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COVID too dangerous to be treated like flu
By Aisha Dow and Rachel Clun
Epidemiologists have disputed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s claim that coronavirus will be able to be treated”like the flu” when Australia reaches a high vaccination rate, saying contact tracing and widespread mask wearing may be needed for years to avoid excess deaths.
Infectious diseases experts are optimistic that the nation will be able to reach what Mr Morrison described as the third stage of a four-stage pathway out of the pandemic, when vaccinated people can start freely travelling overseas and lockdowns are avoided.
This scenario is estimated to be feasible when 80 per cent or more of the population is fully vaccinated, although official modelling of the vaccination rates needed to move to the next phases is underway.
Epidemiologists including Nancy Baxter, head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, have thrown cold water on the assertion that coronavirus could be treated like the flu. The seasonal flu has typically been managed with a vaccination program, and little else.
Parts of Queensland remain in lockdown
By Stuart Layt
Brisbane and Moreton Bay local council areas are spending another day in lockdown, as health authorities work to find where a mum and daughter became infected and the Queensland government warns its hotel quarantine system is full to bursting.
While most of the local government areas, including Townsville in north Queensland, had restrictions lifted from 6pm Friday, Brisbane and Moreton Bay council areas were told to stay locked down for another 24 hours.
The decision followed Queensland recording six new virus cases on Friday, two in hotel quarantine and four in the community.
One of the community cases was linked to previous cases – a baggage handler who was the partner of an airport check-in clerk who previously tested positive.
However the other three – a mother and daughter from Carindale in Brisbane’s south, and a university worker on the Sunshine Coast – have led authorities to extend the lockdown by a day.
New Sydney exposure sites
A post office in Sydney’s south, an eastern suburbs shopping centre and several coffee shops across the city have been added to NSW Health’s exposure sites.
Anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed is a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.
- Manly, Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific – Bistro area, Saturday 26 June from 8.00am to 9.00am
- Marrickville, Exquisite Brows and Spa, Shop 20-B, Ground Level 20B/34 Victoria Road, Saturday 26 June from 9.00am to 5.00pm
- Burwood, Sushi Hub, Kiosk FK1, Westfield Burwood 100 Burwood Road, Saturday 26 June from 4.45pm to 5.20pm
- Matraville, Woolworths, 497-501 Bunnerong Road, Sunday 27 June from 2.00pm to 3.00pm
- Rockdale, Volkswagen Rockdale, 589 Princes Highway, Monday 28 June from 2.30pm to 4.00pm
- Strathfield, Strathfield Plaza Medical Practice, 11-23 The Boulevarde, Monday 28 June from 1.30 to 2.10pm
- Roselands, The Coffee Emporium, Shop 242, Centro Roselands Shopping Centre, Roselands Drive, Monday 28 June from 7.40am to 8.10am, Tuesday 29 June from 7.40am to 8.10am, Wednesday 30 June from 7:40am to 8.10am
- Lakemba, Fresh Quality Fruit and Vegetables, 2/40 Haldon Street, Wednesday 30 June from11.20am to 11.40am
- Eastlakes, Woolworths, Eastlakes Shopping Centre, 19 Evans Avenue, Wednesday 30 June from 1.00pm to 2.00pm
- Eastlakes, Australia Post Office, Shop 9/20, Eastlakes Shopping Centre, 19 Evans Avenue, Wednesday 30 June from 1.00pm to 2.00
Please check the NSW Government website regularly, as the list of venues of concern and relevant health advice are being updated as investigations continue.
‘Traumatised family’ of limo driver dispute patient zero claim
By Daniella White
A person who claims to be the son of an unvaccinated limousine driver at the centre of the Bondi COVID-19 cluster has disputed suggestions that his father is patient zero for the outbreak, saying the state government has used him as a scapegoat for failures in the quarantine system.
He said the family had been left traumatised by the ordeal and were “beside themselves” with stress, wondering if police were going to lay criminal charges against the driver “simply for doing his job”.
According to a fundraising page said to have been set up by the driver’s son, on the same day the driver supposedly transmitted the virus through fleeting contact at a shopping centre, he spent hours in close contact with his children and grandchildren, none of whom have tested positive.
“The following day [June 12], my parents went to Belle Cafe [in Vaucluse] and they report someone there coughing and sneezing. That is why they suspect they got it out and about,” the person said on the fundraiser page.
Pfizer doses still months away
By Rachel Clun
Australia’s pathway out of the pandemic relies heavily on the Pfizer vaccine, but the majority of the nation’s 40 million doses are at least three months away.
Those injured by vaccines will also be able to claim compensation without going through the courts in a significant update to the planned vaccine indemnity scheme.
The bulk of Australia’s COVID-19 doses are arriving in the last months of the year.Credit:Eddie Jim
The bulk of the country’s Pfizer doses, roughly 28 million of the 40 million ordered, are expected from October, and states and territories are set for a planning meeting with the head of the COVID taskforce to map out how those doses can be delivered into arms.
Deliveries of Pfizer will roughly double in the week of July 12, and drastically ramp up with 2.8 million doses delivered across the month.
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to our live blog. I’m Laura Chung.
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2021-07-02 21:16:55Z
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