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Watch live: NSW and Victoria’s COVID-19 updates
By Broede Carmody
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar are due to provide their state’s coronavirus update from 11.15am AEST.
Watch that press conference live below.
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Marianna Gale and Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys have finished providing their coronavirus update.
We’ll have the playback version with you as soon as possible.
About 10,000 Victorians cancelling, not showing up for vaccine appointments
By Cassandra Morgan
About 10,000 people a day are cancelling their COVID-19 vaccine appointments in Victoria or not showing up them, according to authorities.
The state’s Premier Daniel Andrews said during Monday’s COVID-19 update that while he couldn’t change that, he could urge people to honour their vaccination appointments.
“Please honour that appointment, come forward,” Mr Andrews said.
“As the Chief Health Officer says, the best [vaccine is] the one that’s available today.”
The Premier said getting vaccinated today was better than joining the queue in a fortnight with thousands of others, and national cabinet discussed on Friday vaccinating children aged 12 and up.
“They’re going to join the queue at some point soon, so if you can, get it done now,” he said.
Victorian Premier can’t rule out COVID-19 measures at 80 per cent vaccinated
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he can’t rule out some COVID-19 measures like masks or lockdowns for aged care facilities, even when 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated.
He said during Monday’s COVID-19 update that while he wasn’t there to write “stone tablets”, “I can’t rule out masks or some other measure”.
“If we had a really nasty outbreak in a vulnerable community in a suburb or part of the state, for instance, in an aged care facility – we might lock down a whole lot of aged care facilities if we had a problem in aged care.
“Or a disability centre … or a school in October. I can’t rule that out.”
Expect some knock-on effects from hospital furloughs: Victorian Premier
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says there will be knock-on effects for the state’s healthcare sector when some hospitals are at the centre of coronavirus outbreaks.
There are now 10 COVID-19 cases linked to the Royal Melbourne Hospital after a person tested positive following surgery.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Getty
“Our public hospital system operates on one fundamental principle, and that is the sickest patients get treated the quickest, and that’s the only way that it can go,” Mr Andrews said during Monday’s COVID-19 update.
“So, if we have more and more really acute patients, then we will reprioritise, we will move resources and add to resources. But you’re right, furloughing is tough.
“That’s [why we’ve] got to clean this out of hospitals as best we possibly can.”
Mr Andrews said the best way to do that was to have less of the virus in the community, because then that means there’s less chance of coronavirus getting into the state’s hospitals.
“[There will] be knock-ons, if you like, but it’s not system-wide.
“There’s no system-wide change, it’s still happening, but I’m just trying to be upfront by saying there’ll be some impact in some hospitals, because they’re dealing with challenges, and practices to finish up on patients tested prior to surgery.”
He said Victorian patients had been tested for coronavirus at all different points throughout the pandemic - that was happening again now, and some facilities had been doing so all the way through.
Mr Andrews said that wasn’t possible for some who required urgent surgery, but there were new technologies like rapid testing.
Don’t make police’s job harder: Victorian Premier
By Cassandra Morgan
Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews says every division of the state’s police force have had a “very tough few months”, and nobody should be making their jobs any harder.
He said some of the scenes at Saturday’s anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne’s CBD were not only “disgusting”, but “absolutely unlawful”.
“None of us should ever act in that way towards members of Victoria Police – they’re there to keep us safe, and put themselves in harm’s way,” Mr Andrews said during Monday’s COVID update.
“The full force of the law will be upon those people [who attended the protests].”
He said anyone who was symptomatic, including those who attended Saturday’s anti-lockdown protests, should be tested for COVID-19.
Mr Andrews said he’d passed on his best wishes to the six police officers who were injured in Saturday’s rally, including one who was awaiting surgery.
Businesses slam lockdown ‘uncertainty’
By Jennifer Duke
Big businesses have made it clear they want state and territory leaders to open up when vaccination rates hit the nationally agreed 70 and 80 per cent targets.
Jennifer Westacott, the chief executive of the influential business lobby group the Business Council of Australia, has sent a statement to media organisations criticising the “constant state of uncertainty” surrounding lockdowns and the effects this is having on companies.
Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia.Credit:Louie Douvis
“We need certainty now, and we back the Prime Minister’s call to stick to the numbers and develop a detailed plan to reach the targets,” Ms Westacott said.
“Australian businesses, whether they are big or small, cannot continue to deal with the what-if and maybes – that’s no way to plan the reopening of the economy,” she said.
“If leaders walk away from the national reopening plan or make the targets meaningless, it will cripple community and business confidence and send a terrible signal to the rest of the world.”
She said there was an opportunity for a nuanced approach to easing restrictions, including letting local government areas with higher vaccination rates and lower case numbers open up, the return of secondary students to classrooms and an increase in construction sector capacity.
“The most important thing that business and the community needs now is a plan with precision that gives them hope. We need a roadmap across the Federation that outlines what reopening looks like for business and the community so people can start planning,” Ms Westacott said.
Victorian Premier responds to ‘soft lockdown’ suggestion
By Cassandra Morgan
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has responded to an epidemiologist’s suggestion the state could move to a “soft lockdown” if case numbers don’t significantly drop by September 2.
Professor Tony Blakely’s modelling shows that, if the state shifted to a soft lockdown in September, the COVID-19 vaccination rate would catch up with case numbers and they would eventually start to go down.
“There’s a few sort of things that have to be taken for granted in that, that we’ve got adequate [vaccine] supply to get to 70 and to get to 80 on the agreed timelines – that’s not necessarily a given”, Mr Andrews said during Monday’s COVID-19 update.
“The notion that we could vaccinate people as vast as the Delta virus infects people – that is not what the Doherty modelling shows, it is not the national cabinet [agreed] position.
“We don’t have the supply and Delta will move faster than we can vaccinate people.”
Mr Andrews said authorities would look at “all options”, and the state’s Chief Health Officer always weighed up factors including physical and mental health.
Berejiklian stands by vaccination strategy, happy to be subject to inquiry
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has stood by her strategy of pushing for higher vaccination rates in her state so that some industries, such as hairdressing, can reopen if both the employee and customer are vaccinated.
Asked if her strategy may result in a possible fracturing of national cabinet agreements, the Premier said “that’s for other states to assess”.
“We have to accept that the challenges that we face here are very different from what happens in Tasmania and even WA, which is a more isolated state,” she said.
“We can’t pretend that every state is exactly the same in Australia in terms of population and density and risks.”
The Premier said she believed the health system would be relieved by having COVID-19 transmit among a highly vaccinated population.
“We know that the vaccines that we have are extremely effective in reducing transmission, in reducing hospitalisation and reducing death,” she said.
Asked if she would commit to having a special commission of inquiry into the management of the current outbreak, Ms Berejiklian said: “I have no issue whatsoever with as many inquiries as people would like to have.”
Sixteen new cases of COVID-19 in the ACT
By Jennifer Duke
The ACT has recorded 16 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said 13 of those cases were linked to existing cases and interviews are continuing with the remaining three.
Three were infectious in the community. There were 3740 tests conducted across the territory yesterday.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says 16- to 29-year-olds can now register for a Pfizer vaccine. Credit:Elesa Kurtz
“I am pleased to be able to advise we are now in a position to open the registration process for 16- to 29-year-olds to receive a Pfizer vaccination,” Mr Barr said during this morning’s coronavirus update.
There are about 64,000 people in this cohort in the ACT. Registration takes place through the My Digital Health website and will allow people to make a booking in future.
About 21,000 in this age group are already vaccinated.
“Canberra is a young city,” Mr Barr said.
“Opening the registration process will enable more people to be in the system when the time comes to book an appointment.”
He said these appointments and bookings should be available next month and would occur when Commonwealth supplies of Pfizer are available.
He encouraged aged care, health and disability workers to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
He also flagged pop-up COVID-19 testing clinics would be affected by bad weather forecast this week.
PPE stepped up for Victorian emergency room staff
By Cassandra Morgan
Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar says not only will people be tested for coronavirus before planned operations from now, but emergency department staff in the state will be required to wear tier-3 PPE (personal protective equipment).
He said they’re now spending their entire shifts in masks, full visors, gloves, and gowns.
Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar. Credit:Getty
“It’s … unpleasant, it’s hot, it’s hard work, and this is the implication of seeing these rumbling cases,” Mr Weimar said during Monday’s COVID-19 update.
“We now have to step up again, to deal with the growing number of cases we’re seeing in the community and be prepared for these cases coming through.
“My thanks to [health services and] their leadership and their frontline staff for all the work they’re doing to make sure we get through the coming days and weeks, as well as we possibly can.”
NSW Deputy CHO says drawing Sydney boundaries ‘always a challenge’
By Mary Ward
NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale has faced a number of questions regarding the local areas which have – and have not – been included in different tiers of the state’s restrictions.
Questions included: why the Central Coast was included in regional NSW when it currently has more cases than Wollongong, which remains within Greater Sydney, and why Shellharbour and Wollongong would be split given they depend on shared resources.
NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Marianne Gale. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
“It’s always a challenge to where you draw the line,” Dr Gale said.
“The risk of transmission is always there and the basic message for everybody, whether you’re in Greater Sydney or whether you’re in the regional areas is, please, follow the advice that applies to you.”
Much has been made of the inclusion of Sydney’s Burwood local government area in the 12 areas of concern, despite only recording 13 cases over the past fortnight while nearby Inner West council – which is not considered an area of concern – recorded 49.
Dr Gale said the “vast majority” of cases were being recorded in the areas of concern and concern remained about council areas which border high-risk areas.
“People do travel. We still do move, often, as authorised workers or for other reasons. And so, that risk of seeding in other parts of the city remains.”
(The Burwood local government area has a significantly smaller area and population than the Inner West.)
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2021-08-23 02:08:22Z
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