Australia news LIVE Sydneys lockdown to be extended as COVID-19 cases soar Victorian restrictions ease
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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will announce a four-week extension of the lockdown today as the state banks on young people in Sydney’s west taking up the AstraZeneca vaccine to stem surging case numbers.
About 8000 under-40s have come forward for the AstraZeneca jab in the past week as the state government gives the go-ahead for young people to access the vaccine without a GP appointment.
A marquee outside Priceline at Cabramatta is offering information to the local community about AstraZeneca shots available inside.Credit:Dean Sewell
By Friday, adults of any age will be able to book an AstraZeneca vaccine at NSW Health clinics, including the mass vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park, and at about 450 pharmacies across NSW from next week.
Previously only over-40s could book after the state government expressed a preference for younger people to receive AstraZeneca following a GP consultation, in line with national health advice regarding an extremely rare blood clotting condition.
Read the full story here.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has done the breakfast television rounds this morning to defend the federal government’s current disaster payments scheme.
As readers of this blog will know, federal Labor, unions and some small businesses have been calling for last year’s JobKeeper program to be reinstated. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has also joined that push.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But Mr Birmingham has told Seven’s Sunrise that JobKeeper worked well as a nationwide scheme but lockdowns are now much more state and city-based.
“The new COVID disaster payment we have put in place is able to be tailored and targeted to the specific region,†he said.
“It is now helping hundreds of thousands of people across Sydney and it is able to be targeted but it also has a broader reach, it is available to, for example, casual employees who may not have been permanent casuals. So that provides a real lift.
“I think it is actually proving to be a more adaptable and effective support for the long-term in these targeted lockdowns.â€
Mr Birmingham says the federal government will make an announcement about “further assistance†later today. So stay tuned for that.
Victoria’s alpine ski resorts are receiving a huge influx of calls after the state government announced people will be free to visit the snow again.
Travel to the resorts is permitted provided visitors and workers have had a negative COVID test within the previous 72 hours.
Are you in Victoria and planning a last-minute dash to the snow after 12 days of lockdown? Let us know. Just remember to leave a contact number so one of our journalists can get in touch.
Australian National University infectious disease expert Professor Peter Collignon says we just don’t know if an additional four weeks of lockdown in Greater Sydney will be enough to suppress the highly-virulent Delta coronavirus strain.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to announce the lockdown extension at today’s press conference.
Professor Peter Collignon.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s what Professor Collignon had to say when asked on the Today show if four more weeks is enough to turn Sydney’s outbreak around:
“Well, I think the short answer is we don’t know. You can only really get a pretty good idea every five to seven days because anything you do, that is usually how long it takes to see the effect. The average incubation period is five days. So I think, you know, there is probably another month of restrictions coming, at least. And it may be longer.
“We’ve got to get the numbers down to probably about 20 a day or less and you have to have the vast majority of those people in isolation for nearly all the time they’ve been infectious. That will take a number [of] weeks but you can’t predict a month out from now at this stage.â€
Victoria’s hard pushed small business sector is expected to get some relief today from big rent bills racked up during the state’s fifth lockdown with a fresh federal-state lockdown support package set to be announced.
Victorian businesses have endured the past two shutdowns with revenue reduced to zero in many cases, without the legal protection from landlords and the cash and tax concessions put in place by the Victorian and Commonwealth governments in the first year of the pandemic.
Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall almost empty during lockdown. Credit:Justin McManus
Read the full story here.
The NSW exposure sites keep coming.
Authorities listed more than 40 places of concern late last night. But in good news, all the exposure sites are essential services.
Anyone who visited the Westpac branch at 12 North Terrace in Bankstown, in Sydney’s south-west, during the following times is considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result:
Madhouse Bakery in South Strathfield, in Sydney’s inner west, is also listed as a close contact venue for Wednesday, July 21 between 8am and 6pm. As is the Flower Power Garden Centre in Terrey Hills, in Sydney’s outer north, on Monday, July 19 between 2pm and 3pm (in NSW, garden centres and nurseries are considered essential retail).
For the full list of exposure sites, visit NSW Health’s website.
Innes Willox, the chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, was speaking on the Today show earlier this morning.
He said cash flow is “probably the number one issue†for businesses at the moment â€" particularly in Sydney, which is due to endure yet another lockdown extension, and in Melbourne, where businesses have faced in total around six months of stay-at-home orders since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
He urged everyone around the country to show their favourite businesses some much-needed love.
“There is just no money coming in,†he said.
“Spending has dried up. All the data tells us that consumers are spending about half what they did in normal times. Consumer confidence is battered. It is rational on the one hand but on the other hand it has really long-term consequences ... it becomes a vicious, spiralling circle.
“That is why we need to get people out spending as quickly as possible. If lockdowns ... should occur [they] should be targeted more than widespread. It is like a blunt industry whacking us over the head.â€
Federal Labor is set to swing the axe on its multibillion-dollar pledges for free cancer treatment and dental care for pensioners in an effort to slimline its election spending promises.
The two signature health policies, announced under former leader Bill Shorten ahead of the last election, are likely to be formally scrapped in the coming months following the federal opposition’s decision to cut off the key sources of revenue that would have funded them.
Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Labor went to the 2019 poll with a $2.3 billion package to tackle out-of-pocket costs and waiting lists for cancer patients. In the final weeks of the election campaign Labor followed up with a $2.4 billion plan that would have given up to three million older Australians access to free essential dental care, covered by Medicare, every two years.
Read the full story here.
The Victorian Transport Association says thousands of truck drivers are crossing the state’s border each day without a permit and shunning testing requirements designed to shield against the NSW coronavirus outbreak.
The peak industry body estimates between 15,000 and 19,000 trucks are entering Victoria daily, the vast majority from NSW. A Victorian government spokesperson said there were 9800 valid permit holders.
Transport industry groups want less onerous COVID-19 tests for drivers, but health experts warn they are less accurate. Credit:Andrew Quilty
The warning came as Victoria emerged from a 12-day lockdown at midnight on Tuesday, and South Australia’s lockdown also ended. But NSW recorded 172 locally acquired cases of coronavirus yesterday.
More on this story here.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is refusing to lobby the federal government for the return of JobKeeper despite Sydney’s lockdown being extended by four weeks and new data revealing spending across the city is at the lowest levels since the pandemic began.
Industry groups, unions and NSW Labor have joined NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet in pushing for JobKeeper to be reinstated as Sydney’s Delta outbreak recorded its worst day on Tuesday, with 172 new COVID-19 cases.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian would not be drawn on whether she supports her Treasurer’s push for JobKeeper to be reinstated.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Ms Berejiklian will on Wednesday announce an extension of the lockdown, with concessions to allow construction to resume from Saturday in non-hotspot areas and rapid antigen testing of year 12 students meaning they can return to school. There are no plans for face-to-face learning for students in other years.
The government is also considering the introduction of a singles bubble for people who live alone.
Read the full story here.
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