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Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet hit back at claims he “sidelined” public health advice when announcing changes to NSW’s roadmap.
Welcome to Saturday’s live coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Australia.
Victoria recorded another record-breaking day of Covid-19 cases, with 1,965 infections and five confirmed deaths on Saturday.
Vaccinated residents of New South Wales are only days away from taking advantage of a series of relaxed restrictions, with the state recording 646 Covid cases and 11 deaths on Friday.
Follow below for today’s major updates. Keep refreshing the page for the latest news.
‘It’s not true’: Prime Minister denies ignoring health advice
Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet has denied that he “sidelined” public health advice when announcing changes to NSW’s roadmap.
Speaking at Saturday’s press conference, Mr Perrottet said claims he ignored public health advice were “false”, adding that there would “always be different opinions” on what should be done regarding the reopening of New South Wales.
“It’s a balance and it’s the approach the NSW government has taken successfully over the past 18 months,” he said.
“We listened to health advice. We have listened to the economic advice. We also listened to mental health advice. Many challenges arise during a pandemic and it’s not just New South Wales. I think Australia has done incredibly well
“Our role is to listen to advice and make decisions accordingly. Yes, there will be hard times ahead. We have no qualms about it.
“We are still in a pandemic. The number of cases will increase. Hospitalizations will also increase. But our vaccination rate was key to keeping the team safe and, most importantly, getting people back to work as quickly as possible. “
“Don’t assume we’re not going to lock up”
Health Minister Brad Hazzard has warned there could be more lockdowns in the future as cases increase when NSW begins to reopen.
“Don’t assume that we won’t go into some form of restriction or lockdown in some areas where we have numbers of cases coming up quickly,” he said.
“We still have to look at it all. I think Dr Chant and the team will give us some advice on this as we go along. “
Mr Hazzard said the main message to the community was always to go out and get the shot.
“There are plenty of vaccines. Go get vaccinated. We all want to get out. We want to get rid of this artificial border between Greater Sydney and the rest of the state, ”he said.
1965 cases and five deaths in Victoria
Victoria’s cases rose again, with 1,965 new infections and five deaths recorded within 24 hours to midnight.
Today’s number of cases has surpassed yesterday’s record of 1,838 locally acquired infections.
More details on the new Delta strain in NSW
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Kerry Chant has revealed that the new Delta strain detected in New South Wales is linked to an overseas traveler.
Dr Chant announced yesterday that genomic sequencing has uncovered eight cases of a new strain of the Delta variant circulating in New South Wales.
Speaking on Saturday, she said the strain has been linked to an overseas arrival, although authorities are still investigating how the strain infiltrated the community.
“We have linked this to someone who returned from overseas, but the exact mechanism of how this strain arose and entered the community of western Sydney is still under investigation,” he said. said Dr Chant.
“So we’ll keep you posted as these investigations continue. But I want to reassure you that there is nothing about this Delta strain looking at the genomics that suggests it is not.
no longer transmissible, will no longer cause disease or other problems, in addition to the current Delta strain.
“So in essence this is another Delta strain circulating in the community.”
NSW records 580 cases and 11 deaths
NSW recorded 580 locally acquired Covid-19 cases within 24 hours to 8 p.m. last night.
“There were 79,894 Covid tests reported during this period. We currently have 163 people
in intensive care and 812 admitted to hospital, ”said director of health, Dr Kerry Chant.
Among the deaths, one was in their fifties, one in their sixties, four in their sixties, two in their sixties and three in their 90s.
NSW to take another step vax
NSW is expected to take another major vaccine milestone this weekend, just days after the state hit its 70% double-dose jab target.
Yesterday, the state hit 89.8% for the first dose of vaccination in Australia, according to the ABC, which allowed NSW to reach 90% of the first dose this weekend.
About 71.5% of residents over 16 received two doses of the vaccine, triggering relaxed restrictions for fully vaccinated residents from Monday.
Vic’s lockdown could end sooner than expected
The Victorians could celebrate the end of the lockdown sooner than expected, as the state moves closer to its vaccine target of 70%.
According to The sun herald, official immunization tracking has kept Victoria ahead of her reopening dates, meaning the state is on track to take advantage of the loosened restrictions earlier.
Victoria was originally scheduled to meet her double-dose 70% vaccination target on October 26, but that has now been brought forward to October 23.
The 80% double dose target is now expected to be met on November 3, instead of November 5.
It is possible that these dates will be changed again if the Victorians manage to reduce the time between doses of Pfizer from six to three weeks.
The following changes will apply when the 70% target is reached:
• Stay-at-home orders will be removed for lockout zones
• Pubs, clubs and entertainment venues can open in Melbourne with 50 fully vaccinated people outside
• Community sport can come back to the Victoria area
• Back to school can begin
• In Melbourne, weddings can have 50 people fully vaccinated outdoors (30 indoors and 100 outdoors for regional areas)
• In Melbourne, funerals can have 20 people vaccinated indoors and 50 outdoors (30 indoors and 100 outdoors in regional areas)
• Hairdressers can resume personal care services for up to five fully immunized people at a time
Part of NSW’s roadmap is making doctors ‘nervous’
One of NSW’s top doctors has revealed the part of the reopening plan that is making health officials ‘nervous’ as the backlash continues at the extra freedoms Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet announced.
The president of the NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Dr Danielle McMullen, told Weekend Sunrise that the organization would have preferred to see a “slower return” to normal for NSW.
“At 80% we will feel more confident. NSW does a fantastic job getting vaccinated and being on track to be over 90% vaccinated. Will be comfortable moving around the community, ”she said.
“These two weeks between 70 and 80% make us nervous. We want people to be careful how they move around the community and really continue to play it down. “
New Delta strain detected in New South Wales
Genomic sequencing has uncovered eight cases of a new strain of the Delta variant circulating in NSW as authorities scramble to find the source.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Kerry Chant made the revelation by delivering the NSW update on Covid at 11 a.m. on Friday.
“We have a program in place throughout this pandemic response around genome sequencing,” she said.
“These investigations have identified a strain of Delta whose genome sequencing is different from current strains circulating in Sydney.”
There are currently eight cases identified with this new strain, including seven people from a household and one additional case.
“There is no evidence that this new strain exhibits any differences in transmission, efficacy or severity of the vaccine,” said Dr Chant.
Daniel Andrews imposed two fines
Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has received two penalty violation notices for failing to wear a face mask while heading for the gates of Parliament this week.
Both fines are assessed at $ 200, with the incidents occurring Wednesday and Thursday.
Mr Andrews earlier apologized for the mistake, saying that if Victoria Police chose to fine him he would pay her and if they didn’t he would donate the $ 200 amount to a charity.
“If they don’t impose a fine, I will donate the same value to a charity that is working to support people in this pandemic because, although it was an overnight matter, everyone world has to follow the rules and I’m sorry that happened. “
Commenting on the footage this morning 3AW Host Neil Mitchell said the Prime Minister “could be fined!”
“Prime Minister, if you lock us up for failures and good companies when they are trying to do the right thing, well you have to pay the price yourself,” he said.
“Maybe he could just apologize at the press conference, say he made a mistake… and donate $ 200 to charity.
“It was an oversight, it’s not a big deal, but it’s a symbol.”
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