Weekly COVID news at a glance

1 Shepparton shares hope

Northern Victoria’s city of Shepparton is enjoying its freedom after being released from lockdown on Wednesday. Shepparton’s lockdown lasted several weeks after a growing cluster of cases. 20-year-old local hip-hop artist Jonathan Safari said the lockdown created financial strain for musicians after all gigs had to be cancelled.

hip-hop artist Jonathan Safari

Shepparton is one of regional Victoria’s most culturally diverse towns, and Mr Safari moved there three years ago after growing up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then Kenya. To support his community, he created an online talent show, offering a one-thousand-dollar prize to support struggling artists in the area.

Ballarat

But while Shepparton has new freedoms, Ballarat is now in lockdown to battle a small number of COVID-19 cases there. Local nurse Realene Wilson says she wants Shepparton’s success to give hope to people in Ballarat that they can contain the virus and be out of lockdown soon.

2 Melbourne anti-lockdown Protest

Over 200 people have been arrested with six police hospitalised after Melbourne’s violent anti-lockdown protests on Saturday. 193 of those people were arrested for breaching covid rules while the rest were arrested for other charges, including assaulting police, and carrying weapons and drugs.

Protesters threw bottles, stones and other objects at police. 10 police were injured, six of which were in hospital with broken noses, broken fingers, and various other injuries.

Northwest metro region Commander Mark Galliot said the protest seemed purposeless and people appeared to be there to fight with officers instead of coming together to protest about their freedom. The event was expected to have between 6-thousand and 7-thousnd attendees, but instead between 500 and 700 people turned up.

3 Welfare recipients struggle with cost of living

Welfare recipients under stay-at-home orders and barred from additional Covid support – in total more than 80% of those on working-age Centrelink payments – say they are struggling with the extra costs of living under lockdown.

As part of a push to offer extra income support to the more than 800,000 people currently left out, the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) surveyed welfare recipients currently living under stay-at-home orders in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

Of the 216 people surveyed, almost all respondents (96%) said they were struggling with the cost of living and 41.5% said they were at risk of homelessness because of the high cost of housing.

4 Sydney’s hotspots awake to relaxed restrictions

Those in Sydney’s hardest hit suburbs are set for their first taste of ‘freedom’ in months, with recreation rules relaxing as vaccination rates continue to climb.

Children under 12 are not included in the gathering limit. From Monday 27 September, all public pools across NSW will be able to open with a COVID-safe plan in place.

5 Pregnant Women forced to Isolate

120 pregnant women have been forced into isolation after the Mercy Hospital for Women was declared a Tier one exposure site. A patient who tested positive visited the women’s outpatient clinic in Heidelberg while infectious.

The hospital says it is taking extra caution by asking all visitors, staff and patients to immediately get tested and isolate for 14-days Health authorities are urging pregnant women, who are likely to get more ill if they catch the COVID virus, to get vaccinated.

Mercy Hospital for Women

6 Victoria pharmacies prepare to administer Moderna

Victorian Pharmacy Guild president Anthony Tassone said 440 pharmacies in the state will receive the Moderna vaccine this week, and another 281 next week.

Victorian Pharmacy Guild president Anthony Tassone

Pharmacies will now be administering both AstraZeneca and Moderna. He warned Moderna will not be available to people aged over 60 yet, and said the time recommended between doses is four weeks.