More Australians are in lockdown today following one COVID-19 case travelling from Sydney into the Northern Territory.
Queensland prepares to strengthen its border as cases continue to climb in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.
Catch up on the latest coronavirus news from around the country today.
NSW reports record-high cases and seven COVID deaths
NSW has recorded 478 cases and seven deaths, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying the numbers are “disturbingly high”.
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.
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.
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 will strength border controls 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.
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