Australia news LIVE Melbourne lockdown extension likely as NSW Victoria and Queensland COVID-19 cases grow
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Two hospitals in Melbourne’s west were temporarily not accepting new patients last night due to hundreds of staff having to isolate and get a coronavirus test.
Sunshine Hospital, in Melbourne’s north west, and Footscray Hospital, in Melbourne’s inner west, were both affected due to Victoria’s growing list of official exposure sites.
Western Health public affairs director Catherine Sommerville confirmed that staff who work at health services in the west are currently isolating.
“Between 220 and 250 staff have been furloughed due to the impact of there being hundreds of exposure sites in areas where Western Health staff live,†she said.
“Staff are being tested and in isolation. This is impacting service delivery and efforts are being made daily to address this.
“There were periods of time last night where they were not able to accept more patients.â€
Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said the virus’ impact on health services was a big problem when Victoria was locked down last year. He added that between 50 and 60 ambulance staff are furloughed at the moment.
“It can lead to shifts going unfilled.â€
NSW Police Minister David Elliott says loopholes in the state’s public health orders are of “great frustration†to the force.
Questions were raised yesterday after it was revealed a man from Sydney, aged in his 50s, had been looking at real estate around Byron Bay with his two children while infectious with COVID-19, although it is unclear whether that was the primary purpose of his trip. He is currently in hospital.
NSW Police Minister David Elliott. Credit:Wolter Peeters
The current public health order for Greater Sydney lists moving or “inspecting a potential new place of residence†as a reasonable excuse to leave home.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard yesterday said he had asked Parliament’s legal department “to look at what we can do to tighten it up as far as it is possible†and that police were “looking extremely closely at what he was doing in the areaâ€.
Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said NSW Health contact tracers were “thoroughly debriefing†the man, and “should it be the case that breaches of the public health order have been made, then appropriate action will be takenâ€.
Mr Elliott, appearing on Nine’s Today show earlier this morning, said the closure of any loopholes was a matter for Mr Hazzard as he signs off on the orders.
Asked whether loopholes make it hard to ensure compliance, he said: “That is the great frustration of the NSW Police at the moment and it’s certainly something that we’re in constant communication with.
“We have a democratically elected government that has process under the Health Act and the police don’t dictate what the health orders are, the police just have to receive those orders and we make sure there is compliance.â€
Mr Elliott acknowledged some of the state government’s “golden standards that we set ourselves a few months ago have slipped†but praised police and the wider operation.
“I certainly respect the intellect and the intelligence of the bureaucracy at the moment, as frustrated as we all are about it.â€
Two staff at Leichhardt Bus Depot in Sydney’s inner west have tested positive to COVID-19, sending the majority of staff into isolation and causing significant service cancellations.
Transport for NSW said bus services would be impacted this week, starting today, “due to COVID-related staff shortagesâ€.
“The majority of Depot staff including drivers have been deemed as casual contacts by NSW Health and are isolating until they receive the results of their COVID-19 test,†the transport agency said.
“As a result of this, a significant number of bus services in the Inner West have been cancelled and will not be operating today and tomorrow.â€
Customers are encouraged to make alternative travel arrangements.
The impacted routes, in both directions, are:
Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen says he has no regrets after calling for an end to lockdowns and claiming masks don’t stop the spread of COVID-19.
The backbencher, who won’t contest the next election, was condemned yesterday by Labor, the crossbench and members of his own party after making the comments.
Nationals MP George Christensen removes his mask in order to share his view about how masks don’t work.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But Mr Christensen says he isn’t sorry.
“It needed to be said,†he told radio station 2GB earlier this morning.
“A lot of people are hurting ... [in Sydney] because of these lockdowns and my emails have been flooded from people all over the country since I made those comments, congratulating me and saying it’s about time some politician says it as it is.
“I now know what it’s like to be slapped with a wet lettuce leaf.â€
Mr Christensen’s colleague (and deputy leader) David Littleproud was also doing the media rounds this morning.
The Agriculture Minister told ABC News Breakfast that his fellow Queenslander’s comments were “not right†but that, like anyone, he “has the right to make [those] statementsâ€.
“That’s why he’s on the backbench,†Mr Littleproud said.
“He’s not a member of the executive that’s making the decisions and supporting the scientific decisions and making sure they have been rolled out. So it’s important to appreciate and understand that and that’s why he sits on the backbench.
“George will obviously be counselled by Barnaby Joyce â€" the leader â€" and by the party room.â€
The Victorian Health Department has closed a Catholic primary school in North Melbourne and sent hundreds into isolation after a student tested positive to coronavirus.
St Michael’s Primary School principal Denise Hussey said in a statement sent to parents and carers on Tuesday that the school was closed until further notice to conduct contact tracing and do a deep clean.
St Michael’s Primary School in North Melbourne. Credit:Luis Enrique
“I understand this news will be concerning for many of you. I want to assure you we are doing everything we can to contain and slow the spread of the virus and ensure the health and safety of the whole school community,†she said.
The Health Department specified that any students in classes 1S and 1D on August 5, and any staff that worked in those classrooms, are considered tier-1 close contacts and should immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days.
The remainder of the school is being treated as a tier-2 site.
NSW Health has identified a number of new venues of concern in Newcastle and Sydney’s south.
Anyone who attended the following venues at the relevant times is considered a close contact and must immediately get tested for COVID-19 and isolate for 14 days since the date of potential exposure, regardless of the test result.
The Hunter region, including Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, has been in a seven-day lockdown since August 5 but is bracing for an update on whether that will be extended.
NSW Health has also identified a number of casual contact venues. The full list is available here.
A COVID-19 case, linked to two schools, has been detected in the NSW regional city of Dubbo.
Dubbo West Public School will be closed today after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19.
COVID testing line in Dubbo earlier this year. Credit:Leonie Ward
“Our school site will be non-operational Wednesday 11 August, 2021 for the on-site attendance of staff and students as a precaution,†Principal Eileen Day said in a note to parents and carers yesterday.
“All staff and students are asked to self-isolate until you receive further advice.â€
Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders said the case had been linked to Dubbo West Public School and Macquarie Anglican Grammar School.
Parents at the school, which has over 500 students in pre-kindergarten to year 12, were last night told to check their emails for an “important†notice from Headmaster Craig Mansour.
Mr Saunders said the case was identified after becoming symptomatic on Monday and the person was tested on Tuesday.
“Nine close contacts who have been identified to date are in isolation, and either have been tested, or will be tested as soon as possible,†he said in a Facebook post last night.
“Investigations and contact tracing is continuing. It isn’t yet known how transmission occurred.
“Fragments of COVID-19 have been detected in Dubbo sewage samples taken on August 3 and August 5. While Dubbo residents are urged to limit their movements in the community at this time, widespread COVID-19 testing is critical.â€
He said there would be increased testing capacity at the Dubbo Showground drive-through clinic, opening at 8am today with entry via Wingewarra Street, and testing services were being established at Wellington Health Service from 10am.
“The COVID SAFE clinic at the Manera Plaza, 77 Myall Street has undergone intensive cleaning and will be operating as normal between 8am and 4.30pm, seven days a week,†Mr Saunders said.
The Central West city of Orange and the surrounding shires of Blayney and Cabonne, about 150km to the south of Dubbo, went into a snap seven-day lockdown last month after one case of COVID-19 and several exposure sites.
Victoria’s Health Department added several new exposure sites late last night, including bus routes, a train line and a nail salon.
Melbourne bus routes 426 and 460, which both run through Melbourne’s north west, have been listed as tier-1 exposure sites for Thursday, August 5. The 460 bus is also a tier-1 exposure site for Wednesday, August 4.
The Sunbury train line from Watergardens to Sunshine stations has been listed as a tier-2 site for August 4, 5 and 7. And AK Nails Beauty at Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Melton, in Melbourne’s west, has been labelled a tier-1 site for Sunday, August 1.
CS Square shopping centre in Melbourne’s north west. Credit: Supplied
Victorian authorities are also concerned about the CS Square shopping centre in Caroline Springs, in Melbourne’s north west, after more than half of yesterday’s COVID cases were linked to the site.
In case you missed it, everyone who worked at that shopping centre over four days will now have to go into quarantine for two weeks.
Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar says the cases linked to that shopping centre are spread “across a number of different … retail units and peopleâ€.
A doctor who works at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital has also tested positive to COVID-19. However, the hospital says the doctor was not infectious while he was working at the hospital.
The Health Department says it is investigating whether the man was infectious while working at private medical rooms next door to the hospital at 48 Flemington Road on Monday, August 9. The hospital and medical rooms share common areas.
The doctor is one of the 20 locally acquired COVID cases announced in Victoria yesterday.
A COVID-19 cluster in a western Sydney mental health unit has emerged with more than two cases confirmed, as staff are asked to continue working despite being identified as close contacts.
Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District confirmed last night that two clients admitted to the Mental Health Centre at Nepean Hospital had tested positive to COVID-19 and “additional cases†had also been identified as linked to the cases.
There has been a COVID-19 exposure in Nepean Hospital’s mental health unit.Credit:Wolter Peeters
An email sent to staff on Tuesday afternoon by the director of Mental Health at Nepean-Blue Mountains Local Health District Matthew Russell confirmed there had been “a COVID-positive consumer†and said staff who had worked in various parts of the unit since last Wednesday evening were considered close contacts.
However, the email suggested that some staff members who were classified as close contacts would be “advised†they still needed to attend work.
Read the full story here.
Melbourne’s lockdown is set to be extended beyond Thursday, with the majority of new cases not in quarantine during their infectious periods and authorities concerned over undetected spread in the western suburbs.
Two senior state government sources told this masthead they were looking for a run of several days in which a much greater proportion of new cases, if not all, had been in quarantine for their infectious periods before the lockdown can lift.
Just five of Tuesday’s 20 new cases fit that criteria, up from one of Monday’s 11 and none of Sunday’s 11.
More on this story here.
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