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As it happened: Victoria records 11 new COVID-19 cases as NSW transmission extends to Macquarie University; Trump returns to Oval Office as Australian death toll stands at 897

Updated October 8, 2020 — 8:53pm,first published October 8, 2020 — 7:09am

Summary

Victoria will not follow the NSW quarantine model by telling anyone linked to a coronavirus outbreak to self-isolate for 14 days even if their initial COVID-19 test result is negative.
NSW has recorded eight cases of local transmission as Premier Gladys Berejiklian's patience for businesses that do not have COVID-safe plans wears thin.
Blood plasma giant CSL has confirmed the deal with the Australian government to produce the University of Queensland's COVID-19 vaccine has been sealed, with the next stage of trials planned to start in December.
US President Donald Trump has described his COVID-19 infection as a "blessing from God" in a new video filmed outside the White House in which he promises to make the experimental drug he received available for free to all Americans.

8.53pm on Oct 8, 2020

Signing off and closing down the blog

By David Estcourt

David Estcourt here closing down the coronavirus blog. We’ll be back on Friday morning with all the day's COVID-19 news.

Thursday rounded out with Labor leader Anthony Albanese pitching his COVID-19 rejuvenation plan - promising a universal childcare subsidy to help more people into jobs in the recovery from recession.

The measure sets up a clear clash with the Morrison government over economic gains for women, an element of the Coalition’s budget that was criticised.

In other news:

NSW recorded 12 new coronavirus cases. Four were in hotel quarantine and eight were locally acquired, including the three reported in the media yesterday.
Victoria will not follow the NSW quarantine model of telling anyone linked to a coronavirus outbreak to self-isolate for 14 days even if their initial COVID-19 test result is negative.
Two new mystery cases among recent COVID-19 infections in Victoria have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, analysis of the state's health department data shows.
A communication breakdown has occurred between the Queensland and NSW premiers, as the NSW government grows increasingly frustrated by its northern neighbour's border closure.
Turns out people are not very good at thinking about how to accurately rate risks associated with catching COVID.
The Morrison government has given the suppliers of two COVID-19 vaccines indemnity against prosecution for rare side effects that experts say are "inevitable" when a vaccine is rolled out.
A string of royal commissions, specialist advice to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and substantial measures aimed at helping the economy have sharply increased the financial risks facing the federal budget.
Young casual workers laid off because they did not qualify for JobKeeper are primed to benefit from the government's $200 weekly JobMaker hiring subsidies.

Night all.

8.24pm on Oct 8, 2020

NSW Health attempting to identify visitors to inner-Sydney restaurant

By Matt Bungard

NSW Health are working with an inner-Sydney restaurant to assess the risk of patrons after a confirmed COVID-19 case visited on Sunday.

Anyone who was at Monopole Restaurant, Potts Point from 6pm to 8pm on the evening of Sunday October 4 should monitor for symptoms, as NSW Health say they will contact close and casual contacts directly.

Anyone who travelled on the following public transport is considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop.

Train from Parramatta at 14:41 arriving Town Hall 15:31 on 4th October
Train from Town Hall at 17:29 arriving Kings Cross 17:50 on 4th October
Train from Artarmon at 23:18 arriving Central 23:48 on 5th October
Bus replacement from Central at 23:48 arriving Strathfield 00:15 on 5th October
Train from Strathfield at 00:15 arriving Parramatta 00:45 on 5th October
Bus 550 from Epping Station, Beecroft Rd, Stand D at 17:08 to Smith St after Phillip St, Parramatta 17:41 on 6th October
Train from Moss Vale 04:52 arriving Liverpool 07:09 on 6th October
Train from Liverpool 16:58 arriving Moss Vale 19:12 on 6th October
Train from Moss Vale 04:51 arriving Liverpool 07:08 on 7th October
Train from Campbelltown 13:31 arriving Moss Vale 15:50 on 7th October

8.02pm on Oct 8, 2020

Labor promises Centre for Disease Control, integrity commission

By David Estcourt

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has said that Australia’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated that aspects of our healthcare system was unprepared.

“It's also the case that our pandemic preparedness was poor,” he said.

“The last time we had a national pandemic preparedness exercise - best practice - was run by the Rudd government back in 2008.”

“A Labor government will establish an Australian Centre for Disease Control to bring us into line with other advanced economies.

7.56pm on Oct 8, 2020

Labor’s jobs pitch, the ‘Australian Skills Guarantee’

By David Estcourt

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has pitched his jobs plan in his budget reply speech.

One aspect includes a measure he’s dubbed the ‘Australian Skills Guarantee,’ anchored in a plan to upskill Australians working on work sites that receive government funding.

“Every year, the Commonwealth spends billions of taxpayer dollars on building and upgrading roads, maintaining railways, and repairing bridges,” Mr Albanese said.

“To deliver maximum public value for money, Labor will create an Australian Skills Guarantee, and every major work site receiving federal government funding, 1 out of 10 workers employed will be an apprentice, a trainee, or a cadet.

“These common-sense measures will train tens of thousands of workers.

“We will also consider how this principle can be extended to federal government subsidised sectors like aged care, disability care and childcare, in cooperation with providers,” he said.

He said Labor also has a plan to invest widely in repairing existing and building new social housing.

"These are people's homes. And there's a job-creation plan that is ready and waiting in every city and town," he said.

"Tradies could be ordering from suppliers today - they could be on site tomorrow.

"Almost 200,000 Australians are on waiting lists for social housing. I grew up in public housing. I know that, when you don't have much, having a roof over your head provides security and makes all the difference to your life.

"So many economists have identified investing in social housing as the best way to provide immediate stimulus to the economy."

7.46pm on Oct 8, 2020

Albanese pledges universal childcare subsidy in budget reply

By David Crowe and David Estcourt

Families are being promised a universal childcare subsidy in a Labor pledge to help more people into jobs in the recovery from recession, setting up a clash with the Morrison government over economic gains for women.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is pitching the plan as a saving worth $600 to $2900 every year for almost every family with children in care, accusing the government of leaving women behind in this week's federal budget.

“It's working mums who cop the worst of it,” the Labor leader said.

“For millions of working women, it's simply not worth working more than three days a week.

“This derails careers, it deprives working women of opportunities they've earned, and it costs workplaces,” he said.

The proposal is the centrepiece of a Labor budget reply that also promises $20 billion to upgrade the electricity grid in a mammoth works program using Australian steel and aluminium.

In a "made in Australia" pitch, Mr Albanese also calls for government spending to be used to favour local manufacturing such as making trains for new rail networks and defence equipment for the military.

Mr Albanese dismissed the government's budget as an "incoherent grab bag" of proposals and called for bigger ambitions to rebuild the country from recession with "strength and fairness" as guiding principles."

This is an opportunity to reset and renew," he told Parliament in his budget reply on Thursday night.

7.43pm on Oct 8, 2020

Vaccine expert warns against complacency

By Matt Bungard

One of Australia’s leading epidemiologists has again warned against complacency, citing outbreaks around the world a cautionary tale.

Raina MacIntyre is an epidemiologist and professor of global biosecurity at the UNSW’s Kirby Institute.

In an interview with the Australian Academy of Science, Professor MacIntyre warned people against getting ahead of themselves, despite the progress being made.

"We're still in the middle of a pandemic and it's actually worse today around the world than it was back in March or April," she said.

"So there's always a risk that infection can be reintroduced, and set off community transmission in Australia."

Professor MacIntyre said that the precautions people take in the immediate future will determine how severely an epidemic could grow.

"If people are being cautious, keeping their distance, wearing masks and generally being careful, then even if infection is introduced into the community, hopefully it won't take off as badly."

She said that a vaccine was probably likely in the first half of next year – but that supply and efficacy could be issues.

"You need a vaccine that's at least 70 to 80 per cent protective to be able to achieve herd immunity … However, if you've got a vaccine that's low efficacy, you can still achieve a good outcome if the vaccine reduces the severity of the disease."

She said that the drug Remdesivir was the "most promising" drug that scientists have looked into so far.

"The drug Remdesivir does have phase 3 clinical trials, which is the sort of ultimate evidence that we look for, which is showing protection in people, in human beings, from the effects of the disease – and that does show a modest benefit in terms of making the time to recovery faster," she said.

7.39pm on Oct 8, 2020

‘This budget leaves people behind’: Albanese

By David Estcourt

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has taken the opportunity to criticise the Morrison government’s Wednesday budget as one that leaves too many people behind.

The merits of tax cuts and youth wage subsidies as well as the role of assumptions about the passage of the coronavirus have dominated public discussion following the release of the federal budget.

The budget released on Tuesday night featured billions of dollars in spending to boost the economy including tax cuts and the establishment of the JobMaker employment subsidy for young people.

Mr Albanese said older Australians are being treated “without the respect and dignity they deserve”.

7.20pm on Oct 8, 2020

Anthony Albanese gives Labor's budget reply

The Opposition Leader gives Labor's economic recovery pitch after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

7.15pm on Oct 8, 2020

Find out if there are any active coronavirus cases in your postcode

The number of Victorian postcodes where at least one resident is known to be infected with COVID-19 continues to drop, state health department data shows.

As of Thursday afternoon, 73 of the state's 694 populated postcodes were home to at least one active coronavirus case, down from 84 last week.

Data journalists Craig Butt, Mark Stehle and Richard Lama have put together this tool that allows readers to see the number of active COVID-19 cases in your area, the current infection rate and whether case numbers there have increased or decreased in the past seven days using the map below.

The data shows there are no longer any Victorian postcodes with 20 or more active cases, and no postcodes with an active case rate of more than one in every 1000 residents.

7.01pm on Oct 8, 2020

When it comes to ways of catching COVID-19, we're rating risks wrongly

By Liam Mannix

Hassan Vally sees it all the time.

People giving each other a wide berth on the footpath, or pushing the traffic-light button with their elbow, or obsessively sanitising their hands.

If an infected person walks past you on the street, they move past so quickly your chances of catching COVID-19 from them are low.Luis Ascui

But he sees those same people not wearing their masks properly. Or hopping on a crowded tram. Or heading to the office. Or – in Sydney at least – going to the pub.

The problem, says Dr Vally – an associate professor of epidemiology at La Trobe University – is that humans are not very good at thinking about risk.

As it happened: Victoria records 11 new COVID-19 cases as NSW transmission extends to Macquarie University; Trump returns to Oval Office as Australian death toll stands at 897

Summary

Signing off and closing down the blog

NSW Health attempting to identify visitors to inner-Sydney restaurant

Labor promises Centre for Disease Control, integrity commission

Labor’s jobs pitch, the ‘Australian Skills Guarantee’

Albanese pledges universal childcare subsidy in budget reply

Vaccine expert warns against complacency

‘This budget leaves people behind’: Albanese

Anthony Albanese gives Labor's budget reply

Find out if there are any active coronavirus cases in your postcode

When it comes to ways of catching COVID-19, we're rating risks wrongly

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