Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Two decades ago Richard Stiles escaped an avalanche in New Zealand, but friend Steve Robinson wasn’t so lucky. Now the mountain has given up some of its secrets
When mountaineer Chris Hill found a backpack with an old camera in it on the Hooker Glacier – an 11km chunk of ice on New Zealand’s South Island – he was intrigued and decided to get the film inside developed.
Hooker is at the base of Aoraki (Mount Cook), in a national park of icy peaks where hundreds of climbers have died, dozens of them never to be found.
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has accused the Morrison government of being on a “mission” to bring coronavirus into the state as the federal treasurer doubled down on warnings state leaders should not expect financial assistance if they failed to deliver the national reopening plan.
McGowan responded furiously on Wednesday to a suggestion from the federal attorney general, Michaelia Cash, that the legal scope for the premiers to keep their borders closed would decrease once local vaccination rates increased.
How contagious is the Delta Covid variant? Take charge of this interactive and watch how small changes in isolation or reproduction rates of Covid-19 can affect our battle against it.
One important characteristic of viruses and other pathogens is how contagious or infectious they are. One key measure of this is the R0, or basic reproduction number, which indicates how many new cases one infected person generates. For an R0 of three we would expect each new case of a disease to produce three other infections.
This is not just a measure of the inherent infectiousness of a disease. It also depends on other factors, including the rate of contact within a population and the duration of the infectious period. It’s a situation-dependent value, so in one city the R0 might be higher and in another lower. It also assumes that the entire population is susceptible to the disease.
So what does the R0 of Covid look like, and how does it compare with other diseases?
NSW has recorded 1,116 new cases of locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 and four deaths. When asked why the government would not release the modelling they were relying on to make decisions, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said there were numerous models that changed daily. Pushed on why she couldn't release the worst case scenario modelling, she said: 'I’ve seen various versions of modelling and I can’t recall all the numbers but I can tell you this much - that we know that the rate of hospitalisations is likely to peak some time in October'
Anthony Albanese had a chat to Triple M Newcastle where he continued to hone Labor’s national plan message when it comes to the premiers:
Well, they all signed up for the national plan. The national plan, of course, provides for various protections to be continued to be available at 70% and 80%. No one wants restrictions. Restrictions affect people’s way of life and their capacity to get around and it hurts the economy. But to be fair to Queensland at the moment, South Australia also, I noticed Scott Morrison never talks about the Liberal states, South Australia and Tasmania and Queensland and Western Australia all have their borders closed to New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT at the moment. That’s a decision that is perfectly understandable. WA is getting the Grand Final in the AFL. Brisbane will get the Grand Final in the Rugby League. And it’s tough times, but these decisions have been made to keep their citizens safe.
If you are thinking that the Victorian numbers are usually out by now, you would be right.
There is a delay this morning (we usually get them around 8.30am) but in the past, when there has been more complicated data to reconcile, it has taken a little longer.
The evidence is strongest for receiving two doses of the same Covid-19 vaccine, rather than mixing different types, medical authorities have said amid concerns that some people may be cancelling their second AstraZeneca dose in the hope of securing a shot of Pfizer.
As outbreaks of the Delta variant affect New South Wales and Victoria, people are being urged by state premiers and health authorities to get vaccinated as soon as possible with whatever vaccine is available, and to show up to their existing first and second-dose appointments.
The C.1.2 strain has scientists’ attention because it possesses mutations within the genome similar to those seen in variants of interest, like Delta
A new Covid variant detected in South Africa has made headlines around the world.
On Monday the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa issued an alert about the “C.1.2 lineage”, saying it had been detected in all provinces in the country, but at a relatively low rate.
Gerry Harvey has now repaid $6 million in JobKeeper out of the $13 billion that went to companies with rising revenue. Gerry Harvey think it is money should be paid back. Why doesn’t the Treasurer?
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
My question as to the prime minister. Most economists expect the economic growth to slow in the June quarter and it is now going backwards in the September quarter. Why does the prime minister not take responsibility for the fact that Australia’s economic recovery was always hostage to his failures on vaccines and quarantine?
Australia is one of the few countries in the world that after the Covid-19 recession of last year saw our economy grow back to a level higher than it was before the pandemic started, and that is before Delta hit, and saw 1 million people, a million people get back into work.
That was the product of economic policies that not only provided significant, in fact unprecedented economic support, both to individuals who had lost hours and had been stood down, through jobkeeper but also through ... the many other measures that supported businesses to see their way through at a time. Particularly last year at the outset of Covid when the uncertainty was at such a level that it was like looking into an economic abyss. And so the certainty that was provided by the government that stepped in with the single largest economic intervention in Australia’s history. Gave businesses, gave families, gave individual employees the confidence to be able to get up the next day and see it through, and do it again, day after day, month after month.
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced 1,164 new cases of locally acquired Covid-19, and three more deaths. Intensive care nurse at Liverpool hospital, Michelle Dowd, described how physically and emotionally hard the work in ICU is caring for Covid patients. She said, 'These patients are some of the sickest we've ever seen. They require so much support and monitoring and physical care. We're in layers of PPE, sometimes for hours at a time'
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has declared the government has “overcome” the challenges of the national vaccine program, despite the states crying out for more mRNA vaccine supplies to curb the Delta outbreak tearing through NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
Meanwhile, mRNA supplies should be increasing over the next couple of months, but older Australians who waited to have a choice could find themselves at the back of the queue:
Brisbane is getting its second mass vaccination hub, this time in the Boondall entertainment centre. That will open up on 8 September, and help take the pressure off the existing hub, which is in the city.
Decline in exports from Taiwan combines with port closures in China and Japan to hinder growth
A recovery in global trade during the summer is beginning to wane, according to some early warning signs pointing to the negative effects of widespread Covid-19 outbreaks in the manufacturing centres of east Asia.
A dramatic decline in exports from Taiwan, which makes many of the computer chips used in cars and mobile phones, has combined with temporary port closures and lockdowns in Australia, China and Japan to cut the level of global trade.
They’re big business … in Hollywood. But did you know Australia also has a small but rich seam of compelling and bizarre superhero movies?
The phrase “nobody makes superhero movies like Australia” has, I dare say, never before been written. Our humble government-subsidised film and TV industry is no more than a lemonade stand in the shadow of Hollywood’s arena spectacular, unable to compete budget-wise with the deep pockets of Tinseltown or produce bombast on the scale of American studios.
But scratch the surface of Australian film and TV history and you will find a small but rich vein of super strange locally made superhero productions with their own – forgive me – true blue je ne sais quoi. Their eclecticism and off-kilter energy provides a refreshing counterpoint to the risk-averse kind falling off the Hollywood assembly line.
For those in NSW, a new venue of concern has been released by NSW Health.
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – NEW VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
We have been notified of a number of new close and casual contact venues of concern associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/3F7VnSkGk9
I’m just about to finish up for the day!
But before I leave you in the extremely capable hands of my colleague, Elias Visontay, let’s take a look back at today’s biggest headlines:
It’s time to wrap things up for another day. Here are today’s main events:
It has shipped more than a billion doses, saved countless lives – and faced controversy over its safety and supply.
In this piece by Oliver Franklin-Wallis, some of the people involved in the creation of the AstraZenca vaccine tell their story of the race against Covid-19.
Annual coronavirus vaccines could be a reality – but Australia is at least 18 months away from manufacturing its own
From September – more than nine months after it was approved for emergency use in the United States – the first doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will arrive on Australian shores. The second mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccine against the coronavirus is a welcome boon amid a period of rolling lockdowns and record case numbers.
WHO to ship 100m doses of Sinovac and Sinopharm by the end of next month, while the number of coronavirus patients in US hospitals has breached the 100,000 mark again
Two government advisers have told i news that prime minister Boris Johnson has privately accepted that there could be at least 30,000 further Covid-related deaths in the UK over the next year.
Johnson would reportedly “only consider imposing further restrictions if that figure looked like it could rise above 50,000”, with the government adopting a cost-benefit analysis on whether to impose restrictions which takes into account the economic impact and controversially put the level of acceptable cost to save a life at up to £30,000.
The prime minister is minded to implement another lockdown or new restrictions only if the figure of annual deaths looks like it’s going to go above 50,000. That means deaths from Covid of 137 a day, or just under 1,000 a week.
However, it won’t be an immediate reaction. A sustained rate of death of around a 1,000 a week for two or three weeks will, though, lead to discussion on restrictions being reimposed. Unfortunately, prime ministers have to weigh up the cost of saving lives to the impact on the economy. No one wants to talk about that’s how it works.
Decisions about how much to intervene to improve public health are always difficult for governments. Measures such as vaccinating children against meningitis or imposing speed limits on roads reduce death and disease, but also cost money and limit freedoms.
Finding the balance is one of the hardest decisions for governments, but is essentially what we vote politicians to do. In normal times, it is possible to use calculations of, say, cost per life saved, to provide some framework to guide decisions. In the UK, if an intervention costs less than £30,000 per year of life saved, then it is usually accepted in terms of healthcare.
That’s it from me today. Time to hand over to my colleague, Mattha Busby.
Here’s a brief roundup of what’s been happening over the past 24 hours:
The Australian photojournalist has been working in the Afghan capital as troops from the US, UK and Australia withdraw. A period culminating in two suicide bombings, which tore through crowds trying to enter Hamid Karzai international airport
Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and Tier 1, 2 and 3 Covid-19 public exposure site locations in Victoria and Melbourne, and what to do if you’ve visited them