delta variant.
What are the new COVID-19 restrictions for Greater Sydney?
By Ben Grubb, Mary Ward and Sophia Phan
Apart from the stay-at-home restrictions for residents and workers of four Local Government Areas (Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and City of Sydney), there are also new restrictions on gatherings including exercise, weddings and funerals.
According to public health orders published on Friday night, weddings held up to the end of June 27 in the locked-down LGAs are still able to go ahead. People in the affected LGAs will also be able to leave the area to attend a wedding in other parts of the city which are not subject to stay at home orders up until the end of Sunday.
Funerals of up to 100 people, including the people conducting the service, are also able to proceed. People in affected LGAs are allowed to attend funerals regardless of what area they are located in.
Those who live outside the four LGAs can only enter them for essential purposes. Essential purposes include a funeral or a wedding held up to the end of June 27.
People will also be permitted to leave home to visit a potential new home, move house, visit their partner or get vaccinated
First day of new restrictions begins for Sydney
By Georgina Mitchell
Good morning, and thanks for joining us in our live coverage of the unfolding COVID-19 situation.
Residents of four Local Government Areas in Sydney have woken up this morning to the first day of new stay-at-home orders, which require residents who live and work in Sydney’s CBD and eastern suburbs to remain at home except for reasons including medical care, essential work or education, and shopping for essential goods.
Toilet paper in a shopping trolley in a Woolworths supermarket on Friday. Credit:Kate Geraghty
The orders apply to anyone who lives and works in Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and City of Sydney, from from 11.59pm on Friday, June 25 until at least 11.59pm on Friday, July 2.
More than half a million residents are expected to be affected. The restrictions come after 65 cases were linked to the Bondi cluster, including venues in Sydney’s CBD, east, north, inner west, and south-west.
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2021-06-26 00:11:12Z
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