NSW recorded 141 new cases and two deaths on Sunday. One of the women was in her late 30s from Sydney CBD who died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, while the other was woman in her 70s from south-west Sydney who died at Campbelltown Hospital.
A student at Lane Cove West Public School in Sydney tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the school to close while the site is cleaned and contact tracers track down those who spent time with the student.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has hit out at the thousands of anti-lockdown protesters who took to city streets on Saturday, saying their actions were “selfish” and could disrupt plans to ease stay-at-home restrictions on Tuesday at midnight.
Victoria recorded 11 new local cases of COVID-19 on Sunday – a day after around 5000 people gathered for a so-called “freedom rally” in Melbourne’s CBD. The state’s Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said protesting during an outbreak “beggars belief”.
Fifty-seven people have been charged for various offences related to Sydney’s anti-lockdown protests yesterday.
A busy Brisbane shopping centre is among the new contact-tracing locations linked to a man from NSW who illegally drove into Queensland this month.
A Chinese bulk carrier ship headed for a West Australian port is suspected of having crew members with COVID-19 onboard.
The Victorian construction industry is hoping to deliver more than 40,000 Pfizer doses on building sites throughout Melbourne in an attempt to insulate the sector from further shutdowns.
Australia is facing shortages of a rheumatoid arthritis drug that has been used to treat COVID-19 overseas, with supply expected to be constrained into next year.

Have a wonderful evening and hope to see you again tomorrow.

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6.50pm on Jul 25, 2021

VIC construction industry hope to use jabs to stop lockdowns

By Paul Sakkal

The Victorian construction industry is hoping to deliver tens of thousands of Pfizer doses on building sites throughout Melbourne in an attempt to insulate the sector from further shutdowns.

As the halt on construction in NSW enters its second week, leaders of Victoria’s third largest industry are in talks with the federal and state governments to inoculate 40,000 workers by Christmas, or months earlier if adequate resources are directed to the task.

“It’s protection against site shutdowns if we get mass vaccination at worksites … This would essentially future-proof the industry,” said Erik Locke, chief executive of Incolink, an industry redundancy fund that provides welfare services for Victorian construction employees.

A spokesman for federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the plan was an “example of the type of potential worksite vaccination programs that could support targeting particular workers to ensure the highest possible vaccination rate”.

Both Incolink and the Master Builders believe in-reach vaccinations will significantly increase the proportion of workers who get inoculated because many work six-day weeks and would prefer to be vaccinated at work.

Mr Locke said the sector’s current plan, backed by the Master Builders, would cost $3 million and would be modelled on the industry’s COVID-19 testing operation, in which a roving Incolink bus facilitated almost 25,000 on-site tests.

“The vast majority of these workers can’t work from home, and even if the recent vaccination rollout rate continues, many of them may not be vaccinated until next year,” he said.

6.31pm on Jul 25, 2021

OPINION: We must improve remote learning to reduce school closure harm

By Jordana Hunter

Eighteen months into the pandemic, each shift to remote schooling still seems to take many of us by surprise. It shouldn’t. By now, it should be clear that stints of remote schooling are likely to occur well into 2022.

Once we face up to this reality, we can start to grapple with another: there is significant variation in the quality of remote schooling currently offered. This raises serious concerns about whether some students are taking more of a hit to their learning than others. Governments need to do more to even the playing field.

When Australia first entered lockdowns last year, schools were sent scrambling. They were in crisis mode, with no project plan, no beta testing, no soft launch.

What’s worse, there was scant research on the best approaches to remote schooling. Beyond providing students with a mix of ‘live’ online and offline learning, the research offered limited guidance. Much focused on higher education students with a solid academic foundation and the maturity to self-regulate. But many schoolchildren don’t have these skills, particularly in the first few years of primary school.

Transforming regular schooling into remote schooling has been a tremendous challenge. Yet some schools − including some primary schools − have found ways to deliver quality teaching online, including ‘live’ teaching each day in virtual classrooms, and opportunities for children to work together in small groups. Those schools continue to provide new content, and regular assessment and feedback. But not every child has this type of experience.

Jordana Hunter is education program director at the Grattan Institute. You can read her full opinion piece here.

6.04pm on Jul 25, 2021

‘Doesn’t matter how old you are’: Leaders urge people to get jab

By Katina Curtis

Leaders are begging Sydney residents to get vaccinated to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 although Prime Minister Scott Morrison cautions the lockdown is still the main way of dealing with the Delta variant outbreak.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has changed its recommendation to people in Greater Sydney to “strongly consider” getting vaccinated “with any available vaccine including COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca” as the outbreak in NSW continues to grow.

Ms Berejiklian said with the updated advice from ATAGI, everybody is welcome to come forward and get the AstraZeneca vaccine through their GP, local pharmacy or the NSW Health hubs.

“Whilst our doses of Pfizer are limited, we have sufficient AstraZeneca for people who want to get the vaccine,” she said.

“I urge everybody to come forward and get vaccinated – doesn’t matter how old you are – but especially those citizens in those five [most affected] local government areas who have to leave the area for work.

Mr Morrison cautioned the only way the lockdown would end was through it being effective and vaccines weren’t an alternative, magic bullet solution.

“It can be assisted by the vaccines, but the lockdown must be effective,” he said.

5.32pm on Jul 25, 2021

COVID-19 demand leads to Australian shortages of arthritis drug

By Emma Koehn

Australia is facing shortages of a rheumatoid arthritis drug that has been used to treat COVID-19 overseas, with supply expected to be constrained into next year.

Pharmaceuticals giant Roche has warned the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) that the pandemic has restricted supply of a variety of medicines under the brand name Actemra.

Actemra is used to treat a conditions including giant cell arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as cytokine release syndrome, a systemic inflammatory disease which can be prompted by some cancer treatments.

Actemra has also been in the headlines for its potential use in COVID-19 patients.

Last month the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed Actemra to be used by adults and children who had been hospitalised with coronavirus. The drug does not directly target the virus but instead has been given emergency approval to be used as a method of reducing inflammation in patients that are struggling to fight the disease.

“During the pandemic, demand for Actemra has been increasing at a global level for both approved indications such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the investigational treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia, which is not a registered indication in Australia,” a Roche spokeswoman said.

“Roche has been working urgently to increase manufacturing capacity and supply by ramping up our global production network and collaborating with external partners and is working with high priority and urgency to cover the Actemra demand globally for patients currently on therapy for the treatment.”

Read the full story here.

5.07pm on Jul 25, 2021

Victoria’s Assistant Commissioner warns more fines for lockdown protesters

By Miki Perkins

Victoria Police has called on the public to call Crimestoppers if they can identify protesters in the large anti-lockdown rallies over the weekend, warning they will be issued with fines, including seven identified organisers who could face charges of incitement.

“It beggars belief that we might find ourselves in the situation where if yesterday became a mass spreading event the very thing these people were protesting for would result in another extension of our lockdown,” Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said.

Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protesters out the front of Flinders Street Station on Saturday. Wayne Taylor

“I’d urge every citizen who is outraged by what we saw yesterday that if you know who these people are then tell us and we will take action.“

Seven organisers had been warned by police not to promote or participate in the protests but nonetheless turned up on Saturday, he said.

Two police members were injured in the protests, including one of the mounted contingent who was bruised when an object, possibly a bollard, struck her back and helmet.

Police have issued 55 fines, and those numbers will grow as police review CCTV and body-worn camera footage.

Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said crowd numbers were much higher than what police intelligence had estimated but said police adjusted their tactics in a short period of time.

Asked how the weekend’s protests compared with the Black Lives Matter rally last year, he said last year it was lawful to leave home and to protest. Protesters wore masks and used hand sanitiser.

“Yesterday was very different,” he said. “Where we can identify these people we will knock on the door, ask them to explain themselves...and if they were there protesting we will issue them with a fine.”

4.47pm on Jul 25, 2021

‘I want to get kids back to school’: Andrews ‘positive’ but no certainty for students yet

By Ashleigh McMillan

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says getting all students back to face-to-face learning is a priority, but he remains uncertain about when that will happen.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mr Andrews would not confirm if Victorian students would be back in classrooms by Wednesday if lockdown was to end as expected on Tuesday midnight.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews at Sunday’s press conference. Chris Hopkins

“Indeed, I want to get kids back to school, whether they be the littlest kids or kids that are doing their VCE,” he said.

“We want to get back to normal as fast as we can. It’s frustrating for me not to be able to necessarily have certainty about what’s going to happen on midnight Tuesday night.

“But that’s the nature of it, as far as we’ve got to wait for the results to the tests, keep following the rules, keep doing the right thing and hopefully we can make positive announcements for midnight Tuesday.”

When asked by reporters on Friday if teachers should being prepare for more remote learning past Tuesday, Mr Andrews replied, “No”.

4.33pm on Jul 25, 2021

Another ship with sick crew looms off WA

By Fran Rimrod

Another ship with suspected COVID-19 cases on board is on its way to Perth.

It’s the fourth ship out of Indonesia in recent weeks with positive cases on board, according to WA Premier Mark McGowan.

The Darya Krishna is expected to arrive at Gage Roads, out of Fremantle, on Monday.Jack Ronalds / Marine Traffic

The Darya Krishna, which is currently located about 600 kilometres north of Perth, reported four members of the 20-strong crew had fallen ill with COVID-like symptoms.

“Apparently one is very unwell which complicates matters,” Mr McGowan said.

The bulk carrier had no testing capabilities, Mr McGowan said, and it had sailed from Singapore, but had just been in COVID-stricken Indonesia for a number of days. It was expected to arrive at Gage Roads, off the coast of Fremantle, tomorrow.

“Our authorities are monitoring the ship, there’ll be a teleconference with the ship later today to work out what can and should be done,” Mr McGowan said.

“Of course our preference with these sorts of things is that the ship leaves as soon as possible to reduce the risk and set the right example because we don’t want ships coming with infected crew members.“

But Mr McGowan said if the ship berthed at Fremantle Harbour was a federal decision because Commonwealth authorities were involved. It comes just a week after the BBC California anchored in Fremantle, with more than half its crew members testing positive for COVID-19.

The BBC California had originally been due to berth at Kwinana but was redirected at the request of the captain because crew members had started showing cold-like symptoms.

WA health authorities tested the seafarers for the disease on Monday via rapid PCR testing, with 10 of its 14 passengers returning positive results.

Mr McGowan said he hoped there would be further information later today or tomorrow on the crew of the Darya Krishna.

4.00pm on Jul 25, 2021

WATCH LIVE: Victoria Police give update after CBD lockdown protest

Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius will give an update about yesterday’s major anti-lockdown protest in the Melbourne CBD at 4pm.

You can watch the press conference live below.

3.31pm on Jul 25, 2021

School in Sydney’s north shut after student tests positive

By Jordan Baker

A student at Lane Cove West Public School in Sydney has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the school to close while the site is cleaned and contact tracers track down those who spent time with the student.

The out-of-hours care service will also be closed. “All staff and students are asked to self-isolate until you receive further notice,” said a letter sent to parents on Sunday afternoon.

“Our school will be non-operational effective immediately for the on-site attendance of staff and visitors to allow time for contact tracing and cleaning.”

Most students across Sydney have been doing their lessons at home for the past two weeks, but schools remain open for vulnerable students and those with parents who are essential workers.

About 5 per cent of children have been attending school.

As it happened: NSW Police open probe into lockdown protests; federal government to buy 85m Pfizer booster doses

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