Daily News Roundup

 

MONDAY, JUNE 28

A raft of new restrictions have been announced for Queensland, after the state recorded three new COVID-19 cases, one of those being confirmed as the highly-contagious Delta variant. 

Two of those were acquired locally and one was acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine.

From 1am on Tuesday, June 29, the following restrictions will come into force for Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Morton, Brisbane, Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim, the Lockyer Valley, and Somerset:

• Masks must be worn in indoor settings and on public transport
• The one per four square metre rule will be reintroduced for venues, with customers required to be seated in hospitality settings
• Weddings will be restricted to 100 people, with only 20 people allowed to dance
• Dancing outside of weddings is banned.Household visitors will be limited to 30

It comes as new Covid-19 infections emerged across multiple states and territories in recent days, with cases in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin. This has prompted multiple states to introduce restrictions and slam their borders shut.

NSW has recorded 18 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of locally acquired cases in the state’s current outbreak to 130.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said while Monday’s infection figures were lower than yesterday’s, she expected numbers to “bounce around” before “going up considerably” this week.

“As Dr Kerry Chant (chief health officer) has told us already, the cases we are seeing today are a reflection of what may have occurred in the previous week and obviously there is a lag time on the time we are able to record these cases,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably … with this strain, we are seeing almost 100 per cent of transmission within households.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed a miner who returned from the Northern Territory has the Delta strain of coronavirus.

One case is in home quarantine and the miner, a woman from the Bli Bli area, has the Delta strain.

The Premier said people should start wearing masks now.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the female miner was one of the 170 FIFO workers based in Brisbane. 

“So we are rapidly testing all 170,” Dr Young said.

She said the female miner got tested immediately after being contacted.

“She was only out in the community for one day. She was with her family and they started a road trip that immediately came back.”

Dr Young said there were multiple flights that needed contact tracing.  

“Everyone is getting really good at wearing masks so put those back on,” she said.

Venues will return to one person per 4 square metres while small venues can remain at one person per two metres square. t

Dancing has once again been banned and only 30 people are allowed inside homes.

Dr Young said she was not yet changing the capacity allowed at ticketed and seated events, but underlined the seriousness of the situation. 

“We’ve got enormous risks throughout our state,” she said.

Dr Young also praised organisers for their handling of last night’s State of Origin match in Brisbane.

“I’m thrilled last night, at the State of Origin, we had 56,000 people check in there.

“That was just done so well.”

Mr Miles took aim at the federal government, saying too many people were being allowed into the country and hotel quarantine “is not working”.

###

Australian snowboard legend Alex Pullin’s widow Ellidy Vlug has announced she is pregnant with his child less than 12 months following his tragic death.

Vlug posted her joyous, heartbreaking news on Instagram, describing it as a “heart-wrenching plot twist”.

The Instagram influencer showed off her baby bump in a series of stunning photos posted to her social media page with a description that will bring fans to tears as she continues to grieve her partner’s death.

Pullin drowned while spearfishing on the Gold Coast, believed to have suffered a shallow water blackout at Palm Beach in July, 2020.

Vlug explained her pregnancy miracle is the result of her and Pullin trying to conceive through IVF treatment the same month Pullin died.

“Bubba Chump coming this October,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Your Dad and I have been dreaming of this for years little one.

“With a heart-wrenching plot twist in the middle, I am honoured to finally welcome a piece of the phenomenon that is Chumpy back into this world!

“When my love had this accident, we all held onto hope that I’d pregnant that month. We’d been trying for a baby.

“IVF was on our cards but it wasn’t something I ever imagined I’d be tackling on our own.

“Bittersweet like none other, I’ve never been more certain or excited about anything in my life.”

Winter Olympics cult hero Pullin was found unresponsive on the ocean floor at an artificial reef by a snorkeller, who called for help from a group of nearby surfers.

The alarm was raised and a lifeguard raced to assist, pulling him from the surf on a jet ski.

Paramedics performed CPR for 45 minutes but the 32-year-old couldn’t be revived.

In 2014 he was Australia’s flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremony in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Pullin competed at three Winter Olympics and was the first Australian winter sports athlete to defend a World Championship title.

Pullin’s girlfriend is a swimwear model from Narrabeen on Sydney’s northern beaches.

The pair had known each other for 10 years through friends but hit it off at a party Aussie surfer Laura Enever hosted.

“We just started talking after meeting there and I called her out for a dance,” Pullin told Buro.

“Heaps old school! Dragged her out on the dance floor.”

Ms Vlug said the couple were good at doing long distance when Pullin was away and she just made sure she kept herself busy.

In February she posted a photo as a bridesmaid at a wedding and said she was wondering when her turn was.

###

Cities across the United States Pacific Northwest are setting up “cooling centres” where people can escape a record heatwave baking the region.

Daytime temperatures have been breaking records in places where many residents do not have air conditioning.

Shops have sold out of portable air conditioners, fans, water and sports drinks.

Cities have been reminding residents where pools and cooling centres are available and been urging people to stay hydrated, check on their neighbours and avoid strenuous activities.

“This is life-threatening heat,” Jennifer Vines, health officer for Multnomah County in Oregon, said in a statement.

“People need to find some place cool to spend time during the coming days.”

Multnomah County, which includes the state capital Portland, opened three cooling centres over the weekend, including one at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. 

Sunday’s forecast temperature of 44 degrees Celsius in Portland would break the temperature record of 42C, set just a day earlier. Another 44C day is predicted on Monday.

The temperature was expected to rise to an all-time record of 40C at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Sunday and surpass that to reach 43.9C on Monday, as the excessive heat warning continues for the region.

At least one county closed several COVID-19 testing sites because of the heat.

Seattle opened additional public library branches on Sunday, and will again on Monday, to provide additional cooling centres, The Seattle Times reported.

Cooling centres have also been opened in parts of California and elsewhere in the Pacific north-west as the heatwave has gripped the region.

Temperatures had soared due to a high-pressure dome that had built over US and Canada’s upper north-west, the National Weather Service said, similar to the atmospheric conditions that punished south-western states earlier this month.