Category Archives: Sydney

GPs warn over children’s vaccine rollout ‘failings’; 3,500 cases in hospital nationwide – as it happened

Posted on by

‘Serious failings’ in children’s vaccine rollout, GPs warn; 2,186 Covid cases in NSW hospitals, 816 in Victoria, 502 in Qld and 211 in SA; NSW reports 25,870 new Covid cases and 11 deaths, Victoria 37,944 cases and 13 deaths, Qld 20,566 cases after testing glitch fixed, SA 2,921 cases, ACT 1,508 cases and one death, Tasmania 1,379 cases, NT 594. This blog is now closed

The Health Services Union has warned the aged care sector is experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” with “chronic understaffing, excessive workloads and extended shifts” hitting the sector amid the Omicron wave of Covid-19.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 HSU members:

The Morrison government comprehensively failed to plan before allowing Omicron to rip through the community and modestly paid workers, and residents in aged care facilities who built this country, are paying the price. Only just over a third of members surveyed have received their booster shot, despite working overtime in high risk settings.

There are active outbreaks in almost 500 aged care facilities across the country. Yet workers can’t access RATs, they can’t access PPE. They are on the front line with very little protection. Not only are staff at risk but vulnerable residents are at a heightened risk of severe disease or death.

Continue reading...

Novak Djokovic wins interim injunction against deportation; more than 72,000 new cases nationwide – As it happened

Posted on by

Karen Andrews, home affairs minister, did give a hint of how things might play out.

AAP reports that, before Novak Djokovic’s arrival, she said that while the Victorian government and Tennis Australia may allow a non-vaccinated player to compete in the Australian Open, it was the federal government that dealt with border entry requirements.

Continue reading...

Australia news live update: NSW Covid hospitalisations rise to 1,204; record high new cases in Victoria and Qld; Coalition rules out free RATs

Posted on by

NSW records 20,794 new Covid cases and Victoria 8,577, with seven deaths across both states; Queensland reports 4,249 cases, ACT 514 and Tasmania 466; Scott Morrison says health systems well equipped as Covid hospitalisations across the country rise; Greg Hunt says more RATs on the way as double-dose vaccination rate hits 91.5%; Josh Frydenberg grilled over rapid antigen tests. Follow all the day’s news

Researchers in Antarctica are dealing with an outbreak of coronavirus despite being based in one of the world’s most remote regions.

Since 16 December at least 16 of the 25 polar researchers based at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station are now infected with the virus.

Continue reading...

Cases rise as Qld tightens mask rules – as it happened

Posted on by

NSW records 22,577 new cases and four deaths, Victoria 7,442 cases and nine deaths, Queensland 2,266 cases, South Australia 2,100, Tasmania 428, Northern Territory 54 and the ACT 448; Queensland makes masks mandatory indoors; SA clinic sends wrong test result to 11 people. This blog is now closed

We’re still waiting on official stats to be released, but there are reports that Tasmania has recorded 428 new Covid cases – a jump from 148 cases yesterday.

A man has allegedly driven a car through a tent at a campground in Tasmania in the early hours of New Year’s Day, injuring two adults and three children, AAP reports.

They were taken to the Northwest Regional Hospital with injuries ranging from minor lacerations to suspected internal injuries.

The incident occurred about 2am on Saturday at the West Kentish Road Campgrounds in the state’s north-west.

Continue reading...

Australia news live update: national cabinet agrees on new definition of ‘close contact’ as more than 21,000 Covid cases recorded nationwide

Posted on by

Victoria’s case numbers have also come in and 5,137 new Covid-19 infections have been detected. That’s quite a jump from 3,767 yesterday.

Sadly, 13 lives have been lost overnight.

Continue reading...

Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks: health experts call for caution as Omicron outbreak worsens

Posted on by

NSW tourism minister expects lower turnout as leading epidemiologist says best place to watch festivities is from home

Experts are urging caution around Sydney’s planned New Year’s Eve celebrations amid surging Covid-19 cases in New South Wales.

On Friday, the NSW tourism minister, Stuart Ayres, said New Year’s Eve fireworks would proceed as planned under the current public health order, despite the growing Omicron outbreak.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia’s Christmas Day weather forecast: sunshine, storms and a scorcher

Posted on by

Brisbane braces for a downpour, Darwin is on cyclone watch, Perth to endure 43C, and other capitals in for a warm and partly cloudy day

Most Australian capitals are in for a warm and partly cloudy Christmas with a chance of a shower in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

Sydney was told to expect a maximum of 30C and a warm night with a minimum of 21C, while Melburnians would be able to enjoy a moderate high of 20C before temperatures dropped to 13C.

Continue reading...

NSW reports 6,288 Covid cases on Christmas Day as Australia hits record infections

Posted on by

Victoria has 2,108 new infections and Queensland 765 as tens of thousands around the country forced into isolation

New South Wales has recorded its highest ever Covid daily caseload, with 6,288 new infections announced on Christmas Day, as tens of thousands of Australians are forced into isolation over the festive period.

Covid transmission is also continuing to surge in Victoria, where authorities announced 2,108 new Covid-19 infections and six deaths from the virus.

Continue reading...

Covid live news update: Australia Covid live news update: national cabinet to meet as testing centres overwhelmed; NSW records 3,763 new cases, Victoria 1,503 cases

Posted on by

PM says mask guidelines up to states; NSW records 3,763 new cases and two deaths; Victoria records 1,503 cases and six deaths; ACT records 58 cases; Tasmania records 12 cases; national cabinet to meet as confidence in interstate travel plummets. Follow all the day’s news

More than 300 doctors around the world have written to deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce today urging him to seek Julian Assange’s immediate release from prison in the UK on medical grounds.

The letter cites concern over Assange’s apparent mini stroke, warning it may be “the tip of a medical iceberg”:

Indeed his symptoms suggest as much. It is therefore imperative that Mr Assange be released from prison, where his health will otherwise continue to deteriorate and where his complex medical needs cannot be met.

Perhaps our concerns were previously dismissed by your colleagues as hyperbolic. They are not. On the issue of cardiovascular pathology, we have been proven right. We do not wish to be proven right on the issue of Mr Assange’s survival.

We implore you, as Deputy Prime Minister, to intervene with the UK Government to seek Mr Assange’s immediate release on urgent medical grounds. We reiterate that he is an Australian citizen innocent in the eyes of the law, and guilty of and charged with nothing in the UK.

Continue reading...

Earthquake-proof steel cask carrying 2t of radioactive waste to arrive in Sydney next year

Posted on by

Nuclear waste has been reprocessed in the UK and will be stored at Lucas Heights until Napandee facility is ready

A monolithic steel cask designed to withstand an earthquake and a jet strike will arrive in Sydney next year, carrying two tonnes of radioactive waste.

For security reasons authorities won’t say when the hulking capsule – containing four 500kg canisters of “intermediate-level material” – will arrive from the UK.

Continue reading...

Life in the ward: how do you care for Covid patients in prison?

Posted on by

‘You can only build a net, it’s never a wall,’ says Dr Michael Novy, who cared for 160 inmates through a flap in a locked door

  • Read more in our series Inside Covid

From prisoners to the homeless and people living with disabilities – these are some of the at-risk communities hidden from public view during the pandemic. Now the health workers working with them share their stories.

Continue reading...

Christmas weather forecast: warm and calm conditions for most Australians and a scorcher in Perth

Posted on by

Bureau of Meteorology’s official prediction for 25 December includes good beach weather for Melbourne and Sydney

Christmas Day will bring warm weather and calm conditions for most Australians, but those in the north should brace for a potential storm, while temperatures are set to soar in the west.

The La Niña downpours of recent weeks are not expected to make an appearance on Christmas Day, with warm and potentially cloudy weather opening the door to outside festivities across most state capitals. The south-eastern cities will enjoy temperatures just shy of 30C, while Queenslanders should prepare for showers. Perth is set for a 40C scorcher and Darwin may be in for a storm.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Nearly 100 Covid cases linked to Sydney Taylor Swift party as Newcastle residents urged to postpone celebrations

Posted on by

Some cases from the Metro theatre on Friday likely to be Omicron and at least 600 people who attended are now isolating

At least 97 people have caught Covid-19 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Sydney, as NSW cases escalate to record levels.

NSW Health issued an alert on Thursday evening about the “On Repeat: Taylor Swift Red Party” at Sydney’s Metro theatre, with at least 600 people who arrived after 9pm on Friday deemed close contacts.

Continue reading...

Hannah Gadsby – Body of Work: a joyful guide to blasting Netflix and messing with Christian bakers

Posted on by

Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
The Australian comedian has opted for a feel-good show, but without any easy sentimentality

What better way to symbolise your favourable turn in fortune than with adorable bunnies, the sign of good luck? Comedian Hannah Gadsby has marked her return to the Sydney Opera House with four rabbits across the stage, though you will probably first notice the one in the Joan Sutherland theatre that functions as a lantern, a beacon of hope.

Of course, none of these rabbits are alive, which turns out to be apt, given the desecration of one unlucky bunny that hopped into the middle of the performer’s toxic relationship with an ex she struggled to shake off and another that emits a high-pitched squeal of terror as it crosses paths with Gadsby, her new wife and producer, Jenney Shamash, and their two dogs, Douglas and Jasper, on an outdoor stroll.

Continue reading...

Bondi backpackers hostel Noah’s locked down due to Covid scare as NSW reports 420 cases

Posted on by

NSW police confirm health department requested assistance at Sydney venue

A Bondi Beach backpackers hostel in Sydney has been placed into lockdown for a second time due to fears of a Covid outbreak.

It is not yet known how many people were staying at Noah’s backpackers hostel or whether the Omicron strain of the virus was present.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia live news update: NSW teachers’ strike closes nearly 400 public schools; Victoria pandemic bill becomes law

Posted on by

David Littleproud says ‘conversations are happening’ about Olympics boycott; NSW teachers’ strike closes nearly 400 public schools; three new Omicron cases detected in ACT, six Covid-19 infections overall; Victoria pandemic bill becomes law; ; Victoria records 1,185 cases and seven deaths; NSW records 260 cases and two deaths – follow all the day’s news

A suspected shark attack on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula has left two teens in hospital and shut a beach, reports Callum Godde from AAP.

Emergency services were called to Ocean Grove, south east of Geelong, just after 7pm on Monday.

Continue reading...

Qld border to reopen 13 December, Palaszczuk says; SA premier advised to close border with NSW over Omicron – As it happened

Posted on by

Annastacia Palaszczuk brings forward Qld border reopening; Steven Marshall ‘very concerned’ by Omicron as SA records four Covid cases; Perth stripped of Ashes series finale; Victoria records 1,073 new cases and six deaths, NSW records 208 cases, ACT six; Katherine lockdown extended as NT records one case; Australia could be renewables ‘superpower’ but has wasted time, Chris Bowen says.

This blog is now closed

A New South Wales government plan to control feral horses in Kosciuszko national park will allow horses to remain in the only known habitat of one of Australia’s most imperilled freshwater fishes and risks pushing the species closer to extinction.

Conservationists say allowing horses to continue to roam around some sections of the park will put vulnerable wildlife and ecosystems at risk.

There are lot of reasons even though they don’t get as sick as adults, they have a pretty strong role in spreading it back to family members and of course that can include parents and also, of greater concern, the grandparents. The older you are, the impacts of getting seriously ill or worse with Covid is greater.

The other reason is just so kids can do what kids are meant to do – go to school, play with their friends, do sport, do exercise, do social things.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison repeats that Australians have ‘had a gutful of governments in their lives’; Peter Cundall dies at 94 – As it happened

Posted on by

Gardening legend Peter Cundall dies aged 94 as PM repeats that Australians have had a ‘gutful of governments in their lives’. This blog is now closed

Hunt is asked whether states, like Queensland, will hold off opening state borders until at least 80% of kids aged five to 11 are vaccinated given today’s announcement.

Hunt:

There is no reason for that. The Doherty modelling was set out very clearly on the 80% rates for double dosed across the country for 16 plus, and what we have seen now is that in terms of the 12 to 15-year-olds, we have now had an extra 1.8 million vaccinations over and above the Doherty modelling. The Doherty modelling was based on an 80% national rate for double dosed and didn’t include 12 to 15-year-olds.

A bit over a fifth of all cases of Covid are actually in the under 12s. Indeed, some of the early data with Omicron suggests it may actually be higher for the Omicron variant ... While most kids to get fairly mild infection and only a limited number end up in ICU, is great, there are bigger impacts.

Unfortunately about one in 3,000 of the kids who get Covid actually end up with this funny immunological condition called multi-system inflammatory condition. Those kids can end up being very sick for months. It is not the same as long Covid but it has some things in common, and it has a whole range of symptoms where the kid is just not well. That is one of the things we are protecting against by vaccinating children...

Continue reading...

‘Twilight’ for Australia’s housing boom as prices to fall 10% in 2023, CBA says

Posted on by

Commonwealth Bank expects a peak in 2022 and then a drop the following year as borrowing costs rise

Australia’s “red hot” property market has started to cool, with prices to peak next year and sink 10% in 2023 as higher borrowing costs and “natural fatigue” set in, the nation’s largest mortgage lender predicts.

Home prices in Sydney, which will post among the fastest gains in 2021 with a forecast 27% jump, will moderate to a 6% advance in 2022, according to Gareth Aird, head of Australian economics for the Commonwealth Bank. By 2023, though, the harbour city’s prices will fall 12%, the equal most of any capital city, matching Hobart’s predicted retreat.

Continue reading...