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Public health officials will provide a COVID-19 update at 11am. You can watch it live here.
Melburnians went on a Queen’s Birthday shopping splurge after being released from their fourth COVID-19 lockdown last week, retail data shows.
But the continued restrictions, particularly the 25-kilometre limit on travel, meant regional retailers, restaurants, pubs and cafes missed out on much of the pent-up, post-lockdown shopping spree.
Analysts have warned it is still too early to assess the state’s ability to bounce back from the latest shutdown of its economy.
Damien Kirby, manager of Upmarket Pets pet store in the Melbourne CBD, says sales were up over the weekend. Credit:Paul Jeffer
NAB sales data showed spending doubled across Melbourne during the Queen’s Birthday public holiday compared with the previous locked-down weekend. The figure was more than 26 per cent up on that recorded for the same long weekend in 2020.
Clothing sales soared 260 per cent, week-on-week, and were more than 26 per cent up on last year’s Queen’s Birthday. With socialising in private homes still banned, spending in Melbourne’s restaurants rose 208 per cent on the previous week and 58 per cent on the period last year.
The city’s pet shops and bakeries, allowed to open during the lockdown, were also standout performers in long-weekend trade. Spending in the pet trade was up 41 per cent on the previous week and 33 per cent on last year’s long weekend.
NAB’s metro business executive, Michael Saadie, said consumers, buoyed by the after-effects of government stimulus, a strong jobs market and healthy savings, were willing to spend.
This analysis was consistent with a report this week from consulting giant Deloitte tipping continued strong spending from Australian shoppers.
Read more: End of lockdown drove Melburnians to hit the shops and spend
Australia’s expert immunisation panel is recommending AstraZeneca should now be given to people over the age of 60.
The update is a change from the current advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, which recommended the vaccine for people aged over 50.
The AstraZeneca jab is now recommended for people over 60.Credit:Eddie Jim
Last week the Therapeutic Goods Administration revealed a 52-year-old woman had died after developing a severe case of the rare blood clotting side effect linked to the vaccine.
At the time the advisory group confirmed AstraZeneca remained the vaccine of choice for over-50s.
Nine news reports state and territory leaders have been told, and an emergency national cabinet meeting could be held in coming hours to discuss whether to alter the vaccine rollout.
Victoria Police has made no applications to access QR check-in data for help solving crimes, the acting Premier says, but detectives in Perth have used information the codes collect in a bikie murder probe.
On Wednesday acting Premier James Merlino said any requests by police to use QR code data would need to come via a court order, but he was unaware of that happening since the systems were installed.
“No requests have been made,” Mr Merlino said.
Police have not sought access to data passed to the government via Victoria’s QR code system.Credit:Joe Armao
Data collected as part of the check-in system is encrypted and kept for only 28 days, he said.
On Wednesday, Victoria’s acting Police Minister Danny Pearson was asked by Liberal MP James Newbury at a parliamentary committee if police had access to data captured by the QR system.
Mr Pearson said Service Victoria had a record of people’s names and phone numbers and that information was passed to the Health Department where required to match with people’s addresses.
“In the event that the police wish to subpoena that, or a court order to access that data, that is something that would be dealt with through the normal processes,” he said.
A police spokeswoman confirmed all warrant applications must be approved at court.
Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson defended his force accessing SafeWA check-in data, carried out as part of murder and stabbing investigations.
He said the actions were lawful and done in exceptional circumstances, seeking information relating to the shooting of former Rebels bikie boss Nick Martin at Perth Motorplex in December and a separate stabbing in Victoria Park in March.
Read more: QR data not used by Victoria Police but could help solve hit on WA bikie boss
Victorians may not be able to get to Queensland, but New Zealand could be back on the cards.
New Zealand is preparing to lift its Quarantine Free Travel pause with Victoria next week.
NZ COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins announced on Thursday his government would extend the current pause to 11.59pm next Tuesday, June 22.
Mr Hipkins said all signs pointed to being able to lift the pause next week unless the situation in Melbourne changed.
This would allow quarantine free flights to resume from Victoria to New Zealand.
“It has been determined that the risk to public health in New Zealand continues to decrease and, at this time, public health officials consider it unlikely there is further widespread community transmission in the state,” Mr Hipkins said in a statement.
“However, in line with our precautionary approach we consider this short extension to be prudent.
“New Zealand health officials will keep a close watch on developments in the state but at this point their advice is that we would expect to be in a position to lift the pause at the end of the five-day extension. This will be reviewed if the situation changes.”
People living in Greater Melbourne will be banned from entering Queensland for another seven days.
The extension of the hot spot declaration comes ahead of school holidays, which begin on June 26 for Victoria, Queensland and NSW, with many people likely worried about whether trips north need to be cancelled.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said authorities were also urging people to reconsider their need to travel to NSW.
But Queensland Health has yet to state when they might be able to lift restrictions and whether it could be before the school holidays begin.
“We are continuing to monitor the situation in Victoria,” A Queensland Health spokesperson told The Age on Thursday morning.
“With Victoria announcing yesterday they will continue to have some local restrictions in place, the hotspot will remain in place for Greater Melbourne at this time.
“We will review the border restrictions for Greater Melbourne as Victoria continues to ease restrictions locally.
“Anyone who has been in Greater Melbourne in the last 14 days is only able to enter Queensland if they are a returning Queensland resident or required to enter for a limited range of essential reasons.
“Queensland residents returning to Queensland from a hotspot must quarantine for 14 days upon entering Queensland in government arranged accommodation at their own expense.”
NSW Health lists Victoria as an affected area which means anyone travelling to the state from Victoria must complete a self-declaration when entering while anyone who has been at a place of high concern, ie an exposure site, can’t enter NSW.
Northern Territory lists all Melbourne council areas as declared hot spots which demands anyone travelling to the territory from those areas needs to undergo 14-days quarantine.
Tasmania lists regional Victoria as a low risk so residents from those areas can enter the state as long as they register with the Tas e-Travel system while metropolitan Melbourne is listed as high-risk so anyone who has been in Melbourne in the past 14 days cannot enter Tasmania unless they are an essential traveller.
Western Australia requires anyone from Victorian to do 14 days of mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the state.
South Australia won’t allow anyone residents of greater Melbourne to enter and returning residents need to quarantine for 14 days. People from regional Victoria can travel to the state but need to take a COVID-19 test on arrival and isolate until they receive a negative result.
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Testing numbers in Victoria are up again, but so are wait times at some of the testing sites.
The wait in Bourke Street, Melbourne, is a whopping six hours, and it’s three hours at St Vincent’s Hospital.
According to the website, the Melbourne Showgrounds has extra capacity but the wait time is still about an hour, as is the wait at Northern Hospital, and Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.
As always, check the website before you go: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/where-get-tested-covid-19
After a little blip, active coronavirus cases dropped by one today to 54, down from 55 yesterday.
The other piece of good news from this morning is that testing numbers have risen again after dropping over the long weekend.
And here’s the record of daily local cases - it’s always a relief to see that red line hit a zero!
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMipwFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvdmlkLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtdG8tZWFzZS10b25pZ2h0LWluLW1lbGJvdXJuZS12YWNjaW5hdGVkLW51cnNlLXRlc3RlZC1wb3NpdGl2ZS0yMDIxMDYxNi1wNTgxa2guaHRtbNIBpwFodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvdmlkLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1yZXN0cmljdGlvbnMtdG8tZWFzZS10b25pZ2h0LWluLW1lbGJvdXJuZS12YWNjaW5hdGVkLW51cnNlLXRlc3RlZC1wb3NpdGl2ZS0yMDIxMDYxNi1wNTgxa2guaHRtbA?oc=5
2021-06-17 00:27:02Z
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