As it happened: Australia-US nuclear submarine deal to counter China, NSW records 1351 new COVID cases, Victoria records 514

• The defence pact is not limited to submarines. Crucially, the three nations have also committed to work together on cyber defences, artificial intelligence, missile capabilities and supply chains. Peter Hartcher writes that this could prove to be the most important element of the agreement in equipping Australia for its own defence in the longer run, if it’s executed intelligently. He describes this as a major caveat.
• North America correspondent Matthew Knott writes that prominent academics and former politicians such as Paul Keating had argued Australia needed to assert more independence from America and avoid antagonising China, its biggest trading partner. But he says the AUKUS partnership confirms Australia is going all the way with the US in what many have labelled a new “cold war” with China.

• At a press conference this morning, Mr Morrison warned “the relatively benign environment we have enjoyed in many decades in our region is behind us” and the country had “entered no doubt a new era, with new challenges for Australia and for our partners and friends and countries right across our region”.
• Australia would build the new nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide “in close cooperation with the United Kingdom and the United States”, Mr Morrison said. “But let me be clear: Australia is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, or establish a civil nuclear capability.” He said Australia would continue to meet its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
• It is the first time the tightly held nuclear submarine technology has been made available to Australia (the US gave the UK access to it in the 1950s). “Nuclear submarines have clear advantages: greater endurance, they’re faster, they have greater power, greater stealth, more carrying capacity,” Mr Morrison said. “These make nuclear submarines the desired substantial capability enhancement that Australia has needed.”

• West Australian Premier Mark McGowan claimed the federal government had “turned its back” on the state after it selected South Australia for the location of its maintenance program for the country’s existing Collins class submarines.“Clearly the Collins class submarines are based in Western Australia and the work should be done at Henderson, 6 kilometres from where they are based,” he said.

• NSW recorded 1351 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths, as the death toll from the highly-transmissible Delta variant of the virus continues to grow. Health Minister Brad Hazzard said 10 of the 12 people who died, who were aged between their 40s and their 90s, were unvaccinated. Mr Hazzard said 80.1 per cent of the population aged 16 and over had received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 48.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

• NSW’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Marianne Gale says she’s “cautiously optimistic” the state has reached a peak in its current outbreak. “It’s pleasing at the moment to see our case numbers are stable. We do know they bounce around a little bit,” Dr Gale said. “But we know that even single events can cause a peak in numbers.”

• A man in his 90s who acquired his infection at the Hardi Guildford Aged Care Facility was among the 12 people who died in NSW. His is the second death linked to the outbreak at this facility. A woman in her 60s from south-western Sydney died at home. There are 1231 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital in NSW, 231 of whom are in intensive care. One hundred and eight people are on ventilators.
• Lismore and Albury in regional NSW returned to lockdown at 6pm for an initial seven days after new COVID-19 cases were recorded. Another 12 local government areas in the state’s regions left lockdown at 1pm after COVID-19 case numbers stabilised. Those LGAs are: Bega Valley, Blayney, Bogan, Cabonne, Dungog, Forbes, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Parkes, Singleton, Snowy Monaro and the Upper Hunter.

• Victoria recorded 514 new COVID-19 cases in the community, its highest daily total during the current outbreak.
• Notwithstanding that record, Victoria’s lockdown restrictions will be eased slightly on Saturday (11.59pm on Friday) to permit small, outdoor social gatherings after cabinet decided against waiting until Sunday to grant some additional freedoms. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said unvaccinated people or people who have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine can gather in a group of two for outdoor recreation. Groups of five from no more two households can socialise outdoors if everyone aged over 18 is fully vaccinated. The five-kilometre movement restriction will be expanded to 10 kilometres. The changes come as the state is on the cusp of hitting the 70 per cent first-dose vaccination target for people aged 16 and over.
• Indoor gyms and pools can open in regional Victoria with density limits from 11.59pm on Friday.
• Mr Andrews also announced today that construction workers must get vaccinated if they want to keep working. Those workers will need to show evidence to their employer that they have had a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 11.59pm on Thursday, September 23. Limited medical exemptions and proof-of-booking exceptions will apply, in line with requirements for aged care workers.

• The ACT recorded 15 new COVID-19 cases in the community, bringing the total number of cases in the current cluster to 556 (but 315 people have recovered so far). Nine people are in hospital with the virus.
• Queensland recorded one new cases of COVID-19, in a school student at St Thomas More College. The pupil was in home quarantine and was not infectious in the community. Authorities believe a cluster linked to the school is under control.

• Elon Musk’s SpaceX has blasted American billionaire Jared Isaacman into orbit alongside his two contest winners and a health care worker who survived childhood cancer, the Associated Press reports. It is the first chartered passenger flight for SpaceX and a big step in space tourism by a private company, the first time in 60 years of human spaceflight that no professional astronaut is aboard an orbit-bound rocket. The spacecraft is expected to orbit Earth for three days.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for now. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.

“All [Major Transport Infrastructure Authority] project sites, including the Level Crossing Removal Project, have strict rules around physical distancing, wearing masks, QR check-in codes and increased industrial cleaning,” the spokeswoman said.

“This is ramping up even further to support the government compliance blitz and ensure our workers are doing the right things to stay safe.”

The case comes as Victorian authorities have announced a crackdown on the state’s construction industry, with first dose COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory from 11.59pm on Thursday, September 23.

There is also a ban on crossing the metro-regional boundary for work, and on eating or drinking indoors at worksites.

The construction industry, currently operating at 25 per cent of capacity, has come into the spotlight amid claims of tradespeople not wearing masks and infections linked to worksites, including cases that led to Ballarat being locked down on Wednesday.

Premier Daniel Andrews called Thursday’s mandate a “down payment” on construction reopening to 50 and 75 per cent in the coming weeks and months.

“This is a plan to keep the thing open, rather than doing what you could do, and that’s to say ‘oh well, we’re just going to close it down to zero’,” the Premier said.

Victorian health authorities identified a number of new tier-2 COVID-19 exposure sites at Ballarat on Thursday evening, including a pharmacy and a butcher.

The period of interest for Wangaratta and surrounds was between Sunday, September 12 and Tuesday, September 14, with detections in suburbs including Wangaratta, East Wangaratta, North Wangaratta, Wangaratta South, Laceby, Milawa, Oxley, Waldara, and Wangandary.

For the Moe area in the Latrobe Valley, the period of interest was Monday, September 13 to Tuesday, September 14, with authorities flagging detections in not only Moe, but also in Newborough, Trafalgar, Yallourn, and Yarragon.The detections in Moe came after the Gippsland Region Public Health Unit urged the community on Thursday to remain vigilant and get tested for COVID-19.

“Primary close contacts that have had a test and received a negative result, should get re-tested if symptomatic,” the public health unit said in a statement.

The Victorian government flagged on Thursday that support for businesses in the state’s regional areas would continue through September.

Businesses eligible under the Business Costs Assistance Program and Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund would continue to receive payments from it for the last two weeks of the month, regardless of whether they were in the locked-down Ballarat or metropolitan Melbourne.

Some 2,300 eligible cafés, restaurants, hotels and bars in regional areas would also continue to receive payments from the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund.

It doesn’t. Keep in mind that the update in the vaccine numbers that was released today covers the total number of vaccine doses administered to the end of yesterday.

Based on the current rate of first doses, it is almost certain that sometime today that the 70 per cent first dose milestone will be crossed, but the data that provides the confirmation won’t be released until tomorrow.

The same goes for Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s comment earlier that Victoria was set to reach its 70 per cent first dose target sometime today.

That is looking exceedingly likely, based on the state’s current first dose progress, but it will take until tomorrow for the data to say for sure.

The second map depicts what the tram outage will look like in the CBD between 8am and 2pm on Saturday.

See that map here:

South Eastern Sydney LHD said the situation in each hostel is carefully assessed and monitored, and prevention measures are implemented according to risk.

Noah’s Backpackers Bondi was contacted by the Herald this afternoon and chose not to comment.

On its website, it states due to social distancing guidelines, all dorm rooms are operating at no more than 50 per cent capacity. The shared dorms traditionally sleep four, six or eight people.