Category: Australia

First shipments of COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine secured under UK deal land in Australia

Australia has received its first shipments of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from a major swap deal with the UK, with two flights carrying more than 457,000 doses touching down in Sydney.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week announced the deal would add 4 million Pfizer doses to Australia’s supplies, doubling the nation’s Pfizer supply this month.

The first flight from London was carrying 164,970 doses landed on Sunday evening while the second, carrying 292,500 doses, arrived a few hours later.

It came as the national medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), approved an additional half a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from Singapore, after they arrived last week under a separate vaccine swap deal.

The government has agreed to return the same number of doses at a later date.

Vaccines arrive as rollout expands

The additional supplies have arrived as Australia moves to expand its vaccine rollout, with 12- to 15-year-olds able to get the Pfizer shot from next week.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sonya Bennett said the extra vaccines had bolstered the rollout.

“The additional supply is really reassuring,” she said

“We just would like to encourage all Australians to book in and get their first dose as soon as possible,” Ms Bennett said.

The government has been repeatedly criticised for not securing more vaccines sooner, with supply issues and changing advice hindering the rollout initially.

But speaking in Sydney, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the doses from the UK would close a supply gap this month and help states boost vaccination rates.

“I was very pleased when the Prime Minister announced extra doses, of which New South Wales will get their share, because there was going to be a gap in supply in September and now, to some extent, that has been closed, which is positive, so we now look forward to people coming forward and getting vaccinated,” she said.

“Come October, supply won’t be an issue, so it is really about how we manage the vaccination strategy for the next four weeks.”

The doses from the UK will now be batch tested by the TGA before being released.

NSW Police are treating as suspicious a fire which badly damaged a COVID-19 testing clinic in Sydney’s west.

About 10:50pm on Saturday police were patrolling nearby and discovered the fire at the testing site on Forrester Road in North St Marys.

On arrival, a demountable building was well alight before firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze.

Police searched the surrounding area and discovered graffiti on a separate building.

Some of the graffiti read: “COVID-19 is a lie. People wake up now. Fight the system. Revolt.

Nepean Police Area Command Crime Manager Detective Inspector Jason Pietruszka described the messages as “anti-government and anti-COVID”.

“To be perfectly honest, obviously I think they’re quite ridiculous and quite pointless to engage in such conduct.

“To make such comments, and to engage in such activity is criminal and will be seriously frowned upon by the courts when that person is put before them.”

Detective Inspector Pietruszka said people were entitled to have an opinion “but what this person has engaged in overnight is criminal”.

“It’s also very damaging to the community who rely on this testing clinic to assist with the health message and with their own health,” he said.

No testing swabs were destroyed in the fire and Detective Inspector Pietruszka said the clinic would be able to continue to administer tests, despite the damage caused.

NSW Police said while the cause of the fire was yet to be determined, but it was being treated as suspicious.

While investigations are still ongoing and officers are scouring CCTV of the area, police believe only one person is involved in the incident.

“Judging on what they’ve done today, they’re very likely to do it again,” Detective Inspector Pietruszka said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was disappointed to hear of the alleged arson attack.

“It is always disappointing when people ignore health advice or pretend that COVID-19 is not serious,” she said.

“A number of people do have those views and demonstrate them from time to time and that is the threat of Delta.”

Police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers. ABC News

Qantas loss remains large even before Sydney lockdown. Qantas has posted another massive COVID-related loss, but is optimistic international travel will resume before Christmas. The airline lost $1.73 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, as the global COVID pandemic raged.

The loss is actually a little smaller than the previous year’s $1.96 billion loss, despite revenue plunging by 58 per cent to less than $6 billion, due to an aggressive cost-cutting campaign and staff stand-downs.

However, Qantas estimates that the pandemic has so far cost it around $16 billion in lost revenues over the past two financial years, with that set to rise to $20 billion by the end of this calendar year.

“This loss shows the impact that a full year of closed international borders and more than 330 days of domestic travel restrictions had on the national carrier,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.

For now, Qantas is assuming that current domestic border closures will remain in place until early December, which will wipe about $1.4 billion off its top-line profit numbers for the current half year.

Offsetting that, Qantas said it had already achieved $650 million per annum of ongoing savings from its cost-cutting program, while the current eight-week domestic staff stand-down will be extended while New South Wales and Victoria remain locked down.

The airline said it had paid down around half a billion dollars of debt and was looking at a potential land sale in Mascot, near Sydney Airport, to pay down hundreds of millions more.

In the meantime, Qantas said it had $3.8 billion in cash and available debt facilities to finance it through its current losses.

“It’s obviously up to government exactly how and when our international borders re-open, but with Australia on track to meet the 80 per cent trigger agreed by National Cabinet by the end of the year, we need to plan ahead for what is a complex restart process,” Mr Joyce said.

“We can adjust our plans if the circumstances change, which we’ve already had to do several times during this pandemic.

“Some people might say we’re being too optimistic, but based on the pace of the vaccine rollout, this is within reach and we want to make sure we’re ready.”

Qantas said the initial routes being planned for include Singapore, the United States, Japan, United Kingdom and Canada, while it expects the New Zealand travel bubble will resume in some form by mid-December.

The airline said it was hoping to restart flights to Hong Kong in February and the rest of the Qantas and Jetstar international network was set to open up from April 2022, with capacity increasing gradually.

So hopeful is the airline of an immediate rebound in travel demand when borders reopen that it has plans to bring back five of its A380 Airbus super jumbos earlier than expected, in 2022, although it is also planning to retire two, bringing its fleet of the planes down to 10. ABC News

Two men have been charged with animal cruelty among other offences after allegedly striking a police horse during Sydney’s anti-lockdown protests.

Two men will face court in the wake of an anti-lockdown protest in central Sydney, accused among other offences of striking a police horse.

Fifty-seven people have already been charged and 90 infringement notices issued over Saturday’s protest, while a police strike force has been established to hunt down those who took part.

NSW Police on Sunday morning said officers were assaulted amid the unrest and police horses were struck and pushed.

A 33-year-old Surry Hills man was arrested late on Saturday night, as was a 36-year-old man from Edensor Park in Sydney’s southwest.

Both were charged with committing an act of cruelty upon an animal and failing to comply with public health orders, while the Edensor Park man was also charged with assaulting a police officer.

They will both appear in Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.

A special strike force of detectives is analysing footage from social media, CCTV and police-worn body cameras to identify and punish those who defied stay-at-home orders on Saturday.

New South Wales has recorded 141 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and two related deaths.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejikilian said two women – one in her 70s and one in her 30s with no pre-existing conditions – died overnight.

“If anybody think this is a disease just affecting older people, please think again,” she said on Sunday.

“I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to those families, their loved ones who are grieving today, but please note that younger people without pre-existing conditions can also fall victim to this cruel disease.”

The daily number of new cases continues to remain above 100, with 141 new infections recorded. Thirty-eight people were infectious in the community out of over 102,000 tests.

Ms Berejiklian urged Sydneysiders to focus on reducing the number of people infectious in the community, as she condemned the anti-lockdown protests attended by thousands on Saturday.

“It just broke my heart that people had such a disregard for their fellow citizens,” she said.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said more charges are expected to be laid over Saturday’s anti-lockdown protest.

“The investigation into people’s behaviour yesterday will continue for some time, so I expect over the next few days and perhaps weeks that that number of penalty infringement notices will continue to be high.”

At least 57 protesters have been charged and 510 fines have been issued.

He said police officers suffered minor injuries after being assaulted, and two men have been charged over allegedly striking a police horse.

“The behaviour was absolutely disgusting. It will not be tolerated.”

He urged people to submit photos and videos to CrimeStoppers to help police identify protesters.

Ms Berejiklian said there are concerns the anti-lockdown protest in Sydney’s CBD could be a “super-spreader event”.

“I hope that it is not a setback, but it could be.”

“This is a horribly cruel disease, and that is why our response has been so strong against it. But we rely on people not only to do the right thing, but not to openly, openly threaten the health and safety of the broader community.”

Ms Berejiklian urged people to get vaccinated, after ATAGI updated its advice on Saturday urging all adults in Greater Sydney to consider having the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“Firstly, please know that what will get us through this outbreak is a combination of our restrictions, but also of more people being vaccinated.

“Can I urge everybody to come forward and get vaccinated. As you know, the health advice has changed in the last few days, so everybody is welcomed to come forward and get the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

NSW Health’s Jeremy McAnulty said the majority of the new cases were in western and south-western Sydney.

He urged people to come forward for testing in areas where virus fragments were detected in wastewater, including in Byron Bay and Moss Vale in southern NSW. SBS

The travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand has been suspended.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday that “the Delta variant has materially changed the risk profile”.

From 11:59pm tonight, Australians will be unable to travel to New Zealand on a quarantine-free flight.

This restriction will be in place for at least the next eight weeks.

The decision was confirmed after a meeting of International Olympic Committee delegates in Tokyo. Queensland’s delegation — including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Federal Sports Minister Richard Colbeck — had to restrain themselves to standing and clapping with COVID-19 restrictions ruling out any close-contact celebrations.

Brisbane’s CBD riverside erupted in fireworks as the announcement was made. Following the announcement, Ms Palaszczuk, Cr Schrinner and Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates took part in the formal signing of the Olympics contract.

Ms Palaszczuk said she was “so excited”.

“I have so much pride in my state for our people. Never in my lifetime did I think this was going to happen. It’s amazing,” the Premier said.

IOC president Thomas Bach cited Brisbane’s alignment with reforms and the Olympic agenda as among reasons for the city’s successful bid.

“It’s a very sustainable project and it’s a project with a great legacy and it’s project from a sports-loving nation and this is what it is all about, to see sports-loving Aussies facilitating the Olympic Games. I hope I can still make it till then to be there,” he said.

The 80 IOC delegates in Tokyo voted 72 to 5 in favour of Brisbane, with three abstentions.

The bid’s support from all levels of government and the private sector, Brisbane’s experience in handling major events, a high percentage of existing venues and favourable weather were among the attributes that helped convince the IOC to award the city the Games.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the win as a “historic day not just for Brisbane and Queensland, but for the entire country”.

“Only global cities can secure the Olympic Games, so this is a fitting recognition for Brisbane’s standing across our region and the world,” Mr Morrison said.

The Brisbane bid predicts an operating budget of $4.5 billion will  be needed for the 2032 Games.

The IOC is set to provide $2.5 billion in funding, leaving the rest to be raised from ticket sales and sponsorship.

The selection of Brisbane means Australia becomes only the second country in the world, after the United States, to stage summer Olympic Games in three different cities.

It was the second successful bid for Mr Coates, who also took part in lobbying for the Sydney 2000 Games.

“I was never sure how I would feel second time around … every bit as emotional,” Mr Coates said.

An expanded Gabba stadium will be the centrepiece of the Brisbane Games, which will run from July 23 to August 8, to be immediately followed by the Paralympics.

Events will be staged at more than 30 venues across south-east Queensland in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Logan, Ipswich and Redlands.

Two athlete villages are expected to be constructed — one in Brisbane, the other on the Gold Coast.

Up to 14,000 athletes will be accommodated in the Brisbane village in the inner north-eastern suburb of Albion.

The village project has been described as Queensland’s largest waterfront urban renewal program.

The announcement came shortly after the Australian delegation made their final pitch for the Games, the third to be held in Australia.

During final deliberations, Brisbane faced little opposition with offers from India, Indonesia, Qatar, Spain and Germany failing to make it past the IOC board stage.

Arguments for Brisbane included Queensland being the fastest growing state in Australia and the fact that hosting the Games would align with a strategy to improve local transport infrastructure and promote economic growth.

It will also position Queensland as a tourism hub in the Asia Pacific region and attract major sports and events to the state, according to Brisbane’s bid document released in February.

Australia previously hosted the summer Olympics in Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.abcnews