NSW announces new measures as AMA says health system ‘can no longer manage’ – as it happened

That’s where I’ll leave you for tonight. It’s been a big day. Let’s recap what we learned.

• New South Wales recorded its worst day of the pandemic for the third time in less than a week. Despite seven weeks in lockdown, the state recorded 466 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday and four new deaths. The state’s premier, Gladys Berejiklian, called the situation “dire” and warned the state faced months of further lockdown.
• The worsening crisis saw the state again overhaul its restrictions. Late on Saturday the government announced the entire state would enter a seven-day lockdown, which will see schools close for at least a week. A number of new measures were introduced including harsher fines, tightened restrictions on movement and a requirement for people in hotspot LGAs to register a nominated “single buddy”.
• The rise in cases in regional NSW has sparked concerns for the state’s health system, and the Australian Medical Association warned the outbreak meant some areas “can no longer manage the alarming increase in case numbers”. Of particular concern are the towns of Dubbo and Walgett, where vulnerable Aboriginal communities represent the “vast majority” of new cases, according to health officials.
• In Victoria there were 21 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, almost half of them in the community while infectious. The state’s health minister, Martin Foley, said new cases were being recorded in multiple suburbs across Melbourne. There are now more than 450 exposure sites across the city, including several large apartment blocks.
• Queensland recorded six new cases, including a one-year-old child, but all of the cases were linked to the state’s Indooroopilly cluster and none were infectious while in the community.
• The ACT recorded one new case, bringing the total number of cases in the territory to seven. Health officials said genomic sequences had confirmed the original case recorded on Thursday had been linked to the Sydney outbreak, but were still unsure how the 27-year-old man who tested positive for the virus had contracted it. He has told local media he had not travelled to Sydney.

No public holidays for Parkes...

The Australian Retailers Association has released a statement suggesting the statewide lockdown in NSW could cost the economy $1.5bn a week.

CEO Paul Zahra said the announcement was not a surprise, but said the timing – only a few hours before the lockdown was due to begin – would leave regional businesses scrambling.

Small businesses are the life blood of so many regional towns and the lockdown will come as quite a shock, given this is something many haven’t experienced since the very beginning of the pandemic.

This announcement has come with only a couple of hours’ notice, which leaves regional businesses scrambling, standing down staff, reorganising stock and bracing for an uncertain future.

Existing state and federal supports provide some level of comfort; however, it won’t totally offset the losses many businesses are set to suffer.

We encourage customers to continue supporting their local businesses by shopping online, use contactless ‘click and collect’ or check out the takeaway and delivery options that might be available. Every dollar you spend keeps someone in a job.

The NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, is speaking on the ABC about this statewide lockdown.

He’s confirmed two key things not clarified by the NSW Health statement:

• Schools across the state will be closed for seven days.
• There are no distance limits for regional parts of the state.

Barilaro says the decision was made today after “numbers coming out of Dubbo overnight and further numbers this morning”. The state considered locking down further local government areas, but Barilaro says sewage testing in areas with no known cases of Covid-19 convinced the government to lock down the entire state.

Barilaro says part of the decision to lock down is a “precautionary measure” to ensure the regional health capacity doesn’t become overwhelmed. He says while the state has the ability to move resources around where needed, the “reality is some of these small and regional communities don’t have an ICU unit”.

“We do have plans in place [but] at the same time we don’t want to see those very limited resources overwhelmed.”

Quite something.

The premier speaks ... via Twitter. The reason this statewide lockdown wasn’t announced at her press conference at 11am was “health advice concerning multiple regional areas”.

I guess we won’t know what that advice was until tomorrow though, because at this point there’s no indication that anyone from the NSW government intends to hold a press conference to take questions on a lockdown affecting the entire state.

OK, we have the official announcement on that 5pm statewide NSW lockdown. It’s a long one, so stay with me.

These new orders will replace any existing orders across regional NSW. It extends until 12.01am on Sunday 22 August.

The advice from NSW Health states:

Everyone must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They also cannot have visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends.

People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers’ responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together.

All hospitality venues must be closed to the public, including pubs, restaurants and cafes, except for takeaway.

Retail premises are required to close except for:

• supermarkets and grocery stores
• shops that predominantly sell food or drinks eg butchers, bakeries, fruit shops and delicatessens, but does not include restaurants or cafes
• chemists and pharmacies
• kiosks
• shops that predominantly sell office supplies, pet supplies, newspapers, magazines and stationery, alcohol, maternity and baby supplies, medical or pharmaceutical supplies
• food and drink premises, but only to sell takeaway
• cellar door premises, but only to sell takeaway
• hardware and building supplies
• landscaping material supplies
• rural supplies
• timber yards
• garden centres and plant nurseries
• vehicle hire premises, not including the premises at which vehicles are sold
• shops that predominantly carry out mobile phone repairs

Service stations, banks, post offices, laundromats and drycleaners can remain open.

Anyone who leaves their home must carry a mask with them at all times. They must be worn when working outdoors, by all school staff, by all people in outdoor markets, outdoor shopping strips, and in an outdoor queues waiting for products such as coffee and food.

Every employer across NSW must require their employees to work from home unless it is not reasonably practicable.

It is a reasonable excuse to leave your home for work – but only if it is not practicable to work from home.

There will be a one-day ‘grace period’ for planned weddings and funerals in the regional areas that have not already been subject to a lockdown. Those events may go ahead until 12.01am on Monday 16 August 2021, but only with guests from areas that have not already been subject to a lockdown. From Monday, small funerals and memorial services of 10 persons only (excluding the persons conducting the service) will be permitted.

14 Aug 202101.16 EDT

Ben Doherty

The former prime minister Kevin Rudd has said the US, Australia and their allies should abandon the withdrawal of Afghanistan, as a resurgent Taliban impresses on the capital Kabul.

He said:

The fall of Oruzgun province to the Taliban, and the reported threat to Kabul, is an unmitigated disaster for the good people of Afghanistan. They do not deserve this.

I fear for the lives of all Afghans who have worked closely with Australian and allied forces in the past, just as I am especially fearful of retribution against Afghan women and children who for 20 years have had new educational and life opportunities opened to them.

Rudd said the fall of Kabul would be seen historically as akin to the fall of Saigon in 1975 and would be a major blow to US authority across the world.

It would also be an appalling failure given the sacrifice of tens of thousands of Australian troops over the course of this century, including those still suffering the scars of war, and those who lost their lives.

I believe it is now urgent that the US administration reverse the course of its final military withdrawal … if the US does so, and recommits a modest force to Kabul, disaster may still be averted.

Australia should support a re-commitment of troops.

Rudd said he understood his position would be unpopular, given Australia’s “collective exhaustion” at a two-decades war, Australia’s longest.

But I expect perceptions to change rapidly once we begin seeing images on our screens of mass civilian slaughter, public beheadings, and the enslavement of millions of women and girls. Perceptions will change further when Afghanistan once again becomes a safe haven for global terrorist operations.

Still no official announcement from NSW Health on this statewide lockdown, but the deputy premier, John Barilaro, did issue this tweet a little earlier:

South Australia has revoked its cross-border corridor with New South Wales, meaning people from within that corridor are now banned from entering the state. The only exceptions are essential travellers and people escaping domestic violence.

Essential travellers will be subject to the state’s level four requirements, meaning:

• A Covid-19 test on day one, five and 13.
• Self-quarantine for 14 days (from the day of arrival).
• Must wear a face mask (covering mouth and nose) at any time that they come into contact with the public for a period of 14 days after their arrival in South Australia.

People escaping domestic violence will be subject to level five requirements:

• A Covid-19 test on day one, five and 13.
• Quarantine for 14 days (not counting the day of arrival) at a place approved by an authorised officer.
• Must wear a face mask (covering mouth and nose) at any time that they come into contact with the public for a period of 14 days after their arrival in South Australia.

The Australian Medical Association has released a statement calling for exactly what the NSW government will announce this afternoon: a statewide lockdown.

The AMA’s NSW president, Dr Danielle McMullen, has released a statement warning the state’s health system “can no longer manage the alarming increase in case numbers”.

McMullen says:

The piecemeal approach to lockdown isn’t working. It creates an ‘us versus them’ mentality between LGAs, when really, we need to treat this virus like it’s everywhere, all the time. Every person in NSW must play their part or more people are going to get sick and sadly, more people are going to die.

Doctors from across NSW are exhausted and concerned for their community. Our already fragile rural and regional health system will be unable to cope with increases in cases.

Rural and regional doctors have supported their communities through bushfires, floods and Covid. Many have been unable to get locums or take leave.

Healthcare professionals are stepping up for their communities to vaccinate NSW residents, but vaccinations take time to work. Until we can get more jabs in arms, we need all residents to obey the restrictions.

Doctors across NSW are concerned that we are not going to be able to provide care for patients with other illnesses. If you are not worried about getting Covid, you should be worried about whether you will be able to get the care you need for other health conditions or unforeseen health emergencies.

I’ve confirmed that now. All of NSW – including those regional areas that weren’t covered by stay-at-home orders – will be put into lockdown from 5pm. I’m told there’s more detail to follow from NSW Health this afternoon, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see another press conference.

A New South Wales Nationals MP, Ben Franklin, has gone on Facebook to announce he has been told that there will be a statewide lockdown from 5pm tonight.

Franklin has written that he’s been “advised by the deputy premier” that “a seven day lockdown for ALL of Regional NSW will be in place from 5pm this evening”.

This is an important step to try to stop the spread of the virus further into the regions.

For residents in the Lismore, Ballina, Byron and Richmond Valley LGAs this will mean that the current lockdown will not be lifted at 12.01am on Tuesday 17 August as originally planned, but will now be extended to 5pm on Saturday 21 August.

Thank you to everyone in our community who is working together to get on top of the situation. Testing numbers have been high in the Northern Rivers and today we saw another day with no new positive cases.

I’ve asked the premier’s office if they can confirm this.

Franklin is not a minister, and announcing a statewide lockdown to his 1,800 followers on Facebook is, uh, quite something.

A correction from NSW Health. Only 13 cases in the Hunter region. Two subsequently received a negative test, and one is not from the Hunter.

You love to see it.

The NSW opposition leader, Chris Minns, has called on the government to extend the new test and isolate payments to regional NSW. He released this statement a little earlier:

The next few weeks are going to be tough for the people of New South Wales.

We want these measures to work. We want lockdowns to end. We want life to go back to normal as soon as possible.

But the NSW government needs to ensure vital financial support is in place for people who need it.

That must start with small business support, where struggling businesses continue to have their applications left in limbo and issues continue to plague Service NSW while they are hanging by a thread.

We are also calling for the new ‘test and isolate’ payment to be extended to the regions. No one should be left financially worse off because they are doing the right thing.

NSW Health has released a new venue of concern for Dubbo.

Anyone who attended the gymnastics area of Fitness Focus on 7 Jannali Road, Dubbo on Monday 9 August from 3.53pm to 5.05pm is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they were there, regardless of the result.

Have seen some uncertainty around about the new NSW restrictions and how they apply to people in greater Sydney who aren’t in those designated hotspot LGAs.

I’ve been able to confirm the following: If you live outside of a hotspot LGA and your intimate partner lives more than 5km away, you are still allowed to visit them.

The same goes for your single bubble buddy: I’m informed that they do not need to be within 5km.

In case that wasn’t totally clear from today’s announcement (it wasn’t).

Quite the concession from the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, during the press conference this morning...