Australia news LIVE Cleo Smiths alleged abductor charged WA border to remain closed until state vaccination rate hits 90 per cent double dose Victoria records 1343 new COVID-19 cases 10 deaths

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Racing will go ahead as normal at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday for the final day of the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival, and crowd numbers will be unaffected, following the discovery of two positive COVID-19 cases who attended Cup Day on Tuesday.

A contractor working at the course and a racegoer both tested positive to COVID-19 after attending Cup Day, when Verry Elleegant stormed to victory in Australia’s great race.

In a statement, Victoria Racing Club said both individuals are fully vaccinated and the two cases are not linked.

“The contractor who tested positive worked two full days in the Arbour in the purple zone on the ground floor of the Club Stand. The Department of Health has advised the VRC that patrons and staff who attended the Arbour on Cup Day are considered at low risk.

“The patron who tested positive attended the deck bar within the green zone on Cup Day and the Department of Health is in direct contact with the patron and their two social close contacts, who are also fully vaccinated.

“Patrons who attended the deck bar on Cup Day are being contacted directly via SMS by the VRC and staff have also been contacted. Patrons are advised to monitor their health and get tested if they develop any symptoms.

“The two venues have been deep cleaned and will be ready for safe operation for Stakes Day on Saturday.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalisations will increase as restrictions are eased across the state but the government is ready for the challenge.

“We are incredibly confident as challenges come our way,” Mr Perrottet said at a press conference with Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning.

“The pandemic is not over; as we open up, case numbers will increase, hospitalisations will increase, we know that. But we are ready.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning.Credit:Edwina Pickles

Mr Morrison said the challenge for states that have not experienced the large COVID-19 outbreaks in NSW and Victoria was to lift vaccination rates.

“Those numbers are lifting, they obviously haven’t moved as quickly as they have in NSW and Victoria and the ACT,” Mr Morrison said.

As reported earlier today, Western Australia will not reopen its interstate and international borders until 90 per cent of its population aged 12 and over is fully vaccinated. That milestone is expected to be reached in late January or February. Tasmania is the only other state to set a 90 per cent target for easing border restrictions.

“I acknowledge some people will be frustrated. They may not be able to be reunited with family from NSW or Victoria over Christmas,” WA Premier Mark McGowan said earlier today.

“I won’t be able to see my parents and my brother until the transition in late January or early February. But as difficult as it is, it is for the right reasons. It’s about following the health advice and keeping Western Australia safe. We need to achieve the 90 per cent vaccination rate to safely make the transition.”

Mr McGowan likened the state’s road map out of COVID-19 restrictions to landing a plane.

“The most dangerous time in flight is when you’re trying to land the plane and landing the plane is something we are trying to do with minimal disruption, minimal sickness and deaths. We don’t want to crash.

“We are now towards the very end of the process on reopening the state to the other states and the world, and we don’t want to make a mess of it and crash and fall at the last hurdle.”

Almost 80 per cent of the WA population aged 12 and over (79.3 per cent) have received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 62.7 per cent are double-dosed.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said today that “we need two million Western Australians double-dose vaccinated to reach 90 per cent and at the moment, 1.75 million have had one dose, and 1.4 million have had two doses.

“So, we need 250,000 to get their first dose, and 600,000 more, two doses.”

Camping will be delayed at popular Mornington Peninsula sites for up to eight weeks after recent storms caused extensive damage in the region.

The Mornington Peninsula Shire has reported the areas affected include Rosebud, Rye, Sorrento and McCrae.

A council statement said there had been a high volume of calls from residents needing assistance after the recent bout of wild weather.

This week some residents of the Mornington Peninsula still remained without electricity after the storms caused extensive damage to power infrastructure.

Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Despi O’Connor said she hoped to have some sections open soon but the safety of campers was the priority.

“We will await advice from the experts that trees have been declared safe before opening,” she said.

“We are so keen to have campers back on the peninsula but unfortunately we’ll have to wait a little longer.”

The council said it had notified campers of the delay to the season, which was set to begin today.

The reopening of camping grounds will be staggered once they are considered safe.

Cr Despi said residents had made thousands of calls for support on Friday last week and over the weekend to the State Emergency Service and the council.

“There are many days and weeks of recovery ahead of us and we continue to assess the extent of the storm damage.”

The number of Victorians in intensive care with COVID-related illness is tracking modelling from the Burnet Institute used for the state’s road map out of lockdown, according to the head of a major Melbourne hospital.

Austin Health chief executive Adam Horsburgh said hospitals were monitoring both the numbers of infectious COVID-19 patients and non-infectious virus patients still in intensive care as a measure of ICU capacity. Only the infectious patient numbers are made public.

The Age reported on Friday that dozens of COVID-19 patients in Victorian ICUs are missing from official figures, as the state’s health department does not report those who are lingering in hospital, with some of them the most gravely ill.

Mr Horsburgh said the Burnet Institute’s modelling on the number of ICU admissions during Victoria’s current Delta outbreak, which was used to engineer the state’s exit road map from lockdown, was proving accurate.

“So the Burnet modelling would estimate that we would have around 195 ICU admissions at this point in time.

“So if you include both the infectious and the cleared ICU patients ... that figure is around 175 today, so it is pretty close.”

The ICU numbers came as detail on Victoria’s emergency room admissions, elective surgery lists and ambulance targets was released today by the Department of Health.

While all urgent category 1 elective surgery patients were seen within the benchmark of 30 days in the first quarter of 2021-2022, there are still more than 67,500 people on the elective surgery waiting list.

That number is set to climb in the next quarter due to current restrictions on non-urgent surgery.

Victorian emergency departments saw 445,373 patients across the first three months of the financial year, up by more than 83,000 presentations when compared to the same time period last year.

Royal Melbourne Hospital chief executive Christine Kilpatrick said that a key metric for emergency rooms was the percentage of patients who are discharged or admitted to a ward within four hours of arrival.

While the public health system’s target is 81 per cent, last quarter the state managed just 61 per cent of admissions discharged or admitted within four hours.

Professor Kilpatrick said that while the figures on elective surgery and emergency departments were “not what we want”, targets had not been designed for a world facing a pandemic.

“The important thing is that we’re still providing great care to the patients who have COVID, and also people who don’t,” she said.

A second person has tested positive for COVID-19 in the Northern Territory, a day after the jurisdiction recorded its first ever locally acquired case.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said a household contact of the first case in Katherine, about 300 kilometres south of Darwin, had the virus.

The original case, a man in his 20s, works at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, outside of Katherine, but resides in Humpty Doo, about 40 kilometres south of Darwin.

He had not recently travelled interstate and authorities are unsure how the virus entered the Northern Territory.
The man and his household contacts have since been transferred to Howard Springs quarantine facility.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Charles Pain said he was confident authorities could “get on top” of the cases.

“We still don’t know where he got it from,” he said on Friday afternoon.

“We have a few days to go before we can consider what we will do next.”

Mr Gunner announced on Thursday night that Katherine would enter a snap 72-hour lockdown as a result of the first case.

A COVID-19 hotspot in Melbourne’s north has needed help from paramedics 46 per cent more often than this time last year.

Ambulance Victoria CEO Tony Walker said he’d “never seen pressure on their paramedics like this” in his 35-year career.

The local government area of Hume in Melbourne’s north - which has been at the heart of Victoria’s major Delta outbreak - has recorded a 46 per cent increase in calls across three months compared with the same time in 2020.

Ambulance Victoria is now responding to around 2000 cases a day, with around half serious enough to require ‘lights and sirens’. Around 200 patients a day have COVID-19.

“If you’re sick, you’ll get a good, quick response, if you’re not overly sick or if you’re not urgent, you may have to wait longer than we’d like,” Mr Walker said.

“We’ve been impacted quite heavily, as you’re seeing in the release in today’s performance data. COVID is increasing demand in the community.”

Mr Walker urged the community to not call triple zero unless it was a medical emergency.

Ambulance Victoria reported a 17 per cent increase in its caseload in the last quarter, compared with the same period last year.

Mr Walker said 14 Ambulance Victoria staff have tested positive for COVID-19, but all had mild symptoms and most were fully vaccinated. Around 98 per cent of Victorian paramedics are vaccinated.

Western Australia will reopen its interstate and international borders once 90 per cent of its population aged 12 and over has been fully vaccinated â€" the equal highest target set by an Australian state.

Premier Mark McGowan announced the goal as part of the state’s COVID road map, released on Friday.

However, he declined to set a date for the transition, which will be decided once the state reaches 80 per cent double-dose vaccination rates, likely in December.

WA Premier Mark McGowan announced the state’s COVID-19 road map on Friday.Credit:Peter de Kruijff

“Today’s announcement has come after extensive modelling was undertaken,” he said.“Given our current vaccination rates, these targets are realistic and within our sights.”

Mr McGowan said the transition - which is anticipated to occur in late January or early February - would allow for a “soft landing” out of the pandemic and require minimal restrictions to be reintroduced, with masks to be reintroduced only in high-risk settings.

“Proof of vaccination will be required to attend nightclubs, the casino and large events with more than 1000 people, like the footy or a concert,” he said.

“I acknowledge some people will be frustrated. They may not be able to be reunited with family from NSW or Victoria over Christmas. I know what that feels like. I understand.

“I won’t be able to see my parents and my brother until the transition in late January or early February. But as difficult as it is, it is for the right reasons. It’s about following the health advice and keeping Western Australia safe. We need to achieve the 90 per cent vaccination rate to safely make the transition.”

Under the plan, travellers from interstate will be required to be double-vaxxed and have recently returned a negative COVID test.

International arrivals will be required to be tested before and after arriving, but won’t be subject to quarantine if vaccinated. However, those who haven’t had the jab will be required to complete 14 days’ quarantine in a designated facility.

The higher immunisation target of 90 per cent is based on WA Health modelling which shows an additional 200 people would die if the state opened its borders at the national target of 80 per cent.

WA is about three weeks behind the national vaccination rates with 79.3 per cent of the population aged 12 and over having received a first dose and 62.7 per cent double-dosed.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said “we need two million Western Australians double-dose vaccinated to reach 90 per cent and at the moment, 1.75 million have had one dose, and 1.4 million have had two doses.

“So, we need 250,000 to get their first dose, and 600,000 more, two doses.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said her tourism-dependent state would reopen its borders after it hit a vaccination rate of 80 per cent, expected by December 17 in time for the summer holidays.

Tasmania will open at 90 per cent, likely on December 15, and the ACT from November 1.

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the day’s events. If you are just joining us now, here’s what you need to know:

In case you missed it last night, WA Police have charged a 36-year-old Carnarvon man over the abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith, who was reunited with her family on Wednesday morning after an 18-day search in the coastal town. Terence Darrell Kelly was charged with forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing away and detaining a child aged under 16, and one other charge.

Terence Darrell Kelly has been charged over the abduction of Cleo Smith, who was located on Wednesday at a house in Carnarvon. Mr Kelly was not there at the time.Credit:Nine

Mr Kelly appeared at Carnarvon Magistrates Court yesterday and was remanded in custody. He is next due in court on December 6.

The border change was being made “well ahead of the Christmas period”, Dominic Perrottet and Daniel Andrews said in a joint press release. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer, Getty

NSW and Victoria removed all remaining borders restrictions between the two states for fully vaccinated travellers at 11.59pm last night. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in a joint press release late yesterday that the states were “normalising living with the virus”.

The rules of entry differ slightly between the states: travellers entering Victoria do not have to quarantine or undergo a COVID-19 test, but they still have to obtain a permit before they arrive. “There are no requirements for fully vaccinated Victorians entering NSW, unless they have been to a place of high concern. However, Victorians over the age of 16 who are not fully vaccinated are not allowed to enter NSW for recreation or a holiday,” the joint release said.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the man’s exposure period “potentially” dated back to October 19.Credit:Facebook/Michael Gunner

The Northern Territory has recorded its first community transmission case of COVID-19. Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced late last night that Katherine, about 300 kilometres south of Darwin, would enter a 72-hour lockdown lasting until midnight on Sunday.

Mr Gunner said the case was a man aged in his 20s who is a contract worker at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, outside of Katherine, who had not travelled outside the Territory recently. He is not vaccinated and it was not yet clear how he contracted the virus.

The main street of Moree in June this year. Credit:Grace Quast

NSW has recorded 249 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths, a slight drop on yesterday’s total of 309 cases. Health authorities remain concerned about the spread of the virus in the northern NSW town of Moree following a “super-spreader” funeral and wake, and the virus continues to affect nursing homes in Albury. The rising number of infections in Moree prompted the Queensland government to declare the town a restricted border zone area from 12.01am today, barring entry to Queensland in all but exceptional circumstances.

There are 285 people in NSW’s hospitals with the virus, 61 of whom are in intensive care. Of the state’s population aged 16 and older, 93.8 per cent have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 89.1 per cent are fully vaccinated. The three people who died were aged in their 80s and 90s, including a fully vaccinated woman in her 90s who contracted the virus at the Mercy Place aged care facility in Albury and a partially vaccinated woman in her 80s who died at the Southern Cross Care residential care facility in Albury.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley.Credit:Joe Armao

Victoria is bracing for a surge in COVID-related hospitalisations as restrictions ease across the state, prompting Health Minister Martin Foley to announce a $307 million package today to ensure the state’s hospital and ambulance network is not overwhelmed.

There are already 634 people in the state’s hospitals with coronavirus, 109 of whom are intensive care, and the state recorded 1343 new cases today and 10 deaths. That’s up from yesterday’s total of 1247 cases. Eighty two per cent of Victorian residents aged 12 and over are now fully vaccinated.

A man in his 40s has died in Canberra after contracting COVID-19.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The ACT has recorded six new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and one death. A man in his 40s who was being treated in an intensive care unit died yesterday. Three people are in hospital in Canberra with coronavirus, one of whom is in intensive care and on a ventilator. To date, 11 people have died in the ACT after contracting the virus. More than 94 per cent of Canberrans aged 12 and over (94.4 per cent) are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Credit:Getty

A second man who was self-isolating in New Zealand after contracting COVID-19 has died at home, as the country recorded 163 new cases of the virus. It is the second suspected coronavirus-related death at home in as many days. The cause of death for both cases has yet to be determined officially.

Broede Carmody is signing off on the blog for today. I will keep you informed of the latest news throughout the afternoon and evening.

WA Premier Mark McGowan unveiled his state’s road map out of lockdown from 12.30pm AEDT (9.30am local time). He was joined by WA Health Minister Roger Cook.

You can watch that clip here.

Meanwhile, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley held a press conference at midday AEDT.

He was joined by Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker, Royal Melbourne Hospital boss Christine Kilpatrick and Austin Health CEO Adam Horsburgh.

Watch the clip below.

And NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner provided a coronavirus update around 12.30pm AEDT. Katherine is currently in a snap lockdown after the territory recorded its first instance of community transmission of COVID-19.

You can watch that press conference here.

More than a quarter of the coronavirus cases reported in NSW today were recorded in the Hunter New England Local Health District, as health authorities continue to be concerned by spread in the Moree area.

Of the 73 cases in the area, 15 were in Moree Plains council, which has experienced a recent surge in cases following a “super-spreader” funeral and wake, local health authorities said yesterday.

The area had previously been largely unaffected by the state’s Delta wave.

There were 44 new local cases in South Western Sydney Local Health District today, 29 in the Murrumbidgee region â€" including 28 in Albury where infections continue to be detected in an outbreak occurring across Albury-Wodonga â€" and 21 on the Mid North Coast (all but one linked to known cases).

As reported earlier this morning, NSW has recorded three additional deaths from COVID-19.

They included two aged care residents from Albury: a vaccinated woman in her 90s who was the sixth death at Mercy Place aged care facility, and a partially-vaccinated woman in her 80s who was the first death at Southern Cross aged care facility.

The third death was a man in his 80s from Sydney’s inner west who had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

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