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Coronavirus Australia: ACT records 41 new cases of COVID-19, second baby infected

AAP and staff writersThe West Australian
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People are seen walking past Southern Cross Station in Melbourne.
Camera IconPeople are seen walking past Southern Cross Station in Melbourne. Credit: DANIEL POCKETT/AAPIMAGE

The ACT has recorded 41 new cases of COVID-19, with a second baby infected with the virus at a Canberra hospital.

There are now five cases associated with a cluster at the Centenary Hospital special care nursery, after the first baby was identified as having the virus on Tuesday night.

Health authorities have said the cluster includes two babies and a Canberra Hospital team members, along with two carers who had been visiting the ward.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said work was ongoing to identify the source of the outbreak.

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“There are 28 team members who are unable to work as a result of this exposure,“ Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“I’d like to reassure Canberrans that this is being expertly handled.”

Of the 41 new cases, 14 of them were linked with known cases and 24 are under investigation.

There were five cases that were infectious in the community and seven who were quarantining for their entire infectious period.

Ms Stephen-Smith said health authorities were notified of a number of new cases late on Wednesday.

However, she said it was likely many of the late cases will be able to be linked to known outbreaks.

The number of COVID cases in hospital is now at 15, with seven being in intensive care and six of those on ventilators.

While visitors are restricted at ACT hospitals due to COVID-19, rules are slightly more relaxed in the special care nursery due to parents needing to come in to provide care.

The ACT is now at 96 per cent of its eligible residents having a first COVID vaccine.

Canberra’s lockdown is set to end on October 15.

QLD RECORDS NO NEW LOCAL CASES

Queensland has recorded no new local cases of Covid as the state prepares to welcome back 1000 stranded residents as part of a new home quarantine trial.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on Thursday said there were six new cases in quarantine - one from overseas and five from a ship off the west coast of Cape Yorke.

The update comes as the state government plans to spare 1000 stranded Queenslanders from hotel quarantine, with an expanded government home quarantine trial kicking off next week.

The Palaszczuk government will begin welcoming back a cohort of fully vaccinated air arrivals from October 11 - so long as the successful applicants have a suitable house to bunker down in for 14 days and are willing to be tested frequently and monitored by authorities.

The strictly monitored program is available only to those already on the exemption application list, with participants being required to have a freestanding home - and not a unit - to quarantine in Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Ipswich, Logan, Gold Coast or Redlands.

Applicants must have a smartphone to comply with monitoring and have 14 days of groceries.

The initiative is based on similar trials in other states, and follows the successful use of home quarantine for boarding school students and unaccompanied minors.

A government spokeswoman said this did not mean the hotel quarantine system was being phased out just yet.

NSW RECORDS ANOTHER 587 NEW COVID INFECTIONS AND 10 DEATHS

Another 587 new COVID infections and 10 deaths have been recorded in NSW after the state clocked a major vaccine milestone.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard made the announcement during a press conference at 9am after the new Premier Dominic Perrottet revealed his plan to ditch the traditional 11am time slot.

Mr Hazzard warned people not to become complacent.

"The numbers are continuing to go down. We must not take this for granted," he said.

"We really need everybody to keep going out - if you haven’t been vaccinated yet, you’re now in the minority but you need to go and get vaccinated because that is what you will do to keep our state safe."

More details on the new cases would still be made available later today.

Mr Perrottet was probed about his decision to can the 11am conference in the midst of a health crisis.

"It’s also an economic crisis," the Premier quipped.

More than 70 per cent of eligible residents aged 16 and older are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning a host of restrictions will ease on Monday.

Once the 80 per cent target is reached, likely to be next week, there will be another wave of eased restrictions.

Sydney has been locked down since mid-June after the first case of Delta emerged in the Bondi area. It since spread across the city and to the regions triggering several snap lockdowns.

VICTORIA RECORDS 1638 NEW CASES, TWO DEATHS

Victoria has reported 1638 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and two deaths as a Melbourne principal was temporarily suspended after inviting students to attend school during lockdown.

The health department on Thursday confirmed the latest cases and deaths, taking the toll from the current outbreak to 70.

It is the eighth straight day the state has reported more than 1100 cases, with active infections rising past 15,000.

More than 77,000 Victorians were tested for the virus in the 24 hours to Thursday morning, while 36,672 vaccinations were administered at state-run sites.

The latest figures come as a Melbourne principal temporarily lost his registration after allowing students to attend his school in breach of COVID-19 restrictions.

More than 30 coronavirus cases were linked to the outbreak last month at Fitzroy Community School, which spread to students, teachers and household contacts.

The independent primary school of 60 students had been inviting all parents to send their kids to class, a move it publicly defended.

Principal Timothy Berryman was handed an interim suspension by the Victorian Institute of Teaching, pending an investigation. The suspension came into effect on Wednesday.

VIT has the power to suspend a teacher’s registration if it forms the view “the teacher poses an unacceptable risk of harm to children” or it is “necessary to protect children”.

Meanwhile, authorities are racing to identify vulnerable young patients who were exposed to a COVID-19 outbreak at a Melbourne children’s hospital cancer ward.

A patient’s parent spent at least four days at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville while infectious between October 1 and October 4.

The hospital’s Kookaburra cancer care ward has been identified as a tier one exposure site, and its main street walkway has been listed as a tier two site for September 26.

RCH chief executive Bernadette McDonald said all affected patients, parents or carers have been put into single rooms at the hospital to quarantine for 14 days.

No child in the cancer ward had tested positive as of Wednesday evening, but the hospital has 12 COVID-19 positive patients under its care, with four in other wards and eight being treated at home.

STATE-BY-STATE CASE BREAKDOWN

VIC - 1638 new local cases, two deaths

NSW - 587 new local cases, 10 deaths

QLD - no new local cases

ACT - 41 new local cases

WA - TBA

NT - no new local cases

SA - TBA

TAS - no new local cases

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