Australia news LIVE Victoria records 867 new local COVID-19 cases four deaths NSW records 863 new cases seven deaths Queensland records three new cases
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NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard is due to provide a COVID-19 update from 11am AEST.
Watch live below.
Meanwhile, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley and Deputy Health Secretary Kate Mateson are due to provide a coronavirus update from 11.30am AEST.
Watch live below.
Victoria’s Deputy Health Secretary Kate Mateson has provided a breakdown of today’s 867 local coronavirus cases.
They can be broken down as follows:
Ms Mateson flagged particular points of interest, including a construction site in Richmond, which had so far been linked to 11 positive cases and about 300 close contacts.
She said 29 cases had now been connected to an aged care facility at Meadow Heights.
Health Minister Martin Foley said there had been a gathering of multiple households in the Latrobe Valley to result in some cases, which was “regrettableâ€.
“People don’t think [the rules apply] to them,†Mr Foley said.
“People think we’re all good, [but it] just takes one case with this highly infectious Delta variant, until such time as we’ve got the levels of vaccination where we want them to be, for these kinds of outbreaks to occur.â€
NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale says rapid antigen testing will be “part of a toolkit†of measures in managing COVID-19 going forward, but specifics such as how these tests will be reporting have not yet been figured out.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced earlier this morning that the tests had been approved for at-home use from November 1.
“It’s clearly great to have more tools in the toolkit of options for testing and we’ll be looking at the best ways to deploy that,†Dr Gale said.
She said some of the considerations if the tests were able to be purchased by individuals would include how those tests would be reported, noting getting the results from at-home tests “may be operationally challengingâ€.
“We’ll be looking at those issues and looking at what practical settings [for the tests] actually makes sense as we go forward in a setting where we have to treat COVID like an endemic disease, more like flu,†she said.
Earlier this morning, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said police would not be doing vaccine passport checks in cafes and other businesses once the state reopens, but would be able to assist a business if someone was trying to contravene the public health order.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard was asked at this morning’s press conference if this might place too much pressure on business owners to restrict access to their premises based on vaccination status.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard addressing the media at Tuesday’s coronavirus update. Credit:Kate Geraghty
He said he was “quite confident that, in terms of enforcement of the law, police will enforce those ordersâ€.
The Health Minister said the onus was on an individual to be vaccinated when they entered a restricted premises, noting that some businesses may decide to continue to have those rules beyond December 1.
“Businesses will be able to make their own decision whether they want to have the risk of having people in their property when they’re not vaccinated,†he said.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has announced that people isolating at home in the state will be asked to pilot a new app.
The app is opt-in, and may be used to help people who are returning from interstate or eventually from overseas.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley.Credit:Eddie Jim
The app sends people random alerts asking them to check-in by taking a selfie, and then uses location technology to confirm their identity and their location.
“This is a voluntary pilot, and it’s one that’s been conducted by a number of states as part of the national cabinet decision to trial alternatives to hotel quarantining,†Mr Foley said during today’s COVID-19 update.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has confirmed his state’s road map out of lockdown will mean the unvaccinated in some regional areas not currently in lockdown will soon re-enter stay-at-home orders.
A number of regional councils are currently operating with the restrictions which will be in place for fully vaccinated people across the state from October 11, for all of their residents.
From that date, people who are fully vaccinated in these areas will continue to live under those settings, but those who are unvaccinated will re-enter lockdown.
“As we have made those decisions about how we try to bring our entire state out, there have been some difficult decisions,†Mr Hazzard said.
“And I think the community need to understand that nothing is perfect in a pandemic.â€
Asked if some of those areas had been disadvantaged by supply issues, Mr Hazzard admitted it had been a challenge but said “right now there is more vaccine available in this country than we probably could have dreamed ofâ€.
The four Victorians who died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours were: a man in his 80s from Whittlesea, a woman in her 50s from the same area, a man in his 70s from Hume and a woman in her 80s (also from Hume).
Mr Foley said the man from Whittlesea and the two people from Hume were not vaccinated against COVID-19. Authorities were waiting for an update on the vaccination status of the woman from Whittlesea who died.
The state’s Health Minister Martin Foley said 375 people were in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria. Of those, 81 were in intensive care. Sixty-one are on a ventilator.
He said while the state recorded 867 new local coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the additional 149 cases reported, which should have been counted in the tallies for September 27 and 26, were down to a software update by a third party vendor who supports pathology providers.
Mr Foley said all of those 149 people were still told they had tested positive for COVID-19.
The woman who died after acquiring her infection at Campbelltown Hospital was one of 17 patients in a cluster which has formed at the facility, NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale has confirmed.
Three staff at the hospital have also tested positive in the cluster which is believed to have started when a patient was transferred from Liverpool Hospital, where they acquired their infection.
Another woman died after acquiring her infection at Nepean Hospital. Dr Gale said her infection remained under investigation.
“In the context of the pandemic, with a number of cases in the community, we know our healthcare facilities are vulnerable to the introduction of COVID and that’s why we have such an intense focus of vaccination on staff and infection control procedures,†Dr Gale said.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said it was “awfully sad†when patients caught the virus in a hospital setting.
“To the families of those people, I would just say our thoughts are with you, but we also do have to understand that in a pandemic, right across the world, hospitals are the places where people come with COVID, so there’s always a risk with this Delta variant that it might be present,†he said.
However, the Health Minister said there was certainly no need for people who needed medical attention to avoid hospital.
“If you are having a heart attack, a stroke or some other immediately life-threatening illness the place to be is a hospital because, obviously, you’re not going to be doing too well if you’re by yourself,†he said.
“The odds of getting the virus in hospital are still very, very small and we do need to keep that in mind.â€
NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale says the 132,279 tests recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm last night were a good result as daily cases decline.
“We continue to see very good, consistent testing rates,†she said, reminding people to continue to come forward if they have any symptoms.
Dr Gale said some western Sydney suburbs were still recording high numbers of cases.
She asked residents of Auburn, Punchbowl, Greenacre, Guildford, Bankstown, Penrith, Merrylands, and Blacktown to be “extra vigilant†in monitoring for symptoms.
Residents of Wellington, in western NSW, were also asked to watch for symptoms and come forward for vaccination, after increased cases were seen in the community.
Health Minister Greg Hunt says he is “delighted†to confirm the country’s medical regulator has approved rapid antigen tests for home use starting on November 1.
“This is an important additional protection for Australians,†he said at a press conference this morning.
It comes after the minister told this masthead the federal government was eager for self-testing to become another layer in the community’s protection against the pandemic as states and territories begin to ease restrictions.
So far there have been 72 applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration for home use approval of rapid antigen tests. It’s unclear how many, if any, have been approved so far.
“The TGA at my request has been going through a thorough assessment. They will now move to make these tests available from November 1 and two steps additionally,†Mr Hunt said.
“One is that we have to have individual applications approved, specific tests have to be shown to be safe and effective.
“The second thing is to ensure that each of the states and territories is in a position to accept that, but from a national perspective home testing will be available from November 1.â€
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says Byron and Tweed local government areas will exit their lockdowns at midnight tonight, after no further cases were detected in these areas.
The councils entered lockdown last week after a member of a television show crew filming in the area visited a number of locations while unknowingly infectious with the virus.
Byron and Tweed will be under the restrictions in place across other regional areas not under stay-at-home orders.
Mr Hazzard said health authorities were currently considering whether lockdowns in the Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Muswellbrook areas should be extended due to there being “a little more work to do†in stopping the spread of the virus.
“I’m putting the community on notice that there may be a further announcement today in regard to all three of those areas or any one of those three areas. We just need to make some final decisions on that,†he said.
The Health Minister also revealed lifesaving breast screening services will soon return in the state, after being suspending earlier in its COVID-19 outbreak.
BreastScreen NSW services were scaled back in Greater Sydney and then the rest of the state in August due to cancellation of appointments and the need to relocate staff to local health districts’ pandemic operations, such as vaccination clinics.
Director of BreastScreen NSW Sarah McGill said the services would be reopening on a case-by-case basis, based on local risk and women who had appointments cancelled would be contacted by their local service.
The services first to return would be mostly in regional areas.
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