As it happened:Victoria records 1466 new local COVID-19 cases,eight deaths;NSW records 360 new cases,five deaths as state’s restrictions ease

Passengers on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney have been told to isolate and get tested after a person on the plane later tested positive to COVID-19.

NSW Health said anyone on the QF509 Qantas flight on Saturday that left Brisbane at 7.10am is considered a close contact.

Fully vaccinated passengers will only have to isolate for seven days,if a test on the sixth day after exposure is negative.

For the following seven days,vaccinated close contacts must still work from home where practicable,not attend cafes and restaurants,or high-risk settings.

Close contacts who are unvaccinated,partially vaccinated,or received their second vaccination within 14 days of their exposure must continue to isolate for the full 14-day period,regardless of their test result.

A number of casual contact venues in regional NSW visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19 have also been added to the state’s exposure list.

The full list can be viewedhere.

Three residents from an aged care facility in Melbourne’s northern suburbs have died amid a COVID-19 outbreak.

In a statement,Embracia Aged Care Homes confirmed two residents had died at its Reservoir home at the weekend.

“We send our love and prayers to their families at this time,” it said.

A third resident died in hospital after being transferred on Saturday due to an “unrelated COVID need”.

“We were told that their passing was sudden,and we have not been informed whether COVID was a contributing factor,” the statement said.

Fifteen residents have tested positive to the virus at the Reservoir home. One staff member tested positive at the aged care company’s Moonee Valley home last week,but all residents and staff have since tested negative.

The Victorian health department has been contacted for comment.

There weremultiple deaths at Embracia’s Moonee Valley home last year.

A 22-year-old Victorian manhas joined the growing list of AFL fans to be arrested and charged after sneaking into the Perth grand final on September 24.

Daniel Jovanovski is accused of using false information and documents to obtain his G2G pass into Western Australia as he had come from Melbourne,which was classed a high-risk jurisdiction,but he flew in via South Australia.

Police allege he had been in Victoria within the previous 14 days of the grand final and would not have met WA’s strict entry requirements.

Mr Jovanovski has been held in custody since his arrest at a Perth hotel the day after the grand final after being refused bail.

He will next face court on October 18 charged with three counts of failing to comply with a direction,one count of unlawfully possessing a controlled or prescribed drug and one count of gaining benefit by fraud.

Four Melbourne Demons fans face similar charges.

The latest to be charged in WA,32-year-old Caleb Cox,also entered via South Australia with a friend and has been in Perth custody since his arrest on September 28.

He has been charged with gaining entry to WA through fraudulent means relating to his G2G pass,as well as three counts of failing to comply with an emergency direction between September 23 and 27 after allegedly having been in Victoria in the previous 14 days.

Both men arrived at Perth Airport two days before the Optus Stadium decider.

Sixty per cent of Victorians aged 16 and over are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Lockdown is due to ease when 70 per cent of the state’s population aged 16 and over receive their second jab.

This was initially slated to occur on October 26,but Premier Daniel Andrews said today that the timeline could be brought forward if the target was reached ahead of schedule.

“If we get there earlier … what a fantastic challenge for us to have to deal with,” he said.

“It’s in the hands of the Victorian community - if you bring forward your second dose,you could be part of that 70 per cent and getting us potentially out of lockdown earlier.”

Data specialist Anthony Macali told ABC Radio Melbourne that the 70 per cent target could be reached by next Friday,meaning Victoria could be out of lockdown by next weekend.

“Two weeks ago we were averaging about 30,000 second doses a day and now we’re at 52,000,so that rate is increasing,” he said.

“We might even be able to shorten that by another day or so. Thursday’s probably best case scenario.”

Easing restrictions will include being able to leave home for any reason,no curfew,gatherings of 10 fully vaccinated people outdoors and venues opening to 50 fully vaccinated patrons outdoors.

More than 91,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Victoria on Monday,including 36,383 at state-run clinics.

A total of 8,266,941 vaccine doses have been given in the state,including 4,662,250 first doses and 3,264,585 second doses.

Just over 60 per cent of Victorians 16 and over are fully vaccinated,while 86.2 per cent have received a first dose.

A man has been charged after allegedly assaulting a police officer during a violent anti-lockdown rally last month in Melbourne’s inner east.

Police say the police officer was on the ground attempting to arrest another man,who had assaulted a protective service officer,when the Ringwood East man allegedly ran up and kneed him in the face.

The police officer sustained minor injuries during the alleged attack at theSeptember 18 protest in Richmond,Burnley and Kew.

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Ten police injured,more than 200 arrested in anti-lockdown protest

North West Metro Regional Crime Squad detectives today charged the 40-year-old man with assault,intentionally obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest.

He was bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on March 15.

Police say many officers were injured during the anti-lockdown rally,including six who were sent to hospital.

About 700 protesters made their way to Barkers Road in Kew during the rally. As numbers began to dwindle,some protesters hurled projectiles and abuse at officers before surging through the police line.

A 21-year-old Brunswick West man waspreviously charged over the assault of another police officer at the protest.

New Zealand has recorded 43 new cases of COVID-19 in the community,40 of which were in Auckland. The remaining three cases were in Waikato.

There are now 34 people with coronavirus in NZ hospitals,32 of whom are in Auckland. One is in Waikato and one is in Palmerston North. Five are in an intensive care or high dependency unit.

Fifty-eight per cent of eligible New Zealanders aged 12 and over are now fully vaccinated against the virus,and 82 per cent have had their first dose.

In case you missed it yesterday,a rare case of COVID-19 was recorded in the Northern Territory on Monday after an 18-year-old woman from Geelong arrived in the Top End on a flight from Melbourne.

Health authorities believe the case is low-risk because the woman went straight from the airport to the Centre for National Resilience in Howard Springs,one of two quarantine facilities in the territory.

“There were eight other passengers on the flight who have been identified as close contacts,”the NT government said in an update.

“Seven of these people went directly into quarantine at the Centre for National Resilience upon arrival and will complete 14 days of quarantine.

“There is very low risk to the Northern Territory community as the remaining passenger did not travel from a declared hotspot and is not displaying symptoms.

“The passenger is being transported directly to the Centre for National Resilience where all eight contacts will undertake 14 days quarantine.”

Professor Dan Howard,SC,the former commissioner for the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ‘Ice’,has issued a plea to the new premier,Dominic Perrottet,to overhaul drug policy in the state.

The inquiry’s final report recommended the personal use of ice and other illicit drugs be decriminalised in NSW under a public health-focused drug policy that would see users referred to an “appropriately tailored health intervention”.

But the government has failed to act on the vast majority of the recommendations.

In an opinion piece today,Professor Howard writes:

The landmark report of the inquiry provided a comprehensive blueprint for drug policy reform in NSW. Professor Alison Ritter of the UNSW Drug Policy Modelling Program said of it:“This has been a thorough,comprehensive review incorporating a range of expertise including from people with lived experience,clinicians,communities and academics … The 109 recommendations that the Commissioner has provided to the NSW Government provide the basis for NSW to be at the forefront of responding to drugs and reducing drug-related harm in NSW.”

The report has been widely embraced by the drug and alcohol sector as a powerful way forward. The NSW Bar Association has endorsed all 109 of the report’s recommendations. This month,the Royal Australian College of Physicians,the Royal Australian&New Zealand College of Psychiatrists,the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association issued a joint statement calling for a response to the report.

Professor Howard said the state government released a desultory “interim” response in February 2020 rejecting five of the 109 recommendations made in the report.

It promised to address the remaining 104 recommendations “before the end of the year”,he said,but 2020 came and went with cabinet apparently unable to reach any agreed position.

Read the full opinion piece here.

Now,some good news for Victorian families who are not yet able to send their children to childcare or kindergarten.

The federal education department has confirmed that Victorian families will not have to pay for early learning services they are unable to access during COVID-19 restrictions.

A spokesman said the federal government would allow Victorian childcare centres and kindergartens to waive the gap fee for families who keep their children at home until state restrictions on access to childcare are lifted.

All children will be able to attend early learning from November 5,under the state’s road map out of coronavirus restrictions.

At present,only vulnerable children or the children of essential workers or single parents are entitled to attend early learning.

As Melbourne COVID cases reached record highs last week,families were warned they would be charged for days their child was not allowed to attend because Melbourne was set to lose its “COVID hotpot status”.

Last Friday,the state’s COVID-19 hotspot status was extended for six days only,worrying families that they would be forced to pay full fees for zero attendance during the state’s latest extended lockdown.

The department’s comments provide certainty to childcare operators and families that gap fees will be waived until children are able to attend.