As it happened: Digital pass to allow vaccinated Australians to travel; hospitals under pressure as NSW, Victorian COVID-19 cases rise

Good evening, and thank you for following our live coverage of the day’s events. In case you’ve just joined us, here’s a recap of what you’ve missed:

• Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked the country’s medical regulator to urgently consider the widespread use of rapid antigen testing in workplaces and for home use. He said home-based testing and quarantine, as well as the digital vaccination certificate and a new digital border pass, would bring Australians closer to overseas travel.

• NSW recorded 1127 new local cases of COVID-19 and two deaths; a woman in her 80s, and a man in his 50s, both from Sydney. Members of Sydney’s locked down councils finally got a meeting with Premier Gladys Berejiklian. A call to reopen swimming pools in the city’s 12 hotspot local government areas was a key point raised by mayors, as was the curfew, over-policing, vaccination permits for essential workers, and the strained mental health of residents of western and south-western Sydney.

A childcare centre in Melbourne’s southwest and the offices of disability support group in the east of the city have been added as tier-1 exposure sites.

The Newport Gardens Early Years Centre on Maddox Road in Newport has been added for two exposures on September 6: between 8.30am and 10am and between 3.15pm and 4pm.

The office of AQA Qualcare on Heidelberg Road in Fairfield has also been listed for an exposure that took place between 8.05am and 4.05pm on September 3.

Anyone who was at either of these locations at the specified times needs to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

Two apartment complexes were also added as tier-2 locations on Tuesday evening.

A 46-year-old Victorian man has died with COVID-19, according to the Australian Services Union.

The union issued a statement on Tuesday saying Martin “Marty” Blight - a father, “friend to many”, keen fisherman, long-term employee of Serco Mill Park, and a committed member of the union - died in hospital on Monday.

The union said Mr Blight became unwell with coronavirus after his workplace was identified as a tier-1 site, and he was subsequently identified as a close contact.

“We know Marty’s death will be very hard for many of his family, friends, and colleagues to process,” the union said in the statement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has foreshadowed reopening of borders when vaccination rates hit 80 per cent but the hopes of scores of Australians trying to get home before Christmas have been shattered by the cancellation of a slew of Singapore Airlines flights scheduled over the next three months.

The airline delivered the bad news to passengers on Monday night as international flights set for the final three months of the year were called off.

It has been a pattern throughout the coronavirus pandemic due to strict international arrival caps in Australia, but the latest cancellations from regional hub Singapore itself and other destinations delivered an additional blow just as the federal government had begun talking up reopening.

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