Australia COVID LIVE updates NSW cases continue to soar as Queensland Victoria infections grow

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The Herald’s photographers have spent time in Sydney’s west, documenting peoples’ lockdown experiences. Here are some of their incredible photographs. See more of their work here.

Fay Elzein baking, Elzein Baker, Arncliffe, Rockdale LGA during Sydney’s lockdown.Credit:Louise Kennerley

Leidy Castro Meneses with her daughter, Sofia, in the lobby of their Yagoona apartment building. She is relieved to be vaccinated now that the virus is raging in her local area.Credit:Janie Barrett

Mariam Veiszadeh, an Afghan-Australian writer and lawyer, is encouraging everyone to get vaccinated.Credit:Wolter Peeters

Anthony Dinh with his mother, Kim Thanh, in their restaurant, Banh Cuon in Bankstown during lockdown.Credit:Janie Barrett

In case you missed it, health authorities added four new exposure sites in Victoria late on Saturday night as the state braces for the extent of the spread linked to chains of transmission with unknown origins.

A tier-1 exposure site has been declared at a North East Link Project Worksite on Drysdale Street in Yallambie, in Melbourne’s northeast. Health authorities are instructing people who visited the site on August 2, 3 and 4 to isolate immediately and quarantine for 14 days.

Another tier-1 exposure site was added related to a shopping centre in Melbourne’s west, this time at dental clinic Pacific Smiles Dental.

A case visited the clinic, which is located in CS Square, a shopping centre in Caroline Springs, on August 4.

Hunter Valley wineries already hit hard by Sydney’s stay-at-home orders have lost hundreds more bookings as a result of the seven-day snap lockdown of Newcastle and surrounding regions, with businesses being put into hibernation and staff stood down.

Eight local government areas, including councils covering the Hunter Valley wine country, were plunged into lockdown on Thursday after several new cases were recorded.

Peterson House’s marketing manager Haylee Jonovski said the winery had been forced to postpone events because of the snap lockdown.Credit:Kate Geraghty

Peterson House winery in Pokolbin will lose 128 bookings for more than 600 diners in its restaurant because of the snap lockdown as well as five weddings and bookings for 169 guests at its cellar door.

Marketing manager Haylee Jonovski said there had already been a substantial downturn in business because of the Greater Sydney lockdown, with more than 30 weddings and events postponed.

“Ninety per cent of our clients are from Sydney which has affected new bookings as guests are unable to come out and see the venue,” she said.

Read more here.

Construction workers will be able to return to unoccupied work sites across NSW from Wednesday on the condition the sites remain at half capacity and workers from COVID-19 hotspots are vaccinated.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro has announced construction workers from Sydney’s eight worst-hit local government areas will be able to pick up the tools from Wednesday, for the first time since a snap ban took effect on July 17.

Construction workers from Sydney’s worst hit local government areas will be allowed to return to work if vaccinated.Credit:Kate Geraghty

However a strict vaccination and testing regime will be in place for the workers from the affected local government areas: Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta.

“We want workers back on the tools, but we need to continue to keep this virus at bay, and so by opening unoccupied work sites at 50 per cent capacity and vaccinating workers from within those affected LGAs, we can achieve both,” Mr Barilaro said on Saturday.

It comes as The Sun-Herald can reveal close to $8 billion worth of major infrastructure projects - including the new airport and Southwest Metro - have been on ice within Sydney’s coronavirus red zones.

Read more here.

Victorian government sources and epidemiologists say the state’s lockdown will almost certainly last for more than seven days because it could take weeks for all people to be in isolation for their infectious period.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Saturday’s 29 recorded cases, the highest daily total since September, made for a “concerning day”. Two senior Victorian government sources, speaking anonymously to make predictions about the outbreak, said it could take weeks for a ring to be put around the clusters.

Premier Daniel Andrews and COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar on Saturday.Credit:Scott McNaughton

However, the Premier insisted it was achievable to drive local cases to zero despite the new outbreak penetrating western suburbs communities with greater language barriers, bigger family groups and an increased proportion of essential workers who can’t work from home.

Prominent epidemiologists Nancy Baxter and Catherine Bennett predicted an extended lockdown, with both concerned the new clusters, one centred in Hobsons Bay and the other linked to the city of Maribyrnong, either emerged from chains of transmission that have been running for weeks in Victoria or new NSW incursions.

Read the full story here.

NSW Health sent out further venues of concern last night including a chemist, a university housing complex and a service station.

If you attended the following venues during the times listed, you are a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days since you were there, regardless of the result.

Callaghan: International House (any block), Callaghan Campus, University of Newcastle, University Drive, July 28, 29, 30, 31 and August 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Penrith: Terry White Pharmacy Penrith, 447 High Street, August 3 from 7.50am to 6pm and August 4 from 7.50am to 6pm.

St Marys: St Marys Medical Centre, 53 Phillip Street, August 4 from 9.15am to 10am.

Penrith: JANS Family Health Practice, 447 High Street, August 3 from 7.50am to 6pm and August 4 from 7.50 to 6pm.

Marylands: Ampol Service Station, 41 Minmi Road, August 6 from 4.30am to 10am.

Charlestown: Nextra Newsagency, Charlestown Square, Pearson Street, July 29 from 3.15pm to 3.22pm and 4.18pm and 4.24pm.

Kotara: Barber Industries, Westfield Kotara, 75-89 Park Avenue, August 5 from 1.30pm to 2pm.

In addition, NSW Health has been notified of a number of new casual contact venues of concern associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. To view these new venues, please visit the NSW Government website.

Anyone who visited one of these venues at the times listed is a casual contact and must immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

Good morning and welcome to our coronavirus blog. I am Laura Chung.

Here are the key pieces of news that happened yesterday:

NSW reported 319 new local cases on Saturday - another record for the state. Health Minister Brad Hazzard announced up to 4000 authorised supermarket and food distribution workers can roll up their sleeves for a vaccine on Sunday at Sydney Olympic Park. Later, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said construction workers will be able to return to unoccupied worksites across NSW from Wednesday on the condition they remain at half capacity and workers from COVID hotspots are vaccinated. Another five people died from COVID-19 in the state, including 80-year-old Bossley grandfather Kat Ditthavong.

Kat Ditthavong died at Liverpool Hospital on Saturday morning after catching COVID-19 in his ward.Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Victoria recorded 29 new cases of coronavirus, and it looks likely the state’s sixth lockdown will last more than seven days. Andrews government sources and epidemiologists say it could take weeks for all infected people to be isolated. Health authorities identified at least 67 new exposure sites across the state - many of them tier 1.

In the NSW regions, Armidale was plunged into lockdown at 5pm. It appears the virus may have hitched a ride there on a train, with authorities issuing a close contact alert for people who caught an XPT service from Newcastle to Armidale on Thursday, July 29. Four new cases of COVID were confirmed in young people in Newcastle, taking the total number of cases in the Hunter-New England area to 13 since Thursday.

Queensland recorded 13 new cases. The state’s Delta outbreak is being supercharged by children, with at least 10 Brisbane schools or their facilities appearing as COVID-19 exposure sites.

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