Weekly COVID news at a glance

1  NSW entered state-wide lockdown

The lockdown was announced after New South Wales recorded 466 new cases and four more deaths. Outbreaks have spread to numerous regional New South Wales locations, including rural areas with health systems that would struggle to cope with an increase in cases 

There is growing concern for the Dubbo and Walgett outbreak, now at 42 cases. The region’s significant Aboriginal population was identified as a vaccination priority group 18 months ago. However, the region’s Indigenous community’s vaccination rates are less than half that of the general population.

The nation’s Aboriginal medical services’ peak body, NACCHO, said that less than 20% of Western New South Wales’ Indigenous community aged 16 and over had received one dose of any vaccine. This is well below the average in the region where 37% of all people have had at least one dose.

New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejikilian predicted more months of lockdown while low vaccination rates of 26% of adults being fully vaccinated, are lifted towards 70%.

2  Curfew and extended lockdown confirmed in Melbourne

Tougher COVID restrictions have been announced in Melbourne, including a curfew, the closure of playgrounds, and a two-week extension of the current lockdown. 

/  Premier of VIC Daniel Andrews

Premier Daniel Andrews said the new restrictions would come into effect 11:59pm Monday night and be in place until September 2 and come amid concerns about compliance with current restrictions. The curfew will be in force from 9:00pm to 5:00am each day.

As part of the new restrictions, playgrounds, basketball courts, skate parks and outdoor exercise equipment will be closed and people will no longer be allowed to remove their masks to consume alcohol outdoors. Large construction projects will be restricted to 25 per cent of their workforce, mobile pet grooming and letterboxing will be banned, and religious broadcasts will be limited to five people.

3  Local manufacture mRNA plan

Biotech giant, CSL, plans to build two new Melbourne facilities allowing Australia to locally manufacture mRNA which is the key ingredient in some COVID-19 vaccines.

CSL is the Australian company locally producing 50 million AstraZeneca doses. The new plan will mean Australia can fight future coronavirus waves without depending on importing vaccines from overseas. CSL says that the facility would allow Australia to manufacture more than two mRNA vaccine doses for every Australian in 16 weeks.

4  Online COVID vaccines translations updating

The federal health department has scrambled to update online COVID-19 translations around vaccines after some were discovered to be months out of date. With changes to vaccine eligibility moving fast, health professionals recently discovered advice on the department’s website was wrong in a number of languages when they checked it themselves. 

As first reported by newsGP, culturally and linguistically diverse Australians were still being told AstraZeneca was the preferred vaccine for over 50s, despite that advice being updated in June to reflect the risk posed by extremely rare blood clotting disorders.

Areas in western and southwestern Sydney that have high numbers of CALD residents have been at the centre of New South Wales’ COVID-19 crisis. Federal government data on regional vaccination rates to August released last week showed vaccination rates in Western Sydney were among the lowest in NSW.

5  1M Pfizer vaccine doses from Poland

One million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine are on the way to Australia, after the Polish government answered the Morrison government’s international pleas for help and as New South Wales authorities struggle to contain the state’s Covid outbreak.

/  Prime Minister Scott Morrison

A total of 530,000 of the new doses, due to arrive in Australia late on Sunday, have been quarantined for use in NSW for 20-to-39-year-olds living in the 12 hotspot Sydney local government areas.

The federal government said in a statement: “This will give everyone aged 20-to-39 years in the 12 LGAs the opportunity to be vaccinated. The remaining 470,340 Pfizer doses will be distributed on a per capita basis to other states and territories.”

6  Youngs urged to get vaccinated

The Victorian Government has announced that from Monday, all state-run clinics in Victoria will be offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone aged 18 to 39 years, including at the nation’s first drive through clinic in Melton.

People in this age group must undertake an informed consent process at the state-run clinics as part of the vaccination process. For more information on vaccination sites and how to access them, call the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398 or search the Department of Health website.