Life under social isolation or mandatory "stay home orders".

More than a dozen flights landed in Sydney today but there was no coronavirus screening at the airport.

Thousands of people disembarked 14 planes at Sydney Airport today after travelling from Melbourne but there were no temperature checks for passengers.

"We thought they would check a licence in regards to the postcodes, because 10 postcodes have been locked down, but no," one passenger told 9News.

"You get checked when you go to Chemist Warehouse, you don't get checked at the airport," another said.

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he NSW Government says it will ban people living in Melbourne's coronavirus hotspots from entering the state.Health Minister Brad Hazzard today revealed anyone from an affected Victorian postcode found in NSW could be jailed for six months or fined $11,000.

The ABC understands he will sign a public health order implementing the changes later today.

The new rules will also apply to people in NSW who visit the affected Melbourne suburbs.
"It's not something we want to do but we must do for our own safety," Mr Hazzard said.Mr Hazzard said the State Government was "not going to accept" Melbourne residents breaching Victoria's new lockdown and trying to "slip across" the border. "As soon as you set foot in NSW, you'll be exposed to the possibility of six months jail and $11,000 fine," he said. "So take it seriously, take it very, very seriously."

NSW residents returning from those hotspots will also be forced to quarantine for 14 days, the NSW Health Minister said.
Mr Hazzard warned police would increase their checks on Victorian travellers."I would expect police, if they see Victorian number plates, they will be looking at who and where and making sure they haven't come from the hotspots".

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Police are poised to hand out $1,652 on-the-spot fines as they patrol Melbourne's coronavirus hotspots to weed out those breaching a strict stay-at-home order ( UNDER LEVEL 3 LOCAL LOCKDOWNS ).

The Victorian government re-imposed lockdown orders for 36 suburbs in ten postcodes at midnight on Wednesday, after recording 212 new cases of the deadly virus in three days.

Officials have now vowed to take a strict no-nonsense approach to fines, only allowing people to escape without a penalty in extreme circumstances.

Residents are banned from leaving their homes except for work and school, food shopping, giving care and daily exercise. The lockdown is expected to last for four weeks.


<< The term used to describe this is "RING FENCING" the LOCKED DOWN postcodes . No physical barriers ( ie manned checkpoints , barricades or wire mesh fences in place ) , unless it becomes necessary .>>

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton warned on Thursday that there would 'significant' police presence in the hotspot areas and there would be adopting a 'no excuses' policy.

1,000 police will be on patrol focused on coronavirus enforcement IN THE LOCKED DOWN POSTCODES and SURROUNDING POSTCODES. Anyone caught flouting the new restrictions will be fined $1,652, he said. 'You'd have to have been living on Mars not to understand that the chief health officer restrictions apply in these 36 suburbs. 'For those who are selfish enough to disregard these warnings from the Victoria Police...we will be infringing them. The window of police discretion is a very small window at the moment, I can assure you, and it's rapidly closing.

'So for those reasons, I have instructed all of our officers that - that window of leniency - it may exist on some very small few occasions, but other than that, people are expected to get tickets for $1652.

'I want to be absolutely crystal-clear - for those who are selfish enough to disregard these warnings from the Chief Health Officer, the deliberate, obvious and blatant breaches, if they're committing that, we will be infringing them.'

Restaurants, gyms, pubs and all other non-essential services in the suburbs must once again close their doors.

Affected businesses will be compensated with a government cash grant of $5,000.

Residents from the ten postcodes will not be allowed to go on holiday and the government will announce a support package for affected tourism businesses tomorrow.

The lockdown, which came into force from 11.59pm on Wednesday, will last for four weeks.

Police will be enforcing the orders with random vehicle checks similar to random breath tests and will issue on-the-spot fines. These are not appealable or negotiable and the police have no zero leeway on this.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the lockdown was 'deeply painful' and 'damaging for businesses' but insisted that it was necessary. 'If we don't take these steps now we will be locking down every postcode,' he said.

As hotspot areas in Australia's second most populous city began a four-week lockdown on Thursday morning, masked officers were seen using light beacons and cones to flag down motorists approaching each checkpoint.

Each motorist is being asked where they are going, where they have come from and the reason for their travel.

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VicRoads has also revealed it is experiencing a surge in Victorians trying to change their addresses to bypass the road blocks.

Victorians could normally quickly change their address by getting a short-term sticker to attach to their old licence, while the road authority processes a new card.

The state's road authority has this week though introduced detailed review procedures to prevent people from falsifying information to authorities.

VicRoads will instead ask anyone attempting to change their address from a hotspot suburb to evidence in additional detail the reason for doing so.

Those who falsify a claim or withhold information from the Victorian Department of Transport agency face a fine of up to $825.

<< so if anyone does this they will cop fines = $825 + $1652 = $2477 + other fines as well as you can bet the cops will be very thorough in checking the car and the passengers IDs too >>

The authority - which processes about 3,000 requests to change address each day - would not reveal how many licence change of address requests had been filed to them in the day since the lockdown was announced on Tuesday night.

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So far more than 100 people in Victoria have had a saliva test for coronavirus after the state became the first in Australia to roll out the more pleasant, albeit slightly less exact, option.

It's not intended to replace nasal or throat swabbing Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says, it's simply an extra line of defence in the fight to contain outbreaks.

Saliva testing was introduced after the Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer revealed 30 per cent of returning Victorians in hotel quarantine had refused swab testing.

Right now saliva testing is only offered to those in hotel quarantine or residents in Melbourne hotspots, but could it potentially be rolled out more widely in the future?

Let's break down the new 'spit test'.

How do you do a saliva test?
You collect saliva in your mouth for a minute or two and then spit it into a jar.

That jar is then sent to a lab where the saliva is tested.

Recent research has found there was a three-hour gap between the saliva collection at the Royal Melbourne clinic and the lab testing.

How do the saliva and swab tests work?
There are two main ways to test for the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The most reliable is the reverse transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test which can pick up the genetic information of the virus (the RNA) when someone is actively infected.

Both nasal swabs and saliva samples undergo PCR testing.

Serology testing uses blood samples to analyse whether someone has COVID-19 antibodies. If they do, it means they've had the virus at some point in the past.

Serology testing has limitations as it doesn't allow for any direct action, in fact it would show a negative result even if you had COVID-19 at the time of testing.

For this reason serology testing is only being used in special circumstances.

How accurate is the saliva test?
TLDR: Nasal and throat swabbing remains the gold standard of testing, but a saliva test is better than nothing.

The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne put saliva samples to the test in March and April, using specimens from hundreds of patients at the COVID-19 screening clinic at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Nasal/throat swabs returned 39 positive results, while the saliva samples from same patients returned 33.

The institute says the saliva test has a sensitivity of around 87% in other words, if you 'spit test' 100 people who all have COVID-19, about 13% will be false negatives.

It's impossible to give a definitive sensitivity rating for the nasal/throat swab (basically because there's nothing better to test it against) but it's more than 90% , Professor Turner says.
Swab tests still produce what Dr Norman Swan calls a "significant minority" of false negatives, with one report by the Johns Hopkins University in the US suggesting the chance of a False Negative is greater 20% , so more than 2 negative tests are needed be sure the person being tested is TRUELY COVID19 NEGATIVE or virus free.

Why is the saliva test less sensitive?
Saliva is a complex mix of fluids containing water, electrolytes, proteins and enzymes and all of these dilute the viral genetic material of COVID-19.

"The other thing is, saliva is where the virus ends up before it's transmitted, it's not where it's growing, it's not as direct a test of infection," Professor Turner says.

Could it give a false positive result?
The Doherty Institute says there is no chance a saliva test could return a positive result if the person is COVID-19 negative.

The institute's researchers tested saliva specimens from 50 patients who returned negative nasal/throat swabs.

The saliva tests didn't return any false positives, and in fact, picked up one positive result that the swab testing had missed.
<< So the SALIVA TEST is HAS A HIGHER SPECIFIVITY than the SWAB TEST.>>

The researchers said this might reflect the inconsistencies that can arise when a swab isn't taken properly by a nurse or doctor.

"If the result is positive — we can trust the saliva test. But if it comes back negative and there's still some clinical suspicion that that person might have been exposed to the virus, they may then choose to get a nasal swab," University of Queensland virologist Ian Mackay says.

What are the advantages of the saliva test?
If you have already had a COVID-19 test, you will know that it's not a pleasant experience and spitting into a jar is far more preferable.

"For little kids, which seems to be one of the target audiences here, a saliva test is a much more attractive and agreeable form of collection", Dr Mackay says. << everyone can do a nice big hicky !! , and for kids it will be very much less stressful and quicker and less scary , just ask the kid to do a big juicy spit in a jar and you are done .>>

It's not just children though, those in vulnerable categories including the elderly, particularly those with dementia, or some people with disabilities may prefer this method of detection.

In turn, our testing will hopefully broaden, Professor Turner says.

"We might get more tests done and a broader range of the population, because people who might not have gone to get a test because they don't like the idea of having a swab down their throat might now be more amenable," he says.

And because you can do a saliva test at home, the potential for exposure at a COVID-19 clinic is eliminated, benefiting both patients and health care workers.

It's also worth noting that saliva samples are sent to the exact same laboratories as nose/throat swabs so we're not changing the kind of testing, just the sample.

Why now?
In late June the Doherty Institute received an anonymous donation of $1 million to boost its COVID-19 research.

Half of that donation was spread between three projects, one being the investigation of saliva as an alternative diagnostic specimen for COVID-19.

The Doherty Institute wouldn't comment on whether the roll-out of saliva testing was already scheduled for June or was moved forward to combat the rising spread of community transmission.

The Victorian Department of Health told the ABC the saliva test was introduced to investigate just how widespread community transmission was and authorities want to test its ability to be scaled up before offering it to any more people.

Just last week the UK announced a four-week trial of at-home saliva testing and in May the US Food and Drug Administration permitted one lab to start selling at-home saliva collection kits.

What do the experts think?
The benefits of saliva testing far outweigh the disadvantages, Professor Turner says.

Dr Mackay agrees and wants to assure people there is no need to have any hesitations about taking a saliva test.

He says rolling out saliva testing in the outbreak hotspots was wise and it has the added benefit of giving researchers more data to examine.

"We're in this great position where we don't have a lot of cases so we don't have the same urgency. We can afford to do things like this and expand the knowledge and that can be leveraged by other places around the world as well."

Director of the Doherty Institute Sharon Lewin says it would be a "perfect outcome" if people no longer had to leave their home for a COVID-19 test.

The Doherty says there will be ongoing analysis of the saliva testing in Melbourne and further research will "hopefully" be published.

NSW has not ruled out introducing the saliva test if the need arises for greater testing in the future.

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The man contracted the virus in hotel quarantine in Melbourne, before being told he had cleared COVID-19 and headed home to New South Wales.

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Coles has introduced further buying restrictions in supermarkets after several workers tested positive to coronavirus in Victoria, leading to replenishment issues.

A number of workers at the Laverton chilled distribution centre have been diagnosed with COVID-19, forcing all staff at the facility to be tested for the virus.

"While the Laverton distribution centre has been able to maintain operations, the reduced number of available team members has temporarily impacted our ability to replenish our Victorian stores with chilled and fresh produce lines," a Coles statement read.

Two-pack purchase limits have been implemented across all stores, including online, in Victoria and Tasmania, as well as Lavington, Albury and Deniliquin in NSW, for the following items:
Chilled products (from Laverton DC)
Fresh Milk
Cheese
Butter
Margarine
Chicken Breast punnets
Chicken Thighs punnets
Prepacked Carrots bags
Prepacked Potatoes bags

Ambient and Frozen Product Limits
Canned Tomatoes
Canned Beans
Canned Garden Veg
Pasta Sauce
Canned Fruit
Canned Baked Beans & Spaghetti
Canned Meat

Frozen Fruit & Veg (Inc Potato)

This is in addition to restrictions already imposed on the other two-pack limits introduced last month, which continue to remain in place for the following items: pasta, hand sanitiser, mince, UHT milk, flour, sugar, eggs and rice.

The one-pack limit for toilet paper and paper towel still applies in all states.

In a statement, Coles said the team was working hard with its suppliers to replenish stores as soon as possible. "We apologise to customers of our Victorian and NSW border stores who may find some chilled and fresh produce lines are temporarily out of stock," the statement read.

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The Queensland Government is calling for all Queenslanders currently in Victoria to immediately return home to avoid footing a hefty hotel quarantine bill.

At midday on Friday, Queensland will enter its third stage of easing coronavirus restrictions, which have been brought forward from the middle of next month.

It's also when Queensland dials up its quarantine arrangements for those travelling into the state from Victoria.
As of midday on Friday, Queenslanders returning from Victoria will be forced to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks at their own expense, rather than isolating in the comfort of their own home. "We're calling on Queenslanders still there to come home as soon as possible," Deputy Premier Steven Miles said. "It's safer here — we've had one case in almost two weeks and that was acquired overseas.
"If you come back from Greater Melbourne before lunchtime Friday, you will still have to quarantine at home for two weeks but you won't have to pay for it.

"After Friday, you will have to quarantine in a hotel and pay if you come back from anywhere in Victoria."

'Time to pay their own way'
The change in quarantine requirements comes as the Victorian Government imposes lockdowns on certain suburbs.

Victoria has flagged the possibility of another statewide lockdown if coronavirus outbreaks in the state could not be contained.Queensland's Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said the Government has moved to make people pay for their own quarantine to reduce the burden on taxpayers. "Since the quarantine direction came into place on March 28, we have spent more than $20 million accommodating more than 8,000 people in quarantine," Dr Young said. "The general quarantine direction has been in place for almost three months and it's well publicised so now is an appropriate time for people to pay their own way."

Dr Young said a hardship scheme would be in place to help vulnerable people and people experiencing financial difficulties.

Queenslanders head home early to avoid hotels
Mitchell Smith said he was relieved to be home in Brisbane after visiting family in Victoria.
"All the flights were going crazy, they were getting booked really early so I just got in as soon as I could," Mr Smith said. "I still am quarantining for 14 days but at my home instead of a hotel and having to pay for it myself."

Sharon Bickle had been staying with her son in Melbourne but brought forward her flight home to get back to Brisbane ahead of tomorrow's cut-off. "I was supposed to come home on Sunday but then I realised I'd have to go into hotel quarantine," Ms Bickle said. "So I was able to change it to today and sneak in under the wire. "I was on the laptop the moment Annastacia Palaszczuk made the announcement."

Queensland's borders reopen to all other states and territories ( except Victoria ) on July 10.

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A man who arrived at Sydney's Central Station on an XPT train from Melbourne this morning came from a coronavirus hotspot, and was intercepted by authorities.NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the man's accommodation provider worked out from his ID that he probably was coming from a hotspot.

Earlier this week, new public health orders came into effect banning anyone from a Victorian hotspot from entering NSW.

"He [the man] indicated that he hadn't been living at the hotspot for a little while, but then in further discussions he indicated that he'd been to a storage area for his furniture or so on, I gather in the hotspot area," Mr Hazzard said.

The man has been taken to a quarantine hotel in Sydney, and it is unclear if he will be forced to leave NSW << IMO he should be fined , put in gaol , then sent straight back to Victoria when NSW are done with him --- make a bloody example of him , prove NSW ARE SERIOUS about this >>
NSW Police are investigating the matter, and the man could face an $11,000 fine or up to six months in prison if he is charged.

Mr Hazzard said he attempted to make contact with the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to request he implement stricter screening procedures at train stations.

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Meanwhile, police in NSW are tightening controls at the Victorian border amid a spike of coronavirus cases in Melbourne.
"As a border community this certainly impacts us," Murry River Police Superintendent Paul Smith said.
"A lot of us have family in Melbourne and in some of those suburbs. However, this is obviously for the community safety.
"There is no intent to close those borders, what the intent is, to stop the spread of the virus."

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Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has said a "super spreader" may be responsible for many of the new coronavirus infections in Melbourne's north and west.Victoria recorded its 17th straight day of double-digit coronavirus case increases, with another 66 people diagnosed overnight.

Of the new infections, 17 were connected to contained outbreaks, one was detected in hotel quarantine, 20 were diagnosed through routine testing and 28 cases were under investigation.
"On Tuesday, I received a briefing of a genomic sequencing report that seemed to suggest that there seems to be a single source of infection for many of the cases that have gone across the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne," Ms Mikakos said. "It appears to be even potentially a super spreader that has caused this upsurge in cases."

Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said while there was not definitive evidence, the concept of a "super spreader" was one of many theories being investigated by health authorities.
"There's a number of things that can cause an outbreak that looks like this and that can be multiple introductions or a single introduction that causes multiple outbreaks," she said.Reintroducing restrictions earlier this week, Premier Daniel Andrews said genomic sequencing revealed a number of the new infections could be linked back to security contractors in state-run hotel quarantine breaching infection control protocols.

The Government has been facing increased scrutiny over its handling of the hotel quarantine system as more than 50 coronavirus cases are now linked to the program.

A $3 million judicial inquiry will examine how the virus was able to spread from the Victoria State managed ( run under a subcontract by a private security company ) quarantine hotels into the community.Under questioning from reporters, Ms Mikakos distanced her department, the Department of Health and Human Services, from the scandal, saying they did not oversee the security contracts.

She said the genomic sequencing only told part of the story, but that the judicial inquiry must be allowed to thoroughly examine what went wrong.

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Some Melburnians declining COVID-19 tests over 'conspiracy' fears
Ms Mikakos said more than 10,000 people in Melbourne's coronavirus hotspots declined to be tested during Victoria's testing blitz, including some who believed the virus was a conspiracy.
<< IMO Victoria needs to start fining anyone who doesn't have a VALID medical reason to be tested , being a Covidiot is not a valid reason to say no to testing , OR if someone refuses to be tested they should be placed under enforced mandatory quarantine in a facility ( at their own cost ) for NO LESS THAN 4 WEEKS >>

She said authorities had been "smashing targets for testing" with more than 164,000 people tested across Victoria and doorknockers reaching nearly 95,000 homes in problem suburbs.

But she said that more than 10,000 people had refused to be tested for a range of reasons, including that they may have already been swabbed"It is concerning that the report that I have received is that some people believe coronavirus is a conspiracy or that it won't impact on them," she said.

<< I hope everyone who is tested gets a certificate to prove they were tested and when and where. Unfortunately however one negative test is not conclusive proof a true negative test because of the prevalence, sensitivity and specifivity of the tests , one negative test runs the risk in up to 30% of cases of being a FALSE NEGATIVE , health departments in Australia are not telling people this and SHOULD BE , and should be arranging follow up swab or spit tests with everyone tested over several days to confirm true negative covid19 status via 2 or 3 negative tests , otherwise the risk is that false negatives can slip through and become accidential spreaders in the family , workplaces , schools and communities >>.

Authorities not ruling out further lockdowns of other suburbs
The Government has announced an extra $2 million in mental health funding, with a focus on residents in hotspot suburbs.

Today is the second day of stage three restrictions being imposed on more than 300,000 residents of 10 postcodes across Melbourne.

Ms Mikakos said the postcodes with the highest number of new cases were 3064, 3031, 3047 and 3060.

This covers the suburbs of Craigieburn, Donnybrook, Mickleham, Roxburgh Park, Kalkallo, Kensington, Flemington, Broadmeadows, Dallas, Jacana and Fawkner.

The suburbs within the 3031 postcode, Kensington and Flemington, are not currently under the reimposed restrictions but do border a lockdown area.
Mr Andrews said a daily increase was not enough to cause new restrictions to be imposed, but instead health authorities looked at trends over time.

Authorities use three criteria to identify suburbs which need tightened restrictions, and Mr Andrews said "we'll have further announcements if we need to".

"We certainly can't rule further restrictions and we certainly can't rule out other postcodes on that formula being pulled into this," he said.

The postcodes with the most active cases include postcode 3047 — taking in Broadmeadows, Dallas and Jacana — with 25 active cases and postcode 3064 — taking in Craigieburn, Donnybrook, Mickleham, Roxburgh Park and Kalkallo — with 52 active cases.

Ms Mikakos said in some of these postcodes there may be about 100 individuals who were currently isolating as close contacts of confirmed cases.
"So the risk factor is there, not just because we have active cases but because we have got close contacts who might potentially then test positive themselves," she said.

All staff and students from the Al-Taqwa College school in Truganina have been placed into quarantine after a cluster there grew to 23 cases.

The outbreak linked to security contractors working in the state-run quarantine program at the Stamford Plaza hotel has grown to 35 after three further close contacts tested positive at the end of their quarantine period.

Single cases were linked to outbreaks at Albanvale Primary School, the Orygen Youth Mental Health facility in Footscray and the Villa Bambini early learning centre in Essendon.

Advice to all Victorians remains to get tested and stay home if they feel unwell, practice good hygiene and to keep 1.5 metres away from others. << Everywhere else in Victoria remains at Level 2 , while the Locked Down areas in Melbourne are at Level 3.>>

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Six AFL teams will relocate from Victoria to Queensland as the AFL scrambles to ensure the season is able to continue amid Melbourne's expanding coronavirus outbreak.St Kilda, North Melbourne, Essendon, Western Bulldogs, Richmond and Carlton will relocate from Melbourne for at least the next block of fixtures.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said four teams would be based on the Gold Coast and two on the Sunshine Coast, making Queensland "the home of the AFL".

Hawthorn and Melbourne will be based in New South Wales, while Collingwood and Geelong will play one match in Sydney before heading west to Perth.

The Premier said she understood the move would be for the rest of the season, but the AFL told the ABC the move would be for a 32-day block from round six, followed by a "reset".

Ms Palaszczuk said all players and staff would undergo a 14-day quarantine after arriving in the state, although teams within the Queensland bubble would be able to play each other before that.

"The AFL know and respect what is expected of them and as long as they follow our rules, we are glad to help the competition proceed," she said.


<< I'm sure residents in these areas of Qld will be miffed that their lives and health as community are being risked in order that professional AFL players ( and all their hangeroners and likely their families too ) and Fox PayTV and 9 Network can make money .
Is stupid that professional sports get special treatment here - so much for "we're all in this together" and we all should "follow the new rules".

Pro football players of all three Australian codes have a very poor record for obeying the covid19 rules , I think it's very foolhardy to take anything or any agreement made by these codes' "bosses" on face value as you can't trust the players to follow the rules , especially when they hit the grog .
>>

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A SCHOOL south of Lake Macquarie will remain shut on Friday after a << now confirmed >> COVID-19 case prompted the school to keep students home as a precaution. Green Point Christian College .
In a statement on Friday the school said it would be non-operational. "The school has been advised by NSW Health of a << now >> confirmed case of COVID-19," it said in a statement.
"A senior student from our school has been tested . The school will be non-operational for the on-site attendance of staff and students as a the result."

Health authorities have urged anyone who has been unwell or had flu-like symptoms to seek testing at nearby clinics in Erina, Gosford, and Wyong.
"Further advice will be provided today on any further actions being undertaken and advising when the school will resume on-site learning," the school said.

The potential case comes as Hunter New England Health urged vigilance for meningococcal symptoms amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The health district has recorded six cases of the invasive infection this year, with a baby less than a year old diagnosed "recently" in the greater Newcastle area.

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AFTER an extended period when Newcastle Airport was all but empty, and with essential workers virtually the only ones flying, the Hunter Region's main aerial gateway has reopened with a steadily increasing roster of flights.

Through a combination of social distancing, rigorous testing, quarantine and lockdowns, coronavirus had all but disappeared from our part of the world.

But with flights having resumed between Newcastle and a range of east coast destinations, the potential for coronavirus to be brought from elsewhere in the country is an imminent danger,more so than it was when the various government bans and restrictions were in full force.

Now, however, the rapidly deteriorating situation in Victoria has the whole nation on notice, and as part of a new statewide health order, passengers who disembarked on the Jetstar flight from Melbourne yesterday had their temperature checked, with police waiting at the terminal as part of the state government's measures to attempt to protect NSW from developing its own hot-spots.
<< if they have a temperature , it's already too late , and everyone on the flight will likely become infected , how is this worth the risk ( or the business provided to JetStar )? , this is stupidity !! >>

As the Victorian government has now acknowledged, at least some of the blame for the escalating situation in and around Melbourne can be sheeted home to lax supervision at the various hotels set aside for quarantine isolation.

But Victoria is not the only state administration to get things wrong, as the NSW inquiry into the fateful consequences of the Ruby Princess March 19 arrival in Sydney has heard.

Yet despite an overwhelming need for caution as the various COVID-19 restrictions are unwound, passengers arriving in Newcastle yesterday said there was no screening before boarding at Tullamarine.

Given public health orders in NSW and other states against arrivals from designated Victorian hot-spots, it would seem the least the Andrews government could do would be to help out at its end by ensuring that nobody with a temperature or other symptoms leaves its commercial airports for interstate destinations .

Given public health orders in NSW and other states against arrivals from designated Victorian hot-spots, it would seem the least the Andrews government could do would be to help out at its end by ensuring that nobody with a temperature or other symptoms leaves its commercial airports.

And yes, airlines are businesses, and need to make money, but the celebratory nature of some of the airline advertising - Jetstar offering cut-price getaway flights as parent Qantas takes big hunks of JobKeeper money while sacking staff - seems in questionable taste. (Quantas owns JetStar).

Because if cases do flare up away from Melbourne, the border openings now under way will likely be reversed, and the finger of blame - fairly or not - pointed south.

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The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labor MP Mike Kelly, and the electorate covers a large area in southern New South Wales, which was hit hard during the bushfires last summer.

As they cast their votes today, both Liberal Fiona Kotvojs and her Labor opponent, former Bega mayor Kristy McBain, referred to the extreme conditions suffered across Eden-Monaro.

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Four residents at Newmarch House aged care home in Sydney's west, linked to one of Australia's worst outbreaks of COVID-19, have been tested for coronavirus after showing flu-like symptoms.The aged care home was locked down earlier this year after a worker with mild symptoms worked six days at the facility while infected with COVID-19, causing an outbreak.

Nineteen residents died from coronavirus-related illnesses after the first case was detected in April, accounting for almost a fifth of all deaths from coronavirus nationally.

A further 37 residents and 34 staff members contracted the disease.

Anglicare Sydney, which operates the facility, declared it COVID-19 free on June 15 but said the four residents had been tested after showing flu-like symptoms.

In a statement, Anglicare Sydney said a number of precautionary measures had been put in place.
"The residents have been tested, are isolated and their families have been contacted," the statement read.
"Staff attending them are wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE)."The aged care home said all other residents were being encouraged to stay in their rooms, but would be monitored to make sure they kept up social distancing if they chose to leave.

NSW Health has confirmed there were four residents being tested, after Anglicare initially said there were three.
"One resident has returned a negative result and the other test results are expected to be available later this evening," NSW Health said in a statement.
<< more than one negative test required to prove a TRUE NEGATIVE >>

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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warned that international flights to Sydney over the coming weeks will be subject to a cap on arrivals and flights could be cancelled.

NSW Health said overseas arrivals will be capped at 450 passengers a day, with a maximum of 50 passengers allowed per incoming flight.

DFAT's SmartTraveller guidance has warned of "pressure" on Sydney's quarantine facilities.
"If you're scheduled to fly into Sydney in the coming days and weeks, confirm your itinerary and onward travel plans with your airline," it said.

In a statement, NSW Health said it was critical that hotel quarantining was "not stretched to breaking point".

Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said: "The Commonwealth Government has heard the NSW message that we need to ensure the system is sustainable".

NSW Health said that now the Victorian and Queensland governments have begun charging for hotel quarantine, some travellers were choosing to head to NSW instead for their quarantine.
Mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine was introduced on March 29.

NSW Police said 32,036 travellers had entered quarantine to date.

It said 500 officers and 150 Australian Defence Force personnel were monitoring guests across 22 hotels.

More than 5,000 people were in hotel quarantine on Friday.

Since quarantine was introduced, 113 symptomatic travellers have tested positive.

Another 85 out of 14,015 asymptomatic travellers tested on day 10 of quarantine — testing which is now mandatory — were confirmed COVID-19 cases.

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Premier Daniel Andrews said at least 23 new cases had been identified in more than 12 households in nine Flemington and North Melbourne public housing estates — a number which is expected to rise.

It comes as Victoria recorded its second-highest ever daily increase in coronavirus cases, with 108 people diagnosed with the virus overnight.

This is what the new lockdown means for residents of the tower blocks.

So, why have the towers been locked down?
Because authorities are "extremely concerned" that residents there have been exposed to the virus and may have cases they haven't yet found.

The towers are also full of some of society's most vulnerable people. << these are Australia's version of housing for poor and underprivileged and are usually full of people who have health issues and who are elderly ( the ones who can't afford to buy their way into commercial retirement village or a nursing home , many age pensioners , and people of aboriginal heritage occupy these , and many have life long drinking and smoking and drug abuse issues which makes covid19 extremely dangerous to them ). >>

The state's Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said the Government was "not taking this, at all, lightly".

"We are extremely concerned that there are many hundreds of people in these towers who have already been exposed to the cases that we've found and possibly to cases that exist and that we haven’t found," Dr van Diemen said."This is not just a matter of 23 to 30 odd people this is a matter of many hundreds , perhaps thousands , who have already been exposed and who may already be incubating. Close quarters living does make transmission more likely."

"The first priority here is to find every case in those towers so that we don't have an explosion of infections in a highly vulnerable community and very high rates of hospitalisations and deaths because of the background health status of a large"

What do we know about the towers and their residents?
The public housing blocks are in two Melbourne suburbs — Flemington and North Melbourne.

In Flemington, residents at 12 Holland Court, 120 Racecourse Rd, 126 Racecourse Rd and 130 Racecourse Rd will be affected.

In North Melbourne, those living at 12 Sutton St, 33 Alfred St, 76 Canning St, 159 Melrose St and 9 Pampas St will have to stay at home.
The estates house about 3,000 people in 1,345 units.

There have long been concerns about overcrowding in the blocks, which often have shared laundry facilities and small units.

To be eligible for housing assistance, people are usually on low incomes or live with disabilities.
"Some public housing tenants have fled war or family violence," Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said.
"Some are dealing with mental health challenges. Many don't speak English as their first language. Many others work casual or insecure jobs."

How long might they be locked down for?
It will be at least five days, which Mr Andrews said would be needed to test everybody in the towers and process the results.

Whether the stay-at-home orders stay in place for longer will depend on the results of the tests.The public health order allows authorities to place the buildings in lockdown for up to 14 days.

However, Mr Andrews did say that after the results come back then he'll act on advice from health authorities as to whether certain families or certain residential towers might be allowed some more freedom.

It's a waiting game at the moment.

Police are already at the unit complexes making sure no-one leaves and that only residents can go inside. ( Were deployed before the official announcement was made .)
At least 500 officers per shift will be on the job and the effort will be led by Assistant Commissioner Mick Hermans, who coordinated bushfire evacuations over the summer.

"The police presence and police operation will be unprecedented," the Premier said.

How will residents get food and medical help if they're stuck at home?
The Victorian Government said it is all over this.

It has promised to make sure everyone living in the towers gets food, medical assistance, medicines and any other help they need such as drug and alcohol addiction support.

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120 Australians have touched down in Adelaide this morning, arriving on a flight from Kuala Lumpur as part of ongoing repatriation efforts by the Federal Government. Will spend the next two weeks in quarantine at the Playford Hotel, in the Adelaide CBD, where they will be tested for COVID-19.

SA health officials oversaw the arrivals this morning, making sure the passengers were wearing face masks and abiding by social distancing requirements.

They will all be required to quarantine at the hotel for a fortnight before returning to their home states.

The arrivals join hundreds more who are already serving quarantine stays at hotels across the Adelaide CBD.

Today, the SA State Government also announced a group of State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers would be trained up as volunteer ambulance personnel as a precaution against coronavirus.

It is part of a plan to boost the state's COVID-19 response, with crews to receive training in CPR, infection control and ambulance driving skills, so they can step in for paramedics who may need to self-isolate.

SA Health Minister Stephen Wade said the plan would build operational resilience, particularly in regional areas.

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About 2,000 people, many wearing masks, gathered at King George Square before marching towards Musgrave Park in a largely peaceful demonstration calling for justice for Indigenous Australians and refugees.

One of the rally's organisers, Boe Spearim, a member of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, said it was important to continue the momentum almost a month after tens of thousands of people marched in one of the biggest demonstrations in the city's history.

"I don't think there's going to be tens of thousands people this weekend," he said.

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Health authorities approved a second Black Lives Matter rally in Adelaide before thousands protested through the city.

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Interstate arrivals to the Northern Territory from coronavirus hotspots will be forced to enter mandatory supervised quarantine for two weeks when the Territory's borders reopen on July 17, Chief Minister Michael Gunner says.

The NT Government's previous declaration had been that hotspot arrivals would have to self-isolate for 14 days upon entering the Northern Territory.

Mr Gunner said the Northern Territory was preparing to implement the "toughest quarantine system we have had since this crisis began" for travellers entering the NT from coronavirus hotspots. "If you do come here, we will lock you down, and you will pay for it," Mr Gunner said.

Mr Gunner said the stricter rules meant most new arrivals in Darwin would undertake their 14-day quarantine at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.

The facility was previously used to house Australian evacuees from Wuhan and passengers transported back to Australia from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess in Japan.

In other parts of the Territory, Mr Gunner said new arrivals would quarantine in "inspected, certified and supervised accommodation".

All new arrivals in supervised quarantine will also be subject to testing before leaving quarantine.

Mr Gunner said if someone refused a test, 10 days would be added to their quarantine.

The NT Government will also "review" and "refresh" protocols and training for staff involved with quarantine supervision, and no travel exemptions will be given to people from hotspot areas once the new rules are in place.

Last week, the Northern Territory recorded its first case of coronavirus in nearly three months — a case which involved a returning Darwin resident who had recently entered a Melbourne hotspot.

The tougher measures come as organisations within the Northern Territory voice concern over the health risks of Mr Gunner's planned reopening of the Territory's borders.

Northern Territory Police have also lamented a series of "utterly unacceptable" quarantine breaches in the past week across the Territory which they say show some arrivals "aren't getting the message".

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Health authorities in Australia are desperately trying to quash the “explosive potential” of a Covid-19 outbreak across nine public housing towers in Melbourne from escalating into a city-wide lockdown, as rents are waived and hardship allowances are introduced for the 3,000 residents who have been banned from leaving their apartments.

Australia’s acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly labelled the towers at the centre of the outbreaks “vertical cruise ships”, as residents of the nine towers, many of whom are migrants, complained of a lack of food supplies and the size of the police force – 500 on rotating shifts – enforcing the “hard lockdown”.

Related: The government sent 500 police to the towers instead of 500 nurses. We need more testing, not lockdowns << we all know what will happen if the cops aren't there to make sure no one goes in and no one escapes , the residents who are able will vanish and if carrying covid19 they'll take it with them and spread it all over the state , perhaps even run away interstate .>>
Andrews also prepared the public for greater infection numbers in the coming days, as the results of a testing blitz on the towers’ 3,000 residents are returned.

“It is far more likely that we are going to find what we’re looking for (than finding no infections in the towers),” Andrews said.

“I don’t want people dying in these towers ... We will all feel the impact if this gets away from us comprehensively, because I won’t be looking down 12 postcodes, I will have no choice but to lockdown all postcodes,” he said.

Andrews acknowledged the residents of the towers were particularly vulnerable, saying public health workers, nurses and others had been working “right throughout the night” to provide food, essentials, drug and alcohol support, mental health support, family violence support, physical healthcare.

The state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said the confined nature of the public housing buildings presented a “genuinely explosive potential” for Covid-19 spread, and said authorities had not yet “turned the corner” in containing the cases that they believe have spread between the towers as a result of “a lot of exchange of individuals”.

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With about 3,000 residents in nine Melbourne public housing towers ordered to stay in their units for the next five days to try and contain a rise in coronavirus cases, the community has rallied to help.

The Victorian government has announced a suite of assistance packages including a two-week rent reprieve and hardship payments of $1,500 to help cover living costs for employed people, or $750 for people out of work. << Sure if they are casual employees who have no sick leave entitlements under their awards, but those who have sick leave entitlements should simply get this , and if need be the employer be reimbursed ( or a new leave COVID19 Leave allowance entitlement be invented to cover situations like this , I think many who have sick leave will double dip ( take the $1500 + call their employer and tall the employer they are sick and get their normal rate of pay as well ) , I think the $750 for people out of work is TOO LITTLE , they should also get $1500 IMO ).

The Government will also provide medical support, drug and alcohol support, family violence support and other essential services.

But members of the wider community have also offered their assistance.

Victoria's Housing Minister Richard Wynne said he had been overwhelmed by the compassion of "so many Victorians".

"Presently my phone is running off the hook with people saying, 'How can we help?'.

"From the Lord Mayor of Melbourne to the City of Moonee Valley and Trades Hall, any number of people have said, 'We want to be able to help because we know just how important it is as Victorians that we reach out'," he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the Government would let the public know later today about a single point of contact via which they could help the residents.

Groups outside government have swung into action
The Red Cross is on site to offer families assistance and Telstra is working to set up Wi-Fi and improve internet connectivity to the towers.

In less than 24 hours, the Victorian Trades Hall Council has raised more than $184,000 and says it will make sure every cent goes to the people under strict stay-at-home orders.

Melbourne-based Congolese-New Zealander Wani Le Frere has also provided translations of the coronavirus health advice in 10 languages.

On Twitter this morning he wrote: "Just finished a set of translations. Thank you everyone who got on board and helped to make these possible. There's been little information available, and the information that has been available has only been presented in English, and in an incredibly inaccessible manner."

Mr Le Frere will disseminate the posters written in Tigrinya, Somali, Lingala, Oromo, Ndebele, Shona, Swahili and Arabic, French and Turkish.

Outside of the Government, but within Parliament, Victoria's first lower house Greens MP, Ellen Sandell, has also asked those willing to help to email her office.

She said one of the "most important things we can do is to stand alongside public housing residents".
"We know times like this can be exploited for division, racism and scapegoating," she wrote on social media.
"It's important we stick together and stop people being blamed for a terrible situation.
"If you see or hear divisive comments — call them out."

Will help get through to the residents?
What remains to be seen is how this groundswell of support will actually make it to the residents of the towers.

Some social media users have reported volunteers bearing food packages being turned away.

Asked about an association that had been denied permission to deliver meals, Mr Andrews said it would "take time to connect the offers [of support]".
"There already are many, many partnerships," he said.
"We will always work with those who have the capacity to support us.
"In a hard lockdown environment, we can't have people moving freely in and out.
"That would absolutely defeat the purpose of having locked these residents down."

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All flights between NSW and Victoria except for essential workers and mail and freight have stopped
XPT has will stop running interstate express services.

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Two men, one in his 60s and one in his 90s, die from coronavirus in Victoria as the state continues to battle community transmission of COVID-19.

Deputy CMO Michael Kidd has warned Australians that Victoria's outbreak is a "national issue" and "we are all at risk" from a resurgence in coronavirus.

The Victorian border with New South Wales will be closed from Wednesday after the state recorded its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.
The border closure will take effect from 11:59pm on Tuesday.

The Victorian Premier said the decision to close the border followed talks with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The three leaders agreed closing the border would be the "smart call" at this point in time, Mr Andrews said.
"That closure will be enforced on the New South Wales side, so as not to be a drain on resources that are very much focused on fighting the virus right now across our state," Mr Andrews said.

<< NSW Police will enforce road and rail closures to allow Vic Police to focus on controlling the ongoing emergency in Melbourne ( all NSW and Vic Police leave is cancelled - it's all hands on deck for the cops.
>>
Victorians in NSW would be free to return to Victoria.

Premier said the "hard lockdown" imposed on the towers was to last for at least five days, but these have now been upgraded to "detention order" notices delivered to the residents to run for 14 days ( so it's been extended ) .

Mr Andrews said the length of the lockdown could be reassessed.
"Once all residents are tested we'll have more options based on data, and hopefully that means we can have a different set of rules that are not quite so hard in terms of the hard lockdown that we have put in place," he said. About 400 tests have been conducted in the towers so far, Mr Andrews said.

Permits for border communities but no interstate holidays allowed
The border closure is likely to be an unwelcome development for some residents in regional border communities where people regularly cross the Murray River to work or access health services.
Mr Andrews said there would be a permit system for people who needed to cross the NSW border.

"There will be a facility for people who live on those border communities to be able to travel to and from for the purposes of work, the purposes of the essential health services they might need," he said, going on holidays would "not be an acceptable reason" to cross the border.

Mayor of Victorian border city Wodonga, Anna Speedie, said implementing the permit system was going to be "incredibly challenging" for residents in the area. "We share a health system. We share so many different things," she said.

'Significant spillover' of cases from hotspot suburbs, CHO says
There are 31 Victorians with coronavirus in hospital, five of whom are in intensive care, Mr Andrews said.

Professor Sutton said a "significant number" of new cases were in postcodes next to hotspot areas and even as far away as Geelong .
<< Postcode area hard lockdowns (Level 4) are likely in spill over areas in very near future , and moving all of Victoria back to Level 3 statewide lockdown and economic hibernation is not off the table as likely next step , despite resistance in State Parliament and from "vested interests" such as Skye News , and commercial sector .>>

"There's significant spillover and so to use the bushfire analogy: there are literally spot fires adjacent to those restricted postcodes," he said.

"But people are absolutely being engaged in those areas so there's lots of doorknocking, there's lots of testing that's occurring and so we're picking up the cases in those adjacent postcodes, but they're not only in those restricted ones."

Mr Andrews said it had been a record weekend in terms of testing, with 25,000 tests completed on Sunday and more than 952,000 done since the start of the pandemic.

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WA Premier Mark McGowan has sought Commonwealth approval to cap the number of international flights landing in Perth.Mr McGowan said he had requested international arrivals be limited to "something in the vicinity of one flight per three days".

He said WA continued to lead the country as a "safe haven" from COVID-19, and the state had not recorded a case of community infection since April 11.

"My biggest concern is … people coming from overseas, and the numbers and the pressure that puts on our hotels and our security arrangements," he said. "That is why I have written to the Prime Minister to ask that we have a cap on the number of flights coming into WA from overseas.

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Authorities say they are "dumbfounded" and "disappointed" in the organisers and attendees of a dance party that saw more than 1,000 people gather on a private property at Wilson's Creek, near Byron Bay, in a gross violation of statewide coronavirus rules.Under current New South Wales COVID-19 restrictions only 20 people are allowed to gather in a home at any one time.

<< Where is Byron Bay ? … I hear you ask

Where is Wilsons Creek ?

it's a small rural hamlet about 6km W of Mullumbimby .

The area has a very large aboriginal cohort who have much more severe comorbidities than the rest of the population of NE NSW. This makes this unauthorized and very large party and gathering VERY DANGEROUS.
>>
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Kehoe, of the Tweed/Byron Police, said the doof was one in a spate of recent gatherings that were in violation of the restrictions.

He said on the same weekend, police were also called to a house party in Byron Bay, where the number of people was estimated to be around 200 — 10 times the legal limit.

"It is very disappointing," he said."You can still have a good, smaller party, but certainly don't go to the extremes that we've seen in the last few days."Chief Inspector Kehoe said the organisers and attendees of events that breach public health orders could face hefty fines, although police chose not to issue any at those two events.

"One was dealt with under the noise abatement directions and it was shut down," he said.

"Our regime is to educate to warn them, and if the behaviour continues we will consider fining people.

"At least on these occasions those people, once they were spoken to, saw what the issues were and those parties were closed down."

Individuals can face a maximum penalty of $11,000, or six months imprisonment, for breaching the Public Health Act.

Health authorities slam 'foolish' doof
The head of the Northern NSW Local Health District, Wayne Jones, has slammed the actions of the partygoers, saying it was a "bewildering" act of disregard for the entire community that had been working extremely hard to stop the spread of virus.

"[We have] an amazing level of concern that people believe that they can congregate to 1,000 people and disregard physical distancing and put at risk not only themselves, but the entire community of the North Coast," he said.

"We were absolutely dumbfounded."
"We would certainly have to invest a huge amount of resources to try and do the contact tracing, and I'm fairly confident there wouldn't be a register of attendees available or contact phone numbers," he said.
Mr Jones said there would be enormous challenges for trace contacting should even one of the attendees test positive to COVID-19.

Mr Jones said it had been 69 days since the last confirmed COVID-19 case in the Northern NSW Local Health District, but a gathering of that size could easily put the region on a trajectory worse than Victoria."Events like this just create an opportunity for spread far greater than what we're even seeing in Victoria," he said. "The Victorian situation was a handful of people who have travelled around.

"We're talking 1,000 people congregating and disregarding physical distancing and, I'm sure, disregarding a range of safety measures. "It could potentially be quite, quite damning on our numbers in the North Coast."

<< This is what happens when Covidiot Rallies and BLM Rallies are allowed to go ahead and no one gets prosecuted or made an example off in the larger towns , people see this and get the impression it's OK to disregard social distancing restrictions and regulations - this is the fault of the Government who has been too reluctant to take severe LEGAL & POLICING measures ( to fine and prosecute ) people who ignore or refuse to follow the rules .>>

Health authorities say an event like this could turn the region into a COVID-19 hotspot.
The local health district says it could also result in tighter coronavirus restrictions for the entire community ( with severe economic consequences for the entire regional area that's already struggling with the loss of international and interstate holiday makers and tourists ).

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The Northern Territory Government says all arrivals from Greater Melbourne will have to undergo two weeks of mandatory supervised quarantine when NT borders reopen on July 17.Mr Gunner said his decision was based on advice from NT Chief Medical Officer Hugh Heggie that undetected outbreaks were occurring in Melbourne suburbs.

"The Chief Health Officer's advice is that there are outbreaks in Melbourne suburbs that have not yet been identified as hotspots," Mr Gunner said.

"He also advised me that while these outbreaks are confined to the Melbourne metropolitan area, they extend across Melbourne, making them more difficult to contain to specific suburbs.

"As a result of this advice, I have directed him to designate every local government area in Greater Melbourne as a COVID-19 hotspot for the purposes of travel to the Northern Territory.

The decision is being heavily criticised ( timing of planned reopening of the Territory's borders in the midst of an unfolding pandemic ), with organisations voicing concerns that vulnerable communities will be put at risk.

Currently, all arrivals to the Northern Territory must self-isolate for two weeks , or 4 weeks if they refuse to be tested .

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South Australian Premier Steven Marshall says he is dedicated to supporting the Victorian government as it responds to the recent COVID-19 outbreak.

“We now have in excess of 30 people from South Australia, epidemiologists, paramedics or nurses on the ground assisting,” he said at a press conference on Monday.

“If Victoria do well in getting on top of these outbreaks then we will do well as a nation.

“We will be doing everything that we can to support Victoria during this really difficult time.”

Mr Marshall said the boarder closure between NSW and Victoria would give comfort to the Transition Committee which has been working on how to safely reopen the state’s borders.

“We don’t want to keep our boarders in place one day longer than we need to,” he said.

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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian described stopping travel between Australia's two most populous states as a "mammoth task".

It effectively means more than 50 road crossings, as well as train stations and airports, will need to be patrolled.

This is what you need to know about the closure.

What are the rules and how will they be enforced?

Officials will strictly monitor 55 ground crossings — including four major highways, 33 bridges and two waterways.

Police and health officials will also be on standby to question travellers who return to NSW via air or rail.

Only permit holders, emergency services workers, freight drivers and returning travellers will be able to cross into New South Wales from Victoria.

The details of the exemptions which will allow people to travel between the states are yet to be announced.

Ms Berejiklian said it was an "unprecedented" move ( the NSW - Victoria border has not been closed since the Spanish Flu Pandemic 100 years ago ) , but the timing was critical.

"We've already been in contact with a number of border communities to explain to them that whilst the next 72 hours will be difficult … permits will be available, exemptions available, and Service New South Wales will be able to do that online and make it as easy as possible."

"What is occurring in Victoria has not occurred anywhere else in Australia. It is a new part of the pandemic, and as such it requires a new type of response."

Anyone returning home to New South Wales will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.

Also, from midnight on Tuesday anyone travelling from Victoria to the ACT will be denied entry unless granted exemption by either the NSW or ACT governments.

Who can apply for a border permit?
From 12:01am on Wednesday, people wanting to travel from Victoria to NSW will need to get permission from the State Government.

Permits are likely to be divided into two categories: one for people who live in border communities like Albury-Wodonga, and another for anyone who believes they need to cross the state line for "exceptional circumstances".

Service NSW will have online applications available for travel exemptions by tomorrow.

In other states, travel exemptions have been issued for people who need to care for sick relatives or are moving house.

Ms Berejiklian says anyone who is given an exemption to travel to NSW will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said people caught lying on a permit application would be fined.What if I live near the border?
People in border communities will be able to cross the border for work, or to receive essential health services, but they will still need a permit.

Ms Berejiklian said people who lived in places like Albury-Wodonga, which straddles the state line, would be able to move between NSW and Victoria more freely, but conceded they would likely find the closure frustrating.

Is there a penalty for crossing the border without a permit?
Yes. The penalties for COVID-19 infringements remain a $11,000 fine and six months in jail.

Commissioner Mick Fuller said as well as roads, they would be monitoring entry points accessible by swimming or walking.

Drones and other aerial surveillance measures will be used, on top of the policing of the four main arterial roads.

He said police were seeking new health orders which would give them the power to turn people around.

"We'll be focusing on the four primary arterial roads because we know that's where most of the traffic comes," he said.

"But nevertheless there'll be police and ADF & ADF RESERVE Bgd.s and other emergency services workers across a majority of those crossings and there will be aerial and other surveillance 24-7 (including spy satellites and concealed IR cameras) right across that border."

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© Reuters People in protective face masks walk past a Coles supermarket
Coles and Woolworths are removing almsot all of the purchase limits put in place after a new wave of panic buying when coronavirus cases spiked again last month.

Coles was first to announce it will drop all limits on purchases at its supermarkets, online store, and express stores nationally from Tuesday.

Woolworths followed to say it will do the same, dropping all product limits except on toilet paper.

There will continue to be delays in Victoria, Coles said.

Woolworths said it would "not hesitate to reinstate product limits if needed".

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Murdock's Nine Network Today Show has dropped One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as a “regular contributor”, after she described residents of public housing in Melbourne who are locked down due to Covid-19 as ( a mob of ) “drug addicts” who “cannot speak English”.

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Health officials said two people suspected to have COVID-19 returned preliminary positive results after being tested in the Albury Local Government Area.

One of them had recently travelled to Melbourne but returned to NSW prior to hotspot travel restrictions coming into force on June 30.

A NSW Health spokesperson said investigations were underway.

It is unclear what the relationship between the two is and whether they are residents of the border town.
"NSW Health urges residents in the Albury area who develop even the mildest symptoms to come forward for testing," they said.

A pop-up clinic will be open in Albury's Mirambeena Community Centre from 9:30am tomorrow to help health officials as they scramble to identify any community transmissions.

NSW Health said further testing of the two cases was underway and their close contacts were identified and placed in isolation.

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even staff from Victoria's busiest emergency department have tested positive to COVID-19 over the last five days.
Northern Hospital in Epping said extensive contact tracing was underway following the positive test results, and added the hospital's emergency department was undergoing a deep clean. "All staff in the emergency department are being tested as a precaution," the spokesperson said.

Non-urgent elective surgeries and outpatient appointments have been postponed to free up capacity at the hospital, which will allow the emergency department to remain open.

People requiring urgent care can still attend the emergency department, however people with minor, less-urgent conditions have been told to seek medical advice from their general practitioner in the first instance.

Sources from the hospital have told the ABC only ambulances with code one emergencies where a person is time-critical were being taken to the hospital's emergency room, and all other ambulances were being diverted to The Alfred Hospital.

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