Daily News Round-up

MONDAY, January 24

NSW has reported 15,091 new Covid-19 cases and 24 more deaths of people with the virus on Monday.

While case numbers have dropped overnight, there are now 2816 people in NSW hospitals with coronavirus, 196 of those in intensive care, up from 2712 and 189 respectively on Sunday.

Of the new cases, 8190 were detected through PCR tests and 6901 were from at home rapid antigen tests (RAT), but 6336 were tests taken in the past seven days.

A massive 95.3 per cent of people aged over 16 have had one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 93.9 per cent are double vaccinated and 33.5 per cent have had their booster shot.

Up to 82.7 per cent of children aged 12-15 have had one vaccine dose and 78.4 per cent have had two.

Victoria has reported the deaths of 17 more people with COVID-19.

The number of people in hospital after contracting the virus has fallen to 998, down from a high of 1,229 a week earlier.

That includes 119 people in Victorian intensive care units, of whom 47 are on a ventilator.

While there has been a dip in hospitalisations, the figure of 47 ventilated patients is the highest since mid-December.

There is still significant pressure on the state’s stretched healthcare and hospital system.

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Australian Open organisers have been slammed for their handling of a situation that saw spectators ordered to remove items asking “where is Peng Shuai?”, writes James Matthey of news.com.

Tennis Australia (TA) stood by what many are labelling a heavy-handed decision after video emerged on the weekend of security and police requesting a fan at Melbourne Park remove her shirt highlighting the plight of the Chinese tennis star.

Peng Shuai sparked worldwide fears when she “disappeared” after making allegations of sexual abuse against a former top-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party.

Peng has since been seen in videos and photos shared by Chinese state media but there are concerns that those were staged and human rights activists have questioned whether the former doubles star is able to act freely.

The video at the tennis ended with police saying TA was permitted to confiscate any paraphernalia that referenced Peng.

TA told News Corp Australia it feared for Peng’s safety but fans were not permitted to make political statements with their clothing at the Australian Open.

“Under our ticket conditions of entry we don’t allow clothing, banners or signs that are commercial or political,” a Tennis Australia spokesperson said.

“Peng Shuai’s safety is our primary concern. We continue to work with the WTA and global tennis community to seek more clarity on her situation and will do everything we can to ensure her wellbeing.”

Security ordered the woman to remove a shirt supporting Peng Shuai. Image: Twitter

It’s a question lots of people want answered. Image: Twitter

Veteran American tennis reporter Jon Wertheim was also critical, re-posting the video on Twitter. “Here’s the video … down the slippery slope we go … @AustralianOpen unforced error count this year continues to mount,” he wrote.

“Say this: it throws @WTA courage/principles into still sharper relief.”

Australian broadcaster Stephen Quartermain added: “Really bad call by @AustralianOpen on the Peng Shuai situation. After the Djokovic saga … All their goodwill built up over many glorious years is quickly evaporating.”

Sportscaster Corbin Middlemas tweeted: “The only language they (TA) speak are dollars and eyeballs, you can leave your moral compass at the door.”

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​​A stowaway has been discovered in the wheel section under the front of a Cargolux freight plane that arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport from Africa.

“The man is doing well, considering the circumstances, and has been taken to a hospital,” Dutch military police, who are in charge of border control, said in a statement.

Spokeswoman Joanna Helmonds said the man’s age and nationality had not yet been determined.

“Our first concern, of course, was for his health,” she said.

“This is definitely very unusual that someone was able to survive the cold at such a height — very, very unusual.”

A spokesperson for freight carrier Cargolux confirmed in an email that the stowaway had been on a flight operated by Cargolux Italia.

“We are not in a position to make any further comment until the authorities and the airline have completed their investigation,” they said.

The only Cargolux freight flight arriving at Schiphol on Sunday was a Boeing 747 freighter that travelled from Johannesburg and made a stop in Nairobi, Kenya, according to Schiphol’s website and flight-tracking data.

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Coffee, Crocs (the shoe), instruments, ammunition, bikes, computer chips — the world is running low on some unexpected items, sending shock waves through countless industries, reports he ABC.

Last week, national cabinet agreed to allow thousands of people to return to work if they are a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case, to help ease the pressure on workforces nearly reaching breaking point.

But with global shipping prices still high and workers in major factories still facing outbreaks and restrictions, demand for many products has exceeded capacity.

And in an era where we have become accustomed to shopping convenience and speedy deliveries, people are being made to wait months for products or pay double.

George Fisher, an avid gamer and technician, says he managed to get in early to buy a graphics card – an expansion device that plugs into a computer and renders images — right before prices started creeping to unprecedented highs.

“I could sell my card now, which is a year old, for profit, which is unheard of,” he said.

He says that amid a perfect storm of unparalleled pressures on global supply chains and more people working from home on laptops, graphics cards have become next to impossible to buy.

“People are using graphics cards to mine things like Ethereum and Bitcoin for money and that’s driven the prices up because there are not enough cards to go around,” Mr Fisher said.

“Entry-level cards, which most people can play many games on, should start around $400. We’re now seeing them at around $900, upwards to the $4,000 mark.

“People are just going without. It’s just crazy.”

David Nelson, the manager of the Top End Music Centre, says there are delays on major Australian and international lines.

“The professional stuff specifically is the hardest to get,” he said.

“If you want a particular model, it could be six months to a year.”

A global shortage of computer chips, dubbed “chipageddon”, has led to long wait times for electronics, cars and even pianos.

The shortage is due to record COVID-related demand combined with drought, fires and snowstorms in different parts of the world slowing production.

“There are a lot of things we can’t get and won’t be able to get for a long time,” Mr Nelson said.

Paul Clancy has been flat out in a booming industry in which parts are hard to find. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

In the bike world, Paul Clancy says customers at Bikes to Fit could be waiting up to two years to buy a particular brand amid a global shortage of parts.

“It’s not just bikes, it’s bike parts, even simple things like tubes and tyres where suppliers are starting to run very low,” he said.

He said that even though the popularity of bike riding skyrocketed during the pandemic, the scarcity of parts has even seen some shops close down.

It’s now “really hard for surviving bike stores”, which are now overloaded with repair jobs, he said. 

“We’ve been flat out.”

Ronald Voukolos, the manager of Fishing and Outdoor World in Darwin, says he has taken a risk and resorted to ordering much more stock than needed, in some cases a year in advance.

“We’ve always been used to being able to buy it as we need it,” he said.

Ronald Voukolos has been ordering stock months in advance.(ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

But with the Omicron variant causing crippling staff shortages and transport issues in Australia and the unpredictability of a broken supply chain, Mr Voukolos says the future has become too uncertain.

“Some of the footwear we sell, we placed orders last year in July to get them in 2022.”

But still, he said he is letting people know they could be waiting three or four months on some in-demand items like drinkware, and plastic shoes from Vietnam. 

ENDS