Australia news LIVE Victoria records 22 new local COVID-19 cases as Orange SA begin first day of lockdown NSW cases continue to grow

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Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded 22 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and one case in hotel quarantine.

The Victorian Department of Health says all of the new cases are linked to current outbreaks.

Those figures are off the back of yesterday’s 59,355 coronavirus tests.

Australia’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Michael Kidd is doing the breakfast TV rounds this morning.

He was just on Nine’s Today show to talk about the growing number of coronavirus patients in the nation’s hospitals. As it stands, there are just over 142 people with COVID-19 hospitalised in Australia and more than 20 in ICU. The majority of those patients are in NSW.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

“[I’m] very concerned about the number of people who are in intensive care units at the moment,” Professor Kidd said.

“The difference, of course, between now and this time last year is we know a lot more about the management of people who have severe COVID-19 and symptoms and ICU nurses are doing a fantastic job supporting those people.”

Professor Kidd also acknowledged that people’s mental health is being affected by lockdowns. He urged people to take things one day at a time.

“We have been living with the disruption caused by COVID-19 for the last 18 months, which does have a significant impact on everyone’s mental health and emotional wellbeing and people do want answers,” he said.

“The good thing that we are seeing in NSW [is] we are not not seeing a dramatic escalation number of new cases each day. Indeed, we saw a slight decline in the numbers reported yesterday.”

An infectious disease expert says Sydney may not be able to achieve zero cases of COVID-19 community transmission because of the highly transmissible nature of the Delta variant.

“There are various pathways we may head down over the coming weeks and months ... and I hope we do get back to zero transmission but it may not be feasible,” Professor Greg Dore, an epidemiologist with the Kirby Institute, told 2GB radio.

A Sydney resident gets tested for COVID-19 at the Fairfield Showgrounds yesterday. Credit:Rhett Wyman

“The delta variant is different … once it’s well established in the community and once you’ve got several hundred active cases in the community it will be tougher, and we’re getting 30 to 40 cases a day that are not in home quarantine.

“Even though we’re under lockdown there are opportunities for those people to pass the virus on.”

Professor Dore said once transmission of the Delta variant takes hold in a community it can escalate very rapidly.

“My most consistent message over the past several months has been to get vaccinated,” he said.

“I think the campaign to undermine the AstraZeneca vaccine, a highly effective, safe vaccine, we’ll look back at that as one of the most baffling public health disasters.”

Melbourne will have spent six months, or 185 days, under lockdown when the state is released from restrictions next week.

Quiet Melbourne roads on Tuesday morning. Credit:Jason South

In some areas of Melbourne, like Brimbank in the city’s west and northwest and Wyndham in Melbourne’s outer southwest, Victorians have been subjected to even longer hard lockdowns.

The state is in the middle of its fifth lockdown since the COVID-19 pandemic began and has been forced to shut down more than any other state in the past year.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro was speaking on ABC News Breakfast earlier about the seven-day lockdown in Orange and the surrounding areas of regional NSW.

He was asked whether the NSW state government will consider a “ring of steel” to protect the regions, similar to what was introduced around the edges of Melbourne during last year’s long lockdown. The policy resulted in barriers at major roads and police checkpoints.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.Credit:James Brickwood

Mr Barilaro said NSW wouldn’t be introducing a “ring of steel” but people in the regions could expect the state to introduce some additional protections.

“We already have a number of orders in place,” he said.

“There is permission to leave Sydney [if you’re an essential worker] but you must be tested every seven days. For those essential workers within [western Sydney hotspots], you have to be tested every three days. But we need to do more to stop travel from Sydney to the regions.

“We have to allow a level of workers to leave [Sydney] as part of supporting the rest of the state. But if we have to do more. We will do more.”

We’ll bring you any policy changes as soon as they’re announced.

Emergency physician and former Australian Medical Association President Dr Stephen Parnis was speaking on the Today show earlier this morning.

“We can’t live with the virus yet,” he said when asked whether Australia should open up like the United Kingdom.

“It’s spread so fast. Public health authorities in it at least three, now four states are fighting trench warfare against this. We can’t live with it now, but we will live with it some time in 2022, I think.”

Emergency doctor Stephen Parnis. Credit:Eddie Jim

Dr Parnis said at least 80 per cent of Australian adults would need to be vaccinated in order for governments to move away from lockdowns. He cited that figure on the basis that vaccines, while very effective, are not perfect.

He added that the country needs to start thinking about vaccinating children in the long term.

“We cannot forget our kids. The paediatric population can’t go unprotected forever.”

Four new exposure sites were added for Richmond, in Melbourne’s inner east, overnight.

Victorian health authorities have say the venues of concern are all tier 2 and linked to a cafe and retail outlet.

Quiet streets during Melbourne’s latest lockdown.Credit:Penny Stephens

Status Quo PopUp, a specialty cafe and pop-up shop, is considered a tier-2 exposure site on July 14, 15, 16 and 17 from 8.00am to 3.00pm.

There are currently 352 exposure sites in Victoria.

For the full list, visit the Victorian Health Department’s official website.

High-profile former boxer Anthony Mundine has been fined for a second time for breaching COVID-19 health orders.

Mundine allegedly entered a Kingsgrove store, in south-west Sydney, without wearing a face mask about 2.20pm on Tuesday.

Former boxer Anthony Mundine. Credit:Getty Images

NSW Police said when asked to wear a face mask by an employee of the store, the 46-year-old allegedly stated he was exempt, before he refused to scan the QR code to register his contact details.

Police were informed about the incident later that night and attended a home in South Hurstville where they spoke to Mundine.

He was issued with a fine for not complying with the current health orders.

Mundine was previously fined $1000 for travelling from metropolitan Sydney to Ballina without a reasonable excuse on July 7.

Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan has held firm on his view that Australia should have no more lockdowns but has refused to provide a number of cases that would be acceptable in the community should states with COVID-19 infections open back up.

“We’re going to have to live with COVID,” the Queensland LNP Senator said on the Today show just moments ago.

“There’s enormous cost being done to small businesses, to people’s marriages, kids’ education and I just worry we’re not measuring those costs or factoring in those.”

Senator Matt Canavan. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Queensland is on edge today after it was revealed a fully-vaccinated woman in her 20s was infectious in the community after returning to the Sunshine State from Melbourne.

Today host Karl Stefanovic told Mr Canavan that in the United Kingdom, there are as many as 50,000 cases of coronavirus every day and 100 deaths on average.

“How many of those are you prepared to live with as a politician to get on with life?” Stefanovic asked.

Here’s what Mr Canavan had to say in response:

“I’m not going to be able to put a number on it Karl. I prefer to have no deaths. That’s what I prefer to have. There’s two certainties in life, death and taxes, and we will have to deal with those. The key thing is to reduce those to as low a level as possible. A key part of that is getting the vaccination rolled out.

“Of course, if we lock down ... there are people who go through the worst circumstances in that environment, too. There’s no option here that doesn’t lead to bad outcomes for people.”

In case you missed it, NSW Health listed more than 10 new exposure sites late last night.

Among the venues of concern are a dry cleaners in Sydney’s north-eastern suburbs and a hardware store in the inner west. An iconic pub in regional NSW has also been listed as an exposure site.

However, the silver lining is that the majority of the new exposure sites are essential retail outlets such as supermarkets and petrol stations.

Anyone who visited the following venues during the times listed is considered a close contact of a coronavirus case and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result:

MW Toolbox in St Peters, in Sydney’s inner west, on Wednesday, July 14 from 2.15pm to 3.30pm;

Lawrence Dry Cleaners in Belrose in Sydney’s north-east on Wednesday, July 14, between 10.30am and 11am; and

The Hoey Moey pub in Coffs Harbour on Thursday, July 15 between 3.55pm and 4.20pm.

For a full list of venues and times visit the NSW Health website.

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