Australia news LIVE:NSW records 38 new cases of COVID-19;AstraZeneca creators acknowledge ‘complicated’ blood-clotting debate

Good evening and thank you for following our live coverage of the day’s events. Here’s everything you need to know now:

This isMichaela Whitbourn signing off on the live blog for the evening. My colleagueBroede Carmody will be back at 6am tomorrow to keep you informed of the latest news and views.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Sydneysiders to abide by stay-at-home orders as a cluster of COVID-19 cases in the city grew by 38 cases in 24 hours,the highest number of local cases recorded in a day in more than 14 months.

He indicated at a press conference in Sydney earlier today that 300,000 extra vaccine doses,evenly split between AstraZeneca and Pfizer,would be sent to NSW in the wake of the outbreak. He stressed this emergency measure would not affect the number of doses sent to other states.

The federal government is also scrapping the assets test for Commonwealth disaster payments,which are available to NSW workers affected by the pandemic.

At $500 a week for people who have lost more than 20 hours of work a week and $325 for people who have lost less,the payment rates are equal to the reduced rates of JobKeeper that applied when it ended in March.

“What I have said to the Premier and to the Treasurer today is that given the circumstances we are now seeing unfolding in NSW,we will work very closely with them to ensure there is appropriate economic support,should the conditions in NSW require further restrictions,” Mr Morrison said.

“We are having that discussion with NSW. They are shifting sands when it comes to the evolution of this issue,and we are working very cooperatively and positively together because,let me be clear,what is happening in Sydney just doesn’t have implications for Sydney.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian this week extended the two-week lockdown imposed on Greater Sydney by an extra week,to July 16.

Read more here.

An internal inquiry has founda former Federal Circuit Court judge harassed two young women.

The inquiry found that former Parramatta-based judge Joe Harman,who has since resigned,repeatedly emailed a junior staff member with harassing comments,and the behaviour escalated to two instances of unwanted hugging. The woman made a complaint to the court in April last year and has been on mental health leave since.

Alarmingly,when the woman raised her concerns,she was initially told “there’s not much you can do about it because he’s a judge”.

The other complainant,a law student,made her complaint in September last year.The latest findings of poor behaviour from a judge comes after former high court judge Dyson Heydon was found to be a serial sexual harasser of young women.

Today on our podcast Please Explain,senior writer Jacqueline Maley joinsNathanael Cooper to discuss the latest findings of poor behaviour in Australian courts.

NSW Health has just released a list of more exposure sites where confirmed COVID-19 cases have visited.

Anyone who has been at the following locations is a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days:

Anyone who attended the following venues is a casual contact and must get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

There are also fresh warnings for residents in a number of lower north shore and north-west suburbs after COVID-19 was detected in the Boronia Park sewerage network.

It is the first detection at this site and NSW Health is not aware of recently diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in this area.

The network takes in sewage from Melrose Park,Camellia,Northmead,Constitution Hill,North Parramatta,Telopea,Denistone,Denistone West,Dundas Valley,Dundas,Carlingford,Oatlands,North Rocks,Ermington,Parramatta,Baulkham Hills,Rydalmere,Winston Hills,Woolwich,Huntleys Point,Huntleys Cove,Henley,East Ryde,Meadowbank,Gladesville,Tennyson Point,Putney,Hunters Hill,Denistone East,Ryde,Eastwood,West Ryde.

Anyone who lives or works in any of these areas is asked to be particularly vigilant for the onset of even the mildest of cold-like symptoms,and if they appear,to immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

In a previous alert,NSW Health identified Boronia Park Gourmet Charcoal Chicken in Pittwater Road,Hunters Hill,as an exposure site on June 26 between 11.10am and 11.20am. People who visited the shop at this time were urged to get tested immediately and self-isolate until they received a negative result.

To date,more than 8.7 million COVID-19 vaccination doses have been administered across the country and Australia has ticked over the 10 per cent mark for people who have been fully immunised with two doses.

States and territories have administered more than 3.76 million doses,while GPs have administered more than 4.95 million.

More than 55 per cent of the over 50s have had at least one dose of a vaccine,and almost 32 per cent of the eligible population (those aged 16 and over) have had one dose.

Currently 5115 GPs,197 Commonwealth vaccination clinics,158 Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisations and 65 pharmacies are administering vaccinations around the country alongside state-run hubs.

Australia’s medical regulator is monitoring reports of immune thrombocytopenia after a 61-year-old woman died after developing the condition following vaccination.

In its weekly vaccine safety report,the Therapeutic Goods Administration said an external vaccine safety investigation group concluded the West Australian woman’s severe case of immune thrombocytopenia was likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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“While the woman had experienced a recent viral illness that could have theoretically caused[immune thrombocytopenia],the panel felt that the unusual severity of the event suggested that vaccination was a more likely cause,” the medical regulator said.

It’s the third death in Australia linked to a COVID-19 vaccination. Two women died after developing the rare thrombosis with thrombocytopenia clotting disorder linked to the AstraZeneca jab.

Seven new likely cases of that clotting disorder were assessed in the last week. Three,in a 59-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man from Victoria and a 72-year-old woman from South Australia were confirmed,while four others were deemed probable cases.

So far 76 cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia have been detected from roughly 5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

More than 8.5 million doses of both vaccines have been administered to date,and the Therapeutic Goods Administration has received more than 36,000 reports of adverse events following vaccination. However,the regulator notes many of the events may not have been caused by the vaccine.

The most common side effects reported include those normally seen after vaccines,including headache,muscle pain,fever,nausea,and injection site reactions. The regulator is also monitoring reports of inflammation of the heart or the membrane around the heart following Pfizer doses.

There have been 38 reported cases so far,and the majority of patients have either recovered or were recovering.

NSW Police has urged residents in the south-west Sydney local government areas of Fairfield,Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool to stay at home unless it is essential to leave,as officers prepare to launch a high-visibility operation tomorrow to enforce compliance with public health orders.

From 7am on Friday,police from traffic and highway patrol,police transport and safety command,mounted police and other specialist units will be deployed to the three areas amid a growing number of COVID-19 cases.

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Of the 38 cases confirmed on Thursday,21 were in south-west Sydney and the state government holds concerns about low testing rates in the community.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said at a press conference this afternoon that “we’ve heard very clearly and very loudly the words of our premier and[NSW Chief Health Officer] Dr[Kerry] Chant in terms of the emerging areas of concern in south-western Sydney”.

“As a result of those concerns,come 7am tomorrow morning,we will commence a dedicated police operation with at least 100 more police officers entering the south-west metropolitan area to ensure compliance with public health orders.

“We have worked very hard with members of the community and will continue to do so,but now is the time to make sure that we stop this virus. Clearly we are still having members of the community who will not comply.”

Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke,the commander overseeing south-west Sydney,said “compliance is about us getting ahead of the virus” so that the community could re-open.

He said police had deployed multicultural liaison officers “for weeks now across the community” and had educational material about the public health orders made available in 56 different languages .

“This is about us working together to comply with these orders and about police supporting[the community]. Where we don’t get that compliance,however,we will enforce.

“Just make this decision:do you really need to do this? If you don’t,don’t go out. You don’t need that pair of shoes today.

“Don’t bring the risk of the virus back into your family to infect your own loved ones.”

South-east Asia correspondent Chris Barrett reports that Australia will send 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Indonesia as well as testing kits and ventilators as part of a $12 million package for oxygen-related equipment announced on Wednesday night.

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The support effort comes assouth-east Asia’s largest country suffers a devastating new wave of the Delta variant of COVID-19 that has caused infections and deaths to climb to record levels and left hospital beds and oxygen in short supply.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she had spoken to her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Wednesday and confirmed an assistance package for Australia’s near neighbour as it battles the worst virus outbreak of the region.

It includes a shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines by the end of the year as well as more than 40,000 rapid antigen test kits,1000 ventilators,up to 700 oxygen concentrators and more than 170 oxygen cylinders.

Police are preparing to launch a major operation focused on the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 in south-west Sydney.

Three local government areas in south-west Sydney – Fairfield,Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool – have been highlighted as particular areas of concern this week with significant spreading of the virus between family members in different households.

Of the 38 cases confirmed on Thursday,21 were in south-west Sydney and the state government holds concerns about low testing rates in the area.

NSW Police will launch a high visibility operation with increased resources from 7am on Friday to boost enforcement of the stay-at-home order.

The government had warned further action might be taken in response to growing concerns about the persistent spread of the virus in the area.

Community leaders in the multicultural areas are unhappy with the government framing of the issue and police say the operation will take into account cultural sensitivities.

Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke,the commander overseeing south-west Sydney,are providing details on the operation at a press conference now.

The operation comes after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned case numbers were too high and people needed to adhere to the stay-at-home order.“I want to say in the most strongest possible terms:please,please avoid contact with households,with other households. Please avoid visiting family and friends,” Ms Berejiklian said on Thursday morning.

She said visits to people on compassionate grounds should only be for the purpose of providing care to an isolated person or dropping off essentials.“We are not talking about visiting extended family members,we’re not talking visiting friends. Data over the last few days shows this is how the virus is spreading.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian appeared to distance herself today from comments by Health Minister Brad Hazzard,who suggested yesterday that if Sydneysiders didn’t hear and heed public health messages “then at some point ... we’re going to have to accept that the virus has a life which will continue in the community”.

Ms Berejiklian said at today’s COVID-19 update that “we cannot live with the Delta variant unless you have a certain portion of the population vaccinated”.

“That is the bottom line,” she said. “This is why NSW,from day one,has had a sense of urgency about the vaccination and getting our population vaccinated.”

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said that while the local government areas of Liverpool,Canterbury-Bankstown and Fairfield in Sydney’s south-west had been singled out as areas of concern,“overnight we are also seeing cases pop up everywhere” and ”do not think you are immune if you are in other parts of greater Sydney”.

NSW reported 38 new coronavirus cases on Thursday,the highest number of local cases recorded in a single day in more than 14 months. Eleven of the cases were in the community for their entire infectious period and nine were only in isolation for part of their infectious period.

Forty COVID-19 patients in NSW are now in hospital,with eleven of those in intensive care. Three of those in ICU are on ventilators. Seventeen people admitted to hospital are under 55 and of those 10 are under the age of 35. Of the eleven people in ICU,one is in their 30s.