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Key posts
Watch live: NSW and Victoria’s COVID-19 updates
By Broede Carmody
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is due to provide a COVID-19 update from 11am AEST.
Watch live below.
Meanwhile, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley is due to speak at the same time.
Watch that press conference below.
NSW not facing a Pfizer shortage: Premier
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she does not believe her state is facing the shortage of Pfizer shots reported by her Queensland counterpart earlier today.
“I’ve heard of no disruption,” she said, noting her state had received details of their supply four to five weeks in advance.
However, the Premier said NSW does not have the supply it wants, hence its restriction on administering Pfizer only to frontline workers, people in their 50s and people in their 40s on an expression of interest basis.
Ms Berejiklian said the state was considering building a third mass vaccination hub in Wollongong as it prepares to open its second at Lake Macquarie to make sure there were access points when supply comes in.
She added that she was looking forward to GPs being able to administer the Pfizer vaccine from next month.
“The key to the future is getting jabs in arms as soon as possible but as safely as possible.”
Seven thousand Victorians return home from ‘red zones’
By Cassandra Morgan
Authorities have issued about 7000 permits to Victorians returning home from “red zones” interstate.
Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said 150 authorised officers were patrolling Melbourne Airport, checking arriving flights from “just about every capital city, apart from Adelaide and Hobart”.
Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar.Credit:Getty
“That gives a reflection of the scale of the red zone designations now happening across Australia,” Mr Weimar said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
The commander said authorities checked more than 800 passengers on Tuesday and, of them, more than 90 per cent had the right documentation to get into Victoria. Those who didn’t were able to organise it on the spot.
He said authorities had spoken to at least three-quarters of the red zone permit holders, and about a third of them had so far tested negative to COVID-19.
“We’d really like to sympathise with people, particularly Victorians, that were in those areas,” Mr Weimar said.
“I know that many thousands of Victorians will have found some difficult decisions about whether to travel, or whether to return at this point in time.”
People in red zones who aren’t residents of Victoria are barred from entering the state unless they have an exemption, while residents may return, but they have to obtain a permit and quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival.
NSW Health will only accept over-60s or those getting second shot for AstraZeneca
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says NSW Health clinics, such as the mass vaccination hub at Sydney Olympic Park, will continue to only accept AstraZeneca bookings from people who are aged 60 and over or who are seeking a second shot.
“What we need to do as a state government is follow the federal regulatory health advice, which is that AstraZeneca is offered for over 60s and obviously second doses are strongly, strongly advised,” she said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The Premier said what was agreed at National Cabinet was that GPs would not face consequence for administering the vaccine. She said people who were under 60 and wanted to start their AstraZeneca doses should talk to their GP.
“Please come forward [to state hubs] if you’re over 60. We have nearly 3 million people over 60 and we are keen to have them vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant repeated comments she made on radio earlier this morning, encouraging the elderly to come forward for their vaccinations.
Watch live: NT’s COVID-19 update
By Broede Carmody
Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael is due to provide a COVID-19 update.
Watch live below.
Some further information on NSW’s new cases
By Mary Ward
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has confirmed all of the state’s 22 new cases are linked to known cases.
Four of the cases were linked to the Crossways Hotel at Strathfield South, resulting in the classification of anyone who was at the venue from June 23 to June 27 as close contacts. Dr Chant said the advice was updated as a staff member had tested positive.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant, right, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit:Kate Geraghty
There have also been three new cases linked to Christo’s Pizzeria, bringing the total number of cases linked to the venue to four, including Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall.
Dr Chant said NSW Health was “keeping a close eye” on the Doncaster Hotel at Kensington, after a staff member who worked last Wednesday tested positive prompting another venue alert.
Dr Chant said it was “pleasing” that half of the cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period and the impact of the lockdown was that people who were testing positive and were not in isolation had been moving around less.
“They might have been to the supermarket or they might have been to get essential goods, but it will be a limited range of activities,” she said.
An additional case came in after 8pm, Dr Chant said, in a student nurse who worked at Fairfield and Royal North Shore hospitals. Patients who may have come in contact with her are being tested.
“We are arranging testing for any staff that may have come in contact [and] I’m please to say that to date the tests have been negative, but it’s too early to tell.”
No exposure sites from Victoria’s new local COVID-19 case
By Cassandra Morgan
Victoria’s new local coronavirus case is a family member of a case connected to the Epping Private Hospital outbreak, which involved the Kappa variant of COVID-19.
Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley said the new case had been in quarantine during her entire infectious period.
“So there are no exposure sites, and there are no further contacts,” he said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
‘Enough of the blame game’: Federal MP lashes Qld Premier
By Broede Carmody
Earlier, we brought you the news that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is furious with the federal government as well as the 19-year-old hospital worker who was unvaccinated and has since tested positive to COVID-19.
Here’s what Stuart Robert, the federal MP for the Gold Coast, has to say:
NSW records 22 new cases of COVID-19
By Mary Ward
NSW has recorded 22 new local coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday, as Sydney’s outbreak continues to grow.
Eleven of the new cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period and five were in isolation for part of their infectious period.
There were more than 68,000 tests recorded during the reporting period, a slight increase from 67,000 yesterday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian thanked the consistently high number of people for getting tested, as well as health staff who had conducted tests during Sydney’s recent wet weather.
The Premier said it was pleasing that daily case numbers had remained consistent and had not ballooned.
“Please know that if all of us continue to work together we can achieve what Health wants us to achieve, what all of us want to achieve, in the timeframe we’ve discussed,” Ms Berejiklian said, referencing Greater Sydney’s two-week lockdown.
Six cases were detected in hotel quarantine yesterday, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5637.
Qld government doesn’t want under-40s receiving AstraZeneca
By Felicity Caldwell
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has insisted that the official advice is people under the age of 60 should receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, despite the PM saying GPs will be indemnified if under-40s opt to receive the AstraZeneca shot.
“There has been no national cabinet decision about AstraZeneca being given to under 40s,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Jeannette Young, does not want under-40s to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.Credit:Getty
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she did not want under 40s to receive AstraZeneca because they were at an increased risk blood clots.
“I don’t want an 18-year-old in Queensland dying from a clotting illness who, if they got COVID, probably wouldn’t die,” she said.
“We’ve had very few deaths due to COVID-19 in Australia in people under the age of 50, and wouldn’t it be terrible that our first 18-year-old in Queensland who dies related to this pandemic died because of the vaccine?”
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath warned that Queensland was running out of Pfizer, with some sites expected to run out by July 5, with her director-general pleading for extra stock from the federal government.
However, the request was denied.
“Some of our sites are due to run out,” she said, “one of those sites being Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
“Additional vaccine supply is critical to avoiding cancellations of already committed appointments.”
Ms D’Ath saidthat, when Victoria went into lockdown, it was given an additional 100,000 vaccines, but Queensland was getting only 64,500 a week.
“We have eight days’ stock left for Pfizer.”