Category Archives: New South Wales

Australia Covid live news update: NSW records 1,288 cases and seven deaths; Victoria halves AZ dose gap after 176 cases, ACT 12

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Victoria halves time between AZ vaccinations; state’s chief psychiatrist says ‘please reach out to your kids’; unlimited exercise for LGAs of concern in greater Sydney; NSW records seven deaths; ACT records 12 new cases, Queensland one new case – follow latest updates

I have just been reminded of when China’s president, Xi Jinping also “encouraged” education authorities in Macao on Thursday to make further efforts to promote patriotic education in the special administrative region.

From the China Daily report late last year:

Xi made the remark while inspecting the Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School in Macao. He attended a class on Chinese history themed “’one country, two systems’ and Macao”, and delivered a speech to teachers and students at the school.

Xi told them that the class has great and special significance because it demonstrates the fundamental and substantial elements of history and education.

And that’s it – no more question time for six weeks.

Thank Dolly.

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Sydney Covid patient in Westmead hospital after overdosing on ivermectin and other online ‘cures’

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Patient, who suffered vomiting and diarrhoea, part of trend hospital is seeing of people taking unproven substances

A Covid-positive person in Sydney was admitted to Westmead hospital suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea after overdosing on ivermectin and other drugs ordered online, as Australia’s chief medical officer pleads with the public not to take unproven medicine.

Westmead hospital’s toxicologist, Naren Gunja, said the case was part of a growing trend the hospital was seeing of people taking unproven online cures for Covid. The patient didn’t get severe toxicity from taking the ivermectin cocktail, “but it didn’t help their Covid either”, he said.

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NSW Covid-19 update: 1,116 new cases as premier says she ‘can’t recall’ worst case modelling – video

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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' 

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Australia politics live: Victoria to reveal roadmap out of Covid lockdown as regional NSW under pressure

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Daniel Andrews due to unveil ‘modest’ changes to the state’s current lockdown a day after two women died from Covid. Follow the latest updates live

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.

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Australian health authorities warn against mixing Covid vaccine types

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Concerns raised that some people may be cancelling their second AstraZeneca dose hoping to obtain a shot of Pfizer instead

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.

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Australia Covid live news update: Morrison announces Pfizer vaccine deal; ACT extends lockdown, three deaths and 1,164 cases in NSW, Victoria 76 cases

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Singapore agrees to vaccine ‘dose swap’ with Australia; NSW confirms 1,164 cases and three deaths; lockdown extended to 17 September in ACT; Victoria records 76 new cases; AMA says vaccinations for healthcare staff must be mandatory. Follow the latest updates live

Andrew Leigh to Josh Frydenberg:

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.

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NSW Covid-19 update: 1,164 cases as intensive care nurse says patients ‘sickest we’ve seen’ – video

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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' 

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Australia’s Covid vaccine challenges have been ‘overcome’, Scott Morrison says

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PM’s assertion comes as national death toll since pandemic began surpasses 1,000 and states seek more Pfizer amid Delta outbreak

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.

The prime minister’s assertion came as the country marked the grim milestone of the first Indigenous death from a Covid-19 case, in western NSW, and as the national death toll surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic began in early 2020.

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Australia Covid news: health system on the brink of crisis as NSW braces for another record day of cases – live

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Fears Sydney hospital ICUs are under extreme strain as nurses speak out about ‘hellhole’ conditions. Follow latest updates

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:

Related: Older Australians at back of queue for mRNA vaccines despite Atagi advice to give them choice

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.

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Australia Covid live update: NSW reports record 1,218 cases and six deaths; Victoria extends lockdown after 92 infections

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NSW allows small weddings despite rising case numbers; Victoria’s Delta cluster emerges in bayside Port Melbourne; ACT reports 13 new cases and New Zealand 83. Follow all the day’s news

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:

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‘It’s terrible’: NSW Covid-19 patients share stories from hospital in Sydney, Australia – video

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Covid-19 patients from Sydney's Concord hospital have shared their experience of the Delta variant's symptoms and pleaded for Sydneysiders to get vaccinated. Lung specialist Lucy Morgan shared the stories of 50-year-old construction worker Fawaz, 30-year-old pharmacy worker Ramona and 35-year-old tradie Osama in a video from Sydney Local Health District. Fawaz and Osama infected family members who have also been hospitalised, while single mother Ramona says she has been unable to see her children for weeks

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A love heart made out of sheep: Australian farmer pays tribute to his aunt

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Unable to travel to a family funeral due to Covid, Ben Jackson used his sheep in a farewell message

A sheep farmer stuck in lockdown in New South Wales who was unable to attend his aunt’s funeral has honoured her memory with the ultimate tribute: a love heart made from sheep.

Ben Jackson from Guyra couldn’t make it to Brisbane to be with his aunt during her final moments after a two-year fight with cancer that began at the start of the pandemic.

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‘Extraordinary’: Police fine dozens after church service in western Sydney Covid hotspot

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More than 30 people were fined $1,000 each at the Blacktown Christ Embassy Sydney church gathering, just hours before stronger lockdown measures came into force

NSW police have issued 31 fines to people who attended an illegal Sunday night church service in Blacktown in the heart of Sydney’s Covid-19 outbreak hotspots.

Police went to Christ Embassy Sydney church around 7.30pm on Sunday after being tipped off about a gathering in breach of public health orders.

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NSW police apologise for sending email with sensitive information to wrong person

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Exclusive: Personal information about woman fined for lockdown breach emailed to man with same name as woman’s lawyer

When a sensitive email from New South Wales police landed in Richard McDonald’s inbox earlier this month, he could scarcely believe the irony.

The email, obviously not intended for him, contained confidential and personal information about a woman police had just fined for a Covid lockdown breach in questionable circumstances.

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Police say Melbourne anti-lockdown protest ‘most violent in nearly 20 years’

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Saturday’s rally was the first time police used non-lethal weapons during a lockdown protest, with at least nine officers ending up in hospital

An anti-lockdown protest held in Melbourne on Saturday was one of the most violent the city has seen in 20 years, Victoria’s top police officer says.

Chief commissioner Shane Patton said his officers had no choice but to use non-lethal weapons to defend themselves from an angry mob that came armed and appeared intent on attacking them.

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Australia anti-lockdown rallies: protesters violently clash with police in Melbourne

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Thousands march through streets of Melbourne and Brisbane, as police try to prevent Sydney rally

Anti-lockdown protesters clashed violently with police as thousands of unmasked people marched through the streets of Melbourne on Saturday.

Victoria police said they had made 218 arrests and that six officers were hospitalised during a series of altercations. Police said in a statement the majority of the estimated 4,000 demonstrators “came with violence in mind”.

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Covid Australia live news update: greater Sydney lockdown extended until end of September; NSW announces 642 cases, four deaths; Victoria records 55 cases

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ACT chief minister Andrew Barr calls on colleagues to stop presenting 70% or 80% vaccination targets as ‘freedom day’ ahead of meeting. Follow latest updates

Berejiklian:

I also want to stress that from Monday midnight, unless you’re exercising masks should be worn outdoors everywhere across New South Wales.

Our concern is that when people are walking past a group of people or accidentally bumping into people that, that can cause that fleeting contact can cause transmission, and even when you’re exercising, you need to have the mask unless you’re doing some strenuous exercise.

Berejiklian:

So from Monday at midnight, the greater Sydney lockdown will extend until the end of September... but I also want to state that the Central Coast and Shell Harbour will be defined as regional.

So Greater Sydney includes all those areas that are currently in lockdown in Greater Sydney but for the Central Coast and Shellharbour which will be defined as rural and regional as we announced yesterday.

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Covid Australia live news update: NSW confirms 633 cases and three deaths; ACT records 22 and Victoria 24; New Zealand cluster rises to seven

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NSW confirms 633 cases and three deaths; Victoria records 24 new local cases as CHO says outbreak disproportionately affecting children; New Zealand cluster rises to seven cases. Follow all the day’s news

A second South Australian MP has been referred to an official investigator over allegations of bullying, AAP reports.

Treasurer Rob Lucas says he has referred allegations against Labor MP Tony Piccolo to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said just a moment ago that expanding access to the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds was something being worked through.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is pushing for a plan.

Parents worried about the effect that lockdowns are having on their kids are now more concerned than ever that their children might catch Covid.

And right now, Mr Morrison doesn’t have a plan for our kids to access a vaccine when it’s safe to do so.

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Snake shocks Sydney shoppers by slithering along supermarket spice shelf

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Shopper Helaina Alati, who happens to be a former snake catcher, was luckily on hand to return the three-metre python to nearby bushland

A three-metre-long python has surprised shoppers in a Sydney supermarket by slithering along a shelf in the spice section with a Woolworths spokesperson saying it was a “slippery and rare customer”.

“Only in Australia!” Hilary Leigh wrote in a Facebook post when sharing a video of the large snake at the Glenorie supermarket in Sydney’s north-west.

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Australia Covid live news: NSW to give update; Victoria records 24 cases; nation on edge as more than 13 million under lockdown

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Victoria records 24 local cases as state wakes to tougher restrictions; NSW warned cases could hit 1,000 a day; ACT and parts of NT under lockdown. Follow all the day’s news

We are now just waiting for NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to step up for the daily Covid-19 press conference where we learn the state’s daily numbers.

We are expecting that in about 10 minutes, so stay tuned.

Sydney radio station 2GB is reporting a staff member from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Syndey has tested positive to Covid-19 and may have been infectious while working.

A staff member at RPA Hospital in Sydney has tested positive to COVID-19. The worker was fully vaccinated but potentially infectious while working on August 10, 11, 12 + 13 in the nuclear medicine department. There has been no transmission to other staff or patients to date.

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