New South Wales records two night Covid cases overnight

New South Wales records two night Covid cases overnight
New South Wales records two night Covid cases overnight

New South Wales has recorded two new cases of Covid-19 overnight as the number of sites exposed to the virus across the state ballooned to 35.

Health officials in NSW confirmed the community infections along with five cases in hotel quarantine detected in the past 24 hours.

Four new cases were earlier announced in Sydney on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections in the city to 13 as dozens of businesses from Parramatta to Bondi were added to the growing list of exposure sites. 

An emergency national cabinet meeting has meanwhile been called for Monday morning to address the vaccine rollout, which has been plagued by delays. 

Greater vaccination rates are hoped to curb any further outbreaks across the nation, stopping them from ballooning to unmanageable levels or causing snap lockdowns.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian also tightened restrictions in NSW as she enforced mask use on public transport and inside public spaces in Randwick, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West, City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra. 

She said the 'next few days are critical' and urged residents 'not to be complacent'.

'If cases continue to emerge, we will need to go further,' the Premier said. 

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham was forced to defend the vaccine rollout on Monday morning after it was labelled a 'shambles' by the Victorian government.

Queensland recorded no new cases a day after a flight attendant tested positive in Brisbane.

National Cabinet are meeting for an emergency discussion about getting more Covid vaccines, as masks once again become mandatory indoors in areas of Sydney (pictured, tram users in the city's CBD on Friday)

National Cabinet are meeting for an emergency discussion about getting more Covid vaccines, as masks once again become mandatory indoors in areas of Sydney (pictured, tram users in the city's CBD on Friday)

'I don't accept all of that,' Mr Birmingham said when asked by breakfast host Karl Stefanovic if he agreed with that assessment of the bungled program.

The senator said 2.3million doses of the Pfizer vaccine were being administered in June alone, while another 3.4million vials would arrive in Australia for processing next month. 

Mr Birmingham blamed issues out of the government's control for the delays, including safety issues with the AstraZeneca vaccine and supply disruption in Europe.   

'There have just been things that have hit along the way. We've had to respond and pivot as best we can,' he told the Today show.

Pfizer is now the preferred jab for anyone under the age of 50, as AstraZeneca is feared to heighten the risk of blood clots in younger age groups (pictured, a nurse receives the Pfizer jab in Adelaide)

Pfizer is now the preferred jab for anyone under the age of 50, as AstraZeneca is feared to heighten the risk of blood clots in younger age groups (pictured, a nurse receives the Pfizer jab in Adelaide)

'Obviously there have been disruptions - disruptions we wish had never occurred. It would be far preferable if the AstraZeneca vaccine had been able to be administered to all Australians.'

The federal government on Thursday was advised to only give AstraZeneca doses to over-60s after seven people in their 50s developed rare blood clots due to the jab in the space of a week. 

A public health expert said New South Wales was paying the price because the airport worker who sparked the outbreak may not have been vaccinated.

The limousine driver - whose role involved transporting international flight crews - tested positive last week and authorities are now investigating whether he had been immunised against Covid-19.

'The driver was not wearing the best possible PPE and doesn’t seem to have been vaccinated,' University of NSW strategic health policy consultant Bill Bowtell told The Sunday Project.

'That’s how it got out into the community. 

'The cost of getting that [vaccinations and protective equipment] right at Sydney is trivial compared to the costs the community is now incurring because we’re having to go through this progressive expansion of masking and lockdowns.'

Fitness First Pitt Street in Sydney's CBD is among the city's new locations exposed to Covid-19

Fitness First Pitt Street in Sydney's CBD is among the city's new locations exposed to Covid-19 

Pictured: Birkenhead Point Brand Outlet in Drummoyne where a person infected with Covid visited 19 stores - plunging hundreds into isolation

Pictured: Birkenhead Point Brand Outlet in Drummoyne where a person infected with Covid visited 19 stores - plunging hundreds into isolation

Brisbane is also on alert after an international air crew member tested positive for the virus on Saturday, after spending 14 days in hotel quarantine, and having travelled into the CBD while potentially infectious.

Anyone who was in Brisbane Airport between 4pm and 4.30pm on Saturday June 19 must get tested and isolate until they receive further instructions, and the same goes for anyone who was at the Brisbane Portuguese Family Centre from 7pm on the same day. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the flight attendant had been in the community in Brisbane's CBD, but only for a short time.

Victoria recorded no new cases on Sunday, but state Health Minister Martin Foley said his government would raise concerns about the vaccine shortage in the emergency meeting on Monday.

Pictured: Coles supermarket in Wynyard, where a person infected with Covid went on June 17, has also been added to the exposure list

Pictured: Coles supermarket in Wynyard, where a person infected with Covid went on June 17, has also been added to the exposure list

Medical workers administer tests at the Bondi Beach drive-through Covid-19 testing centre on Friday

Medical workers administer tests at the Bondi Beach drive-through Covid-19 testing centre on Friday

He said he would urge the Commonwealth to treat the vaccine rollout as a 'race'.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said the Commonwealth’s vaccine rollout was an 'absolute shambles'.

'We do not have the supply of second doses from the Commonwealth to match the demand for first doses,' he told reporters in Melbourne.

Western Australia Health Minister Roger Cook is equally frustrated by supply limitations.

'But we’re working with what we’ve got and WA has been very successful. We have vaccinated a higher proportion of our population than any mainland state,' he told reporters in Perth.

The shortage is a result of the rare blood clotting disorder associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine - meaning Australia needs more Pfizer jabs.

Pfizer has an agreement to supply 40 million vaccines to Australia in 2021, with two jabs needed to fully vaccinate one person. 

Trials are also expected to begin by the end of this year into making Australia's first locally developed vaccine, which would use the same mRNA technology as Moderna and Pfizer - both highly successful jabs. 

Businesses on Sydney's burgeoning exposure site list includes 19 retailers in the busy Birkenhead Point Brand Outlet in Drummoyne in the city's west.

Hero Suchi restaurant in the CBD was also added, along with a fitness centre in Castle Hill in the north-west, and a Big W store in Merrylands. 

Anyone who visited North Face, Country Road or Seed at the Drummoyne outlet centre on Tuesday June 15 between 11.35am and 1pm is considered a close contact.

Close contacts have been told to contact NSW Health immediately, get a Covid test and isolate for 14 days regardless of the results, with experts fearing people may test negative in the early stages of the virus.

Shoppers who has visited any of the other venues on the list are considered casual contacts and must self-isolate until they test negative to coronavirus.

The Bondi cluster has swelled to nine cases with four more in NSW without known sources (pictured, the drive-through testing clinic in Bondi)

The Bondi cluster has swelled to nine cases with four more in NSW without known sources

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