Health Minister Greg Hunt says the fact there have been over 100 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide but Australia has gone 12 days without community transmission is an "immensely powerful reminder of Australia's circumstances".
Here's a summary of what happened on Friday:
- Victoria's State of Emergency has been extended and Victoria Police removed border checkpoints
- Tasmania removed border restrictions with Greater Sydney
- Victoria eased border restrictions with NSW
- SA Police issued four $5,000 fines over COVID infringements
- No new locally acquired cases recorded in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria or South Australia
- ACT lifted all travel restrictions between Canberra and Sydney
- Britain placed ban on direct passenger flights from United Arab Emirates
- Novavax vaccine 89 per cent effective in preventing COVID, company says
- Vietnam under threat after months of no transmissions
Look back at how Friday's key events unfolded in the blog below:
Live updates
Time to say goodnight
Thanks for reading and sending in those questions this afternoon.
I'll be back tomorrow morning to keep you updated on all things coronavirus-related around the country and the world.
Take care!
VicPol closing NSW border checkpoints
Victoria Police has stopped checking permits along the New South Wales border, after the last "red zone" in Sydney was downgraded to an orange zone at 6:00pm.
“In accordance with the updated Chief Health Officer directions, Victoria Police will cease operating vehicle checkpoints across the Victoria and NSW border from 6.00pm tonight (29 January),” VicPol said in a statement.
“This operation will now transition to maintaining mobile patrols in the vicinity of the border with approximately 150 police officers who will continue to enforce the Chief Health Officer directions.
“The majority of Police officers deployed to the NSW border will return to their normal duties within their local communities proactively patrolling and responding to incidents in an effort to keep the public safe.”
People who are travelling to Victoria from green or orange zones still need to get a permit, but police will no longer be checking every vehicle that drives across the land border.
A Victorian Government spokesperson said there would still continue to be a “compliance presence” at the airport.
The move comes after the police union said the large number of officers deployed to the COVID-19 effort was “unsustainable” and causing resourcing issues in other areas.
Nothing out of the Territory on borders yet
Hey there! Any news on NT removing the last Covid hotspot suburbs in Sydney? They’re usually the first to revoke them but seem to be taking awhile this time.......
-Tash
They've still got the following Sydney LGAs listed as hotspots:
Blacktown City Council, Burwood Council, Canterbury-Bankstown Council, City of Canada Bay Council, City of Parramatta Council, Cumberland Council, Fairfield City Council, Inner West Council or Strathfield Municipal Council
NT reached a milestone for coronavirus tests
In addition to reaching 100,000 COVID tests, the territory also had the highest testing rate across Australia this week.
Orange to green...
Do you still have to get tested when you arrive in Vic if you've been in an orange zone for the past 14 days which has now turned into a Green zone?
-Niki
No, you don't, Niki.
You do not need to get tested and isolate if you’re coming from a green zone, even if it was orange until recently.
When travel zones have changed in the past, the Chief Health Officer has said the rules apply based on the area’s current rating.
The DHHS website says:
“You can apply for a green zone permit to enter Victoria if you have not been anywhere that is currently listed as an orange or red zone in the last 14 days.
“Once in Victoria, you should monitor for symptoms and get a coronavirus (COVID-19) test if you feel unwell.”
Growing concern COVID-19 could be in South-East Queensland community after second detection in wastewater testing
Queensland's Acting Chief Health Officer Sonya Bennett is voicing concern there is undetected coronavirus in the community.
Viral fragments of COVID-19 have been found in 16 sewage catchments around the state in the past two weeks, Dr Bennett said.
Catchments in Coombabah, Cleveland and Carole Park have "repeatedly" tested positive for viral fragments.
Dr Bennett said the repeat detections in Cleveland and Carole Park were "of particular concern" since there were no hotel quarantine facilities there.
One more question on the SA rules
If We have no more community transmission and greater Sydney can enter South Australia from Sunday, we are required to have a COVID-19 test on day 1, 5 and 12. On the day one test can it be done in Sydney or must it be done in South Australia?
-Kim
Kim, you can't get the day 1 test done in Sydney.
It must be done after you arrive in South Australia.
South Australia isn't going to keep you captive if you visit
I’ve asked twice already with no answer (nor is it in any article) and my ex-SA partner and I are still arguing...we’re from Sydney, if we go to Adelaide do we have to stay there for at least 12 days to get all the required testing, or can we, say, go for a week and only get the days 1 and 5 test? If we came back to Sydney before day 12, would we have to get a day 12 test here and report back to SA? Thanks in advance :)
-Still Arguing!
No, Still Arguing, you can go for as long or as little as you like!
Get the required tests on the required days and in the meantime (or before) leave the state when you are scheduled to.
There's no requirement on the NSW end to get a test after being in SA.
America's biggest cemetery is struggling to cope with rising funeral services as coronavirus-related deaths soar
Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Whittier, California, may be the biggest cemetery in North America but the 566-hectare park is struggling to cope with the number of bodies awaiting funeral services due to an increase in COVID-19-related deaths.
Despite the numerous facilities at Rose Hills, there is about a month's delay before families can receive funeral services for their loved ones.
Patrick Monroe, chief executive and president of Rose Hills, told Reuters via Zoom that there had been a sharp increase for services since the Thanksgiving holiday in November, with demand nearly doubling.
Last week, the US death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 400,000.
Rose Hills has brought in a large number of refrigeration units to deal with the additional bodies.
The park has also set up tented areas to replace on-site chapels and is using new methods like live streaming to bring services to families.
WHO team to begin face-to-face meetings with China experts
World Health Organization (WHO) experts are to begin face-to-face meetings with their Chinese counterparts in the central city of Wuhan at the start of the team's long-awaited fact-finding mission into the origins of the coronavirus.
Those meetings should be followed by the first field visits in and around the industrial and transport hub on Friday, WHO said on Twitter but did not give further details about the team's agenda.
It said the team had already requested "detailed underlying data" and planned to speak with early responders and some of the first COVID-19 patients.
"All hypotheses are on the table as the team follows the science in their work to understand the origins of the COVID19 virus," WHO tweeted.
"As members start their field visits on Friday, they should receive the support, access and the data they need."
Six Queensland hospitals are ready to deliver Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine
Cairns Hospital, Townsville Hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Sunshine Coast University Hospital and Gold Coast University Hospital will act as Queensland's six hubs for the Pfizer vaccine.
Priority Group 1a would be the first to receive a vaccination.
This group includes quarantine and border workers, frontline (COVID) health workers, aged care and disability care staff, and aged care and disability care residents. These are the people who are most at risk of exposure and severe disease.
Queensland will begin this process as soon as we receive the first Pfizer vaccines from the Federal Government.
No big announcements coming from Queensland Premier
The journalists on the ground in Brisbane told me the special broadcast will be a compilation of coronavirus milestones and issues from the past year (given it's a year since the state made a public health emergency declaration).
So, watch it by all means, but there'll be no new information.
SA Police issue four $5,000 fines over COVID infringements
South Australia Police conducted an operation targeting compliance with COVID SAfe Check-Ins using QR codes.
During the seven-day operation from January 22-28, police conducted 846 compliance checks and found 732 businesses to be compliant.
Commissioner of Police and State Coordinator Grant Stevens said although the majority of businesses were doing the right thing, it is disappointing that 114 businesses were non-compliant.
"Police have continued with an education approach to COVID restrictions as we recognise things can change quickly, however by now we expect businesses to understand their requirements when it comes to ensuring people check into their businesses and have a COVID Marshal present," the Commissioner said.
Four businesses received $5,000 general expiation notices, plus the Victims of Crime levy.
These fines were given for COVID Marshal, QR breaches, close contact breaches and COVID-Safe Plan breaches.
McGowan has another go at NSW over border closures comments
WA Premier Mark McGowan has branded New South Wales "hypocritical" after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian suggested Queensland was a victim of its own hard border closures.
Ms Palaszczuk has drawn criticism from both state and federal politicians after yesterday calling on the Federal Government to extend the JobKeeper payment for struggling industries like the tourism sector.
Mr McGowan said it was a "bit rich" for the NSW Government to comment after they closed the border to Victoria.
He said Western Australia had resisted when the NSW Government wanted to close down hardware stores and the mining industry.
"The benefits of what Western Australia did have flowed through to New South Wales through all the tax revenues, through all the support we have provided them over the course of the last year," Mr McGowan said.
"I'd just say to the New South Wales Government: They should stop always undermining, nitpicking, and attacking other states.
"They should be cooperative. We supported them. And we actually stopped some of the things they wanted to have happen at the height of COVID which saved the Australian economy."
Mr McGowan called on the Federal Government to support industries impacted by the international border, such as those reliant on international tourists or international students, including hotels and airlines.
"They will recover eventually, we can't have them die, we can't have people lose their jobs in the meantime," Mr McGowan said.
We've spotted this intriguing message on the Queensland Premier's Twitter account
Annastacia Palaszczuk has told Queenslanders to tune in at 6pm for a special broadcast.
That's all we've got so far.
You thought herd immunity would save us? Maybe not
It's known as herd immunity — and early on in the pandemic some countries thought it would be the best long-term strategy in dealing with COVID.
Well, it's lucky that the herd immunity strategy was mostly abandoned, because a peer-reviewed study published in medical journal The Lancet has found that herd immunity might not work.
On today's Coronacast, Tegan Taylor and Norman Swan discuss some of the reasons why.
Zero new cases in South Australia today
Noone tested positive in quarantine and there was no community transmission.
Viral fragments of COVID-19 have been detected in wastewater samples in Victoria
These were recently taken from Gisborne, Hamilton and Leongatha.
Victoria's wastewater surveillance program has now expanded to 95 sites which are regularly tested for early-warning of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Anyone who lives in or has visited Gisborne from January 24-26, Hamilton from January 25-27 or Leongatha from January 17-19, is urged to get tested if they have any symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild.
Initial testing of wastewater taken from the influent to the Leongatha wastewater treatment plant on January 19 showed a weak result which has now been confirmed with independent testing.
The detection of viral fragments was unexpected given there had been no confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in these communities at the time but it can take several weeks for someone to stop shedding the virus.
Wastewater samples are taken at least weekly from 95 wastewater monitoring locations across Victoria, including 70 wastewater treatment plants.
New sites have recently been added in border areas and along major travel routes.
Monitoring recently commenced at wastewater treatment plants in Bright, Cann River, Drouin, Inverloch, Korumburra, Lakes Entrance, Leongatha, Mallacoota, Mounty Beauty, Robinvale and Yarrawonga.
There are also 25 sampling sites across the metropolitan sewer network, in addition to the large Eastern and Western wastewater treatment plants.
Victoria's State of Emergency has been extended
The State of Emergency in Victoria will be extended to 26 February 2021 as there remains a serious risk to public health from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Chief Health Officer has made the recommendation and the Minister for Health, the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and the Commissioner for Emergency Services have all approved the extension based the advice from the Chief Health Officer.