Covid-19 News Updates

Business NSW says longer lockdown a "crushing blow"

Peak organisation Business NSW has highlighted the "huge impact" an extended Greater Sydney lockdown will have on the community after recent surveys showed worrying consequences for business revenue and job losses.

Business NSW has been working with members since the lockdown began, and initial analysis of survey data shows 48 per cent of those surveyed believe the revenue impact of the current two-week lockdown is already somewhat equivalent to the revenue impact of two months, following the first major lock down late last year.

"Concerningly, around 1 in 5 businesses say they only have enough cashflow to get them through the next month of operations so an extended lockdown will see businesses close down, and unlikely to reopen," Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said.

"And this time around there's no JobKeeper to help cushion the fall."

The NSW Government has offered grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses across NSW, while a Commonwealth-designated hotspot status allows for weekly payments of between $325-500 for staff who have lost work during the lockdown and have less than $10,000 in savings.

Hunter said the lockdown would not only lead to a loss of jobs but would also have a huge impact on the mental health of those business owners and their employees who have dedicated their lives to their businesses.

"Balancing the health and economic pressures of this pandemic is a very difficult assignment for the Government, and business understands the importance of community safety above all else," he said.

"There is going to be extra pressure placed on business owners next week with employees needing to supervise children who are learning from home, so at a time when they are doing it tough, they'll have to be even more accommodating which adds even more pressure.

"While the NSW Government has always balanced the health and economic outcomes of this pandemic, there's no hiding that this will be a huge blow for business, big and small, right across the NSW economy."

Hunter said it was now more important than ever that the community does the right thing when it comes to obeying the rules, always checking in and out with QR codes, and getting vaccinated when possible,

Updated at 12:12pm AEST on 7 July.

Sydney lockdown extended by a week as household infections rise

"Of the seven people in ICU, one is in their 30s - a bit of a wake-up call to young people," says NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant.

The current lockdown for Sydney and its surrounding regions has been extended until midnight, 16 July after 27 new COVID-19 cases were reported overnight, of which more than half were in the community while infectious. 

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian reiterated her strategy of avoiding a scenario where the lockdown is lifted prematurely only to be reapplied again.

"Our strategy is about saving lives but also saving businesses and jobs and keeping the economy open, and whilst it is painful for all of us, please know this decision wasn't taken lightly," the Premier said.

"For that extra week, we think it's well worth it if it's going to prevent us from having to go in and out of lockdown."

The ongoing lockdown applies to all of Greater Sydney, as well as the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong.

"I appreciate that communities like the Central Coast or Shellharbour or Wollongong, who may have had a number of cases in the last little while, but they will be particularly frustrated that they have to do another week but this is really to prevent mobility.

"We know that for essential items or essential work people are still moving, and it's really easy to transfer the virus from one community to another."

Berejiklian said most of the cases recorded overnight were from people spreading the virus in their own households, families and friendship circles.

"Dr Chant (Chief Health Officer) and I can recount the number of examples where people are feeling enormous guilt because they've gone home and given the virus to their children, to their partner and to other extended members of family if they live in one household," she said.

"That's the last thing any of us want - the guilt of having passed on the virus to those closest to us. That's what's happening."

NSW health authorities have shifted their focus to the southwestern Sydney local government areas of Fairfield, Canterbury, Bankstown and Liverpool.

"I can foreshadow overnight that we've had a number of cases more than we would have liked to have seen, so I'm anticipating that tomorrow's number will be higher than what we've seen today. But they are at the moment concentrated in three local government areas," the Premier said.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant noted that of the 37 COVID cases in hospital, 14 were aged under 55, which should dispel the myth that this virus is something that only leads to impacts for the elderly.

"Of the seven people in ICU (intensive care unit), one is in their 30s - a bit of a wake-up call to young people; one in their 50s, two in their 60s and three in their 70s," Dr Chant said.

Updated at 11:44am AEST on 7 July 2021.

Dancefloors back, crowd numbers to increase when Melbourne restrictions ease on Friday

COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne will be brought into line with the rest of the state once settings ease on Friday as the state goes one week today without recording any new locally acquired cases of the coronavirus.

The easing of restrictions is being done "carefully and cautiously" on Friday, with the state's health authorities acknowledging the deteriorated condition elsewhere in Australia.

As such, from 11.59pm on Thursday 8 July, the following restrictions will come into effect:

• Masks will continue to be required in indoor, public-facing settings, but they will no longer be required at schools for students and staff, or at workplaces if you don't interact with the public, for example if you work at an office or a factory.
• A range of venues across Melbourne will apply density limits of one person per two square metres including hospitality, gyms and physical recreation venues, community facilities, creative studios and places of worship provided a COVID check-in marshal is on-site to make sure people are checking in.
• Dancefloors will be allowed with a COVID check-in marshal, but no more than 50 people can be on the dance floor at any one time.
• The limit on private gatherings will stay the same, with up to 15 people able to attend a home per day.
• Crowd numbers will increase at approved public events. Outdoor stadiums can welcome 75 per cent of their capacity, up to 40,000 people, and indoor stadiums can open to 75 per cent of their capacity, up to 7,500 people.
• Theatres will also open to 75 per cent of their capacity, up to 2,000 people.

These settings will be in place for at least 14 days, subject to assessment of epidemiological risks by Victorian public health teams.

"Today's changes show just how far we've come thanks to the hard work of all Victorians we're able to once again have the same settings in place for the whole state," Victorian Minister for Health Martin Foley said.

"We're seeing across the country just how fast-moving the Delta strain is which is why we need to remain vigilant and follow the directions to protect the gains we've made."

Meanwhile in Queensland the state recorded one new locally acquired case of COVID-19 today - a person who was isolating during their entire infectious period and is asymptomatic.

Updated at 11.08am AEST on 7 July 2021.

Melbourne F1 Grand Prix cancelled

For the second year in a row the F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne has been cancelled due to the ongoing effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister for Sports, Tourism and Major Events Martin Pakula blamed the pandemic and the "slower than forecast" rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine program by the Commonwealth Government for the cancellation of both the F1 Grand Prix and the MotoGP at Phillip Island.

The F1 Grand Prix was schedule for 21 November, but the sport's governing bodies required assurances this week that the event could proceed as planned.

"Given the lower-than-expected vaccination rates and the impact of the National Cabinet decision, those assurances could not be provided within that time frame," the Victorian Government said.

"The Victorian Government understands the need for Formula 1 management and MotoGP controller Dorna Sports to confirm their schedules and the decision not to proceed in 2021 was mutually agreed with those bodies."

The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix has been a pillar of the major events calendar since it was enticed from South Australia in 1996.

The latest contract extension agreed with Formula 1 management means that the race will be held at Albert Park until at least 2025. The Australian MotoGP is contracted to Victoria until 2026 and has been held at the Phillip Island circuit since 1997.

"It's very disappointing that these much-loved events can't proceed but this is the reality of the pandemic but until we get much higher vaccination rates we cannot return to more normal settings," Pakula said.

"We are getting to work on plans for 2022 immediately and can't wait to welcome the world's best drivers and riders and all motorsport fans back to Albert Park and Phillip Island."

Updated at 4.39pm AEST on 6 July 2021.

NSW chief health officer: "Assume everyone has COVID"

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has called on more Greater Sydney residents to get tested for COVID-19, especially in the Fairfield and Bossley Park communities, after 18 new local cases of the virus were recorded for the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

Of those 18 people, five were in the community while infectious for one day while two were out and about for longer.

While the figure represents a halving of the 35 new cases reported for the prior period, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has asked people not to jump to any conclusions ahead of tomorrow's announcement as to whether the lockdown will be lifted or extended on Friday.

"New South Wales want this to be the last lockdown until we get the majority of our citizens vaccinated," the Premier said, highlighting how the Delta variant makes today's situation very different to previous outbreaks.

"This strain is very different to what we've experienced, and if you look at other jurisdictions around the world, we can see that you can't afford to let this get away from you.

"What our community want is certainty. People want to know what life will look like beyond Friday midnight, and I'm keen to provide that certainty to people tomorrow so that people can arrangements if they need to moving forward."

Dr Chant also revealed numbers of COVID-19 patients in NSW hospitals and called on more people to get vaccinated.

"Two doses of both Pfizer or AstraZeneca are very effective at preventing hospitalisation and death, so I would urge the community to respond now," Dr Chant said.

"It is important to note that we currently have 26 COVID patients that have been admitted to hospital. Of these patients, six are in ICU, two whom are ventilated.

"This is a salient reminder about the impact that COVID can have on you and your loved ones, so please as you move about the community assume everyone has COVID, follow the public health advice, and please minimise your exposure to others, particularly in indoor settings."

Updated at 12:07pm AEST on 6 July 2021.

Dancing and singing back on in SA as restrictions ease after one week

South Australia has eased COVID-19 restrictions today to the delight of the hospitality industry as dancing and singing are once again permitted and capacity limits are now more lenient.

It comes just one week after restrictions were reintroduced, with the state moving early to ensure an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta strain as seen interstate did not occur in SA.

As such, hospitality businesses can revert to the three people per four square metre rule, home gatherings can have a maximum of 200 people, and South Aussies can drink while standing up.

In addition, the requirement that visitors from Victoria get tested on arrival in SA has also been lifted, allowing for free travel between the two states.

SA Premier Steven Marshall says he is working closely with the Stadium Management Authority to ensure the AFL 'Showdown' between the Crows and Port Adelaide can go ahead on Thursday.

However, the state could have been in a very different situation were it not for the miner who returned to SA last weekend and followed health guidelines to a tee.

Marshall said he spoke with the miner and his family, who all tested positive to COVID-19, reporting that the group were in "extraordinarily good spirits".

"The reality is, if they hadn't got their test on Saturday morning, it came back negative, and they'd gone out into the public and ignored the restrictions were in place...we could have been in a very different situation in South Australia," Marshall said.

Updated at 3.09pm AEST on 5 July 2021.

NSW records 35 new community cases of COVID as aged care outbreak grows

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the lockdown of Sydney and surrounding areas is proving to be "effective" with most of today's 35 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases having been in isolation while infectious.

However, the update comes as an outbreak of COVID-19 at the SummitCare aged care facility in Baulkham Hills has continued to grow with two new cases reported today.

Of the 35 new cases, 33 are linked to known cases or cluster and 20 are household contacts.

In addition, 24 of the new cases were in isolation for the entire time they were infectious, and four were in isolation for part of their infectious period which chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant says highlights "the importance of getting to cases very soon".

"Even by the time we get to cases often they're transmitted to their family and their family might be in isolation for one day," says Dr Chant.

"But we need them in for that full infectious period."

The update from the NSW Government comes as two new cases were reported in an aged care facility in Sydney's north-western suburbs, bringing the total number of infections associated with the facility to five.

Both cases are women in their 70s one is fully vaccinated, and the other has not been vaccinated at all.

"Out of an abundance of caution all of the five residents have been transferred to Westmead Hospital for observation," Dr Chant said.

Dr Chant also mentioned NSW may continue to see case numbers arise from a Gold Coast to Sydney flight that had five COVID-infected people on board.

"It's pleasing to see that when we've contacted those individuals, we had already identified them as close contacts and they were isolating and they pose no other risk to the community," Dr Chant said.

"But my message is, we may continue to see cases arise from that plane."

The rise in infections comes as NSW is expected to ease lockdown restrictions for Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour on Friday 9 July.

However, Premier Berejiklian has implored residents of the local government areas to continue abiding by the rules so restrictions can ease on Friday.

"The lockdown certainly has been effective in not doubling or tripling the figures that we were worried about," the Premier said.

"But unfortunately, having a party when you're not supposed to have a party is not doing the right thingsome of the cases today are a result of issues or a result of incidents where people have done the wrong thing.

"Please, if you are contacted for information, please be as open as you can because that will determine what life looks like for us beyond Friday."

Elsewhere in the country, Victoria has no new local cases and Queensland has reported four new locally transmitted cases, all linked to known clusters. 

Updated at 11.45am AEST on 5 July 2021.

Perth and Peel to exit lockdown tomorrow but some restrictions will remain

The Perth and Peel regions in Western Australia will exit lockdown tomorrow after five days as scheduled, but transitional restrictions will remain for a period of time.

The lockdown in Perth and Peel will end at 12.01am on Saturday and comes after WA recorded one new case of community transmission today - a partner of an already confirmed case who has been isolating while infectious.

Meanwhile, the capital of the NT and the central Australian town of Alice Springs have already seen lockdown measures ease at 1pm today with residents currently living under more lenient settings.

In WA two tranches of eased restrictions will be in place until Monday 12 July, at which point the Perth and Peel regions will be back at pre-lockdown settings.

However, from midnight tonight Perth and Peel will be under 'post-lockdown interim restrictions' until 12.01am Tuesday 6 July pending the latest health advice including:

• Everyone must continue to wear a mask in indoor and outdoor public places, while at work and on public transport, unless exempt or for outdoor vigorous exercise;
• People who can work from home or remotely, are encourage to do so;
• Limit of 10 visitors to all homes;
• Limit of 20 people for private outdoor gatherings;
• Four square metre capacity rule and 20 patron limit for restaurants, cafés, pubs, bars, casinos, nightclubs, entertainment venues and public venues - for seated food and drink service only;
• Four square metre capacity rule and 20 patron limit for beauty, nail and hair services;
• Public venues such as recreation centres, outdoor playgrounds, museums, swimming pools can open with the four square metre capacity rule and 20 patron limit in place;
• Universities, TAFEs and training services can reopen;
• Places of worship can open with four square metre capacity rule and 20 patron limit;
• Weddings and funerals can proceed with up to 20 guests;
• Professional and outdoor community sports, including training, are permitted, but without spectators. Indoor community sport is not permitted;
• Fitness venues including gyms, pilates, yoga, dance studios can open with four square metre capacity rule and 20 patron limit in place;
• No visitors to aged and disability facilities and hospitals, except for compassionate reasons and advocacy;
• No visitors to residential aged care and/or disability facilities except for exceptional circumstances such as essential care, compassionate reasons, end of life and advocacy; and,
• No visitors to hospitals except for compassionate reasons, end of life, accompanying a child or supporting a partner giving birth.

The intrastate Perth and Peel border will removed, meaning people can travel within WA, with the exception of some remote Aboriginal communities.

However, anyone who has been in Perth and Peel since Sunday, 27 June is subject to same mask wearing requirements and will not be allowed to visit hospitality, entertainment, recreation venues or other public gatherings. People are permitted to enter retail venues and purchase takeaway.

Following this upcoming three-day period, further eased transitional restrictions will take effect at 12:01am 6 July, and remain in place until 12:01am Monday 12 July - pending ongoing health advice:

• Masks will not be required outside where physical distancing is possible;
• Masks will remain mandatory for indoor public venues, including in the workplace and on public transport. Exemptions apply including for medical reasons and primary school aged children or younger. People should use common sense and take a mask with them whenever they leave home;
• 30 person limit will apply in all homes for indoor private gatherings and 150 person limit for outdoor private gatherings;
• Two square metre capacity rule and 150 patron limit will apply to most venues, including weddings and funerals;
• Indoor and outdoor community sport will be able to resume with spectators;
• Patients in hospital, or people in aged care or a disability facility can have four personal visitors per day. Masks will remain mandatory for staff and visitors; and
• Major stadiums, including Optus Stadium, RAC Arena and HBF Park will be able to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

"We intend for these subsequent transitional restrictions to be in place for just six days, from Tuesday through Sunday to take us through the full 14-day incubation period," says WA Premier Mark McGowan.

"Assuming everything goes well for these restrictions, and health advice permitting, we intend to take the final safe and sensible step and return to our pre-lockdown life by 12:01am Monday 12 July.

"It's a quick, safe and sensible approach to keep our State safe, and get us back to the incredible freedoms that we've enjoyed for most of the last year."

Post-lockdown restrictions for Darwin and Alice Springs

For Darwin and Alice Springs new COVID-19 restrictions are now in place, including:

• Travel will be permitted across the Territory.
• Face masks must be worn when you are unable to physically distance this includes at places like the supermarket, shops and hairdresser. Workers who come into close contact with patrons, or who work in crowded environments will need to wear a mask.
• Up to 10 people can visit your home at a time.
• Restaurants, cafes and pubs will re-open for seated service only. Patrons will be required to wear a mask when they go to the bar to order.
• Big events must have The Territory Check In QR Code system in place and be able to comply with physical distancing and mask wearing requirements.
• No close contact sports. Indoor exercise including at gyms, Zumba, barre, pilates and yoga studios will remain closed.
• Places of worship will open. Masks must be worn and physical distancing applied.
• Schools, vacation care and childcare centres will open.

Updated at 4.25pm AEST on 2 July 2021.

National Cabinet sets path to lockdown-free Australia

"When it is like the flu, we should treat it like the flu. And that means no lockdowns," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, signalling what life might be like in a COVID-vaccinated country.

We're nowhere near that stage yet, but the above quote from the PM represents the ambitions set out in today's National Cabinet between federal, state and territory governments, putting the wheels in motion for a four-phase pathway towards a 'new normal' - suppression, post-vaccination, consolidation and returning to normality.

• Inbound international arrival caps temporarily cut by 50 per cent
• Vaccination benchmark to be determined through scientific modelling
• Home quarantine trials considered for SA
• Digital vaccination certificate system in development
• Taskforce to define and propose pathway details this month

Following NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's call for an 80 per cent benchmark of COVID-19 vaccination before international borders are reopened, the National Cabinet has agreed to set a specific percentage for a 'post-vaccination' phase based on modelling that is underway.

"This will be a scientific number. It won't be a political number, it won't be an arbitrary number," the PM said.

That phase, which is the second on this pathway, may give rise to eased restrictions for vaccinated residents, a condition that lockdowns only be used in extreme circumstances to prevent escalating hospitalization and fatality, and a return to higher inbound passenger caps.

The final details are yet to be determined by the COVID-19 Risk Analysis Response Taskforce, which Scott Morrison explained would be hashed out over the course of this month.

But for now, given the increased risks of the Delta strain of the virus, the National Cabinet has agreed to temporarily reduce passenger arrivals into Australia by 50 per cent, although the Federal Government plans to up the ante on international repatriations into the National Resilience Facility at Howard Springs, NT.

"Simply reducing the caps doesn't necessarily provide a failsafe, but because of the particular virulency of the Delta stain, it is believed that that is a prudent action while we remain in the suppression phase of the virus," he said.

"We will also extend the international freight subsidy scheme to ensure maintenance of the central freight supply lines by air impacted by the reduction of commercial caps at international airports."

Currently we are in what's been described as the 'suppression' phase of 'vaccinate, prepare and pilot'. This includes trials for alternative quarantine options such as home quarantine for returning vaccinated travellers.

"South Australia has indicated that they will be seeking to work with the Commonwealth having the necessary digital applications to support that," he said.

"It will be a very small-scale trial, but we want to make sure that before it goes to any scaled-up use that we work through that. And this will be a very transparent exercise with other states and territories.

"We will continue to expand the commercial trials for limited entry of student [and] economic visa holders."

Building on the Medicare vaccination certificate that is automatically generated, the PM reiterated he expected a digital system to be available by the end of the month, for example in Apple wallets and the like.

"We will put in place a digital vaccination authentication at border that we will prepare now," he said.

"And there will be a further review of the national hotel quarantine network to ensure that the standards of infection control procedures and the like are being adhered to."

After these two phases, the plan is for Australia to move into a much more ambitious third phase of consolidation, whereby "the hospitalisation and fatality rates that you'd see from COVID-19 would be like the flu, or, arguably better, and we're already seeing evidence of that in other jurisdictions that have higher levels of vaccination".

"When it is like the flu, we should treat it like the flu. And that means no lockdowns," the PM said.

At that stage it is possible we will see abolished caps on returning vaccinated travellers, and vaccinated residents would be exempt from all domestic restrictions. At that point, the PM expects "very high" caps on student, economic and humanitarian visa holders.

Outbound travel would thus be unrestricted for vaccinated people, and in that phase three period the Federal Government would hope to extend the travel bubble that exists with New Zealand to other candidate countries such as Singapore and some Pacific nations.

"Moving into the consolidation phase will be based on a further benchmark determined by that modelling process," he said.

The final phase, described by Morrison as the "penultimate phase to moving completely back to normal", could potentially include uncapped inbound arrivals for all vaccinated people without quarantine, as well as uncapped arrivals of non-vaccinated travel subject to pre-flight and on-arrival testing.

"So you may still have at that point unvaccinated people coming to Australia at that final phase - if they are picked up on testing...they'd of course go into quarantine which would be common sense," the PM said.

He concluded what the pathway means is that once Australia gets vaccinated, we will be able to live differently.

"Winning in the post-vaccination phase looks very different to winning in the phase we're in now," he said.

"Winning now means we suppress the virus as best as we can, which means that from time to time - such as we're experiencing in New South Wales - we have to go through these experiences. It's regrettable, and I have every confidence having heard further from the NSW Premier today that they continue to get on top of that.

"We will continue to fight on in this period and we'll continue to do everything we possibly can to vaccinate the population as fast as possible, and I think the performance in the most recent June month indicates just how much we've been able to ramp up - a million doses in eight days, 3.5 million doses or thereabouts in one month. We keep that pace up and we'll get this done Australia."

Updated at 1:26pm AEST on 2 July 2021.

31 new cases for NSW and more to come, says Premier

With 13 of New South Wales' 31 newly recorded COVID-19 cases having been in the community while infectious, Premier Gladys Berejiklian is expecting numbers to continue to rise.

At today's daily COVID-19 press conference, Berejiklian warned infection numbers would likely keep going up as 13 were active in the community before lockdown measures were implemented.

"I do want to stress that this pretty much reflects the days just before the day we went into lockdown," the Premier said.

"So we're anticipating that there could be an increase in numbers over the next few days and then hopefully early next week we should see the impact of the lockdown really churning and having a positive impact."

As such, the Premier has reiterated the importance of staying home during the lockdown period to slow the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

"Stay at home means stay at home. Don't leave the house unless you absolutely have to," Berejiklian said.

"And please make sure that if you are a worker doing an essential job that you do not turn up if you have the mildest of symptoms. This strain is so transmissible, so infectious, that even a fleeting passing can have that impact.

"The next few days are critical because we know that what we're doing until this point in time is mopping up in the last few days leading into the lockdown."

There have been 226 locally acquired COVID-19 cases reported since 16 June 2021 when the first case of the Bondi cluster, a driver who transported international flight crew, was reported.

Of these, 188 are now directly linked to the Bondi cluster.

Updated at 11.50am AEST on 2 July 2021.