Australia news LIVE Victoria records 1220 new COVID-19 cases while NSW reports 667 local infections NRL grand final to go ahead with no new cases in Queensland
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The Victorian government has overturned the ban on public toilets at outdoor sporting facilities, including golf courses and tennis courts, following widespread backlash.
Toilets, both indoors and outdoors, must be cleaned twice a day and people will be required to check in using QR codes. Indoor facilities, including the clubhouse, change rooms and bistros, remain closed.
Golfers return to Albert Park Golf Club last week. David McCartney and Dene Heath are pictured on course.Credit:Wayne Taylor
“These changes, which come into effect at 11:59pm Monday 4 October, mean toilet facilities can open while also keeping personal contact and authorised worker presence at outdoor recreation facilities to a hard minimum,†the Health Department said in a statement.
Royal Melbourne Golf Club captain Andrew Kirby last week called the restrictions a “joke†and disappointed many golfers following their initial excitement at being allowed to reopen.
“I know the blokes can do a number one in the trees, but there are lots of women playing,†Kirby told 3AW.
“We’ve been through this opening and closing and opening again so many times that you’d think they’d get it a little more down pat. To be honest, I think the problem I see is too much micro-regulation of it ... Maybe there’s been a miscommunication or something has been misconstrued but we have staff there, we have lots of women playing, we have people with medical conditions â€" they need to use the toilets.â€
WA Premier Mark McGowan will give a COVID-19 update on Sunday afternoon.
In a high-rise building on the outskirts of the CBD, Mohammad sits on a plastic chair holding his young daughter in his arms amid a sea of neatly lined up Afghan refugees waiting to receive their first coronavirus vaccine.
He is more than 11,000 kilometres from home after fleeing Kabul with his family in August when the Taliban began going door to door searching for anyone who had worked with foreign forces.
Co-health nurse Amelia Tauoqooqo says some evacuees lost family members in the rush to get on a plane out of Afghanistan.Credit:Simon Schluter
The family slept for two days on the cold, dusty ground outside Kabul airport, before finally boarding a rescue flight bound for Australia.
Click here to read the story.
A number of childcare centres have been confirmed as Victoria’s latest tier-1 exposure sites, including a facility in the state’s far north-east.
FROEBEL Fitzroy North Early Learning Centre in Melbourne’s inner north has been listed as a tier-1 exposure site on 27 October, forcing a number of children, parents and educators into isolation for 14 days.
Another childcare centre - Country Buddies Wangaratta in north-east Victoria, just 50 kilometres from the NSW border - has been listed as a tier-1 exposure site on September 29.
Late last night, the Department of Health also identified the Clarendon Street Community Child Care Centre in Cranbourne as a tier-1 exposure site on September 27.
You can read the full list of exposure sites here.
Chicago: It’s a milestone that by all accounts didn’t have to happen this soon.
The US death toll from COVID-19 has eclipsed 700,000 â€" a number greater than the population of Boston. The last 100,000 deaths occurred during a time when vaccines â€" which overwhelmingly prevent deaths, hospitalisations and serious illness â€" were available to any American over the age of 12.
As the US death toll from COVID passes 700,000, artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg’s temporary exhibition “In America: Remember†made up of white flags to commemorate Americans who have died of COVID-19, fills the National Mall, in Washington.Credit:AP
The milestone is deeply frustrating to doctors, public health officials and the American public, who watched a pandemic that had been easing earlier in the summer take a dark turn. Tens of millions of Americans have refused to get vaccinated, allowing the highly contagious delta variant to tear through the country and send the death toll from 600,000 to 700,000 in 3½ months.
AP
Click here to read the story.
G’day everyone. It’s Roy Ward here and I’ll be taking over the blog for the rest of the day and tonight.
Please keep the comments and interactions coming, we should have plenty more news to come.
Enjoy the afternoon to come.
If you’re just tuning in, here’s what you need to know from today so far:
I’m Jenny Noyes, handing over blog duties to Roy Ward for the rest of the afternoon. Thanks for your attention.
Karrina Kemp never expected to be living in a tent with three children, but that’s all she can afford while waiting to be allowed to cross the Queensland border.
Ms Kemp is one of more than 11,000 Queenslanders stranded in NSW or Victoria while waiting for border passes or exemptions to be allowed across the border. She is also one of several people who told The Sun-Herald they were sleeping in a tent or car as a result, mostly in NSW border towns and some in Victoria.
Karrina Kemp and her three children are living in a tent in Ballina while paying rent in Bundaberg, QLD, because they still don’t have their border pass. Credit:Elise Derwin
“The tent is literally starting to fall apart â€" it’s so windy here and I’ve had to do makeshift screen repairs,†Ms Kemp said. “It’s an eye-opener, that’s for sure. I didn’t think I’d literally be technically homeless at my age with three children.â€
Ms Kemp and her children were staying with friends in Jindabyne for the ski season before the Delta outbreak in Greater Sydney, but she eventually had to leave because the property was sold.
The Queensland government rejected her request for an exemption to drive across the border and avoid hotel quarantine. She was advised to apply for a border pass, which means the family has to leave their car in Ballina to be towed later, fly to Brisbane via Sydney, and pay more than $5000 for hotel quarantine as a family.
She applied for the border pass on September 5 and received it on Friday for a return date of October 10.
Read more on this story here.
Victoria’s Premier has hit back after a federal Victorian MP said he won’t get the jab despite new mandates for authorised workers.
Veteran Liberal MP Russell Broadbent, whose electorate Monash is in eastern Victoria, has said publicly he is not vaccinated and doesn’t intend to be. The stance puts him at odds with Victoria’s mandated vaccines for all authorised workers in the state, including federal politicians.
The Age has also confirmed it is probable a vaccine mandate will be required for tennis stars to play in Melbourne this summer. The provision means vaccine-hesitant tennis champion Novak Djokovic could be thwarted in his pursuit of a record-breaking 21st grand slam title.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the grand slam titles “won’t protect you either†against the virus.
“Whether you’re a judge of the Supreme Court, or a member of the Victorian Parliament, the virus doesn’t care what you do for a living,†he said.
“You’re just as likely, unless you’re vaccinated, to get it and spread it.“
Reflecting on the fact that on Monday, Melbourne will take the title of most locked-down city after 245 days under restrictions, Premier Andrews said he was proud of all Victorians “for giving so much and for working so hard to save livesâ€.
NSW businesses will be responsible for taking “reasonable measures†to stop unvaccinated people entering their premises under updated rules for the state’s roadmap out of lockdown. And if they don’t comply, both individuals and businesses could face hefty fines.
The following are among the key public health advice and obligations for businesses announced today:
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