Australia COVID LIVE updates Victorias record day of 1965 new local cases NSW records 580 new cases as health authorities investigate new Delta strain
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The theatre industry in Victoria will get a lockdown lift with the announcement that rehearsals for major productions can resume at the same time as the state government announced a new $15 million support package.
Creative Industries Minister Danny Pearson confirmed on Saturday that major productions would be able to start rehearsals so they would be ready to open their doors when restrictions eased.
The move came after some of Melbourneâs major performing arts companies warned they may not be able to reopen as anticipated by the state governmentâs road map because they could not rehearse or build sets in advance.
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Gâday everyone.
Itâs Roy Ward here and Iâll be taking over the blog for the rest of the day, thanks to Pallavi Singhal for yet another excellent shift to get us started.
We have had a big morning and there is plenty more going on this afternoon so please stay with us and keep up your comments and interactions.
Enjoy the afternoon to come.
A popular Melbourne deli owner has been remembered as âloving, generous and hard workingâ after he died of coronavirus-related illnesses on Friday.
Soner Kurtoglu, 54, who owned Ni-SA Delicatessen on Bridge Road in Richmond, died after contracting COVID-19 several weeks ago.
Soner Kurtoglu.
The manâs family told The Age they were âdeeply devastatedâ by the loss, noting that the beloved Turkish deli in Melbourneâs inner-east was his âpride and joyâ.
âHe touched the lives of every single person he met and if you ask anyone to describe him in three words it would be loving, generous and hard working,â Mr Kortogluâs family said.
âHis three children Kadir, Melissa and Salih along with his wife Ebru Kurtoglu want to thank everybody for their kind words, please keep Soner in your prayers.â
According to a post from the local community Instagram account Richmond_3121, while Mr Kurtoglu had been recently cleared of the disease, it triggered other infections âwhich were too great to overcomeâ.
The page said it had been inundated with messages asking about Mr Kurtogluâs health after his deli was listed as an exposure site on September 23.
âEach message expressed that Soner was a wonderfully kind, and hugely generous man,â the account said.
âHis impact on the Richmond community was immediate and will be sadly missed.â
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant was asked at the morning press conference about whether her expertise had been sidelined in the changes to the 70 per cent roadmap that were introduced by Dominic Perrottet when he became premier.
âNo, not at all,â she said.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant today.Credit:Rhett Wyman
She had briefed Mr Perrottet for close to two hours before he decided upon the changes and they were formulated in the usual way, she said.
âI respect governmentâs decisions around multiple inputs but I also note that some of the changes are very low risk. We sometimes use public health orders as a one size fits all, but there will be different capacities across different venues, for instance ... so we know there is a really practical element.â
Victoria is poised to reach its next double dose vaccination goals earlier than expected, according to health authorities.
The state was expected to reach 70 per cent double doses on October 26 and 80 per cent full vaccination on November 5, with additional freedoms to be lifted at each stage.
Health Department deputy secretary Kate Matson confirmed the state was ahead of those targets, but could not confirm whether it would mean Melbourneâs lockdown would be lifted earlier than expected.
âI think it is possible that we hit the October 26 and November 5 dates earlier, if people do rush to their local vaccination sites, pharmacies and GPs,â she said.
âItâs in all our power to bring those dates forward and weâd love to see them as soon as we possibly can.â
Creative Industries Minister Danny Pearson said the state would be watching the experience of NSW as they open up to help inform how Victoria exits lockdown.
Victoria will provide $15 million to support the creative industry through grants to workers and organisations as they cope with the stateâs prolonged shutdown.
The funding is split into two packages.
Individual workers and micro-businesses can apply for one-off grants to develop new work, undertake professional development or reach new audiences.
Grants of up to $5000 will be available to individuals including sole traders and freelancers. Collectives, micro-organisations and business will be able to apply for grants of up to $10,000.
A further $10 million will be available for larger organisations of state significance.
These will include festivals, performing arts companies and others.
More information will be available at creative.vic.gov.au/grants-and-support
Victorian health authorities are no longer monitoring secondary close contacts, due to the sheer volume of cases being found in the state.
Health Department deputy secretary Kate Matson announced the change on Saturday morning, saying primary close contacts may choose to notify their close contacts they are in isolation, but the secondary contacts will not need to isolate.
Around 16,000 secondary close contacts will receive a text message this weekend releasing them from quarantine. The measures are not changing for primary close contacts who have come in contact with a confirmed case.
Ms Matson said while the multiple rings of COVID-19 isolation had been âextremely successfulâ, they change was an acknowledgement of the âchanging risk, and the changing environment that weâre in, as weâre no longer chasing COVID Zeroâ.
âThis is good news for people who are isolating as primary close contacts because their household members will not need to isolate with them and theyâll be able to easily get the support they need,â she said.
âIf anyone thinks theyâve been anywhere near a confirmed case or is concerned and developed symptoms, please go and get a test.â
She said the measure had already been in place in Melbourne, but would now occur state-wide.
Victorian health authorities say a COVID-positive airline crew member travelled on flights across three states while infectious.
Health Department deputy secretary Kate Matson said the Virgin cabin crew member had worked on six flights spanning Victoria, NSW and South Australia this week.
The positive case was found through routine testing of staff members, with all fellow crew members now isolating as close contacts.
The flights of concern include:
âPassengers on those flights are being contacted by the relevant jurisdictions and weâve been in close contact with both NSW and South Australia, and working closely with them to contract for relevant passengers,â Ms Matson said.
Victorian health authorities say they are concerned about coronavirus case growth in the city of Mildura on the NSW border, after the number of cases went from one to 37 in a single week.
There were 20 new cases discovered in the city on Friday, with the border city going into lockdown at 11.59pm last night.
Health Department deputy secretary Kate Matson said they were âparticularly concernedâ about the significant case growth in Mildura, with cases found in members of the Indigenous community.
âWe believe there may be additional cases out there that we have not found,â she said.
âTodayâs 20 new COVID cases are spread across a number of households, and there are links over into NSW. The total number of active cases in Mildura is now 37, and thatâs up from one case one week ago.
âThe next seven days will be crucial for us to have a really stringent public health response.â
Ms Matson acknowledged the announcement that the city would be going into lockdown had come quite late, but the decision had to be made on the âlatest adviceâ.
âIf there was any inconvenience caused by our late notice, we do apologise for that, but we will never apologise for taking the right public health actions to protect Victoria.â
Ninety cases were discovered in regional Victoria yesterday and included in Saturday morningâs numbers.
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