Australia news LIVE Queensland records 13 new local COVID-19 cases as lockdown extended NSW numbers continue to soar Victoria records two new cases

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Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley and health department secretary Kate Matson are due to provide the state’s coronavirus update from 10.15am AEST.

Watch live below.

Meanwhile Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young are due to hold a press conference at 10am AEST.

Watch live below.

There will be a slight tweak to Victoria’s COVID rules from 11.59pm tomorrow night: there will no longer be limits to group bookings for hospitality venues, tours and gyms.

But Health Minister Martin Foley said that the broader density limits that were announced last week will continue to apply.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Victorians had previously been told not to expect any major changes to the current restrictions until next Tuesday, which will be a full two weeks since the last lockdown was lifted.

“Whilst the overall limit of 100 or 300 inside or outside will continue to apply, the group booking limit of 10 will be removed,” Mr Foley said.

“That was in response to some suggestions that came forward from industry, as to how to best address that issue.

“As the Chief Health Officer has shown by just that tweak for group bookings, public health team are always open to sensible suggestions, but equally the team made it pretty clear that the two week arrangement was in place for that careful, stepped process of managing the Delta variant of concern.”

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young insists she has not changed her stance on younger people getting the AstraZenaca vaccine in the face of the state’s current outbreak.

Ms Young previously drew criticism from other states for stating that younger people should not get the AstraZeneca vaccine because the risk was, in her view, too great.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Credit:Matt Dennien

Asked at today’s coronavirus briefing whether her advice had change as case numbers start to rise in Queensland, Dr Young said she wanted as many people vaccinated as possible, but wasn’t changing her stance on who she would like to see get the AstraZeneca jab.

“I think it’s important that people have that discussion with their GPs. That is the advice from ATAGI,” she said.

“If you are under 60, and you feel particularly concerned, go and talk to your GP about whether or not you should be having a dose of AstraZeneca.”

Dr Young said she did not regret her stance that young people should avoid AstraZeneca in favour of the Pfizer vaccine unless they were given the green light by their GP.

“I said I didn’t want 18-year-olds to have AstraZeneca. And I still don’t.”

In an earlier ABC Radio interview, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the state remained dedicated to delivering the Pfizer vaccine to people under 40-years-old.

“We’d love to have more vaccine and we’d love to see more people vaccinated but we’re not going to give people a vaccine that’s not recommended to them,” he said.

Residents along the NSW-Victoria border will only be able to cross the border to access essential services, caregiving and exercise from 11.59pm tomorrow night.

Victorian health authorities announced the changes this morning, with border bubble residents only able to cross the Murray River without a permit to access:

Necessary goods and services, such as medical care and getting a COVID-19 test;

Care and compassionate reasons;

Paid or voluntary work (including for charitable and religious purposes);

Education (including childcare and early childhood services);

Getting a COVID-19 vaccination; and

Sport and exercise at a sporting club or at a physical recreation facility (excludes alpine areas).

The changes apply for both NSW and Victorian residents in the border bubble. Previously, border residents could cross the Murray for something as simple as shopping.

Health Minister Martin Foley said the limiting of non-essential movement across the border would “keep us all safe”.

“The outbreak in NSW continues to grow, and with projections and modelling suggesting that the position in New South Wales is likely to get worse before it gets better, it’s prudent that Victoria takes measures to make sure that the border bubble operates as safely as we possibly can,” he said.

“We really don’t make these changes lightly. We know that will have an impact on many border residents, but we also know that an outbreak of the Delta variant on our doorstep will have an even more negative impact on our border communities.

Fines for those who cross the border into Victoria for unnecessary reasons are up to $5452.

Queensland Police say they are disappointed to still be dealing with relatively high numbers of non-compliance despite strict lockdown restrictions.

After a series of parties had to be broken up on Saturday night, police on Sunday issued 29 penalty infringement notices â€" 18 of which were people who were out of lockdown without a valid reason.

Queensland’s Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski.

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police broke up two more parties on Sunday, and spoke to one person refusing to wear a mask. Three people were found to have disobeyed direct police orders, there were three breaches of public health directions and “a couple” of border breaches.

“What is disappointing about all of those, in every single case, people are given the opportunity to comply and choose not to and we’re left with no option but to take action,” he said.

“The plea there for all of our community who are doing the right thing, for those that think that what they want to do is more important than the broader community â€" wake up to yourself.”

The extended lockdown means Brisbane’s Ekka, the annual agricultural show, has been cancelled for the second year in a row.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles said he has discussed the situation with the organisers and decided it was too risky to hold the show, which sees people from all over the state converge on Brisbane for over a week.

The Brisbane Royal Show, commonly called the Ekka, has been cancelled. Credit:Bradley Kanaris

“I know that’s sad and disappointing for many, many Queenslanders who love their annual ritual, their annual trip to the Ekka,” he said.

“We just can’t afford to have an event like that where people travel into town, circulate in large numbers. The risk is just too great.

“I want to thank the RNA for working so closely with us, and I’m sure the Ekka, the event we love, will be back even bigger and better next year.”

Queensland has recorded 13 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19, with Queensland’s lockdown extended to the end of the coming weekend.

The state recorded two cases in hotel quarantine. The new community cases are all linked to existing outbreaks.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the cases had risen sharply in the last day, meaning they were no longer comfortable with lifting the lockdown tomorrow afternoon as previously scheduled.

“It’s starting to become clear that the initial lockdown will be insufficient for the outbreak,” he said.

“So we’re advising south-east Queenslanders in the 11 LGAs that the lockdown will be extended until 4pm on Sunday. That will make it an 8-day lockdown.”

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles says it is “too early to tell” whether the lockdown in the state’s south-east will be lifted by 4pm tomorrow.

“Given the numbers on Saturday and Sunday, it’s likely we’ll see more than that again today and we’ll need to consider that very carefully,” he told ABC’s Radio National.

“We won’t lift the lockdown until the Chief Health Officer’s very confident that everyone who has been exposed is now safely in home quarantine.

“I think it [the decision] is more likely to be made either late today or tomorrow morning but, again, it will be guided by what out contact tracers tell us during the day.”

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Credit:Matt Dennien

As of this morning, before the state’s daily update, there were 18 cases linked to the cluster with nine of those reported yesterday.

Mr Miles said there appeared to be a missing link between two returned travellers, transferred to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast university hospitals for care, and a medical student that kicked off the outbreak in the western suburbs of Brisbane.

That student was not vaccinated but had made a booking for next week.

“We don’t yet have enough vaccination supply to mandate vaccinations for people in hospitals,” Mr Miles said.

“We’re working through making sure that everyone working at our five COVID hospitals are vaccinated and once we’ve done that, we’ll be able to extend it out into other hospitals.”

The chairman of Venues NSW, which has a portfolio of venues including the Sydney Cricket Ground, Bankwest Stadium and McDonald Jones Stadium, says people who don’t want to get a COVID-19 vaccine can watch sporting events on TV.

“My preference would be get vaccinated and come to the game, so you’d have everybody on the field vaccinated and everybody off the field vaccinated. I think the risk level then is very low and quite acceptable,” Tony Shepherd told radio station 2GB this morning.

Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd at the Sydney Cricket Ground.Credit:Gregg Porteous

Host Ben Fordham asked the chairman whether in practical terms that meant people who arrived at the stadium for an event without proof of vaccination would be turned away.

“That would be it,” Mr Shepherd replied. “Simple, very simple.”

He wants the government to make a call on the policy for 2022 but recognised it was about “freedom of choice”.

“My strong personal view - and I’ve workshopped this with a lot of people, family and what have you - is that why should people who have been vaccinated be compromised by having to sit next to people who are unvaccinated?

“I think it’s just a sensible precaution. I’m not forcing people to get vaccinated, it’s entirely up to them. If they want to watch the cricket, they can watch it on TV if they don’t want to have a vaccination.”

Mr Shepherd said it was the type of decision that needed to be made to return to a sense of normality and would not only help to bring people back to the games they love but encourage people to get vaccinated.

Lockdowns will become “a thing of the past” once Australia reaches 70 to 80 per cent vaccination, according to the Prime Minister.

Scott Morrison said while there may be unique circumstances where lockdowns are still needed â€" such as for outbreaks in remote Aboriginal communities â€" lockdowns would be broadly unnecessary.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the 70 per cent vaccination target can be reached before Christmas.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“We start saying goodbye to (lockdowns) at 70 per cent, and they become basically pretty much a thing of the past when we hit 80 per cent,” he told Brisbane radio station 4BC earlier this morning.

“There are new variants, so we will be careful, but that is it: they will become much less likely, and much more targeted too.

“We’ve seen our vaccination on double dose now more than doubled in the last month ... we’ve got our gold medal run through the end of the year to get this done.”

Mr Morrison noted the federal government could not legislate to incentivise more freedoms for those who are fully vaccinated, with orders needing to come from public health departments in each state. Tasmania, Victoria and Northern Territory are now working on recommendations for national cabinet around what advantages Australians with two doses of vaccine should receive, he said.

Mr Morrison also thanked those in lockdown in south-east Queensland, saying the only way to ensure longer lockdowns didn’t happen was to move quickly.

“It’s a difficult thing to go through these lockdowns, but people now know the drill, and sadly this is the drill we have to follow with the Delta variant. It’s changed everything,” he said.

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