Australia news LIVE NSW records 78 new local COVID-19 cases Victoria lockdown extension confirmed SA to begin week-long lockdown

Key postsHide key posts

Latest

1 of 7

Oldest

The local government area of Orange in the central west region of NSW is set for a seven-day lockdown from midnight tonight, after a person from the COVID-19 hotspot of south-west Sydney visited the area while infectious with the virus.

We’ll provide more information on the lockdown shortly.

NSW Health has released its latest list of venues of concern, which include tier 1 exposure sites in Sydney’s western suburbs, CBD, Bondi Junction and in the regional towns of Orange and Goulburn.

The new venues at which people are considered close contacts and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result, include medical centres, restaurants and pharmacies in Auburn, Lakemba, Wiley Park, Bankstown, Bondi Junction and a car wash in Greenacre.

The regional tier one venues include a Coles Express in Goulburn and a petrol station, tobacconist, Officeworks, Woolworths and Pizza Hut in Orange.

Check the NSW Health tweet below for the full list of venues, dates and times, including those for casual contacts.

Victoria’s QR code app will be updated in the coming weeks so that users can access their own check-in history in a move that will emulate the New South Wales and Queensland apps.

The Victorian opposition proposed this change this week and Liberals leader Michael O’Brien said on Tuesday that it would add another layer of assistance to contact tracing efforts.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien.Credit:Joe Armao

“We know there are still problems with contact tracing. We speak to people every day who have been at tier one exposure sites, and still haven’t been contacted by the Department of Health. They have worked it out themselves,” he said.

“It’d be much easier for people to be able to work it out themselves if they had access to their own QR codes.”

A state government spokeswoman confirmed to The Age that the change would be active in the next few weeks along with a series of other updates to the Service Victoria app.

She said the app would be continually updated in response to user feedback.

“Our contact tracers are working tirelessly to get ahead of the Delta strain. They are able to access QR code check-in data just minutes after identifying a positive case.”

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has urged residents in South Australia to come home immediately, as SA enters a week-long lockdown from 6pm ACST amid a cluster of five COVID-19 cases.

“My advice to any West Australian who is currently in South Australia is to come home now. Things can change rapidly and it is not worth the risk,” Mr McGowan said.

WA Premier Mark McGowan.Credit:Hamish Hastie

“This is obviously a difficult time for the country. The entire eastern seaboard is currently in a form of lockdown to deal with Delta [strain] outbreaks.

“There’s nearly 1,500 cases around the nation and 140 people are in hospital. There’s three important lessons: how quickly the Delta variant can spread, how severe the consequences can be, and how important our controlled border is to ensure Western Australia stays safe.

“But I remind everyone, while lockdowns and border closures save lives and jobs, they are not the long-term solution. Vaccination is.”

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan is providing a COVID-19 update at about 5.30pm AEST. You can watch it live here.

Workers who have endured the slowest wage growth on record will never make up for the hit to their weekly pay packets caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with the Reserve Bank warning inertia could hold back incomes for years.

The RBA has argued wages will need to grow above 3 per cent a year to get inflation back into its 2 to 3 per cent inflation target.Credit:Liam Williamson

In some of its bluntest language about wages growth, the RBA used the minutes of its July meeting to argue there were few signs of a lift in incomes beyond the level that has plagued the economy for the past half-decade.

The bank, which kept official interest rates at 0.1 per cent at its July meeting while announcing plans to slightly wind back its quantitative easing program, has argued wages will need to grow above 3 per cent a year to get inflation back into the RBA’s 2 to 3 per cent inflation target.

Wages growth reached a record low of 1.4 per cent during the depths of the pandemic last year, before inching up to 1.5 per cent annual growth in the March quarter.

Read the full story here.

Another exposure site linked to Sydney removalists who travelled to Victoria while infectious with COVID-19 has emerged in regional Victoria.

A BP roadhouse in the western Victorian town Nhill was confirmed on Tuesday as a tier-two location.

West Wimmera Health Service chief executive Ritchie Dodds said the exposure period was between 10pm and 11.30pm on July 8.

“We understand it relates to the removalists,” he said.

Mr Dodds was hopeful it would not result in further cases but urged people to come forward for testing if they had been at the site during the exposure period and isolate until they received a negative result.

He said there already had been a spike in demand for testing when it was confirmed the removalists had been in Ballan because it was also on the Western Highway, like Nhill.

But he said there was capacity to meet another surge in testing. “We’re already on the crest of that wave.”

A 39-year-old Brisbane man has allegedly escaped hotel quarantine in Perth using bed sheets tied together to create a makeshift rope.

West Australian Police say the man wandered the streets for close to six hours before being apprehended on Tuesday morning.

A Queensland man has escaped hotel quarantine in Perth using bedsheets tied together to create a makeshift rope.Credit:WA Police

The man was refused entry to WA on Monday afternoon under COVID-19 restrictions and told to leave the state within 48 hours after arriving by plane without a G2G pass â€" an interstate passport system used in the west and Tasmania â€" and not meeting exemption criteria for entering.

Queensland is considered a “medium risk” state by WA which means only people with essential professions or compassionate reasons are allowed to travel there.

The man had been taken from the airport on Monday to a Rivervale hotel where he allegedly stayed until about 12.45am on Tuesday before enacting a cartoonish plan to climb out of top floor room using six bed sheets which had been tied together.

The 39-year-old was found by police officers at 8.55am on Tuesday on Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley before he was arrested and charged under state emergency laws with failure to comply with a direction and providing false or misleading information.

He was due to appear in court on Tuesday and has returned a negative test result for COVID-19.

Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station has joined other city landmarks such as Flinders Street Station and a section of Queen Victoria Market on Victoria’s official exposure site list.

Health authorities added the transport hub along with Blackburn Railway Station and a tram and train route on Tuesday afternoon.

All the new additions relate to a commute on Thursday, July 15.

The COVID-positive traveller left Blackburn Station at about 7am, passed through Southern Cross at about 7.30am before boarding a tram to South Melbourne at 7.36am.

The commuter then does the trip backwards, departing City Road at 4.30pm, passing through Southern Cross at about 4.45pm and arriving back at Blackburn Station at about 5.15pm.

Southern Cross and Blackburn stations are listed as tier-3 sites, meaning anyone who was there at the specified times needs to monitor for symptoms.

The train routes, the Lilydale Line (Blackburn Station to Southern Cross Station) and the Belgrave Line (Southern Cross Station to Blackburn Station) are listed as tier 2, meaning anyone who was travelling at the same time needs to isolate until they test negative.

The tram ride, however, (route Route 96 from Southern Cross Station stop 122 to City Road stop 126 between 7.36am and 7.45am and then the return journey on the same route between 4.30pm and 4.42pm) is listed as a tier-1 exposure and anyone who was on the tram at those times need to quarantine for 14 days no matter the result of their test.

See the full list of exposure sites here.

Far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins has arrived at Heathrow Airport after being deported from Australia on Monday.

Far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins at Heathrow Airport.Credit:Media-Mode

Ms Hopkins was escorted to Sydney International Airport on Monday afternoon after Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews had earlier said she would be kicked out of the country as soon as possible.

Ms Hopkins, who was reportedly in Australia for an upcoming series of Channel Seven’s Big Brother, told her 261,000 Instagram followers she had opened her door to guards naked and refused to wear a mask to “call out” Australia’s quarantine system and COVID-19 lockdowns.

The provocative post came as 12 million Australians were locked down in NSW and Victoria.

While Ms Hopkins appears to be walking outside an airport terminal in the photograph above, Heathrow Airport makes clear on its website that “as we continue to welcome passengers from around the world, wearing a face covering will still be required whilst in our terminals”.

Read the full article here.

Latest

1 of 7

Oldest

Share this post