As it happened: NSW records 1063 new COVID-19 cases, six deaths; Victoria begins earthquake clean-up as state records 766 new cases, protests continue

• NSW recorded 1063 new local coronavirus cases and six deaths. Four of the people who died were not vaccinated. A woman from the city’s west in her 50s who was fully vaccinated also died at Liverpool Hospital. NSW’s Chief Deputy Health Officer, Dr Marianne Gale, said the woman “had some serious underlying health conditions”. A woman in her 90s from St Mary’s Villa Aged Care at Dubbo, in the state’s west, died after acquiring the virus at this facility. She had received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Her death is the fourth linked to the home.
• There are 1244 COVID-19 cases in the state’s hospitals. Of those cases, 233 people are in intensive care and 112 people require ventilation.

• Twenty eight per cent of children aged 12 to 15 have now received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in NSW. The vast majority of the age group only became eligible for the shot on September 13.
• A second major COVID-19 outbreak is unfolding at Liverpool Hospital in Sydney’s south-west, but authorities have revised the number of patients who have acquired the virus down from 24 to 20. Five staff members have also tested positive. A South Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson said the cases were spread across four wards (not six, as the hospital originally believed). The cases occurred across the orthopaedic, renal, neurology and geriatrics wards. The cardiothoracic ward has not been affected. A total of 28 staff are in isolation as a result of the outbreak.
• A coronavirus cluster has also emerged at North Sydney’s Mater Hospital, after 14 patients and staff tested positive in the past week. A spokesperson for the hospital said five patients, eight staff members and one carer had tested positive to COVID-19.

• Lockdown restrictions will end in Orange and Glen Innes in regional NSW from midnight tonight.“There will be still standard restrictions and precautionary measures but they will be out and back to a more normal life,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said. Lockdown restrictions were eased in Brewarrina, Gilgandra, Lismore and Albury from midnight yesterday.

• Victoria recorded 766 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19, the state’s largest ever daily coronavirus tally, and four deaths. Victoria’s previous record was 725 daily cases reported in August last year. The state’s COVID-19 response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said it was a “challenging number”. More than half of the cases (55 per cent) were in households where there was a previous infection, he said.
• Victorians stranded in Sydney and the ACT can come home from September 30, provided they are double vaccinated and test negative to COVID-19 in the 72 hours before leaving NSW, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced. “They will have to do 14 days of quarantine, but that quarantine can be done at their home,” he said.
• More than 23 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds in Victoria have now received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 80 per cent of Victorians over the age of 40 have received a first dose.

• The four people who died in Victoria with COVID-19 were aged between their 70s and their 90s. Three of the people lived in Hume, in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs, and one lived in the Moreland council area in Melbourne’s north. There are 257 people in Victoria’s hospitals with COVID-19. Of those, 60 are in intensive care. Forty-one people are on a ventilator. About 81 per cent of them are unvaccinated, 15 per cent are part-vaccinated and 3 per cent are vaccinated, Mr Andrews said.

• The ACT recorded 16 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, at least 11 of whom were infectious in the community. Twelve people are in hospital. “Canberrans aged 12 to 59 are eligible to receive the Moderna vaccine, so if you jump online now, you may be able to get a Moderna booking today,” ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said today. “Pharmacies right across the ACT have access to the Moderna vaccine and there are bookings available.”
• Western Australia has reported no new cases of COVID-19, after a NSW truck driver who spent time in WA subsequently tested positive to the virus. This is good news for football fans, with the AFL grand final set to go ahead in Perth on Saturday. Ever the shrinking violet, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said he was confident “it will be the greatest grand final ever”.

• Queensland reported one new case of COVID-19 in the community, in a student at St Thomas More College at Sunnybank. She tested positive on day nine of home quarantine, where she has been during her entire infectious period.
• Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her state already enjoys more freedoms than will be available to NSW and Victorian residents when 80 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated, as she defended her tough stance on borders. “In Victoria, at 80 per cent, they will be allowed 30 people to visit for Christmas dinner. Here, Queenslanders can have 100 people over,” she said. Ms Palaszczuk did not answer a question about the level of vaccination at which it would be safe to reopen the state’s borders. She said the national plan had not been finalised and further Doherty Institute modelling would be put before the next national cabinet meeting.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for the evening. Broede Carmody will be back with you early tomorrow morning.

“I was brought up very much educated about the evils of the far-right,” he said.

“I believe temperance is an incredibly important thing in everything we do. That the human condition is crushed by the evils on the far-right and crushed by the evils on the far-left. They’re both extremism. It’s a horseshoe where the crazy left and are crazy right in a horseshoe are not that far away from each other.”

He said he had made his views known to colleague George Christensen, who has been accused by other National MPs of encouraging the protests and violence towards police.

“Why don’t you stop him?” he said. “Well, I can talk to him, and that’s the logical thing to do.”

“One of the things we love about this nation is you have the freedoms to say what you like, even if what you say is wrong. That’s one of the things we protect in this nation.”

Prestige Tyre and Auto Service at Roxburgh Park, also in Melbourne’s north, was declared tier 1 on Thursday, September 16 and Friday, September 17, between 9.30am and 6pm on each day.

Other new tier-2 sites include FoodWorks at Dallas, IGA at Meadow Heights Shopping Centre, a University of Melbourne management building, and Captain Roxburgh Fish and Chips at Roxburgh Park, all in Melbourne’s north.

The Quality Lakeside Hotel in the city of Bendigo, about 150 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, was declared tier 2 over four days.

Authorities warned that there would be some tier 1 or close contacts identified at all of those otherwise tier-2 sites.

A full list of Victorian exposure sites can be found here.

There was a lot of love on social media for the boys this afternoon.

“CovidBaseAU is website run by three close friends living in Melbourne: Jack, Darcy and Wes,” their website says.

Jack is described as the data collector, Darcy the coder, and Wes the “cool dude” who does everything else, including advertisements, some of the logos, and collecting data for the timeline.

“But my most important role and the role they desperately needed the most is MORAL SUPPORT,” Wes says on the website. “When their hopes were down, when they were about to give up, when they needed motivation I was the one who totally dragged them out of the dumps and forced them to get a GRIP and start working again.”

Emotional intelligence and data skills to boot. The perfect antidote to a wild week of news.

The cardiothoracic ward has not been affected.

A total of 28 staff are in isolation as a result of the outbreak.

“The hospital is conducting regular testing of patients and staff and is undertaking contact tracing to determine the source of infection,” the spokesperson said.

“In addition, they are conducting genomic sequencing to establish if the cases are linked.

“Ninety-seven per cent of Liverpool Hospital staff have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“It should be noted that it is unlikely any health system will achieve 100 per cent vaccination, due to workforce inflows and outflows.”

About one in five children aged 12 to 15 and about one in 10 teenagers aged 16 to 19 received a first dose during the same period.

On Thursday, NSW Chief Paediatrician Matthew O’Meara said 28 per cent of children aged 12 to 15 in the state had received their first shot, despite the vast majority only becoming eligible on September 13.

Read the full story here.

ATAGI said it was closely monitoring local and international data about COVID-19 infections in people who have been fully immunised.

The group is also looking at the efficacy and safety of additional doses for high-risk groups, as well as the general population.

Additional doses are either third doses that may be required to reach an optimal level of protection, or a booster dose required more broadly to increase protection as immunity wanes.

ATAGI expects a “relatively small cohort” of people, including those who are immunocompromised, will require a third dose to make sure they have optimal vaccine effectiveness and will provide advice on this in coming weeks.

ATAGI also anticipates boosters will be needed in the future for other groups, and expects to provide preliminary advice on the need and timing of booster shots by the end of October.

The timing of any booster dose is an “important consideration”, as it’s not clear how long those additional shots provide protection.

Data on the efficacy and safety of third mRNA doses is still emerging.

Australia has signed deals with Pfizer and Moderna for mRNA vaccine supplies into next year and beyond. Moderna is contracted to supply 10 million doses next year, while Pfizer has agreed to supply 60 million in 2022 and 25 in 2023 for booster programs.