Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
After five weeks of a tightening lockdown, they were not the words Sydney residents wanted to hear: the leader of New South Wales announcing another month of restrictions and telling the state to prepare for things to get worse, not better.
There was further anguish prompted by the daily Covid case numbers, which were rising daily, despite strict stay at home measures.
During a Covid-19 press conference, NSW health offical Jeremy McAnulty ‘misspoke’ and inferred that all Covid patients in intensive care had been vaccinated when in fact none of them had been fully vaccinated. The video of the mistake has been widely shared on social media. A single post on one Australian page which regularly shares vaccination misinformation had more than 1,800 'interactions', including almost 300 'shares'. In less regulated online spaces, the video has been shared globally among conspiracist groups. In US-based Telegram groups clips of the video have been seen tens of thousands of times across various groups. Some called it evidence the vaccine is 'deadly gene therapy' and 'pure poison'. The Guardian also saw posts sharing the video in Telegram pages in Europe and the UK
Back to the student vaccinations for a second, Gladys Berekijlian says the vaccination hub will be available for AstraZeneca doses after the 20,000 year 12’s have got their Pfizer jabs.
We are keen, in those eight local government areas of concern, to get year 12 face-to-face from the 16 August and that’s why I’m pleased to say we’ve moved heaven and earth to get what’s available from the 9 August.
During that week, we will be vaccinating around 19,200 HSC students in those eight local government areas...
NSW has enlisted the help of the ADF to patrol the streets and enforce lockdown compliance in the eight hotspot LGA’s in Syndey’s southwest.
This area has a high population of people who are immigrants and refugees, including many who have travelled to Australia to escape war town countries.
It’s sensitive but we’ve working through the ADF with the bushfires and floods and they been involved in hotel quarantine and other parts of the state so this is just an extension of our compliance of its buses is that Police Commissioner said, we have thousands and thousands of close contacts and can’t afford to have at least one of them out there in the community in case they have the virus.
We have wanted to people infectious can cause a spiral, a ripple effect which causes a major setback. That’s why I’m so strongly appealing to everybody, please don’t go to the protest activity tomorrow, it’s going to prolong the pain for all of us. Surely care about your loved ones. Don’t give them a death sentence.
Kristian Pulkownik, 33, is yet to formally apply for bail after he was arrested on Saturday following a so-called freedom march
An alleged Sydney anti-lockdown protester accused of punching a police horse called Tobruk will remain behind bars after refusing a Covid test that was a prerequiste for him to appear in court.
Kristian Pulkownik, 33, is yet to formally apply for bail after he was arrested on Saturday following a march in Sydney’s city centre where thousands of people defied coronavirus restrictions to attend.
Residents of eight local government areas banned from leaving hotspots unless they are essential workers; tradespeople now allowed into clients’ homes. Follow all the day’s news
Oooh, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking early this morning. I wonder if we will get the Covid-19 update at this event or if we will have to wait for the CHO to step up later in the day:
Daniel Andrews is speaking at from 9.45am at a level crossing removal.
NSW is lagging behind many other states and territories when it comes to vaccinating its elderly population, with fewer than 40% of over-70s fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
New data released by the federal government on Wednesday provides a state breakdown of national vaccination numbers for the first time. The figures reveal that of the almost 1 million people over 70 in NSW, 77% have received a first vaccine dose and 39% have received a second.
And here’s the video of Scott Morrison comparing the vaccine take-up to a gold medal run at the Olympics earlier today:
Reviews of rapid Covid-19 tests in Australia have found markedly different results in their effectiveness, but experts say the New South Wales government’s decision to employ them in schools and essential workplaces will help to control the virus.
Michael McGowan has this story after NSW announced that rapid tests would be used during Sydney’s continuing lockdown.
Even by pandemic standards, Saturday was a rattling day. As Covid cases in Sydney reached their highest tally to date, anti-lockdown protests turned violent in the CBD.
The day before, New South Wales had begged both the federal government and other Australian states for more Pfizer vaccines. The proposed approach gave me new hope, which by afternoon was extinguished. No solution appeared to be in sight.
Covid restrictions for greater Sydney, including residents in the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Cumberland and Blacktown LGAs, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Wollongong to be extended, with lockdown set to lift for Orange, Blayney and Cabonne local government areas in the state’s central west. Here’s the full list of what you can and can’t do in NSW
Sydney’s lockdown is expected to continue beyond 30 July, but there will be some changes to the rules.
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, is expected to announce a four-week extension to the lockdown on Wednesday, where it is understood she will also outline eased restrictions for the construction industry.
New South Wales reported a record high number of covid cases on Tuesday despite more than four weeks of lockdown for the Sydney region, with signs tough measures could extend until September.
“Vaccination is the key to our freedom. Getting jabs in arms is a key part of our strategy,” said state premier Gladys Berejiklian. “I want August to be the month where everyone comes forward to get the jab. That is key to us being able to see what September looks like. I don’t think anyone can deny that the vaccination rate is absolutely key to how we live life in NSW.”
Inevitable Berejiklian is now being grill over Victoria’s sucsess which many are viewing as proof that NSW’s lockdown was too little, too late.
Victoria is now coming out of lockdown. Have they now shown us up? Should we have gone down harder and faster? They’ve done two weeks, we’re here in week five, and with no sign of things slowing down.
Oh look, I think it’s important to note that every state has had its own course during the pandemic.
Victoria is emerging out of its fifth lockdown, and I appreciate appreciate people want to make comparisons, but it’s also important to note that every state has had its own course. Every state has its own history of how they’re built with the pandemic.
Melbourne: schools, restaurants and bars open. Sydney: 172 cases. Highest case number since the borders were shut and edging towards the 200 record.
Tens of thousands of Covid nasal test swabs are being put on planes and flown from hotspots in New South Wales to be processed in Brisbane and other cities, with labs in Sydney still “drowning” from record testing turnouts that have led to result wait times of up to 10 days.
As daily testing numbers hover around 100,000 in NSW, a backlog in processing swabs in Sydney continues to force people into isolation, with Guardian Australia aware of an essential worker abandoning their vaccine appointment as they await a negative result.
I am so pleased to hear that all 10 recommendations of the Foster Review will be implemented.
These reforms, most notably the independent complaints mechanism, will ensure Parliament House is a safer workplace for all future employees. https://t.co/wNNkVy4y9D
Jacinda Ardern said it was the ‘right step’ to allow return of woman and her children from Turkey
New Zealand has agreed that a suspected member of Islamic State who grew up in Australia can be repatriated from Turkey along with her two young children, a decision prime minister Jacinda Ardern said was “not taken lightly”.
The woman was a dual Australian-New Zealand citizen until Australia revoked her citizenship and refused to reverse the decision, prompting a furious response earlier this year from Ardern, who accused Australia of shirking its responsibilities.
Researchers say cases linked to products claiming to promote muscle growth or weight loss are rising and more rigorous oversight is needed
The number of patients being admitted to hospital with severe liver injuries caused by herbal and dietary supplements claiming to promote muscle growth or weight loss is increasing, with some people harmed so severely they required a liver transplant.
A study led by Dr Emily Nash from the Royal Prince Alfred hospital examined hospital records of 184 adults admitted to the AW Morrow Gastroenterology and Liver Centre with drug-induced liver injury between 2009 and 2020. She and her co-authors found liver injury cases linked to herbal and dietary supplements increased from two out of 11 patients (15%) during 2009–11, to 10 out of 19 patients (47%) during 2018–20.
‘Disastrous’ energy policies of China, Russia, Brazil and Australia could stoke 5C rise in temperatures if adopted by the rest of the world
A key group of leading G20 nations is committed to climate targets that would lead to disastrous global warming, scientists have warned. They say China, Russia, Brazil and Australia all have energy policies associated with 5C rises in atmospheric temperatures, a heating hike that would bring devastation to much of the planet.
The analysis, by the peer-reviewed group Paris Equity Check, raises serious worries about the prospects of key climate agreements being achieved at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in three months. The conference – rated as one of the most important climate summits ever staged – will attempt to hammer out policies to hold global heating to 1.5C by agreeing on a global policy for ending net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
I’ll see you bright and early on the blog Monday morning to kick start the next week of news.
Okay, here are the numbers on all the arrests and penalty notices to come out of the Syndey anti-lockdown protest so far.
NSW police say they have received more than 5,500 reports from members of the public, with 63 people arrested.
Thirty-five people – aged between 18 and 69 - were charged with various offences, including assault police officer in execution of duty, resist officer in execution of duty, wilfully obstruct officer in execution of duty and not comply with noticed direction...
Of these, 20 were refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court today [Sunday 25 July 2021].
Investigators are following up every report and have issued two court attendance notice and [penalty notices] to 16 people today.
Anti-lockdown protesters have marched in major Australian cities, as Covid cases spiked to record numbers in Sydney and authorities warned of a “continuing and growing problem”.
Thousands of angry, unmasked people marched through the Sydney central business district on Saturday afternoon demanding an end to the city’s lockdown, which is entering its fifth week.
New South Wales announces 136 new local Delta cases with Sydney under the strictest lockdown measures it has experienced
Australia’s most populous state has declared a “national emergency” as it struggles to contain a record-breaking surge of the Delta variant of Covid-19 amid a lockdown affecting half the country.
The state of New South Wales announced 136 new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 on Friday, with continued community transmission among essential workers, including in supermarkets and pharmacies.