Australia news LIVE: NSW, Victoria COVID-19 cases rise as extra Pfizer jabs touch down

We have made our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic free for all readers. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

Key posts

  • This morning’s headlines at a glance

  • 1 of 1

‘Fork in the road’: Chief Health Officer’s grim warning for NSW

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has begged people to stop visiting family and friends as hundreds of extra police begin patrolling streets this morning in an unprecedented effort to slow rising COVID-19 case numbers.

Dr Chant delivered one of her most sober messages of the pandemic yesterday as NSW recorded 415 new cases, starkly warning: “I cannot describe my concern level if we do not drive these cases down.”

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has given one of her most stark warnings of the pandemic.Credit:Edwina Pickles

“We are at a fork in the road, and we have to decide what path we will choose, and the path I want is one where I see declining case numbers and increasing vaccination,” she said.

With all NSW in lockdown, Premier Gladys Berejiklian conceded it would be “near impossible” to eliminate the Delta strain but “what we desperately, desperately need is to get those numbers as low as possible to make it safe”.

More on this story here.

Video shows dozens at engagement party attended by positive COVID case

People in Melbourne’s inner south-eastern suburbs are on high alert after a guest at a crowded engagement party last week attended by dozens of people tested positive for coronavirus.

The video, seen by this masthead, shows a gathering of people listening to a man giving an engagement speech to a crowded room of well-dressed guests at what appears to be a private residence.

Screenshots of the man giving the speech at the gathering.

“Clearly this is legal,” the man says to the room, “because this is a group therapy session.” The crowd, made up of men and women from young children to middle age, laughed at the joke.

Private and public gatherings are not permitted under Victoria’s strict stage 4 lockdown, which began on August 5. Weddings are allowed in exceptional circumstances, but are always capped at five attendees.

More on this story here.

Unis face more jobs cuts, closure threats as revenue loss tipped to pass $5b

Higher education revenues could decline by a further $5 billion to $6 billion by 2030, forcing universities to shed at least 50 per cent of their non-research staff and even threatening some institutions with closure or merger.

An analysis of Australia’s universities by consultancy EY predicts international student enrolments will never return to the pre-pandemic peak hit in 2019 and that on-campus learning will play a diminishing role in many students’ education, even after curbs on in-person lectures and tutorials are lifted.

University campuses will play a diminishing role in students’ lives, even after the pandemic, a report predicts.Credit:Janie Barrett

Catherine Friday, EY’s global head of education, said the pandemic had “exposed the over-reliance on on-campus learning and international students in Australia’s higher education system”.

Read the full story here.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Monday, August 16. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.

  • NSW’s “Operation Stay at Home” has come into effect. More than 1000 highway patrol officers are patrolling back roads, setting up roadblocks and enforcing the state’s health orders this morning amid a statewide lockdown. NSW recorded 415 locally acquired cases of coronavirus yesterday, with at least 66 in the community for at least some of their infectious period. Almost 400 coronavirus patients are in NSW hospitals. NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says the state is at a “fork in the road”.
  • Melbourne’s inner south-eastern suburbs are on high alert. A video has surfaced appearing to show a crowded engagement party at a private residence despite the city being in lockdown. Authorities say at least one guest has tested positive. Yesterday, Victoria recorded 25 local cases of COVID-19. Of those, 21 are linked to known outbreaks and just over half were in isolation for their infectious periods. Melbourne’s restrictions are due to be reviewed later this week.
  • The first shipment of an extra 1 million Pfizer jabs touched down in Australia overnight. They will be distributed throughout the country, but half are bound for coronavirus hotspots in NSW. The vaccines are leftovers from Poland and Prime Minister Scott Morrison is due to speak about the negotiations on breakfast TV and radio later this morning.
  • And Queensland has tightened its border with NSW after the entire southern state went into lockdown. Only essential workers from NSW will be able to cross into the Sunshine State. Yesterday, Queensland recorded zero local cases of COVID-19.

  • 1 of 1

Most Viewed in National

Source: Read Full Article