Covid-19 News Updates

Cynata COVID-19 treatment trial expanded to other respiratory illnesses

Stem cell therapeutics company Cynata's (ASX: CYP) pool of eligible patients in a COVID-19 treatment trial will be increased after the company received ethics committee approval to include those suffering from respiratory failure.

The expansion is a boon for the company that is currently relying on testing the few COVID-19 patients in Australian hospitals, giving them access to those suffering from respiratory failure who meet the criteria for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

The MEseNchymal coviD-19 (MEND) clinical trial was initially designed to investigate early efficacy of Cynata's proprietary Cymerus mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in adults admitted to intensive care with COVID-19.

The approved expansion will enable recruitment of patients with respiratory failure arising from other causes, with COVID-19 no longer a requirement.

With ethics committee approval secured, Cynata is seeking to enrol 24 adult patients admitted to intensive care with respiratory distress (or compromised lung function) at selected Australian hospitals.

Cynata CEO Kilian Kelly says ethics committee approval will significantly accelerate recruitment.

"The expansion of this clinical trial represents execution of our strategy to ensure that, despite the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will substantially increase the catchment of patients to accelerate the completion of the MEND trial," Kelly says.

"We have developed a solid pre-clinical data set in relevant diseases models of the severe respiratory distress and associated complications suffered by many patients affected by respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and influenza.

"This expansion will increase the number of patients eligible for recruitment into this trial, which is designed to investigate the potential benefits of our MSCs in treating these severely ill patients."

The expansion of Cynata's trial comes after the group's major competitor and fellow biotechnology company Mesoblast (ASX: MSB) had to discontinue its own COVID-19 treatment trial.

MSB's trial failed to live up to expectations after its proposed treatment, remestemcel-L, failed to show a lower mortality rate for patients in the prescribed 30-day timeframe of treatment.

Shares in Cynata are down 1.59 per cent to $0.62 per share at 11.48am AEDT.

Updated at 1.08pm AEDT on 29 March 2021.

Brisbane under lockdown from 5pm today as COVID cluster grows

UPDATE: Queensland Health continues to provide updates on locations where COVID-19 cases visited. Early this evening, locations were added in the Brisbane CBD, while NSW Health has also put out an extended list of venues concerned in Byron Bay.

Those living in Greater Brisbane will be placed into lockdown from 5pm today for three days after a cluster of COVID-19 cases grew by four overnight.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged anyone who has been in Greater Brisbane since 20 March to stay at home, and in declaring the area a hotspot has asked all other states and territories to do the same.

In addition, because one of the new COVID-19 cases travelled to Gladstone while infectious, the rest of Queensland will be subject to new restrictions including compulsory mask wearing and gathering limits.

Two of the new cases - a nurse and her sister - were both recently in Byron Bay. How they caught the virus is still under investigation.

This latest lockdown comes as a cluster of the UK variant of COVID-19 grew to seven overnight after four new positive infections were detected on Sunday.

Queensland Health reported six other cases of COVID-19 today too, however they are all overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.

As such, from 5pm today for three days, those in Greater Brisbane will need to stay home except for four purposes: to buy food and medicine, to exercise, to conduct essential work, or to receive medical care.

Schools will close in the Greater Brisbane region which includes five local government areas: Brisbane, Logan, Moreton Bay, Redlands, and Ipswich.

Masks will be compulsory everywhere, except for in the home. For the rest of the state, people will need to wear a mask if they cannot physically distance, are inside, or are on public transport.

Those in Brisbane will still be allowed to have up to two visitors in the home and will be permitted to exercise in a family group.

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young also outlined new requirements for the rest of the state.

"We will also be limiting visits to aged care, to disability accommodation services, to hospitals, and to prisons, because they are the most vulnerable in our society, plus people can only have gatherings in their own home of up to 30 people in total," Young said, with regards to areas outside of Greater Brisbane.

"Anyone who is going out to dine or to go to pubs needs to be seated, so the one per two-square-metre requirement remains with that additional requirement that people must be seated. And that's very important because we know that reduces mingling."

The lockdown will be reviewed again on Wednesday night, ahead of the busy Easter long weekend.

The Premier understands the Prime Minister has agreed to halve international arrivals in Queensland as the state grapples with the highest rates of COVID-19 positive arrivals in hotel quarantine, particularly due to an influx of travellers from Papua New Guinea. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says this lockdown is a protective measure and the right thing to do based on health advice.

"I do not take these measures lightly," says the Premier.

"This is the UK strain. It is highly infectious. We need to do this to avoid a longer lockdown.

"We've done this before, and we've got through it over those three days in the past, and if everyone does the right thing I'm sure that we will be able to get through it again."

Of the 10 new cases detected in Queensland overnight, six are overseas arrivals in hotel quarantine, while four are cases of community transmission.

Out of those four, two are known contacts to the previously identified 26-year-old man from the northern Brisbane suburb of Stafford who was infectious in the community from 19 May.

The remaining two cases are under investigation, but authorities believe one to be a nurse from the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane who worked in the COVID-19 ward. 

"What this says to us is the fact that there is now more community transmission, and these people have been out and about in the community," says the Premier.

"I didn't sleep last night, so I'm very worried."

Premier Palaszczuk has also urged people in Brisbane not to panic buy, noting the supermarkets will be loaded with supplies and will remain open as usual.

She has also encouraged employers to let staff go home early today if possible.

States and territories respond to the outbreak

Over the weekend Australian states and territories took different approaches to the COVID-19 outbreak in Brisbane, with some closing borders and others applying lighter restrictions.

More than 20,000 arrivals into New South Wales from QLD are being contacted, with authorities telling them to undergo a COVID-19 test and to self-isolate for 14 days if they have been to a venue of concern.

These venues are the locations identified by Queensland Health, which can be accessed via the state's dedicated portal, and include Black Hops Brewery in East Brisbane and Eatons Hill Hotel in Eatons Hill.

Victoria has deployed its traffic light permit system, labelling the local government areas (LGAs) of Brisbane and Moreton Bay as orange zones. This means travellers from those LGAs must apply for a permit to enter VIC.

In order to enter VIC, travellers must agree to the requirement of self-quarantine, get a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival and remain isolated until a negative test result is received.

South Australia is requiring those who visited Brisbane in the past week to seek an urgent COVID-19 test and to isolate while awaiting results.

Any arrival from QLD into Western Australia must get tested for COVID-19 and self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Northern Territory is asking all arrivals who visited Brisbane or Moreton Bay to get tested. Those who have been told they are close contacts of a positive case must self-quarantine for 14 days.

All travellers into the Australian Capital Territory from Greater Brisbane since March 11 must self-isolate until a negative COVID-19 test is received.

While in Tasmania, anyone who has been in one of the designated locations by QLD Health cannot enter the state. Anyone currently in TAS that has been in any of the specified locations must self-isolate.

Further, anyone in TAS who has been in Brisbane or Moreton Bay on or after 8 March is asked to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.

Updated at 9.56am AEDT on 29 March 2021.

Brisbane man was infectious with COVID-19 in community since Friday

Update (1.46pm AEDT 26 March): Queensland Health has released a detailed list of locations visited by the infectious man.

A 26-year-old man from the northern Brisbane suburb of Stafford was infectious in the community from Friday last week, sparking new contact tracing efforts by Queensland's health authorities.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed the individual visited a number of locations in Stafford including Bunnings, Aldi, and the Guzman y Gomez drive-through, as well as the Carindale Shopping centre, the Fresh Food Market stall at Gasworks in Newstead, Mamma's Italian Restaurant in Redcliffe and various locations in Fortitude Valley over the weekend. 

Since Palaszczuk's announcement a list of locations visited by the 26-year-old was released by Queensland Health, but does not include Aldi in Stafford or any locations in Fortitude Valley. The official list is as follows:

SATURDAY 20 MARCH:

• Carindale Shopping centre at around 11am
• Baskin-Robins ice cream in Everton Park at 8pm

SUNDAY MARCH 21:

• Fresh Food Market stall at Gasworks in Newstead at 9am
• Mamma's Italian Resraurant in Redcliffe at 12.20pm

MONDAY MARCH 22:

• Worked in Paddington as a landscaper
• Guzman y Gomez drive-through in Stafford at 12.30pm
• Bunnings in Stafford at 1pm

The Premier said the case was "no cause for alarm", but it was a timely reminder for people to keep up social distancing habits.

"We absolutely want people - especially over the next two to three days - to come forward and get tested if you are feeling unwell and you have symptoms," she said.

"From 12 noon today our aged care, our hospitals, our prisons, people caring for people with a disability, will be closed to visitors but this will be confined to the Brisbane City Council areas and to Moreton.

"These are sensible precautions to look after our most vulnerable."

She called on people in the Brisbane City Council and Moreton Bay Regional Council to return to wearing masks in crowded areas, pointing to sporting matches and crowded trains as prime examples.

Premier Palaszczuk also made the observation from various functions she's attended that people weren't taking the same precautions as before.

"We really need people to social distance, and the other thing that's coming back is people are doing handshakes again," she said.

"Please, we are still in the midst of a pandemic now is not the time to break our social distancing, our good hand hygiene.

"I'm sorry everyone, but we need to abide by these things if we're going to get through this."

More information on the new case is yet to come, but the Premier explained she wanted to advise the public as soon as possible, and will provide ongoing updates over the weekend if new cases are reported.

Seven new cases were reported today of which six were in hotel quarantine - three from Papua New Guinea, the most common source of new cases in the state, one was from Ethiopia and another was an historic case.

There are currently 69 active cases in Queensland, where more than 53,000 vaccines have been administered to date. 

Updated at 11:24 AEST on 26 March 2021.

Victorian COVID-19 restrictions to ease from Friday

With no active cases of COVID-19 in the state, Victorian health officials are poised to ease restrictions from Friday, allowing more visitors in the home, reduced mask wearing, and larger public gatherings.

Ffrom Friday 26 March, masks will no longer be required in retail settings but Victorians will still need to wear one on public transport, in rideshare vehicles and taxis, and in aged care facilities and hospitals.

Home gatherings will be able to have up to 100 people in attendance per day, and outdoor public gatherings in public places can increase to 200 people.

Density limits in venues still operating under more restrictive settings - like casinos, karaoke venues and nightclubs - will move from one person per four square metres to one person per two square metres. This is in line with restrictions on cafes, pubs and restaurants.

Additional people will also be allowed in indoor non-seated entertainment venues with an increase from 50 per cent to 75 per cent capacity. However, the limit of 1,000 people per space remains.

Dancefloors will move to the same density limit of the venue and the 50 patron cap will also be removed.

There will no longer be limits on class sizes for outdoor and indoor physical recreation or fitness classes, and unstaffed gyms will be moving from a density limit of one person per eight square metres to one person per four square metres.

The 75 per cent cap on private and public offices workers will also be removed, which coincides with a revised flexible work policy for the Victorian Public Service (VPS) released today.

While all workplaces are still required to ensure people can work from the office in a COVIDSafe way - with a density limit of one person per two square metres - they will no longer be required to permit workers to work from home.

Following a successful first round of the AFL, crowds at games will be able to increase to 75 per cent of total capacity for Round 2.

"We know the risk is far from over but thanks to the incredible work of all Victorians, we're continuing to open up and see the Victoria we all love, return to life again," Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said.

"More Victorians back at work means more people supporting their local cafes, restaurants and live music venues - boosting the economy where it's needed most."

Updated at 12.18pm AEDT on 23 March 2021.

New US trial finds AstraZeneca vaccine 79 per cent effective

A Phase III trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the US has demonstrated the shot is 79 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

Further, the vaccine has been proven to be 100 per cent effective at preventing severe disease and hospitalisation for those infected by COVID-19.

Importantly, in participants aged 65 years and over, vaccine efficacy was 80 per cent.

The interim safety and efficacy analysis was based on 32,499 participants accruing 141 symptomatic cases of COVID-19, with efficacy consistent across ethnicity and age.

"These findings reconfirm previous results observed in AZD1222 trials across all adult populations but it's exciting to see similar efficacy results in people over 65 for the first time," University of Rochester School of Medicine Professor of Medicine Ann Falsey said.

"This analysis validates the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a much-needed additional vaccination option, offering confidence that adults of all ages can benefit from protection against the virus."

The trial showed the vaccine was well tolerated, and an independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) identified no safety concerns relating to the vaccine.

Following reports in Europe that the vaccine was causing blood clots in a small number of those that received the jab, the DSMB conducted a specific review of thrombotic events.

The DSMB found no increased risk of thrombosis or events categorised by thrombosis among the 21,583 participants that received at least one dose of the vaccine.

AstraZeneca executive vice president of BioPharmaceuticals R&D Mene Pangalos says these results from the US add to a growing body of evidence that shows the vaccine is well tolerated and highly effective.

"We are confident this vaccine can play an important role in protecting millions of people worldwide against this lethal virus," says Pangalos.

"We are preparing to submit these findings to the US Food and Drug Administration and for the rollout of millions of doses across America should the vaccine be granted US Emergency Use Authorization."

The results come days after the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) gave biotech company CSL (ASX: CSL) approval for the company's subsidiary Seqirus to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine.

It also comes as Australia's vaccine program is scaled up, with Phase 1B of the rollout commencing yesterday.

Updated at 9.56am AEDT on 23 March 2021.

CSL gets green light to manufacture AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Melbourne-headquartered biotech CSL (ASX: CSL) has passed a critical hurdle in its plans to produce 50 million COVID-19 vaccines in Australia, after the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) today gave approval for the company's subsidiary Seqirus to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The announcement allows for Australia's vaccine program to be scaled up as Phase 1B oriented towards the elderly and vulnerable starts tomorrow involving more than 1,000 general practices nationwide, to be ramped up progressively to 4,000 by the end of April.

In that timeframe the vaccine will also be rolled out at more than 100 Aboriginal Health Services and 130 Commonwealth-operated, GP-led respiratory clinics, while authorities are aiming to redirect one million vaccines produced in Europe to Papua New Guinea (PNG) where the virus has become widespread.

The latest decision follows TGA approval on 16 February for overseas-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines to be administered to patients in Australia. 

"Today's approval is a critical and very exciting milestone in Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic," the TGA said today.

"Manufacture of biological medicines such as vaccines is a highly-specialised process and the establishment of Australian manufacture of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca by CSL - Seqirus has involved extensive work by both industry and the TGA over the last six months.

"Specific approval of Australian manufacturing by TGA was required to ensure that the locally-manufactured vaccine had exactly the same composition and performance as overseas-manufactured vaccine, was made to the same quality and is free of contaminants."

The active raw vaccine material is being manufactured at CSL-Behring Australia in Broadmeadows, while the final doses are manufactured with the vials filled and packed at Seqirus in Parkville.

Quality testing is also being carried out at both these Victorian sites.

"The final step for the Australian-manufactured vaccine is TGA batch release, which is required for each and every batch of any vaccine supplied in Australia," the TGA said.

"This involves a review of documents supplied by the commercial sponsor describing how the vaccine batch was made, tested, shipped and stored as well as TGA's in-house laboratory testing to ensure the vaccine has been manufactured according to the required standards.

"Receipt of the final batch release documentation from AstraZeneca is anticipated imminently and it is anticipated that the first batches will be released in the next few days."

The Australian Government has purchased 50 million doses of the vaccine, which will be manufactured by CSL on AstraZeneca's behalf.

The first doses out of 20 million Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Australia in mid-February.

Updated at 8:23 AEDT on 21 March 2021.

IDT looks to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines on-shore

Victorian pharmaceuticals manufacturer IDT Australia (ASX: IDT) has announced it is looking into the possibility of utilising its facilities to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines.

The Australian Government has requested IDT Australia undertake a feasibility study for the proposal, which if successful would see IDT supplement CSL's (ASX: CSL) ongoing manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Shares in IDT surged on the announcement, up 54.05 per cent to $0.28 per share at the market close - a price not seen by IDT since 2016.

Utilising its facilities in Boronia, Victoria, the move would build on work already done by IDT during the pandemic for the Federal Government in its initial COVID-19 response efforts.

In August 2020, the Government tendered a request seeking information regarding IDT's capability and capacity to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines.

The company responded saying its facility was set up to produce the vaccines, and was able to be deployed as a primary or secondary site of manufacture of commercial quantities of a vaccine.

If IDT is to go ahead with manufacturing vaccines, it would complement biotech giant CSL's ongoing work in producing 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on-shore.

The announcement comes in the midst of Australia's rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is potentially being threatened by European nations withholding shipments of the vaccine due to the EU's assessment of Australia as a low-risk nation.

Earlier this month, Italy blocked a shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine bound for Australia.

According to Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio, the shipment of 250,000 doses ordered by the Australian Government was blocked because the pharmaceutical giant had failed to supply the European nation with promised doses.

Italy's decision was backed by the European Commission, with EU regulation allowing countries that manufacture vaccines to prevent doses from being exported and marketed overseas.

The news also comes just days after Australia promised to send more than one million doses of the vaccine to Papua New Guinea, which is currently being hit by a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Though details are scant regarding IDT's potential role in the on-shore manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, its assistance in the manufacturing effort would be vital in Australia's success against the coronavirus.

The company says it will provide updates as additional information comes to hand.

Business News Australia

QLD to lift restrictions today as infected doctor's contacts test negative

The Queensland Government will lift restrictions on hospitals, aged care and disability services from noon today, following a week of extensive contact tracing after a Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital doctor tested positive to COVID-19 last week.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said approximately 650 of the doctor have been tested.

"The good news here is 99 per cent of them have come back, and all are negative," the Premier said.

"As of noon today, all restrictions on hospitals, aged care and disability service providers are lifted.

"I know there's a lot of people out there that need to go and see their loved one, so from 12 noon today you're free to go and do that."

She thanked the café, pub and gym that were involved with contact tracing.

"Their check-in data was excellent. You can see how far we've come in this pandemic when you have these processes in place now which makes it so much easier for our contact tracers to do the right thing," the Premier said.

The state's chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young thanked the doctor from the PA, describing her as "absolutely magnificent".

"She did everything right, and that's why I say it is the virus at fault, it really is. There is nothing that I can see that she could have done differently," Dr Young said.

"In our hospitals we have people who actually watch while someone is putting PPE (personal protective equipment) on and taking it off, that's how seriously this is taken.

"Although knowing that she had not done anything that would cause her to be infected, the first hint - and it must have been absolutely the first hint - she went and got tested, and those first tests had very, very high CT values which means there was very little virus, so I'm actually not surprised there hasn't been any further transmission."

The Premier highlighted there was no evidence of failure at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, which will begin taking people back into the hotel for quarantine, except for level one where contagions are believed to have taken place.

"The CCTV I'm advised has found no breaches whatsoever, so we do know this is a highly contagious strain."

The Premier added there were nine new COVID-19 cases reported in hotel quarantine in the last 24 hours, of which six came from Papua New Guinea (PNG), taking the state's total active case number to 57.

As part of the State and Federal Government's strategy to contain the potential spread of COVID-19 from PNG, so far 159 people in the Torres Strait have been vaccinated with more to come.

In non-coronavirus news, the Premier added an aggressive tourism campaigns would start this weekend targeting travellers from NSW and VIC.

Updated at 11:15am AEST on 19 March 2020.

WA reopens border to VIC, eases business restrictions

For the first time in almost a year, travellers from any part of the country can now enter Western Australia with a "very low risk" status after the border to Victoria reopened overnight.

Now that Victoria is in the ranks of all other states and territories for travelling into WA, travellers from the state will be able to enter WA provided they complete a G2G pass declaration, do not have any COVID-19 symptoms and will be willing to be tested on arrival.

Capacity has been increased to 75 per cent for a wide range of venues including restaurants, cafes, food courts, bars, theatres, concert halls, cinemas, comedy lounges, performing arts centres, places of worship, function centres, stadiums and funeral parlours, as well as community, recreation or youth centre facilities.

If the 2-square-metre rule is greater than 75 per cent capacity, the greater option will be permitted for these particular venues and events.

Meanwhile, the 2sqm rule will continue to apply to all other unfixed seating venues and facilities, including nightclubs, unseated events/festivals, galleries, libraries, sport and recreation facilities, museums, amusement parks, wildlife parks and the zoo, adult entertainment premises, outdoor venues with unfixed seating, pop-up events, casino and gambling venues, arcades, and events with COVID event plans.

WA first put a hard border in place to the rest of the country in April 2020.

Updated at 12:42pm AWST on 15 March 2021.

QLD flags "major concerns" over high COVID rates in PNG

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk hopes to speak with Prime Minister Scott Morrison within the next 24 hours after tests in neighbouring Papua New Guinea (PNG) revealed much higher than expected rates of COVID-19.

The state's authorities have already fast-tracked vaccinations in the Torres Strait amidst the worsening situation in PNG.

"We have major concerns now about what is happening in Papua New Guinea," Premier Palaszczuk said in a press conference this morning.

"We have been assisting with some tests in Papua New Guinea, and out of the 500 tests that our health authorities have done for Papua New Guinea, 250 have come back positive.

"Papua New Guinea is on the doorstep of the Torres Strait and Queensland, and I hope that I'll be able to speak to the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister's office in the next 24 hours just to talk about our concerns there."

She said conversations would look at incoming flights from PNG, as well as the issue of many Queenslanders who work or live in the country.

Queensland Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Sonya Bennett said the circumstances called for a coordinated response.

"I think there's an issue there for the Federal Government. I understand that they are providing some assistance into Papua New Guinea, but maybe we need to look at a vaccine roll-out program there as well," she said.

"It's right on our doorstep and it is a real risk, and as you know that's why we're getting our Torres Strait Islanders vaccinated as quickly as possible.

"I think we have to look at the flights. We know that the charter flights from Ok Tedi mine have already been suspended."

QLD community transmission update

The Sunshine State is also getting on top of any potential outbreak after its 59-day streak of no community transmission was broken on Friday, 12 March with a doctor from the Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital testing positive to the virus

The individual had contact with COVID-positive patients in the early hours of 10 March, and tests indicate a low level of the virus which means they may have only been infectious in the community for around one day on 11 March.

A public health alert was issued on Saturday for four locations the doctor visited on 11 March - the Morning After Café in West End, Corporate Box Gym in Greenslopes and the Stones Corner Hotel, as well as the McDonald's Drive-Thru on Old Cleveland Road, Coorparoo.

The doctor's closest contacts have all tested negative to the coronavirus, but the Premier says 24 hours are still needed to see if there's any community transmission spread from the case.

QLD reported six new cases of COVID-19 today, all in hotel quarantine and none of them in the Hotel Grand Chancellor, which was put into lockdown over the weekend after there appeared to be contagion between guests on one floor, two of whom were patients seen by the doctor who became infected.

All guests who were on that floor between 5-9 March will be asked to go into quarantine and be tested again. People who stayed on other floors during that period will also be asked to get a test and isolate until they receive a negative result.

"All staff are tested daily through saliva tests and we have had no positive in staff, so that's very reassuring, but we're also retesting staff today through the usual gold standard nasal swab testing as well just to be sure," Dr Bennett said.

"There's also a lot of work to understand what the event may have been. We've seen this before - we know that some people are highly infectious and that is likely the case in this instance, and can transmit the virus through very little exposure."

QLD now has 38 active cases of COVID-19.

NSW update

On Saturday night NSW Health was notified of a new case of COVID-19 in a security guard who has been working in the hotel quarantine system and is now in isolation.

All four household contacts of this case have so far tested negative for COVID-19, and will self-isolate for a fortnight.

NSW Health has noted the security guard visited Pancakes on the Rocks in the Sydney suburb of Beverly Hills between 10:45am and noon on 13 March, and calls on anyone who was there at the time to be tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

Authorities have also listed venues and public transport routes where people who were present at the indicated times should monitor for symptoms and get tested should they appear.

• Bexley Aquatic Centre, 9-9:30am on 13 March
• Dae Jang Kum Korean restaurant, Haymarket at 12:15-12:20am on 13 March
• 7 Eleven, Haymarket at 12:20-12:25am on 13 March
• Hudson's Coffee Shop, Hurstville Private Hospital at 8:30-9am on 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 March
• Coles, Hurstville Station at 8-9pm on 10 March
• T4 line, Hurstville to Central on 12 March, departing 6pm Hurstville and arriving Central at 6:30pm
• T4 line, Central to Hurstville on 13 March, departing Central 7am and arriving Hurstville at 7:30am

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 8,000 people were tested on Saturday.

"The fact that we went 55 days without a case is almost miraculous during a pandemic," she said.

Global update

Globally, Brazil overtook India as the second-worst hit country by COVID-19 over the weekend with close to 11.5 million total cases and more than 278,000 deaths. This is out of a global total that has now surpassed 120 million and 2.67 million deaths.

Many nations likely have vastly underreported cases of the virus but the USA has by far the highest number of active cases at 7.37 million, followed by France (3.7 million), Brazil (1.14 million), Belgium (728,518) and the UK (635,997).

In terms of the vaccine roll-out Israel is the global leader, far ahead of the next most-vaccinated country the UAE which has almost 66 out of every 100 people vaccinated, then the UK (37/100), Chile (34/100) and the US (32/100).

Updated at 9:41am AEST on 15 March 2021.