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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.
The Victorian COVID-19 press conference has ended, however, NSW heath authorities have released more information about their recent cases.
NSW recorded two locally acquired cases of COVID-19 recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
One new overseas-acquired case was also recorded in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,440.
NSW Health has now also been notified overnight of an additional two locally acquired cases of COVID-19.
These cases will be included in tomorrow’s numbers.
We’ll bring you more information about the new cases soon.
Back to the state’s COVID-19 update, testing commander Jeroen Weimar has confirmed a nurse who tested positive after working with COVID-19 positive patients at Epping Private Hospital did two shifts at Northern Hospital while infectious.
He said he was “disappointed” that this had occurred and the hospitals involved have been spoken to by the health department.
Jeroen Weimar.Credit:Asanka Ratnayake
He said the case highlighted how critical it was not to have staff working between sites when they were working with known positive coronavirus cases.
Mr Weimar said he had been in a meeting with the chief executive officer of Northern Health and Epping Private overnight about the matter.
“This was to ensure we establish a far more rigorous regime in place to look after COVID patients,” he said.
He said nine primary close contacts of the nurse at Epping Private had been identified and they were currently in isolation awaiting test results.
A further 25 staff have been tested and 22 have returned negative results so far. Another 22 staff had been identified as close contacts at the Northern Hospital and were undergoing testing.
The nurse also attended the Northern Health’s vaccination clinic on June 14 for her second dose of the vaccine and more than 30 other people had also been tested as a result of being at the exposure site at the same time.
We are bringing you breaking news live from two press conferences – the Victorian COVID-19 update with testing commander Jeroen Weimar and another press conference with Acting Premier James Merlino.
In the latter, Mr Merlino said that if restrictions ease in Melbourne next week he hopes Queensland health authorities will also adjust their travel restrictions.
“We reflect our settings in terms of advice to Victorians travelling interstate when there’s an outbreak in another state,” Mr Merlino said. “All would hope to see as, as we ease restrictions that that’s reflected in the arrangements that other states and territories have in terms of Victorians travelling interstate.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Credit:Attila Csaszar
He said Victoria won’t be advising residents against travelling to NSW when movement restrictions ease at midnight tonight.
Mr Merlino said, at this stage, the advice wasn’t to avoid NSW despite new cases emerging in Sydney.
“Not at this stage, no, but we’re obviously closely monitoring the situation as we do whenever there’s an outbreak in any part of the country,” Mr Merlino said.
Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said state authorities had run several of the state’s recent outbreaks to the ground.
Mr Weimar said the government had closed in on recent clusters with 90 per cent of primary contacts in the Port Melbourne, West Melbourne, City of Whittlesea all being cleared.
A pop-up testing site in Southbank on Wednesday.Credit:Joe Armao
“We really are very much in the last knockings of those particular outbreaks,” he said.
He said the Arcare aged care facility outbreak had also been contained with more than 80 per cent of close contacts being cleared of the virus.
Another two cases, which had been announced by authorities late on Tuesday, were in men at a Southbank apartment complex that is in lockdown after several cases have emerged.
Two further cases are linked to a family at the Kings Park building in Southbank.
Mr Weimar said all residents in the complex had been tested and the 21 residents deemed close contacts had all returned negative results.
“They will continue to be tested every two days as we go forward until we complete their isolation period,” he said.
He said another almost 200 residents who live in the complex had been tested and 90 per cent had returned negative results.
So far this morning, 8000 coronavirus tests have been processed and Mr Weimar said waiting times across testing centres were below 60 minutes.
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.
Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen WeimarCredit: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.
Public health officials provided a COVID-19 update that has just ended. We will put a full clip of the press conference here in a moment.
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2021-06-17 01:46:35Z
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