Australia news LIVE: NSW COVID-19 cases continue to soar as infections grow across the nation - The Sydney Morning Herald

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US completes Afghanistan withdrawal

By Matthew Knott

The United States has completed the frantic and deadly withdrawal of its forces from Kabul a day ahead of schedule, marking the official end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

General Kenneth McKenzie, who leads the US Central Command, announced on Tuesday (AEST) that the last C-17 American military aircraft had departed the international airport in Kabul.

McKenzie said that more than122,000 people have been airlifted out of Kabul since August 14, making the effort the biggest non-combatant evacuation in US history.

Victoria now has more than 1000 exposure sites

By Cassandra Morgan

Victorian health authorities identified nearly 150 new COVID-19 exposure sites yesterday, with 40 listed after 8pm.

The state’s exposure site total now stands at 1030.

In case you missed the late additions, they include two tier-1 or close contact sites:

Monash Ultrasound for Women at Mulgrave, in Melbourne’s south east; and
The law firm Alpass & Associates in Kilsyth, in the city’s east.

Anyone who attended those sites during the specified timeframes has to immediately get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of whether they receive a negative test result.

Authorities warned there would also be some close contacts associated with a construction site in Fishermans Bend Primary School in Port Melbourne, Woolworths Northland in Preston and the GEOX apartment complex at Brunswick in the inner north.

The remainder of the new exposure sites are tier-2 sites. They include train and tram routes, chemists, a medical centre and a VicRoads service centre.

A full list of Victorian exposure sites can be found here.

COVID-positive Sydney men fined $25,000 after gathering during isolation

By Sarah McPhee

Five men, who police say were stopped in rural NSW last week, have been fined after allegedly breaching COVID-19 self-isolation rules and gathering outdoors in Sydney’s south west.

Police were patrolling Optimism Street in Leppington, on the edge of the Liverpool local government area of concern, about 11.30am yesterday when they saw five men allegedly sitting at a table on the footpath and not wearing face masks.

“Officers stopped and spoke to the men, who revealed they had tested positive to COVID-19 in rural NSW and had been ordered to self-isolate for 14 days after being escorted back to Sydney last Monday (August 23),” NSW Police said in a statement.

All five men – aged 23, 25, 26, 31 and 32 – were issued $5000 infringement notices for failing to comply with COVID-19 directions.

They were escorted back to the premises to complete their mandatory isolation.

Masks are mandatory outdoors across NSW, except for when exercising, and outdoor recreation in LGAs of concern is not allowed.

The fine for breaching self-isolation rules under the public health order was increased to $5000 on August 16.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday said more than 80 per cent of the state’s cases continue to be reported in Sydney’s south west and west. Of the 1290 new, locally acquired COVID-19 cases announced yesterday, 449 were from Western Sydney Local Health District and 434 from South Western Sydney LHD.

Three Sydney hospitals carrying the load of NSW’s COVID-19 outbreak

By Mary Ward, Lucy Carroll, Lucy Cormack and Alexandra Smith

Three Sydney hospitals are bearing the brunt of NSW’s COVID-19 outbreak with Westmead Hospital’s intensive care unit treating only people infected with the virus and other patients moved into a makeshift ICU.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian is forewarning that October will be the worst month for hospitalisations and new figures show the rising number of COVID-19 patients at each NSW hospital, including in ICU, and the stress it is putting on the state’s health system.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned October would be the hardest month for NSW’s hospitals.Credit:Kate Geraghty

Data obtained by this masthead reveals the number of coronavirus cases in NSW hospital wards and ICUs as of last Friday shows of the patients hospitalised, about 120 are being treated at each of Westmead and Liverpool hospitals. There are almost 100 cases at Nepean.

Two of Sydney’s largest hospitals, Royal North Shore and Royal Prince Alfred, are treating fewer than 40 cases each.

‘We have to do what is feasible’: Victorian CHO unsure on zero-COVID chances

By Clay Lucas and Craig Butt

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton is unsure if Victoria can achieve zero COVID-19 cases in the short term, despite Premier Daniel Andrews saying on the weekend the state was still aiming for “very low numbers”.

“We have to do what is feasible,” Professor Sutton said on Monday after the state reported 73 new coronavirus cases. It brought the number of Victorians with an active case to 805 as Melbourne entered the 25th day of its sixth lockdown.

“We are not going to achieve the impossible if it becomes impossible.”

Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton on Monday.Credit:Getty

On Sunday, Mr Andrews said the state’s case numbers were too high to open up but that “we are still a chance to drive this down to very low numbers ... no one has given up on that.”

Read the full story here.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

By Broede Carmody

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Tuesday, August 31. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.

NSW set another national record yesterday (the state recorded 1290 daily cases of COVID-19). There were also four deaths, including a man in his 50s who is believed to be the first Aboriginal Australian to die with the virus. More than 800 coronavirus patients are in NSW hospitals and, of those, 137 are in intensive care. Nurses at a major Sydney hospital say there’s a “strong sense of hopelessness” as cases continue to rise.
There were 73 locally acquired coronavirus cases reported in Victoria yesterday. Authorities are deciding whether some restrictions can safely ease as the nation prepares to live with the virus amid higher vaccination rates. In Victoria, the immediate priorities will be deciding if children will once again be able to attend playgrounds, what year 12 exams may look like and whether additional restrictions will be able to ease in regional Victoria.
There were 12 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the ACT yesterday. Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the territory will soon open Pfizer bookings for people aged between 16 and 29.
And Australia has now recorded more than 1000 coronavirus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. NSW’s four additional deaths on Monday took the national death toll to 1003. Globally, there have been 4.5 million deaths from coronavirus, including 637,531 in the United States and 132,760 in the United Kingdom.
Around 58 per cent of Australian adults have now received at least one jab of a coronavirus vaccine. Nationally, almost 35 per cent of us are fully vaccinated. That figure needs to reach the 70 to 80 per cent mark for lockdowns to become more targeted.
And in overseas news, New Zealand recorded 53 new coronavirus cases yesterday, all of which were in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed the city will remain in lockdown for at least another two weeks. However, the rest of the country will soon come out of lockdown (with some restrictions still in place) later tonight.
Meanwhile, the United States has completed its withdrawl from Afghanistan. It marks the end of America’s longest war.

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2021-08-30 21:08:04Z
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