Vaccines milestone as NSW cases tracked
Health detectives are scrambling to retrace the steps of a man in his 60s to head off a COVID-19 outbreak in NSW, as the national vaccine rollout edges over six million doses.
With Melbourne easing its restrictions after a fourth lockdown, NSW officials are seeking to find out how a Bondi man - who had not been overseas but transported international flight crews - came to be positive to coronavirus.
NSW Health was also notified late on Wednesday night that a household contact of the new case reported has also tested positive for COVID-19, and further venues of concern have been identified
Exposure sites have been identified across Sydney's east and north, with federal and state health officials meeting on Wednesday night to discuss strategy.
The federal government reported one in four Australians had received at least one jab, having chalked up the second highest day of vaccinations (152,075) since the program began.
Victoria continues to lead the country in terms of vaccinations, but demand is outstripping supply.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters there were "genuine supply constraints".
"To the extent that that supply certainty can come about, that will be great," he said.
"Everyone wants us to get to a place where we can have high vaccine coverage and lead our lives differently."
But hundreds of people in a Melbourne Southbank apartment complex have been forced into a fresh 14-day lockdown after several residents tested positive.
Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross noted in his decision on the minimum wage that the target had initially been to vaccinate 80,000 people a week and get to four million people by the end of March.
"The pace of the vaccine rollout also remains a risk," Justice Ross said, adding that the faster than expected economic recovery made a 2.5 per cent minimum wage rise possible.
As the end nears for the initial phase of the vaccine rollout, almost 95 per cent of aged care workers across Australia have been fully protected with both doses of the vaccine.
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck played down reports some aged care workers in Victoria were yet to receive their first jab.
He has spoken to Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley, who said the reports were not correct.
