November 23, 2024

Australia Covid live update: Annastacia Palaszczuk reports three new Queensland cases as Brisbane lockdown extended for 24 hours

Brisbane #Brisbane

7.31pm EDT 19:31

Twitter is trialling warning labels for tweets that might be misleading. The test is limited to the US at the moment, but will be expanded in the next few weeks.

Updated at 7.34pm EDT

7.24pm EDT 19:24

In other news, HIV transmission rates across New South Wales dropped 40% in the three years since a trial of the prevention drug PrEP was launched.

Among the 10,000 participants in the trial, HIV transmission rates were 90% lower than expected had they not been taking PrEP.

Updated at 7.28pm EDT

7.14pm EDT 19:14

My colleagues Nick Evershed, Josh Nicholas and Soofia Tariq have run the numbers on the incoming arrivals in Australia, following the fight between Queensland and the federal government over whether the spaces in hotel quarantine are being filled with citizens and permanent residents, or people flying in and out on business.

Updated at 7.21pm EDT

6.56pm EDT 18:56

Queensland health minister Yvette D’ath says the state government is working with the five hospitals in the state that have Covid wards to expand the scope of 1A eligibility for the Pfizer vaccine to everyone who works at those hospitals, including admin, staff, cleaners, ward doctors, and nurses, even if they do not work directly in the Covid ward.

The state government is currently modelling its vaccine supply on how it would accomodate the expansion, but D’ath noted the hospitals in question already have 70% of staff having received the first jab, with high rates on second doses.

D’ath said it is still a matter of dispute as to whether the woman who worked outside the ward who became infected with Covid-19 should have been vaccinated.

Updated at 7.10pm EDT

6.50pm EDT 18:50

Annastacia Palaszczuk echoes her Victorian counterpart, Daniel Andrews, in saying the criteria for opening up should be on the basis of everyone having access to the vaccine:

What we would like to see is every Australian who is eligible to be offered the vaccine. Once that happens, then I think that’s the critical criteria for the federal government to make a decision … I think everyone would feel comfortable if they knew that every single person in their family had been offered the opportunity for a vaccine.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during her press conference in Brisbane on Friday. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated at 7.19pm EDT

6.46pm EDT 18:46

Dr Jeannette Young is asked whether more contact tracers could be put on to the two new cases to speed it up and avoid the need to extend the lockdown for Brisbane and Moreton Bay. Young says the cases were notified in the early hours of this morning, and have been providing information since then, so it’s not a case of not having enough staff:

We have done all that but, as I said, we got this information, I can show you my phone, I think it came through to me at 1.35am. We got that information in the middle of the night and the contact tracers have started. So these poor people have been kept up all night being spoken to.

So that’s how I’ve read out that information this morning and now we have to go and find – so I hope that all of these venues have been using the QR code because then we can immediately contact those people and it will happen very quickly, if they haven’t been using a QR code then it will take us longer. So we have plenty of contact tracers.

Updated at 7.17pm EDT

6.40pm EDT 18:40

The Queensland deputy premier, Steven Miles, says the state’s hotel quarantine reached capacity last night, due to a combination of international arrivals and people travelling from hotspots in Australia:

Overnight our hotel quarantine system hit capacity with international arrivals, domestic arrivals from hot spots and close contacts who required hotel quarantine. Today we are expecting 259 arrivals, including 58 air crew. Unfortunately we can’t predict how many domestic arrivals will come from hot spots or how many contacts will need that hotel quarantine accommodation.

We know we have 285 rooms becoming available but it will take seven days for our police and hotel quarantine coordinators to get a new hotel up and running and so it’s absolutely critical that we see that cut in the number of international visitors and we would hope that the prime minister agrees to that at national cabinet today.

Updated at 6.55pm EDT

6.37pm EDT 18:37

Queensland chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, has provided some exposure sites provided by the people who tested positive to Covid-19 today:

  • The Harris Farm markets at West End, on Sunday 26th from 11.50am until 1.50pm.
  • Then they went into the Woolworths in that same complex five minutes after that period.
  • Then on Monday 28th they spent most of the day at the Greek Orthodox Community Centre, Tuesday, again, most of the day at the Greek Orthodox Community Centre.
  • Tuesday from 7.20am to 7.30am they were at the Espresso Engine coffee shop, from 9.30am at the Woolworths metro Turbot street. 12.30pm, JB Hi Fi, Albert Street, then 12.42pm at the Zara street Mecca shop.
  • Updated at 6.42pm EDT

    6.34pm EDT 18:34

    Palaszczuk says she will be seeking a 50% reduction immediately for hotel quarantine capacity at today’s national cabinet meeting:

    Our hotels are stretched. We are basically at capacity. The deputy commissioner will give the numbers on how many we are at but we are at that capacity, we are stretched. We need an immediate reduction by 50%. I will be raising that this morning at national cabinet.

    Updated at 6.45pm EDT

    6.32pm EDT 18:32

    Three new cases in Queensland, lockdown extended for Brisbane by 24 hours

    The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says a partner of an airport worker, and a mother and a daughter from Carindale have tested positive for Covid-19 overnight. The latter two had “been out quite extensively around Brisbane”, so contact tracers need more time.

    She said it’s a mixed bag as to what it means for Queensland. The lockdown WILL end for Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Townsville.

    But the lockdown will continue for another 24 hours for Brisbane City Council and Moreton Bay local government areas, while contact tracers determine close contacts.

    The areas emerging from lockdown will have restrictions for at least the next two weeks, and will need to wear a mask when in public.

    6.08pm EDT 18:08

    PM emerges from The Lodge

    The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has left The Lodge this morning after completing 14 days of quarantine after his G7 trip. He gave a short statement ahead of national cabinet meeting this morning:

    For national cabinet today it is a very important meeting. The country is very much keen for us to path that way out of where we are and Australia has done incredibly well over the course of these last 18 months but now we need to change gears for the road ahead.

    I was very encouraged yesterday by the record day of vaccinations. The vaccination program is really gathering pace. Some – almost 3.5 million doses administered in the month of June.

    At that pace we get there by the end of the year and I think that is very encouraging. So today we just need to focus on the job for the Australian people and I have every confidence that the national cabinet will do just that.

    Q: Are you confident the states will be all right to work with today?

    I’m very confident that we will keep working together for what Australia needs to take us through what has been one of the most difficult times in our history. But national cabinet has done it before and I’m sure we will do it again today.

    Morrison said he will have another Covid test in a few days, as national cabinet has previously agreed for people exiting quarantine.

    The Prime Minister Scott Morrison emerges from 14 days of quarrantine at The Lodge in Canberra. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

    Updated at 6.34pm EDT

    5.56pm EDT 17:56

    Labor leader Anthony Albanese will argue in his National Press Club speech on Friday that this week’s intergenerational report (IGR) released by the Morrison government pointed to weaker economic growth, sustained budget deficits and high debt – “a future of generational debt without a generational dividend”.

    He says the “clear and urgent message” from the IGR is governments need to “invest in people so that we can get more opportunities, for more people, in more parts of the country” and tackling climate change will create opportunities for Australians in new industries.

    Albanese will round on Scott Morrison on Friday, accusing the prime minister of “squandering” the advantage Australia established during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

    He will say Morrison had two jobs this year – the vaccination program and standing up quarantine facilities – and “has botched them both”.

    Updated at 6.07pm EDT

    5.52pm EDT 17:52

    Albanese to hold jobs summit if Labor wins election

    Anthony Albanese says he will convene a jobs summit with business and unions if Labor wins the next federal election, and also embark on a policy process to reduce unemployment and underemployment during the pandemic recovery.

    The Labor leader will flag his jobs plan during a speech to the National Press Club on Friday.

    Comparing the task of recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic with the post-war reconstruction undertaken by the Labor prime minister Ben Chifley, Albanese will commit to commissioning a white paper with the objective of establishing a contemporary consensus on what full employment means.

    “The meaning of full employment is different today from the postwar period where careers lasted longer and full-time employment was the norm,” the Labor leader will say.

    According to a copy of the opposition leader’s speech circulated by his office in advance, Albanese will argue policymakers need to think about the Australian labour market more broadly than analysing the monthly unemployment figures.

    He will say Australia needs to navigate through the coronavirus pandemic and then use the economic recovery to “look ahead – it’s not good enough to snap back to 2019”.

    While Australia’s labour market has bounced back after the first recession in 30 years, Albanese will argue positive headline numbers “mask the tough reality that 1.7 million Australians are looking for work or more hours to support themselves and their families, and 4 million are in insecure work”.

    Albanese says his policy process will take in the changing nature of the workforce, “not least the rapid expansion of the care economy, including aged care, child care and disability care” – and also examine how recipients of the disability support pension can find opportunity for employment.

    5.37pm EDT 17:37

    NSW police commissioner to retire

    AAP also reports New South Wales police commissioner Mick Fuller will end his 34-year career in the police in April next year.

    Fuller, 53, plans to stand down in April next year, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.

    “I feel there are very capable officers in the organisation who could take over now if I was run over by a bus,” he said.

    Fuller joined the NSW police force in 1987 and progressed through the ranks to become commissioner in 2017.

    It is believed the NSW government has accepted his decision and will begin the process to find his successor later this year.

    Updated at 5.45pm EDT

    5.24pm EDT 17:24

    AAP has a bit more of prime minister Scott Morrison’s comments regarding national cabinet goals today, and reports the prime minister emerged from his 14-day quarantine yesterday, following his trip to the UK for the G7.

    “It’s time to start laying it out for the Australian public,” he told the Australian on Friday.

    “It comes down to the medical science and what are the magic numbers. We have already done modelling on the Alpha variant and are now doing it on the Delta variant, which will set a threshold marker going forward.”

    Morrison late on Thursday completed 14 days of quarantine at The Lodge in Canberra, after returning from an overseas trip, and will head to Parliament House this morning to lead the meeting.

    Updated at 5.28pm EDT

    5.20pm EDT 17:20

    Good morning

    Hello, and welcome to the live blog for Friday 2 July. My name is Josh Taylor and I will be bringing you all the latest news in Australia on what is set to be another busy day.

    National cabinet will meet today after what has been a robust debate between the states and the federal government after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced an indemnity on GPs to provide the AstraZeneca vaccine to under 40s, which not only blindsided the states but also GPs, who have had to deal with a rush of younger people wanting to get the jab.

    Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia are likely to push for a reduction in the capacity for hotel quarantine for the next few months, with the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, seeking between a 50% and 80% drop until the vaccine rollout reaches scale.

    Morrison has told the Australian he is going to push for a “magic number” national cabinet can agree to for the vaccination rate at which there will no longer be lockdowns, and people will be able to travel domestically and internationally.

    Andrews said on Thursday he does not have a set number, but believes lockdowns will end once everyone has the opportunity to be vaccinated.

    It is a nervous wait for residents in Darwin, Perth and south-east Queensland today, with the Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory governments set to decide whether the snap lockdowns will end today as planned.

    Queensland reported two additional cases of community transmission on Thursday, while WA reported no additional cases to the four-case cluster in the northern suburbs on Thursday, and NT reported one new case connected to the Tanami mine cluster.

    Alice Springs will remain in lockdown until at least 1pm Saturday.

    Let’s get into it.

    Updated at 5.28pm EDT

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