Daily News Roundup

 

MONDAY, SEPT 6

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NSW recorded 1,281 new locally acquired COVID-19 infections in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday.

There were five COVID-19 deaths in the reporting period.

A man in his 90s from south-east Sydney died at St George Hospital after contracting his infection at St George Aged Care Facility in Bexley, where he was a resident.

The other four deaths were aged between their 50s and 80s

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian released modelling which showed the state is likely to reach a peak in COVID-19 cases “in the next week or so”.

The modelling showed that within the 12 local government areas (LGAs) of concern, cases will continue until mid-September when sufficient vaccine-acquired immunity kicks in.

But the modelling also anticipated between 2,200 and 3,900 people will require hospitalisation.

Ms Berejiklian said that means the likely peak in intensive care beds required will be about early-mid October.

“That is what the best modelling tells us at this stage but I do want to qualify that by saying that a number of variables are associated with that modelling,” she said.

*Queensland has recorded no new local cases of COVID-19 as authorities continue to monitor a cluster which started with a Logan truck driver.

The 46-year-old driver contracted the virus in New South Wales in late August and spread it to a co-worker and her four-year-old daughter.

More than 1,000 families connected to the girl’s daycare centre and a local primary school are in home quarantine for 14 days to reduce the risk of any spread.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the risk to the community posed by the outbreak “is decreasing, which is good news”.

“I know a lot of people were coming up to me on the weekend, concerned about whether or not we were going into a lockdown, but we have less risk now that is easing,” she said.

*Victoria has recorded 246 new cases of COVID-19 as the state races to vaccinate people to curb the spread of its Delta outbreak.

Contact tracers have so far linked 121 of the new cases to existing outbreaks, but the number of cases who were in the community while infectious is no longer being reported each day.

The new cases resulted from 42,258 test results processed on Sunday, when 29,955 vaccine doses were delivered at state-run sites.

Last week the Victorian government shifted away from trying to reach zero cases of coronavirus in the community, and is instead focusing on keeping case numbers as low as possible while getting people vaccinated.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged that restrictions may ease this week in regional areas that have seen very few or no cases during this outbreak.

More than 60 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and above have now had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Once 70 per cent of eligible people have had at least one vaccine dose, the government has flagged a minor easing of restrictions for Melbourne residents.

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Brazil’s World Cup qualifying clash against Argentina was dramatically abandoned on Monday morning shortly after kick-off as controversy over Covid-19 protocols erupted.

Some of the biggest football stars on the planet, including Lionel Messi and Neymar, were involved in the moment of absolute anarchy as health authorities walked onto the field in an apparent attempt to order four Argentina players into quarantine.

The match between the two giants of South American football came to a halt when the group of Brazilian public health officials walked towards Argentina players, triggering a melee between the two teams.

Argentina’s players trudged off the pitch to the locker room as the furore unfolded.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi later re-emerged from the tunnel without his team shirt on as confusion swept around the stadium.

Messi appeared to be negotiating with the health officials while the remainder of his team stayed in the dressing room.

This all unfolded as the Brazilian team remained on the field waiting for the match to resume.

The match was 0-0 when it was suspended before both teams and South American football confederation CONMEBOL confirmed that the match had been abandoned.

The stunning intervention came just hours after Brazil’s health authorities said four players in Argentina’s squad based in England should be placed in “immediate quarantine” for breaching Covid-19 protocols.

It was not an empty threat.

Antonio Barra Torres, the president of Brazil’s health agency Anvisa, said after the on-field drama unfolded that four Argentina players will be fined and deported for allegedly not following the country’s Covid protocols. The agency claimed the four players — since identified as Premier League players Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa) and Cristian Romero (Tottenham) — had provided “false” information on their immigration forms about being in the UK in the last 14 days. Brazil entry requirements state anyone who has been in the UK in last 14 days must quarantine.

Romero, Lo Celso and Martinez were all in the Argentina starting line-up that kicked off the game — triggering the intervention from agents wearing Anvisa clothing.

“We got to this point because everything that Anvisa directed, from the first moment, was not fulfilled,” Barra Torres said on Brazilian television.

“(The four players) were directed to remain isolated while awaiting deportation, but they did not comply. They went to the stadium and they entered the field, in a series of breaches.”

The agency issued a statement, describing the four players as a “serious health risk”.

According to local reports, health authorities had sent a bus to the stadium, to escort the Argentina team away from the stadium.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni denied his team had broken any immigration protocols when speaking after the abandonment.

“It makes me very sad,” he sad.

“I’m not looking for any culprits. Whether or not something happened, it was not the time to make that intervention.”