Australia news LIVE NSW records 283 new local COVID-19 cases one death Tamworth to enter one-week lockdown regional Victoria to exit lockdown as state records 11 new cases

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been forced to defend the government’s tough stance on people coming into the state from NSW.

Journalists told the Premier about the case of an unnamed woman who was attempting to enter Victoria to assist with a family member who is going through chemotherapy, and whose application for a permit on compassionate grounds was rejected.

Mr Andrews said it was not him that made decisions about “who is in or out”, but that in considering these applications, public servants do not take a “tick and flick” approach to either granting or denying an application for a travel permit from a red zone.

“I won’t interfere in that process,” he said.

“We send our best wishes to that family and there may be other ways that we can provide support to that family, but it is one of many difficult decisions that have had to be made because we can’t have this virus.

“We can’t have any more of these incursions, because we know what it means. Even a small number of cases will mean the state’s locked down.”

Mr Andrews said it was a delicate balancing act.

“Without … trying to minimise the difficult journey that that family’s going through, but [being] locked down for the whole state is really tough as well, for everybody.”

After being asked if some areas with low case numbers and higher vaccination rates â€" such as Sydney’s lower north shore â€" would be able to exit lockdown before other parts of the city (a policy which would favour wealthier areas), NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says it is not that simple.

“The biggest threat, as the health experts say to us, is what we call seeding or transferring the virus through workplaces,” the Premier said, noting thousands of residents in the suburbs of concern in south-west and western Sydney are authorised workers who travel across the city for employment.

“While you have authorised workers that have high rates of non-vaccination, that is a risk to all of us,” she said.

The Premier said this was why higher vaccination rates across Sydney would be crucial to reopening.

“You can’t just look at rates of vaccination in one suburb and the number of cases in isolation because we’re all connected.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she would rather prioritise giving her state’s residents freedoms through high vaccination rates than pursue a zero-COVID strategy to encourage other states to reopen their borders.

“I think it’s pretty predictable what the other states will do,” the Premier said. “I don’t know about you guys but I don’t think any state premier will change their position on that.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has clarified her position on vaccines and state borders. Credit:Edwina Pickles

The Premier said she wanted NSW to be the first to hit national cabinet’s vaccination targets of 70 per cent and 80 per cent and said easing of restrictions at these rates were supported by the Doherty modelling used by national cabinet.

“We’re not intending to overstep our mark beyond what that report allows all the states to do; that report obviously allows certain freedoms at 70 per cent vaccination, at 80 per cent vaccination,” she said.

She added that her plan for “lockdown plus easing” at 50 per cent vaccination was “very different” from the level of freedom recommended by the Doherty Institute at those higher rates.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has reiterated his plea for NSW health officials to establish a “ring of steel” measure around Sydney to contain the city’s outbreak.

“There should be a ring of steel around Sydney,” he said. “Then we wouldn’t have to be defending our border as much as we are, but that’s the decision of the New South Wales government.”

“Ring of steel” roadblocks became a fixture on Melbourne’s perimeter for four months in 2020.Credit:Jason South

By ring of steel, the Premier is referring to the roadblocks and police checks that encircled Greater Melbourne’s exit points during last year’s long lockdown in a bid to protect regional Victoria and, by extension, other states and territories.

Mr Andrews also urged people living in Melbourne to do the right thing for the remainder of the city’s lockdown.

“The main thing that we can do is make the best choices, choices that contain this thing, not potentially spread it,” he said.

“We need to get down to a very low number of cases, if any, that have been out in the community during their infectious period.

“That’s when we’ll have the best chance of opening up and staying open.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has clarified exactly what she means when she says she wants 6 million shots to be administered in her state by the end of Greater Sydney’s lockdown extension on August 28.

The Premier said this was not necessarily 6 million first doses, but 6 million doses administered overall. The state government estimates 12 million doses will be needed to fully vaccinate residents aged 16 and over.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian preparing to address the media at today’s COVID-19 press conference.Credit:Edwina Pickles

“That could very well be that we have, maybe, 60 per cent of first doses and 40-something per cent of second doses,” she said.

Ms Berejiklian stressed any easing of restrictions would also depend on case numbers in the state.

Asked if she would consider easing more restrictions in areas with higher vaccination rates, the Premier said her government was considering a number of options but “obviously what we’re keen to see is vaccination rates go up across the state”.

“But in particular, we will have greater confidence in opening up things if the vaccination rate in those areas of concern increases, because we know that if we get the vaccination rate up in those areas of concern it reduces the likelihood of having the spread continue the way it is,” she said.

“At the moment we’re seeing if you’re not vaccinated, and you have a large family, you’re likely to go home and give it to every single member of your family.”

Premier Daniel Andrews is strongly urging Melburnians not to violate restrictions and go to regional Victoria now that those areas are coming out of lockdown from midnight tonight.

“Don’t try and head to regional Victoria unless you are entitled to and eligible to do that,” he said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Paul Jeffers

“Don’t be putting yourself in a situation where a shopkeeper is going to have to ask you [where you’ve come from] or Victoria Police member is going to pull you over to have to ask you and your answer … will not be a valid answer.”

Mr Andrews reminded people contemplating a change of scene that fines are heavy for those who head to regional Victoria without a valid reason.

Victoria Police can issue on-the-spot fines of up to $1817 to adults who refuse or fail to comply with public health orders.

After federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said last week he had expressed to his NSW counterparts that “circuit-breaker” lockdown restrictions could be needed in Greater Sydney, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says she is not truly sure what he means.

“It’s difficult to speculate; I suspect that he wants to see compliance activity and certainly we’ve stepped up the compliance activity,” she said.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says she is not sure what Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly means by “circuit-breaker” lockdown restrictions.Credit:Edwina Pickles

However, Dr Chant said “vaccination forms part of” Sydney’s path out of lockdown, alongside strict stay-at-home rules.

Asked why Shellharbour and Wollongong were still included in Greater Sydney’s lockdown, Dr Chant said, “We see Wollongong as part of Sydney.

“I’ve been standing up here many times indicating that there are people who have become positive in that area,” she added, noting it was “very connected” to Sydney and also Wollongong Hospital was a place of care for some who live in outer south-western Sydney.

A customer linked to the Caroline Springs shopping centre outbreak and a young child linked to the Newport Football Club case in Melbourne’s west are among the new cases reported in Victoria today.

Of the 11 new cases, seven are linked to the CS Square outbreak in Caroline Springs, five of whom are members of the household of the real estate agent authorities mentioned on Sunday.

The other cases linked to the shopping centre are a new case linked to cafe The Jolly Miller and a customer at the Spectacle Hub.

Health authorities also say they have detected three new cases linked to the Newport Football Club outbreak, including a young child.

The last new case is a student at Al-Taqwa College. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said members of the Al-Taqwa College community had come forward in their hundreds to be tested following the outbreak linked to a teacher at the school.

In a change for NSW’s daily press conference, reporters have just heard from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital intensive care doctor Richard Totaro.

“There’s a lot of focus about cases, and total case numbers in the state,” Dr Totaro said.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital intensive care doctor Richard Totaro says COVID-19 cases needed to stay in ICUs for weeks at a time.Credit:Edwina Pickles

“But the thing about the case numbers is that eventually those cases funnel into the ICU.”

Dr Totaro said the usual state of intensive care units in Sydney was “quite full” and COVID-19 cases needed to stay in units for weeks at a time, as opposed to the usual three-to-four-day stay of a patient. He said capacity of the units was “relatively limited” although was currently under control.

“We’ve had people who are physically fit and well, and don’t have underlying conditions,” Dr Totaro said. He added that most people who have arrived in his ICU with COVID-19 have been so sick they have been unable to talk.

A 38-year-old woman with no known health conditions died of COVID-19 at RPA last month.

He urged people to come forward for vaccination to turn COVID-19 into a “much more mild disease”. That way, people can be managed as outpatients or through Telehealth, he said.

“For us, the really striking thing is that we haven’t seen anyone who’s had ... both their vaccines come to the ICU and need to be with us,” he said.

Parliament is back in Canberra today but without one of its most entertaining performers.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was back home in Armidale over the weekend and won’t be coming back to the House of Representatives this week as a result of the town’s lockdown.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in question time last week. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Question time viewers will miss some of his more colourful contributions, including an exchange last week when he appeared to get lost part way through a barb that compared Labor leader Anthony Albanese to the eccentric American business magnate and aviator Howard Hughes.

Armidale, in northern NSW, is in a seven-day lockdown following coronavirus cases in the area.

We’ll be bringing you all the latest from the MPs who are in Canberra for the sitting day here on the blog.

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