Australia news LIVE Victoria records 1143 new local COVID-19 cases three deaths NSW records 864 new cases 15 deaths rising Queensland cases puts NRL grand final at risk

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Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, Treasurer Tim Pallas, Transport Minister Jacinta Allan and Department of Health deputy secretary Naomi Bromley are due to provide a coronavirus update shortly.

Watch live below.

By Friday, October 15, every authorised worker in Victoria will need to have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine if they want to continue attending their workplace.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the change at this morning’s health update and said the public health advice was in response to his state’s record number of cases yesterday (1438).

The authorised workers will need to have their second dose by November 26.

“This is about making sure that we go that extra mile to protect the road map to opening … [on October 26], or perhaps even a few days earlier, and to make sure that we can open ... and not have a health system overwhelmed with patients who are completely avoidable,” Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said more than one million authorised workers in the state had already had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

He said the change would not affect workers in industries where vaccinations had already been mandated, like teaching and aged care.

As reported earlier, three people have died with COVID-19 in Victoria.

They were a man in his 80s from Hume, a woman in her 70s from Alphington and a man in his 70s from Moreland.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said at this morning’s health update that there are 396 people in local hospitals with COVID-19. Of those, 87 are in intensive care and 59 are on a ventilator.

Mr Andrews said that, as of Thursday, 74 per cent of the people in hospital had not received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 21 per cent had been partially vaccinated and only five per cent were fully vaccinated.

“The key point here is that only a tiny number of people who become gravely ill have had a first and a second dose of any of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Mr Andrews said.

The Premier said more than 50 per cent of Victoria’s population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 80.9 per cent have had at least one dose.

More than 87 per cent of people aged 16 and older in NSW have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, while 64 per cent are fully vaccinated.

NSW Health’s Jeremy McAnulty also gave a breakdown of the number cases in regions across the state.

Local health districts with the most cases were: South Western Sydney (188), Western Sydney (167), Illawarra Shoalhaven (96), South East Sydney (83) and Hunter New England (69).

Dr McAnulty said fragments of the virus were detected in sewage samples from regions without known cases.

People in Hastings Point and Ballina in the Northern Rivers region, Quirindi in the North West Slopes region, and Armidale and Tamworth in the Hunter region have been urged to be vigilant for any COVID symptoms.

“Vaccination is our way out of here,” Dr McAnulty said. “Please come forward for vaccination.”

NSW has recorded 864 new local COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths, the equal most deadly day in the state since the pandemic began.

Of the deaths, three people were in their 50s, two people were in their 60s, two people were in their 70s, six people in their 80s, and two people were in their 90s.

Nine people were not vaccinated, one had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and five people had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Two people acquired their infections in aged care and two in hospital.

It takes the death toll for NSW’s current outbreak to 352 people.

There are currently 1055 COVID-19 cases in NSW hospitals, with 210 people in intensive care. Of those, 104 require ventilation.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will not hesitate to cancel the NRL grand final if that is what the medical advice suggests.

With the state avoiding lockdown for another day due to just three cases being detected on Friday, the prospect of the game going ahead is firming up, albeit at 75 per cent crowd capacity.

The NRL has revealed it could move the game to Townsville as a backup plan or delay it even further and hold it in Sydney if the Brisbane event has to be cancelled at late notice.

At this morning’s press conference, Ms Palaszczuk said responding to the health situation was her primary concern.

“Can I just make it very clear â€" if the advice is to go into lockdown, we will go into lockdown,” she said.

“So there’s no ifs and buts here, people. This is serious. It’s going to depend whether we see any unlinked community transmission over the next 24 to 48 hours.”

Queensland CHO Jeannette Young said it was not currently her advice to cancel the grand final.

“We just need to see what happens over the next few days,” she said.

New Zealand’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The country has today reported 19 new cases of COVID-19. All of the cases were detected in Auckland.

Of the new cases, 10 were out in the community for at least some of their infectious period, according to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health. The rest were already isolating when they returned a positive test.

Today’s tally is exactly the same as yesterday’s.

There are currently 23 coronavirus patients in NZ hospitals. Of those, four are in ICU.

NZ processed a little more than 19,000 coronavirus tests in the last 24 hours.

Queensland has avoided lockdown for another day, after two new local cases were reported.

One of the cases was linked to the aviation cluster and was infectious on the southern end of the Gold Coast for four days.

The man stayed at the Kirra Beach Resort from September 20 to 24, and anyone who stayed at that resort or the surrounding area at that time is urged to get tested.

The second case is believed to have acquired the virus interstate and was infectious in the community for one day. Chief Health Officer Jeannete Young said that was a man who frequently travels to picking up animals and relocating them.

“I don’t think that he’s a risk. He’s unrelated to any of our other cases,” she said at this morning’s coronavirus update.

There was also a case detected in hotel quarantine, but that is not considered a threat.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said today’s numbers were some good news, given the state is on tenterhooks due to a string of new cases in recent days and the NRL grand final due to be held over the weekend.

“What’s really important at the moment, and the fundamental reason we are not in lockdown, is because we do not have any seeding or unlinked community transmission,” she said.

“If we do see any unlinked community transmission, I’m quite sure that Dr Young will not hesitate to recommend a lockdown.”

Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded 1143 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.

Today’s tally is down from yesterday’s record 1438 new cases. The Department of Health has not said how many cases are linked to known outbreaks or how many people were already in isolation when they tested positive.

Zero cases were detected in hotel quarantine.

There are now 10,944 active cases of coronavirus across the state.

Today’s numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 62,883 coronavirus tests.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her team have finished providing today’s coronavirus update.

However, you can watch the replay version below.

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