#AceHealthReport – Aug.18: Six of the people who died were aged over 70 and one was in their 40s. It is the highest number of daily fatalities NSW has recorded since the #pandemic began….

#CoronavirusNewsDesk says New #COVID19 rules in Melbourne, Darwin goes into lockdown, ACT cluster grows: Here’s the latest COVID-19 news across the country in last 24-hours ……….NSW has recorded 478 cases and seven deaths, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying the numbers are “disturbingly high”………

A 15-year-old boy who contracted pneumococcal meningitis and COVID-19 also died but Sydney’s Children Hospital confirmed the virus was not the cause of Osama Subuh’s death.

NSW Police at midnight launched “Operation Stay at Home”, a 21,000 personnel operation — including 18,000 police officers and 800 members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) — to enforce public health orders.

New COVID restrictions and lockdown extended in Victoria

Victoria announced a two week-extension of its current lockdown and tougher restrictions as the state recorded 22 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases. 

The new restrictions include a curfew that will be in force from 9:00pm to 5:00am each day.

Playgrounds, basketball courts, skate parks and outdoor exercise equipment will also close.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the new restrictions would come into effect at 11:59pm on Monday and be in place until September 2. He said they came amid concerns about compliance with current restrictions.

South Australia blocks travellers from parts of NT

South Australia closed its border to travellers from several local government areas in the Northern Territory as of 6:00pm Monday night.

The new direction blocks travellers who had been in local government areas (LGAs) north of the Central Desert and Barkly LGAs — excluding the East Arnhem LGA — on or after Thursday, August 12.

Only returning South Australian residents, people who are relocating, people escaping domestic violence and essential travellers will be allowed to enter SA from the affected LGAs, which cover both Darwin and Katherine.

However, those travellers will still be subjected to level 4 requirements upon their arrival in SA, meaning they must self-quarantine for 14 days and undertake COVID-19 tests on days 1, 5 and 13.

Greater Darwin enters snap three-day lockdown after one COVID case

Greater Darwin and Katherine entered a three-day lockdown at noon on Monday.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said one positive case of COVID-19 was recorded overnight, a man in his 30s who travelled to the Northern Territory for “legitimate work purposes”.

The man was a recent international arrival and had spent 14 days in quarantine in Sydney.

He left hotel quarantine on August 12 after returning a negative COVID-19 test on August 10.

On Thursday, August 12, the man transited from Sydney to Darwin through Canberra airport, while Canberra was a declared COVID-19 hotspot.

However, under the NT’s hotspot rules, the man was allowed to transit through without going into quarantine.

Mr Gunner said the man visited “various locations” in the Darwin CBD over a few days.

COVID cluster in ACT grows to 28

The ACT recorded 19 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of active cases in Canberra to 28.

The ACT government also extended its lockdown — initially set to end this Thursday — for another two weeks, until at least September 2.

One of today’s new cases was a student at Lyneham High School, who attended classes over four days while infectious.

Another of the cases is a worker at an aged care facility in Tuggeranong, who had received one dose of a vaccine and unwittingly worked three shifts while infectious. 

Queensland tightens borders restrictions

Queensland recorded no new local cases but it declared Greater Darwin and the Katherine region to be hotspots and also announced it would strengthen border controls from Friday.

From 1:00am on Wednesday, anyone who had arrived in Queensland from those areas of the NT since August 12 will need to go into hotel quarantine.

Anyone who has already arrived, or arrives in Queensland from the Greater Darwin and Katherine regions before 1:00am on August 18, should monitor their symptoms and get tested immediately if they experience symptoms.

The move follows a man in his 30s testing positive for COVID-19 and spending time in the NT community while infectious.

And from Friday, essential workers with an exemption to cross into Queensland — including emergency and health workers — will need to have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said people from NSW should only be coming to Queensland “if it is absolutely essential and services would fall over if those people didn’t cross the border”.

Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said delays should be expected at the border and only those people with exemptions would be allowed in.

He said 6,442 vehicles were intercepted at the border in the past 24 hours, with 606 turned around.

Clive Palmer plans to sue WA over vaccination rule

Queensland businessman Clive Palmer says he will launch a High Court challenge against Western Australia’s plan to make people from high-risk states show they have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination before entering the state.

In a statement, Mr Palmer said the requirement was in breach of section 117 of the constitution.

“By restricting free movement of Australian citizens within Australia and creating an island-within-an-island, the WA COVID-19 eradication strategy is unconstitutional,” Mr Palmer said in an emailed statement from his United Australia Party.

As of tomorrow, Western Australia will designate New South Wales a high-risk state.

It will require anyone granted an exemption to enter WA from there to show proof of at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination and a negative COVID test in the 72 hours before departure.

ACT Policing increases compliance activities during lockdown….

ACT Policing has significantly increased its compliance activity following the announcement of the ACT wide lockdown on Thursday (12 August 2021).

Overall community compliance has been high – with the vast majority of people making themselves aware of the rules. However, since the lockdown was announced police have fined people for a range of reasons.

These included workers painting an unfinished new home and a driver that allegedly claimed to be a rideshare driver but could not provide any proof of this.

Three men, arrested for criminal matters, were also charged with breaching health directions.

In one case overnight a 43-year-old Queanbeyan man was charged with contravening health directions and other offences after officers in Weston spoke with the man and asked him to wear a face mask. The man refused to do so and was arrested after disclosing he was not in the ACT for essential work or health care. A search of his possessions revealed a number of stolen items.

In total, eight infringement notices have been issued since Thursday, along with seven cautions and 48 people were directed to leave the ACT.

In Road Policing activities (some jointly conducted with NSW Police), more than 2700 drivers have been spoken to by police at random compliance operations since Thursday.

Police will continue to stop vehicles both within the ACT and border crossings to ensure people from interstate or entering the ACT are entitled to be in the Territory.

Face-to-face compliance activity was also ramped up following the lockdown announcement, with police conducting 3813 in-person checks at homes, hotels and businesses.

ACT Policing COVID-19 Taskforce Inspector Naomi Binstead said there was very clear advice about what restrictions are in place during the lockdown.

“While we have seen a good overall level of compliance across the ACT, there are still those few people that have decided they either know better, or that these important rules do not apply to them,” said Inspector Binstead.

“As the Chief Police Officer has repeatedly said – stay at home unless you meet the reasons identified by ACT Health and check the ACT Health website for the most up-to-date information.”

“Also, please do not call police for general COVID-19 lockdown information. A significant number of calls have been received by our operations centre and the vast majority of these are already clearly answered on the ACT Health website.”

Before you call a helpline – please visit the ACT COVID-19 site for the most up to date information.

To make reports of non-compliance you can complete a form via Access Canberra or contact the COVID-19 Helpline on 6207 7244 (8am-8pm, 7 days a week).

For police assistance call 131 444 and only contact Triple Zero (000) for emergencies.

#AceHealthDesk report ………Published: Aug.18: 2021:

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