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As it happened: Invasion Day protest to proceed in Sydney as NSW records no new local COVID-19 cases for ninth consecutive day

Updated January 26, 2021 — 5:28pm,first published January 26, 2021 — 6:58am

Summary

Pharmaceutical company Moderna says its vaccine protects against the COVID-19 variants that have emerged in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Australia has suspended its quarantine-free travel arrangement with New Zealand for 72 hours. Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday the move was “out of an abundance of caution”.
Australia’s peak body for obstetricians has advised most pregnant women not to get a COVID-19 vaccine at this stage. The recommendation is due to the current lack of vaccine trial data on any potential side effects on pregnant women.
New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland all recorded no new local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. There were three cases among returned travellers in hotel quarantine, two in NSW and one in Victoria.
Fourteen close contacts of a 56-year-old New Zealand woman, who became the country’s first local COVID-19 case in months, have tested negative for the virus.

5.28pm on Jan 26, 2021

AstraZeneca denies report vaccine less effective in elderly

By Ludwig Burger and Edward Taylor

AstraZeneca denies its COVID-19 vaccine is not very effective for people over 65, after German media reports said officials feared the shot may not be approved in the European Union for use in the elderly.

German daily papers Handelsblatt and Bild said in separate reports the vaccine - co-developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University - had an efficacy of 8 per cent or less than 10 per cent, respectively, in those over 65 years of age.

German officials were concerned the vaccine may not receive approval from the EU’s medicines authority EMA for use in the age group, Bild said in its online edition.

A researcher works on the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford in Oxford, England.University of Oxford

The reports mark another potential issue for AstraZeneca, which told the EU on Friday it could not meet agreed supply targets up to the end of March after running into vaccine production problems.

Frustration was already growing among European countries because Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced a temporary slowdown in vaccine supplies earlier in January.

In a written response, AstraZeneca described the German media reports as “completely incorrect”.

It said Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation supported the vaccine’s use in the elderly. It also said that a strong immune response to the vaccine had been shown in blood analysis of elderly trial participants.

5.06pm on Jan 26, 2021

COVID-19 strikes Mexico’s axis of power

By Kate Linthicum

There was little doubt that Mexico was in the grips of a crisis.

It was evident in the lines of people stretching city blocks to refill oxygen tanks. In the wail of ambulance sirens. In the plumes of smoke puffing from crematoriums late into the night.

But in recent days, the creeping sense that the coronavirus is everywhere has been magnified by news that three of the nation’s most powerful men are now sick with COVID-19.

A newspaper’s front page carries the Spanish headline “Positive but optimistic” for the story about Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador having COVID-19.AP

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 67, a centre-left populist known to his legions of fans as AMLO, said on Sunday he had tested positive for the virus and had isolated in his apartment in Mexico’s National Palace with “mild symptoms”.

On Monday, the son of Carlos Slim, an 80-year-old telecommunications mogul and Mexico’s wealthiest man, reported that his father has been suffering from COVID-19 for a week and is being treated in hospital.

It was a barrage of shocking news for a country that was already closely following the condition of Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, a 78-year-old retired archbishop, who has been in intensive care since January 12 and has received his last rites.

The illness of three men who represent the country’s traditional axis of power - church, state and commerce - is a potent reminder of just how bad things have become in Mexico.

The country has recorded nearly 150,000 official COVID-19 deaths - the fourth-highest death toll in the world. Yet officials acknowledge that the true count is much higher. Mexico tallied 274,486 more deaths of all types in 2020 than in a normal year, and health experts said the vast majority are probably attributable to the pandemic.

4.02pm on Jan 26, 2021

That’s all for the blog today

That’s all for the blog today - thanks for tuning in.

If you’ve just clicked on the blog, so you don’t have to wade through eight hours of posts, here is a summary of the key COVID news from today:

Australia’s peak body for obstetricians, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has advised most pregnant women not to get a COVID-19 vaccine at this stage. The recommendation is due to the current lack of vaccine trial data on any potential side effects on pregnant women.
Australia yesterday suspended its quarantine-free travel arrangement with New Zealand for 72 hours after genomic sequencing revealed a 56-year-old woman who contracted the virus while in hotel quarantine in Auckland was carrying the South African variant of the virus. Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday the move was “out of an abundance of caution”. Fourteen close contacts of the 56-year-old New Zealand woman, who became the country’s first local COVID-19 case in months, were announced today to have tested negative for the virus. Her two closest contacts - her husband and her hairdresser - tested negative on Monday.
Sydneysiders could remain locked out of Queensland until March as contact tracers race against the clock to link six mystery infections before the border restrictions are reviewed on Thursday.
New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland all recorded no new local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. There were three cases among returned travellers in hotel quarantine, two in NSW and one in Victoria.
Pharmaceutical company Moderna says its vaccine protects against the COVID-19 variants that have emerged in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
And the world is soon to reach a grim milestone of more than 100 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, based on Johns Hopkins University’s tally. The true number is likely higher due to under-reporting worldwide.
Invasion Day protests were carried out throughout the country, although reporters on the ground for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald in both cities observed that a sizeable proportion of the crowd wore face masks.

That’s all from me. The blog will be back at 7am tomorrow.

3.13pm on Jan 26, 2021

Virus fragments found at seven more Queensland wastewater treatment plants

By Toby Crockford

Coronavirus fragments have been found in sewage samples collected from seven further wastewater treatment plants in Queensland.

The positive test results were found at:

Condon in Townsville in the state’s north
Cairns South and Cairns Marlin Coast in far north Queensland
Nambour and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast
Urangan in Hervey Bay
Yeppoon on the state’s central coast

“While this does not mean we have new cases of COVID-19 in these communities, we are treating these detections seriously,” Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said.

“A positive sewage result means that someone who has been infected was shedding the virus. Infected people can shed viral fragments and that shedding can happen for several weeks after the person is no longer infectious.“

Queensland recorded no new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and 6309 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours - exceeding the 5000 test daily goal set by the state’s health officials.

2.32pm on Jan 26, 2021

Pandemic destroyed 225 million jobs worldwide as billionaires got richer

By Jennifer Hassan

At least 225 million full-time jobs disappeared worldwide last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report published by the International Labour Organisation, a United Nations agency.

The losses are four times worse than those of the global financial crisis in 2009, worse even than the Great Depression. But the ultra-wealthy have seen their wealth soar.

According to another report, by anti-poverty non-profit Oxfam, the combined wealth of the world’s 10 richest men has risen by more than $US500 billion ($638 billion) since the crisis began - enough to vaccinate the entire planet and then some, according to the organisation.

Hospitality workers wait in line in a basement garage to apply for unemployment benefits in Los Angeles.AP

Both sets of findings, released on Monday, London time, identify inequality as one of the pandemic’s principal outcomes. “Job destruction has disproportionately affected low-paid and low‑skilled jobs” which “points to the risk of an uneven recovery, leading to still greater inequality in the coming years,” the ILO found.

2.04pm on Jan 26, 2021

Mexico passes 150,000 COVID-19 deaths

Mexico’s official death toll from the coronavirus passed 150,000 on Monday following a surge in infections in recent weeks that has stretched the health system in the capital to the limit and led to the President contracting COVID-19.

The Health Ministry on Monday reported 659 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 150,273. There were 8521 new cases on Monday for a total of 1,771,740 confirmed infections.

The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

On Sunday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 67, who has a history of heart problems and high blood pressure, said he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was being treated for mild symptoms.

Reuters

1.07pm on Jan 26, 2021

COVID vaccines not recommended for pregnant women just yet

By Rachel Clun

For most pregnant women, COVID-19 vaccines are not being recommended at this stage.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) has looked at the evidence so far, and concluded that most pregnant women will only experience mild COVID-19 symptoms if they contract the disease.

Based on data from similar vaccines, the college said it’s unlikely the COVID vaccines pose a thread to either pregnant women or their babies.

RANZCOG has advised that for most pregnant women, the COVID-19 vaccine is not required at this stage.Peter Braig

However, pregnant and breastfeeding women have not been part of earlier trials for the vaccines, so little is known about any potential adverse effects on those women or their babies.

So on the back of that, the college said there is ” insufficient evidence to recommend routine use of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy”.

But there could be some circumstances where a COVID vaccine could be discussed as an option.

Those would include where a pregnant woman has significant pre-existing medical conditions or they have chronic respiratory conditions.

For pregnant healthcare or essential workers at increased risk of exposure to the virus, RANZCOG recommends they be allocated to lower-risk duties.

This article (once you scroll about halfway down) includes some FAQs about the Pfizer vaccine, which was granted provisional approval by the national medical regulator yesterday: Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine provisionally approved for Australian use

12.42pm on Jan 26, 2021

‘The winds have changed’: Thousands gather for Invasion Day rally in Melbourne

By Michael Fowler and Simone Fox-Koob

Thousands of Australia Day protesters are marching down Bourke Street in Melbourne in groups of 100 as Indigenous leaders address crowds on the steps of Parliament House as part of an Invasion Day rally.

The protest is going ahead despite coronavirus rules limiting gatherings to 100 people, with organisers encouraging attendees to split into smaller groups as they set off through the city.

Most attendees are wearing masks, but social distancing is proving difficult already. Protesters have been told to wear face masks and use hand sanitiser frequently.

Protesters outside Victoria’s Parliament House on Tuesday. Justin McManus

Last week, Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians should not attend Invasion Day rallies, with large congregations still banned under COVID-19 rules.

“This will be a different Australia Day, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic,” he said.

“It’s no time to be protesting, it just isn’t. We’ve built something precious and unique, Victorians have, through their sacrifice and their commitment and their compassion for each other and we have to safeguard that.”

Read more: ‘The winds have changed’: Thousands gather for Invasion Day rally

12.37pm on Jan 26, 2021

Invasion Day rally goes ahead peacefully in the Domain in Sydney

By Fergus Hunter

Up to 3000 people turned out for a largely incident-free Invasion Day rally in the Domain on Tuesday morning, condemning January 26 celebrations and calling for reform of the justice system.

Following discussions with police, protest organisers abandoned a plan to march through central Sydney, instead holding a seated event in the Domain over two hours. Police did not make any arrests or issue any fines for breaches of COVID-19 restrictions at the Domain gathering.

Protesters rejected Australia Day as illegitimate and called for reform in the justice system.Dominic Lorrimer

Attendees had risked being sanctioned after the NSW government refused to exempt the event from COVID-19 public health orders. Under the orders, protests in Sydney are limited to 500 people.

About 3500 people had put themselves down as attending on the Facebook event for the rally and police estimated 2000 to 3000 showed up on the day.

Read more: Invasion Day rally goes ahead peacefully in the Domain

12.28pm on Jan 26, 2021

Update on COVID-19 cases connected with the Australian Open

The new overseas-acquired coronavirus case confirmed in Victoria is not connected to the Australian Open, new COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria figures show.

There are currently nine active cases in Victoria connected with the upcoming tennis grand slam, a number that is unchanged from yesterday’s total.

There are 968 people linked with the Australian Open currently in hotel quarantine.