Coronavirus: Australian Open chaos after positive tests from two charter flights into Melbourne

Australia’s top health chief has predicted Australians won’t be travelling overseas this year even as people get the coronavirus jab. Secretary of the Department of Health, Professor Brendan Murphy, who lead Australia’s coronavirus response in his former role as chief health officer, said it was unlikely the federal government would open the nation’s international borders this year. “I think the answer is probably no. I think we will go most of this year with substantial border restrictions, even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don’t know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus and it is likely that quarantine will continue for some time,” Prof Murphy told ABC TV. “One of the things about this virus is that the rule book has been made up as we go. I was very careful early on, I remember saying this to the Prime Minister, I don’t want to predict more than two or three months ahead. “The world is changing so at the moment we have this light at the end of the tunnel, the vaccine, so we will go as safely and as fast as we can to get the population vaccinated and we will look at what happens then.” It comes as Australia approaches the one year anniversary of closing its international borders — a call that was made by Prof Murphy. “That was probably the most momentous day of my time. It was February 1,’’ he said. “I remember, I was actually in Melbourne on that day visiting family. And I looked at the news, saw the situation in China and phoned Minister Hunt and phoned the Prime Minister and had a series of meetings that day. And the borders were closed at 9pm that night. Which is an extraordinary thing. And I think that our border measures, in retrospect, have been one of the reasons why we have never really had significant community transmission, other than that second wave in Victoria.” NSW COVID TESTING FEARS AS STATE RECORDS NO NEW LOCAL CASES NSW has recorded no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases, but health authorities are worried about a drop in testing numbers. The number of people who got tested for COVID-19 was the lowest since mid-December when Sydney’s northern beaches cluster broke out. There were eight cases confirmed in overseas travellers who are in hotel quarantine in the 24-hour period ending at 8pm on Sunday, according to NSW Health. NSW Health also confirmed seven cases reported over the weekend were believed to be linked to the Berala cluster in Sydney’s west. “Whole genome sequencing suggests the seven cases reported over the weekend are linked to the Berala cluster,” deputy chief health officer Jeremy McAnulty said in a video statement. “Investigations and contact tracing are underway to establish the route of acquisition. While an epidemiological link has not yet been made, there is the possibility that others in the community may have the virus.” Medics are treating 97 patients sickened with COVID-19, one of whom is in intensive care, Dr McAnulty said. The new figures come as the rates of testing plummet, with only 8,773 people submitting to the nose-and-throat swab in the 24 hours leading up to 8pm Sunday. “The drop in daily testing numbers is of concern,” Dr McAnulty said. NSW reached a peak of over 69,000 tests on Christmas Eve, and since then the state has been nowhere near that record. The last time NSW recorded less than 10,000 tests was on December 18, the day after the northern beaches outbreak was publicly confirmed. Only 7,531 tests were recorded on December 18, before daily testing rates began increasing rapidly as the scale of the Sydney outbreak became clear. A record was set on December 21 with 38,578 tests, and that record was broken three times over the next four days. In total, more than 300,000 people were tested in NSW in just six days around Christmas. Earlier on Monday, Victoria announced eased travel restrictions for certain parts of Sydney. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said 25 out of 35 local government areas in Sydney would be moved off the list of so-called red zones. That means residents from those areas can travel to Victoria with a permit, although it will still be necessary to have a test upon arrival and self-isolate until a negative result is received. The areas of Sydney that remain red zones for Victorian travel purposes are Blacktown City, Canada Bay, Burwood, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield City, Inner West, Liverpool City, Parramatta City and Strathfield. VICTORIA RECORDS ZERO NEW LOCAL CASES Victoria has recorded zero new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Monday as more than 13,000 people were tested in the past 24 hours. But the Department of Health and Human Services revealed four new infections in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine. There are 33 active cases of COVID-19 across the state. There were 13,973 tests undertaken in the past 24 hours. It comes as two hotel quarantine workers who returned initial weak positive test results were cleared of the virus. Minister for Police Lisa Neville who is overseeing the hotel quarantine scheme revealed the development on Monday morning. There are now more than 200 testing centres in operation in Victoria, including a new testing site near gate one at the MCG. Almost 200,000 tests have been taken in Victoria since the start of the year. PALASZCZUK HINTS AT EASING RESTRICTIONS Queensland has recorded one new COVID-19 case, as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was increasingly confident there was no community transmission in Brisbane. The new case was acquired overseas and detected in a returned traveller from Brazil in hotel quarantine. No locally acquired cases were recorded. Greater Brisbane remains under a mask mandate and a number of restrictions are in place after a cluster emerged at a hotel quarantine facility. Residents will have to continue to wear a mask in a number of indoor settings and gatherings remain restricted until at least 1am on Friday, but Ms Palaszczuk said the continued success of containing the outbreak means those restrictions may be eased. “This is again really, really good news and, of course, we’re waiting until Friday morning, 1:00am — if we keep this track happening now, it’s more than likely that all of those restrictions will be removed by Friday,” she told reporters on Monday morning. “So a few more days to go, but thank you to everyone who’s been doing the right thing especially with the mask-wearing and listening to what you can do and you can’t do.” Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, encouraged those in the Sunshine State to continue wearing masks even if the mandate is eased later in the week. “I think it’s a really good habit we should all get into that if you’re in a crowded space, if you can’t maintain social distancing, that you really wear a mask, particularly on public transport and if you’re going into any shopping centres,” she said on Monday morning. “I think that will help us all as we go forward.” All guests who were quarantining at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, as well as staff and travellers previously released from the hotel were rushed back into isolation last week amid fears a highly contagious variant of the virus had spread through the facility. Many have since been released. The update comes after the state notched a two-week milestone on Saturday since the outbreak at the hotel begun, leaving Dr Young confident the cluster had been contained. “We are now day 14 since I believe that incident happened at the Grand Chancellor that led to those infections in the hotel,” she told reporters on Saturday. “We’ve got the people who have been related to the cleaner and her partner. So we need to be very clear we don’t mix those two groups together. “But this is all very good news. It means that, I believe, due to very quick work by a lot of people and by the people of Greater Brisbane, that there is every chance we have contained this cluster.” PFIZER VACCINE ‘PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION’ AMID JAB DEATHS Health Minister Greg Hunt says Australia is “proceeding with an abundance of caution“ with the approval process of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine despite deaths in Norway. It comes as Australia asked Pfizer for “additional information” about its vaccine after reports of about 30 deaths out of 40,000 elderly people in Norway. Mr Hunt said the government had “immediately sought” more information from Pfizer and the Norway medical regulator regarding the “possible consequences of the Pfizer vaccine”. The Norway report does not suggest younger people under the age of 75 should not take the vaccine. “We have been in contact with the Foreign Minister, and Marise Payne will task DFAT to seek advice directly from the Norwegian government,” Mr Hunt said on Sunday. “As further information is available, we’ll share that with the Australian public.” Mr Hunt said at the same time there had been “heartening” news from the Centers for Disease Control in the United States, with “very positive results” from its review of 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine “in terms of both the safety and the efficacy”. He said people should be confident in the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and there was no evidence yet of a demonstrated link between the vaccine and the deaths. “We don’t know yet whether this is a function simply of age and people who are older and sadly facing the natural loss of their life, or whether there’s any causation that hasn’t been asserted as yet,” he said. “But we’re proceeding with an abundance of caution.” Mr Hunt said Australia has no remaining COVID-19 hot spots left but warned the nation is “not out of the woods” yet. Meanwhile the TGA said it doesn’t expect the seniors’ deaths will be “of significance” to the vast majority of people. “The deaths were recorded among very frail patients, including some who were anticipated to only have weeks or months to live,” the statement said. “Norwegian authorities report that in recent years in aged care an average of around 400 deaths typically occur each week.” The TGA said the Norwegian deaths were “associated with fever, nausea and diarrhoea”, which are “relatively common short-lived effects that a number of people experience after vaccination”. “It is not expected that these common adverse reactions following immunisation will be of significance in the vast majority of individuals vaccinated with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine,” the statement said. “The TGA was advised promptly of the Norwegian deaths and is working closely with the European Medicines Agency (of which Norway is a member) and Pfizer on further investigations.” The TGA said it would “continue to work with European regulators over the coming days” to investigate the deaths report and determine whether specific warnings about risks of vaccination in the very frail elderly or terminally ill should be potentially included in the product information for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which would then be made available to all doctors and vaccinators. “The TGA’s processes for vaccine approvals is extremely rigorous and comprehensive,” they said. “The TGA is evaluating all of the scientific and clinical information provided by the vaccine’s sponsor, Pfizer, as well as other available evidence - including from international experience with emergency use of the vaccine - prior to making a regulatory decision.” AUSTRALIAN OPEN IN CHAOS One of the Australian Open cases has been confirmed as the coach of former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu, Sylvain Bruneau, who said that he was “deeply sorry” and had tested negative before flying from Abu Dhabi. “I am deeply sorry to share that I have just tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival here in Melbourne, after travelling from Abu Dhabi on flight EY8004,” Bruneau said. “I have followed all the safety protocols and procedures, including testing negative within 72 hours before the flight departure and felt perfectly fine when I boarded the plane. “I also respected and followed all COVID protocols and guidelines while in the Middle East. I have no idea how I might have contracted this virus. “I am extremely saddened and sorry for the consequences now on everyone’s shoulders sharing my flight. The rest of my team is negative and I sincerely hope that any further disruption is kept to a minimum.” All remaining 63 passengers on the flight were designated close contacts, and any players and support staff won’t be able to train and must complete a mandatory 14-day quarantine period. The news follows two other positive COVID-19 cases that have come from a charter flight out of Los Angeles, that also arrived on the weekend. There were 79 people on the flight, including 67 passengers, of which 24 are players. “The two positive tests have been returned by a member of the flight crew and a passenger who is not a player, who returned a negative test within 72 hours prior to boarding the flight.” the Tennis Australia statement said. “All passengers from the flight are already in quarantine hotels and the two positive cases transferred to a health hotel. The 24 players on the flight will not be able to leave their hotels rooms for 14 days and until they are medically cleared. They will not be eligible to practise. Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley said their thoughts were with those who had tested positive and wished them “well for their recovery”. “We are communicating with everyone on this flight, and particularly the playing group whose conditions have now changed, to ensure their needs are being catered to as much as possible, and that they are fully appraised of the situation,” he said. Lead-in events for the tournament are due to begin in Melbourne on January 31, with the Australian Open due to start on February 8. 20 EXTRA FLIGHTS TO BRING AUSSIES HOME AMID FLIGHT ROW The Federal Government has announced an extra 20 flights to help stranded Australians get home. The flights will occur over the next couple of months and comes after Emirates announced it would stop flying indefinitely into Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. National Cabinet decided late last year to cut the numbers of arrivals on commercial flights into the country until at least mid-February amid concerns the hotel quarantine system wouldn’t cope, and as the mutant strain of the virus emerged in the UK. The announcement of the flights follows the national cabinet’s decision to significantly reduce the cap on international arrivals via commercial flights until mid-February, following concerns that the hotel quarantine system will be challenged by the more virulent British strain of the coronavirus. “These flights will fly from priority areas from around the world, making sure that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade off of their intelligence and knowledge of where Australians most need assistance, target those flights,” Senator Simon Birmingham said on Saturday afternoon. The new flights would be on top of the commercial flights already coming here with capped numbers. Passengers would be sent to the Howard Springs quarantine facility. Mr Birmingham said the decision by Emirates was a commercial one, but conceded the caps on arrivals had made it difficult for Australians to come home. Australians are being charged up to $15,000 for one-way tickets home after Emirates cut flights into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane until further notice. Stranded Aussies have been waiting months to get home, with many quitting jobs, and ending leases only for their flights to be cancelled at the last minute leaving them couch surfing. Flight caps were slashed in half this month into Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, which will be reviewed on February 15. Melbourne has been continuing with its smaller cap that was introduced since it emerged from a second lockdown that was sparked by an outbreak from lax protocols in hotel quarantine. Emirates dropped the bombshell on Australians overnight, with their final flights into those airports going next week. “Due to operational reasons, Emirates flights to/from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne will be suspended until further notice,” the airline said. However, they will still fly into Perth twice a week. Amy Webster and Ben Goodwin, both 31, moved to London in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit. They lost the jobs that they had lined up, and ended up working at a Lidl supermarket, barely making enough to survive. The engaged couple were due to fly next week but have just been cancelled. “It just makes no sense, I don’t understand it,” Ms Webster said. And she questioned why the Australian Open was going ahead, while up to 40,000 Australians cannot get home. “That just made me mad — clearly the tennis players are more important and valuable than Australians stuck overseas. They chartered eight planes, imagine how many Australians that could have got back.” The loss of Emirates was a major blow to efforts to get Australians home, as they had been one of the most reliable airlines. The government had been booking some seats on their flights to get vulnerable Australians home. Singapore Airlines cut flights from the UK to Australia when a new mutant strain of coronavirus was detected there. However, it has resumed them under strict conditions including that passengers do not leave the aircraft in Singapore. Qatar, Etihad and Japan Airlines are also flying into Australia, although an Etihad flight listed for February 9 was $15000 one way per person. Some stuck overseas are now pleading for Newstart payments to help them survive, however it is not possible to make those payments while people are not living in Australia. Costs are mounting for Australians overseas, with travellers requiring a negative COVID-19 test, which can cost $400, from January 22. It was understood that the government was in discussions with Qantas about increasing its charter flights from the UK to Australia. There have been 19 subsidised flights since the beginning of the pandemic, each taking approximately 200 passengers. The Northern Territory Government has agreed to increase its quarantine cap from 500 to 850 per fortnight, with the additional Qantas flights expected to land there. The Australian High Commission to the UK’s Facebook page said: “We are aware that Emirates Air Line has announced, due to operational reasons, Emirates flights to/from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne will be suspended until further notice by Tuesday 19 January 2021. “We understand the significant disruption this will cause for Australians returning home.” That news came as NSW recorded just one new case of locally transmitted COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Friday night. Both Victoria and Queensland recorded no new cases. NSW Visitors or residents of NSW who have been to Brisbane will be made to self-isolate, officials have announced. The move came after Queensland announced a three-day lockdown of Brisbane, which will begin at 6pm Friday. NSW will make anyone who has been in Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, and Redlands from January 2 self-isolate. FACE MASKS A $200 on the spot fine will apply if you do not comply with the requirements to wear a face mask. Children aged 12 and under are exempt but are encouraged to wear masks where practicable. Places where face masks must be worn You must wear a face mask indoors when you enter or work at *retail or business premises that provides goods or services to the public including *supermarkets *shopping centres *banks *post offices *hairdressers. *residential aged care facilities (visitors, not residents). Premises that are used for the purpose of providing health services are not retail premises or business premises. Face masks are also mandatory when you are using public transport or are a passenger in a taxi or rideshare vehicle when you are waiting at a public transport waiting area (such as a bus stop, train platform or taxi rank) for all staff in hospitality venues and casinos for patrons using gaming services. SOUTH AUSTRALIA From midnight Friday January 8, anyone coming into SA from greater Brisbane will be required to quarantine for 14 days. SA Premier Steven Marshall announced a hard border closure to NSW on January 1. He said there will be few exemptions for those returning after 12.01am on Friday, but SA residents, people permanently moving states and essential travellers will be permitted. All those groups will still need to self-isolate for 14 days. Travellers returning to the state will need to demonstrate they met the criteria upon crossing the border. He said people travelling from Queensland to South Australia must follow the most direct route through NSW and not spend “unnecessary time” interstate. Mr Marshall said a 100km buffer zone will be implemented for cross-border communities, allowing people in Broken Hill and Wentworth to freely enter the state. “We’re also going to be putting some transit allowances because there are people travelling through NSW who won’t be stopping,” Mr Marshall said. Mr Marshall said border arrangements with Victoria would not change. VICTORIA Victoria introduced a border permit system on Monday, January 11. The traffic light-style system permits travel from “green zones” (no quarantine required) and “orange zones” (travellers required to be tested for COVID-19 within 72 hours of arrival and isolate until they receive a negative result). You are not allowed to travel to Victoria if you are from a “red zone” — presently, Greater Brisbane, and Greater Sydney including Wollongong and the Blue Mountains. You can find out more here. NORTHERN TERRITORY The NT declared Greater Metropolitan Sydney a COVID-19 hotspot from midnight on New Year’s Eve, meaning anyone travelling from there must enter quarantine. The NT had previously declared only seven Sydney suburbs hot spots. QUEENSLAND Queensland, which had already declared Greater Sydney a hotspot, is assessing the situation as it unfolds. Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said on Thursday she was closely monitoring the New South Wales cluster and the new Victorian cases. “I’m urging Queenslanders travelling to these states to reassess their plans – if it is not necessary, then consider staying here,” she said. “The next 24 hours are critical for Victoria and the NSW cluster is growing daily. Queensland is in a good position right now because we acted quickly to declare greater Sydney a hotspot.” WESTERN AUSTRALIA Western Australia has introduced a hard border with Queensland, which will take effect from midnight on Friday, January 8. Western Australia has already shut its border to NSW travellers but on Thursday said it will close to Victorian travellers too. From 12.01am on January 1, only exempt Victorian travellers will be allowed into WA, while returning residents must self-isolate for two weeks. Anyone who arrived in WA from Victoria on or after December 21 must also self-quarantine for 14 days. TASMANIA Tasmania has declared nine Victorian sites as high-risk COVID-19 areas including restaurants, clubs, churches, shopping centres, hotels, and bars. People in Tasmania who have visited are asked to self-isolate and contact the public health line on 1800 671 738. Non-Tasmanians who have been in the areas in the specified times cannot enter Tasmania without an exemption. It has measures in place requiring travellers from Greater Sydney to quarantine. More details on travel alerts here. AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Non-ACT residents are banned from entering the territory if they have travelled from hot spots, unless granted an exemption. That means all nonresidents who have been in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast or Wollongong local government areas will be refused entry at the border. ACT residents have to sign an online declaration form before returning then quarantine for 14 days. - additional reporting David Aidone, Amanda Sheppeard