Shawn Michael Chock charged with murdering 58-year-old Jeremy Barrett after allegedly driving his truck into bike race participants in Arizona
An Arizona man already facing assault charges for allegedly driving his pickup truck into people participating in a bike race nearly six weeks ago has been charged with murder.
An indictment made public Wednesday adds a murder charge against Shawn Michael Chock in the death of 58-year-old Australian Jeremy Barrett.
Continue reading...Gladys Berejiklian says higher vaccination rates the ‘only way to live with Delta’ as Queensland cluster grows to 18 on first day of snap lockdown
Gladys Berejiklian has said New South Wales plans to break vaccination records this month in an effort to control Covid-19, as the state recorded 239 new cases – the equal-highest daily figure in the current Delta outbreak.
The NSW premier on Sunday said higher vaccination rates were the “only way to live with Delta or any other horrific strain that comes along” and urged people in NSW to make August their month to come out and get vaccinated.
Continue reading...Digital giant issues strike after channel posted videos denying the existence of disease and encouraging people to use discredited medication
Sky News Australia has been banned from uploading content to YouTube for seven days after violating its medical misinformation policies by posting numerous videos which denied the existence of Covid-19 or encouraged people to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin.
The ban was imposed by the digital giant on Thursday afternoon, the day after the Daily Telegraph ended Alan Jones’s regular column amid controversy about his Covid-19 commentary which included calling the New South Wales chief health officer Kerry Chant a village idiot on his Sky News program.
Continue reading...Even by the standards of this extraordinary cases, this was a remarkable week
After two full days giving evidence Mohammed Hanifa Fatih was formally excused.
But he wasn’t yet finished.
Continue reading...New South Wales records 210 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus – two-thirds in people under 40 – as police set up exclusion zone over anti-lockdown protest; Queensland locks down 11 LGAs from 4pm today after six new cases. Follow the latest news
We’ll leave it there for today.
But before we leave you, here are the main developments of the day.
Tasmania’s premier, Peter Gutwein, has been a providing a Covid-19 update this afternoon.
The state has closed its borders to south-east Queensland. About 11,000 people who entered the state from Queensland will need to self-isolate.
#BREAKING: Anyone who has arrived in Tasmania from south-east Queensland since 17th of July needs to isolate immediately. That’s around 11,000 people #covid19tas
Continue reading...Non-compliers more likely to leave home to meet friends, for religious reasons, boredom, or because they want to exercise right to freedom
People who do not comply with Covid-19 pandemic restrictions are mostly male, more extroverted and more likely to put their own self-interests above those of others, suggests a new study of behaviours internationally.
University of Sydney researchers assessed behaviours and attitudes towards Covid regulations in 1,575 people in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US between April and May last year, during the first wave of the pandemic.
Continue reading...With restrictions extended for four weeks, cases growing and a sluggish vaccine rollout, the end of the outbreak seems far away
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.
Continue reading...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
► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
NSW will vaccinate 20,000 year 12 student over five days, premier says, as state records 170 local Covid-19 cases overnight; three local cases recorded in Victoria; Queensland student in community for three days while infectious; national cabinet meeting. Follow latest updates
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Related: Just 39% of NSW residents over 70 are fully vaccinated against Covid, despite push for jabs
Continue reading...NSW records 177 local cases, lockdown extended four weeks; single bubbles now allowed in greater Sydney; those on welfare support now eligible for federal disaster payments, NSW premier says; Victoria records eight local cases overnight, and a new local, non-quarantined case today. Follow all the day’s news
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.
Continue reading...When I heard my 18-year-old nephews had received their first jab, it was like sunshine slicing through the clouds
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...More than 170 daily cases reported, with block of flats sealed off by police, outbreaks affecting two hospitals and further delays to Novavax vaccine
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.”
Continue reading...SA to exit lockdown at midnight; NSW records 172 local Covid-19 cases overnight; Victoria lockdown to ease from midnight after state records 10 cases; Queensland records no new cases overnight. Follow all the day’s news
NSW press conference:
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.
With daily tests in NSW hovering around 100,000, pathology turnaround times are being pushed back as residents wait in isolation
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.
Continue reading...NSW reports 145 local Covid-19 cases overnight; no lockdown announcement for Victoria today after 11 new local cases recorded; SA to lift lockdown from midnight tomorrow and another vaccine record. Follow the latest updates
Brittany Higgins has welcomed the government’s decision to accept all 10 recommendations of the Foster review into how federal parliament responds to serious incidents.
The government put out a press release announcing this earlier today.
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
Sydney Covid crisis could take months to recede if other outbreaks are anything to go by - depressing read (but with good charts) from @joshcnicholas looking at peaks and troughs of covid waves https://t.co/slr3A5O9gX pic.twitter.com/4zR7STbB3i
Continue reading...Iranian asylum seeker’s family seek damages for wrongful death and mental harm
The parents of the asylum seeker Reza Barati are suing the Australian government over his murder in an offshore detention centre.
The 23-year-old Iranian was beaten to death by guards and other workers during a violent confrontation at the Manus Island detention centre in 2014.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...