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A second Islamic college in Melbourne is shutting its doors tomorrow.

Victoria recorded one new case of COVID-19 on Wednesday - a teacher at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina in Melbourne’s west.

Health authorities confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that all nearly 2500 students and staff at the school are isolating for 14 days.

Late on Wednesday evening, another Islamic school Ilim College said it would close all of its campuses tomorrow, with a further announcement to come pending advice from Victoria’s Health Department.

“We must reiterate that Ilim College has not had any positive COVID results from this outbreak,” the school said in a Facebook post.

“The closure of our campuses is a precautionary measure for all our students, employees, families, and community.”

It said it would provide further updates to parents and students tomorrow.

Giving cash handouts to encourage vaccinations could save thousands of workers from joining the unemployment queue with new modelling showing one job will be saved for every nine people who get fully immunised.

Academics and leading economists are backing cash payments to encourage a higher rate of immunisation across the country following an analysis from Deloitte Access Economics calculating tens of thousands of jobs would be lost in each week of extended lockdowns in Greater Sydney.

Analysis shows cash incentives for jabs could save jobs.Credit:iStock

Deloitte partner Chris Richardson said increasing the rate of vaccination was critical. His analysis shows there could be good reason to introduce financial incentives such as Labor’s proposed $300 direct payment for those fully immunised by December 1.

“There’s a case for carrots of the kind that Labor is talking about,” Mr Richardson said. “But to get the biggest bang for the buck they’d be best focused on speed and where we have the available supply â€" the next few weeks and AstraZeneca.”

Read the full story here. 

A new inmate at Silverwater prison, in Sydney’s west, has tested positive for COVID-19.

The 36-year-old fresh custody prisoner arrived at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre on Tuesday where he was placed in a single cell before returning a positive test on Wednesday.

A prisoner at Silverwater prison has tested positive to COVID-19. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

“Inmates are tested for COVID-19 when they arrive in custody as a precaution. It was this sentinel test that determined he was positive,” a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said.

“The safety of all staff and inmates is our number one priority, and remains at the forefront of our decision-making while COVID-19 continues to pose a risk.”

She said Corrective Services was working with staff to identify any close contacts of the inmate.

“Any impacted staff will be directed to go for immediate COVID-19 testing and isolate in accordance with NSW Health advice,” the spokeswoman said.

NSW will need to maintain some of its highest daily vaccination rates on record to reach the six million doses needed by the end of August for restrictions to begin to be eased.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible to hit the ambitious target.

“That’s really important for us to have the tools available to us, so we can consider what life looks like beyond August 28 and it’s really, really important for people to come forward and get vaccinated,” she said

About 69,000 doses would need to be administered every day, including on weekends, for the rest of the month to reach the target, which health experts said would be challenging.

Throughout July, vaccination rates were significantly lower on weekends, typically falling to less than half the 7-day average on Sundays.

Read more here.

The makers of rapid COVID-19 tests face strict rules that will let them provide them only to registered labs and health professionals amid fears that do-it-yourself test results could be misinterpreted.

Australia has so far been resistant to widespread use of “point of care” tests for the virus, but the products are gaining traction as NSW continues to battle the Delta variant.

A staff member at the Whiddon Easton Park aged care facility in Sydney undergoes a rapid test during a trial. Credit:Rhett Wyman

Point of care tests can be used on-site and generally take just minutes to process, rather than requiring analysis at a laboratory. A number of these products are already registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for use in Australia.

However, guidance from the TGA this week outlines that producers of rapid tests must abide by a strict set of supply guidelines to ensure their products are properly used.

Read more here.

A school in Melbourne’s west says it found out about a positive COVID-19 result for one of its teachers at 2.30pm on Wednesday.

Al-Taqwa College confirmed in a statement, issued on Wednesday evening, it was locking down the campus for 14 days.

Al-Taqwa College released a statement on Wednesday evening after one of its teachers tested positive to COVID-19.Credit:Joe Armao

Thursday would be a student-free day to enable staff to get tested for COVID-19, but it would be back to online learning from Friday.

“For the time being, the College campus will be completely shut down with no staff members or students permitted to attend the College premises,” the statement said.

“Deep cleaning is being arranged.

“The College assures our families, staff and the Victorian community that we have done everything required by the Victorian government to implement Covid-19 protocols and precautions, as we have throughout this pandemic.”

An update on this story from earlier this morning:

A block of 101 units in Sydney’s south-west has been locked down for the next 14 days as authorities investigate nine cases of COVID-19 across multiple households.

The complex is in Campbelltown, one of the eight local government areas of concern in Sydney’s outbreak.

Abel Tuamasaga and his family were tested for COVID-19 at their Campbelltown apartment block on Wednesday morning. Credit:Kate Geraghty

A South Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson on Wednesday afternoon said nine cases had been identified but the number of impacted households is under investigation.

“All residents of the building have been determined to be close contacts and are required to undergo repeat testing and isolate for 14 days,” the spokesperson said, “Testing will be provided to residents in their apartments, as they cannot leave during their isolation period.”

Resident Abel Tuamasaga, who lives in the block with his wife and four children, aged 11 to 23, said they received an email from building management on Tuesday night before “all of a sudden, there’s police everywhere”.

Read more here.

The Victorian teacher who tested positive to coronavirus is a woman in her 20s who lives in Hobsons Bay in Melbourne’s south-west, according to the state’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar.

Victorian health authorities believe the woman, who teaches at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina, may have been infectious last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

She visited Coles in Yarraville last Thursday and the supermarket has been declared a “tier-2” exposure site.

Speaking on ABC radio on Wednesday evening, Mr Weimar said health authorities had asked all 2100 students and 300 teachers at the Al-Taqwa school to get tested and isolate for 14 days.

“We’re working on the basis of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week … we’re assuming at this point of time that she may have been infectious [then],” Mr Weimar said.

“There may be other exposures that emerge over the course of the evening.”

Mr Weimar said the woman lives with her husband, who was being tested “as we speak”.

Al-Taqwa College was at the centre of a large COVID outbreak in Victoria last year.

Mr Weimar said he was confident health authorities would work well with Al-Taqwa to get on top of the new case.

“The leadership we’ve seen from Al-Taqwa tonight and over recent months has been outstanding, so I’m confident we’ll work well with them to get on top of this outbreak,” he said.

A western Sydney mayor has attacked the NSW government’s handling of Sydney’s COVID outbreak, claiming state leaders have “lost the confidence and support of western Sydney”.

Cumberland City Council mayor Steve Christou â€" whose territory is one of eight hotspot areas â€" said his community cannot cope with ongoing “suffocating” lockdowns.

“The static number of infections is a prime indicator that we need to start living with this virus, rather than pursuing an elimination strategy. We must dispatch with this ideology of reaching zero cases and the sooner our leaders accept that, the better off we’ll be. Our state leaders need to abandon the pipe dream of zero cases. There’s no road map. Instead, we’re on a road to nowhere,” Cr Christou said in a statement.

Cumberland mayor Steve Christou. Credit:Cumberland City Council

The council has launched a campaign called “Arms out in August” to encourage residents to get vaccinated.

“Our vulnerable western Sydney community cannot withstand ongoing lockdowns that are suffocating our residents and businesses. The impact of the mismanagement of this pandemic will be felt for years or decades to come. Many families and businesses will never recover. Each day of lockdown that goes by sees people’s mental health suffering,” Cr Christou said.

“While all this is occurring, our so called ‘leaders’ have abandoned their posts and cancelled the August sitting of Parliament whilst remaining on full pay. So much for being all in this together.”

Fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been detected in sewage in the NSW Hunter-New England area, just days after thousands of appointments were cancelled at local mass vaccination hub and doses redirected to south-west Sydney.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said she was “very concerned” by detections at three sewage plants servicing 400,000 people across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and southern Port Stephens despite no recent local cases.

Appointments at the mass vaccination centre at Belmont, in the Hunter region, have been postponed to drive more vaccine supply to Sydney.

Dr David Durrheim, director of health protection at Hunter-New England Health, said it’s possible a number of people living in the area or who had recently visited could be COVID-positive.

“Now is the time when we have to hunt the virus down. We have to flush it out,” he said.

The detections came just days after NSW Health announced it would divert 20,000 Pfizer doses from regional districts to south-west Sydney for a mass vaccination program of Year 12 students.

NSW Health said people booked in for their first dose of Pfizer at a state-run clinic in these areas “could” receive a call that their appointment had been rescheduled but second doses and shots for people in priority groups would not be affected.

However, healthcare workers and people in priority groups have reported losing their slots at state-run clinics.

Lorinda Palmer, 59 from Blackalls Park, and her husband had their appointments later this month cancelled. Her husband works for a local health network which includes work at GP clinics on the Central Coast, which is included in Greater Sydney’s lockdown.

Read more here.

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