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As it happened: NSW records 356 new local COVID-19 cases, three deaths; Victoria records 20 new cases; Queensland records just three new cases

Broede Carmody and Josh Dye
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

Some of today’s best photos
Moderna may be approved for under-18s in a matter of weeks: TGA boss
NSW CHO concedes underestimating virus spread in western Sydney after birthday party
NSW CHO says lockdowns affect mental health and governments should ‘balance the risks’
‘No plans’ to redefine Greater Melbourne area subject to lockdowns, says Vic Health Minister
Technology, not tax, will fix climate change problems, PM says
Caroline Springs, in Melbourne’s north west, are of ‘most concern’
Police looking ‘extremely closely’ at what happened at Byron: NSW Health Minister
NSW stands by vaccination strategy, says further restrictions not recommended
Another death in Sydney’s Liverpool Hospital cluster, four cases at Bexley aged care home
Pinned post from 6.46pm on Aug 10, 2021
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A summary of the day’s headlines

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That’s about it for today, thanks for reading. Here’s a quick recap:

  • NSW recorded 356 new local cases of COVID-19, of which about a third which were infectious in the community. Senior health authorities faced a Parliamentary inquiry about Sydney’s lockdown. And some people in the state’s north are anxious about the virus spreading after a Sydney man was infectious in the community. And while Sydney battles through week 7 of lockdown, the sunny weather is a small win.
  • Melbourne’s sixth lockdown is set to be extended beyond Thursday because the majority of new cases not in quarantine during their infectious periods. Victoria recorded 20 new local cases as concern mounts over the number of cases linked to a Caroline Springs shopping centre. Meanwhile regional Victorians enjoyed freedom returning after their lockdown lifted.
  • The Therapeutic Goods Administration is considering an application from Moderna to approve its vaccine for use in children aged over 12.
  • The Prime Minister promised regional Australia will not carry the burden of climate change after a UN report warned of dire future.

We’ll be back bright and early in the morning. Hope you have a good evening.

Latest Posts

Victorian shopping centre staff plunged into two-weeks quarantine

By Cassandra Morgan

Everyone who worked at a busy shopping centre west of Melbourne over four days will now have to go into quarantine for two weeks.

Concern has mounted over CS Square shopping centre in Caroline Springs, as more than half of Victoria’s COVID cases on Tuesday were linked to the centre.

Victoria’s COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar said “we’ve now seen 25 cases associated with the Caroline Springs Square shopping centre, across a number of different … retail units, and people”.

Over the past few days, many of the centre’s shops have been identified as “tier 1″ sites, meaning anyone who attended them during specified timeframes has to get tested and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of the result.

The entire shopping centre was declared a “tier 2” site on Monday for a whole 10-day period, meaning anyone who visited it during that timeframe has to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Pinned post from 6.46pm on Aug 10, 2021

A summary of the day’s headlines

By

That’s about it for today, thanks for reading. Here’s a quick recap:

  • NSW recorded 356 new local cases of COVID-19, of which about a third which were infectious in the community. Senior health authorities faced a Parliamentary inquiry about Sydney’s lockdown. And some people in the state’s north are anxious about the virus spreading after a Sydney man was infectious in the community. And while Sydney battles through week 7 of lockdown, the sunny weather is a small win.
  • Melbourne’s sixth lockdown is set to be extended beyond Thursday because the majority of new cases not in quarantine during their infectious periods. Victoria recorded 20 new local cases as concern mounts over the number of cases linked to a Caroline Springs shopping centre. Meanwhile regional Victorians enjoyed freedom returning after their lockdown lifted.
  • The Therapeutic Goods Administration is considering an application from Moderna to approve its vaccine for use in children aged over 12.
  • The Prime Minister promised regional Australia will not carry the burden of climate change after a UN report warned of dire future.

We’ll be back bright and early in the morning. Hope you have a good evening.

South-east Asia’s last COVID-zero nation catches the virus

By Chris Barrett

For 457 days Brunei went without a new case of COVID-19 as the region battled the virus and was then devastated by the Delta variant.

That 15-month streak is over, however, after the emergence of dozens of new infections in the south-east Asian sultanate.

Brunei has now entered a two-week lockdown as it tries to avoid the trajectory followed by neighbouring countries who withstood the worst of the virus for many months before succumbing to Delta.

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the royal palace in April.Getty Images

“It happened in Thailand. Now it’s happened in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,” said Professor Dale Fisher, an infectious diseases expert at the National University of Singapore.

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Melbourne hospital doctor tests COVID-positive, not infectious while working

By Cassandra Morgan

A doctor who works at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital has tested positive for COVID-19.

The hospital said the doctor was not infectious while he was working at the hospital.

The Department of Health said it is investigating whether he was infectious while working on Monday, August 9 at private medical rooms next door to the hospital at 48 Flemington Road, which has shared common areas with the hospital.

The doctor is one of 20 locally acquired COVID cases announced in Victoria’s official numbers on Tuesday.

According to Nine, the doctor is believed to have acquired the virus through a household contact linked to an outbreak at Mount Alexander College in Flemington.

Turnbull, Rudd criticise unhelpful China comments

By Anthony Galloway

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says some members of the Coalition government have made ill-judged comments on China which are unhelpful in advancing Australia’s national interest.

Mr Turnbull stressed that his successor Scott Morrison was mostly getting the balance right in standing up to Beijing’s increasing aggression, but blamed others such as Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo for dialling up the rhetoric.

Mr Dutton has warned that a war with China over Taiwan could not be discounted, while Mr Pezzullo – without mentioning China – said the “drums of war” were beating in an Anzac Day message to staff.

Mr Turnbull at an energy summit in Sydney in May. Steven Siewert

Appearing with former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd at a Latrobe University event tonight, Mr Turnbull said Mr Pezzullo’s speech was “a very, very ill-judged speech to make”.

Second Melbourne public housing tower among new COVID exposure sites

By Cassandra Morgan

A second Melbourne public housing tower has been listed as a COVID-19 exposure site.

The tower at 126 Racecourse Road in Flemington is in the same complex as another public housing tower, 130 Racecourse Road, that was declared a COVID exposure site late last week after a family of eight tested positive.

Authorities said today there had been three positive cases detected at both towers among the tally of 20 cases.

“Those positive cases and their families moved out last night,” Victoria’s COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar said.

He said authorities had been busy over the past few days trying to test everybody at 130 Racecourse Road, and about two-thirds have tested negative.

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Podcast: What does the UN’s ‘code red’ climate change report mean?

By Nathanael Cooper

The earth will continue to warm and environmental catastrophes will become more frequent and more intense, according to a new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

If urgent action to address the global climate crisis isn’t taken, events like the wildfires in North America, Canada and Europe, extreme heatwaves, droughts, flooding and rising sea levels will be more common than they already are.

The report, released yesterday, shows the planet has warmed 1.1 degrees since the late 1800s and – even in the best-case scenario – will warm a further 1.5 degrees by 2040. It prompted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call it a “code red for humanity”.

Today on Please Explain, national environment and climate editor Nick O’Malley joins Nathanael Cooper to discuss the IPCC report.

Some of today’s best photos

By

Here are some images captured by our photographers around the country.

People line up near Lakemba Mosque in south-western Sydney to receive their vaccinations at a pop-up clinic.Janie Barrett
Joyce Saunders serves a customer in her bookshop in Castlemaine, Victoria, after lockdown ended in the regions. Justin McManus
Cabramatta in south-west Sydney. Wolter Peeters
Huge lines for testing at Maribrynong in Melbourne.Jason South

Moderna may be approved for under-18s in a matter of weeks: TGA boss

By Cassandra Morgan

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration says the Moderna vaccine may be approved for under-18s by the time it lands on Australian shores in a matter of weeks.

John Skerritt, speaking to ABC Melbourne’s Drive program on Tuesday afternoon, said “Moderna has its application in front of us for under-18s”.

Nothing has changed: the Moderna vaccine has been approved just this week in Australia, eight months after in America.Bloomberg

“Over the next three to four weeks, I’d say maximum – it depends on Moderna’s response – we expect to make a decision,” he said.

“The Moderna data also looks pretty good for the under-18s, but we’ve obviously got to go to our committee of experts and then back to the company.

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New exposures sites in Byron Bay include supermarkets and restaurant

By Daniella White

Health authorities have issued alerts for a number of NSW Northern Rivers venues visited by a COVID-19 positive case.

They are linked to the Sydney man who was infectious for several days around Byron Bay. He and two of his children have tested positive for COVID-19 and all three are in a stable condition at Lismore Base Hospital.

Those cases have plunged the Northern Rivers region into a snap seven-day lockdown. Anyone who was at the following venues is a close contact (tier 1) and must get tested and isolate for 14 days:

  • Bangalow Foodworks on August 2 between 9.45am and 11.15am.
  • Bangalow Pharmacy on August 5 between 11am and 11.30am and August 6 between 11am and 11.30am.
  • Byron Bay Japonaise Kitchen on August 6 between 5pm and 5.30pm.
  • Byron Bay Woolworths on August 4 between 2.30pm and 4pm.
  • Newrybar Harvest Cafe on August 7 between 9.45am and 10.20am.
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