Daily News Roundup

FRIDAY, JULY 9

Queensland has recorded no new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours but in NSW the infections continue to rise with 44 locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday. 

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was “absolutely delighted” with the “donut day”.

Despite the good result, Ms Palaszczuk said restrictions, including masks, would continue for another week.

There are 45 active cases of COVID-19 after 15,543 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said there were 8,679 people in home quarantine.

“We are not totally out of it yet,” she said.

“We must keep up quarantine and testing.”

Health minister Yvette D’Ath said there could be further cases linked to the Alpha cluster, but authorities were confident they have eliminated all risk.

“The lockdown that we had allowed us to contact trace and to contain those contacts into quarantine, so that they are already away from the community when they were infectious,” she said.

Announcing the 44 new  locally acquired COVID-19 cases in her state NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian stressed the importance of strict lockdown measures to avoid deaths.

“This is the opposite of where we need or want the numbers to trend,” she said.

The source of nine of the 44 cases remain under investigation. 

Twenty-nine of the new cases were either fully or partially in the community while infectious.

“Do not think that the NSW Government thinks we can live with this when our rate of vaccination is only at 9 per cent,” the Premier said.

Ms Berejiklian said several new social distancing restrictions will be introduced to combat the state’s COVID-19 outbreak.

From 5:00pm today in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shoalhaven: 

People will be able to exercise only in groups of two (or with their households)

People may not exercise more than 10km from their homes

From Sunday, the number of mourners at funerals will be capped at 10.

Of the 44 new COVID-19 cases, 29 were either fully or partially in the community while infectious.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said people should not leave their home “unless they absolutely had to”.

“This is the opposite of where we need or want the numbers to trend,” she said.

Chief health officer Kerry Chant said this outbreak was now at its most “challenging” point.

“I know that this has been a long journey in the fight against COVID but we cannot stumble over this hurdle,” she said.

“This is an incredibly challenging time and I want to stress I am incredibly concerned. I need all members of the community to 

follow the public health advice.”

There are currently 14 people under the age of 55 with COVID in NSW hospitals, and from those seven are under the age of 35.

Overnight, there were 21 cases recorded from south-western Sydney, eight are from south-eastern Sydney, and seven from Western Sydney.

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Scott Morrison has vowed to “get it sorted” after a Melbourne pub was banned from offering free beers as an incentive to get vaccinated.

The Prince Alfred Hotel in Port Melbourne announced last week it would offer a free drink to anyone who got the Covid-19 jab at a nearby Town Hall vaccination centre.

Owners Anna and Tom Streater said the pub was happy to ”sling a few freebies” to encourage locals to “do their bit” to keep Melbourne open.

But the Therapeutic Goods Administration put the brakes on the initiative, contacting the pub on Wednesday to say alcoholic vaccine incentives were banned.

A disappointed Prime Minister said on Friday morning the TGA’s response was “a bit heavy-handed”.

“The TGA is doing the job, the rules are there for important reasons,” he told Sunrise.

“It is s a sensible rule, but in these circumstances, the national interest is to get vaccinated, so the Prince Alfred down in Melbourne, good on you for getting behind it.

“We’ll get it sorted, common sense will prevail, cheers to the PA.”

But Mr Morrison said with 150,000 doses being administered a day across the nation, the pub “might want to be careful”.

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Ash Barty, on a high after reaching her first Wimbledon final, has revealed how close she was to having her dream run at the All England Club cruelled by a hip injury. 

And Australia’s first female Wimbledon finalist since her heroine Evonne Goolagong Cawley 41 years ago admitted she was never sure the historic day would materialise.

Buoyant after her superb 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) defeat of Angelique Kerber in the semi-final on Thursday (local time), Barty admitted it had actually been touch-and-go whether she would compete at the British grand slam after the injury suffered in the second round at the French Open.

The 25-year-old even reckoned that a month ago when struggling so badly with the left hip problem that forced her out at Roland Garros, she did not think a Wimbledon final was in her future.

“I mean, we had 23 or 24 days in between finishing up in Paris and my first round here,” reflected Barty, after playing what she felt was one of the highest-quality matches of her career.

“To be honest, it was going to be touch-and-go. Everything had to be spot on to give myself a chance to play pain-free and to play knowing that I could trust my body.

“To know that my body’s held up over a fortnight off a different preparation, and just being able to accept that I could trust everything that we’ve done to the best of our ability, is incredible.”

Barty paid tribute to her team led by coach Craig Tyzzer, who orchestrated her rehabilitation.

“If you told me a month ago, we’d be sitting in this position, I really wouldn’t have thought that we would even get close,” she said.

“I think it’s pretty special what we’ve been able to do the last month.”

Barty at Wimbledon:

• 2012: 1st round
• 2013 – 2016: Did not play
• 2017: 1st round
• 2018: 3rd round
• 2019: 4th round
• 2020: Did not play
• 2021: Final*

Asked when she first believed she could make a Wimbledon final, Barty conceded: “I wasn’t sure if it would ever happen, honestly.

“I think you have to keep putting yourself in the position. Wimbledon for me has been an amazing place of learning.

“Ten years ago, I came here for the first time as a junior and learned a lot in that week [when she won the girls’ title].

“Probably 2018 [when she lost to Daria Kasatkina], 2019 [when she was beaten by Alison Riske] was some of my toughest weeks playing.

“To come away with losses in those two tournaments, I learned a hell of a lot from those two times.

“A lot of the time your greatest growth comes from your darkest times. I think that’s why this tournament has been so important to me.

“I’ve learned so much with all my experiences — the good, bad and everything in between.”

It had been an incredible journey, she told the Centre Court crowd which had been warming to her by the day.

“I’ve had ups and downs, and everything in between, and I wouldn’t change one day or one moment, or one route we’ve taken on my path,” she said.

“It’s been unique, it’s been incredible, it’s been tough, and I wouldn’t change one thing about it.

“I’m enjoying every single day that we get to come out here and do what I love, and being able to on the final Saturday here at Wimbledon is gonna be just the best experience ever.”

*Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of the Tokyo Olympics, announcing his move in a social media post.

Kyrgios, who retired from his third round match at Wimbledon with an abdominal injury, said it was a decision he did not take lightly.

*Australian wheelchair tennis phenomenon Dylan Alcott has powered into Wimbledon’s quad singles final, continuing his quest to win a “golden slam” of all four major titles and the Paralympics

The Melbourne champion, who has already won his home Australian Open and French Open titles, is hot favourite to successfully defend his Wimbledon crown after beating American wildcard David Wagner 6-2, 6-2 in the semis on Thursday.

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A grizzly bear has pulled a woman from her tent and killed her in the middle of the night in the US state of Montana.

Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico, California, was on a long-distance bicycling trip and had stopped in the western Montana town of Ovando when she was killed on Tuesday local time, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials.

Ms Lokan was killed on the bear’s second visit to the site where she and two fellow bicyclists were camping near the post office, officials said.

The grizzly, weighing about 180 kilograms, first woke the campers about 3:00am, officials said.

They took food out of their tents, secured it and went back to sleep, they said.

Surveillance video from a business in town showed the bear about a block from the post office about 15 minutes later, wildlife officials said.

About 4:15am, the sheriff’s office received a 911 call after two people in a tent near the victim’s were woken by sounds of the attack, Powell County Sheriff Gavin Roselles said.

They used bear spray to chase the animal away.

The bear is also believed to have entered a chicken coop in town that night, killing and eating several chickens.

Authorities have since been looking to kill the bear.

Wildlife officials stopped the helicopter flights that were used in the initial search for the grizzly and set five large traps, which hava door which closes behind the bear when it pulls on the bait, in and around Ovando.

That included traps near the chicken coop that the bear raided the night Ms Lokan was killed.

Investigators got DNA left by the bear at the scene of the attack and could compare it with any bear they are able to trap.

Bear specialists and game wardens also were stationed near the traps to shoot the animal if the opportunity arises, said Greg Lemon, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesperson.

Bears that attack people are not always killed if the mauling resulted from a surprise encounter or the bear was defending its young.

But the bear involved in Ms Lokan’s death is considered a public safety threat because of the circumstances of the attack, Mr Lemon said.

Ms Lokan, a registered nurse who had worked at a hospital, had looked forward to the Montana bike trip for months, said friend Mary Flowers.

Ms Lokan had taken previous long-distance bike trips and on this one was accompanied by her sister and a friend, Ms Flowers said.

People who camp in grizzly bear country — whether deep in the woods or in a developed campground — are advised to keep food and scented products like toothpaste away from their campsites at all times and to cook elsewhere.

Grizzly bears have run into increasing conflict with humans in the Northern Rockies over the past decade as the federally protected animals expanded into new areas and the number of people living and recreating in the region grew. That has spurred calls from elected officials in Montana and neighbouring Wyoming and Idaho to lift protections so the animals could be hunted.

Fatal attacks are rare in the region. There have been three in the past 20 years, including Tuesday’s mauling, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

ENDS