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Public health officials will provide a COVID-19 update at 11am. You can watch it live here.
Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar has started today’s press conference announcing there has been a huge increase in Victorians getting tested in the last 24 hours.
Mr Weimar said there had been a “solid” 25,500 tests undertaken yesterday and another 30,000 tests were processed after midnight. This followed a steep drop in testing in recent days with numbers dropping to 15,000 tests.
Jeroen Weimar.Credit:Jason South
“My particular thanks to people in South Melbourne and Port Melbourne for coming forward to get tested,” he said.
He said there were 54 active cases of COVID in the community, including three people who were currently in hospital receiving treatment.
He said there were more than 15,000 coronavirus vaccinations undertaken in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of doses administered in Melbourne to more than 1.8 million.
One of the first cruises scheduled to sail from the United States has been postponed after eight crew members tested positive for the coronavirus during routine testing.
Royal Caribbean International’s Odyssey of the Seas, which was scheduled to sail to the Caribbean on July 3 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will now start its first voyage on July 31.
“Two steps forward and one step back!” Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday night. He said the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution”.
One of the first cruises scheduled to sail from the United States has been postponed after eight crew members tested positive.Credit:
It’s the latest reminder of the difficulty of keeping the virus off cruise ships, which have not carried passengers from US shores since March 2020. Earlier this month, two passengers on a Celebrity cruise that left St Maarten tested positive during a Caribbean sailing, despite a requirement that everyone over 16 be fully vaccinated. Also this month, two people on an MSC cruise in the Mediterranean tested positive during a routine test; vaccinations were not required for that voyage.
All 1400 crew members on Odyssey of the Seas got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on June 4, according to the cruise line. Because the vaccine only requires one dose, they would have been considered fully vaccinated after two weeks had passed. But the crew members in question tested positive on June 10. Two have mild symptoms, and the rest are asymptomatic.
Read more: Royal Caribbean cruise postponed after eight crew members test positive for COVID
Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar will provide today’s COVID-19 update, which is due to begin now.
Earlier today at a separate press conference, Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino warned the state it is not ‘out of this yet’ despite recording no new local cases on Wednesday.
Mr Merlino said there was still 54 active cases in the state and there remained the potential for more cases to emerge.
James Merlino.Credit:Jason South
“There are zero new locally acquired cases in today’s numbers and one new case in hotel quarantine. While that’s very, very encouraging, everything that we said yesterday still stands.
“We are not out of this,” Mr Merlino said. “These are encouraging signs but we need to see this over a period of time.
“We’re still taking this step by step. Every Victorian has a role to get tested, no matter the mildest of symptoms and to get vaccinated if you are eligible.
“To that end, we reported 15,610 vaccinations yesterday and 25,635 tests, so thank you to everyone. It’s good to see those testing numbers are going back up.”
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, i.e. 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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2021-06-17 01:11:15Z
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