What we learned today, Wednesday 14 October
That’s where we will leave the live blog for Wednesday.
My colleague Calla Wahlquist will be back in the morning to bring you more of the latest in Covid-19 news, but here’s what we learned today:
New South Wales reported 14 new cases of Covid-19, 11 of which were locally acquired. Nine of the 11 are connected to the Lakemba GP cluster. The state government has urged everyone with symptoms to get tested.
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, defeated no-confidence motions in the two houses of state parliament over the revelations in the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) about her relationship with the disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.
Victoria recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 and five deaths. The regional town of Shepparton is on alert after three people in the town tested positive, connected to the worker connected to the Chadstone outbreak who travelled to Kilmore but did not reveal in contact tracing that he had also been in Shepparton.
Hours-long queues at testing sites in Shepparton were reported on Wednesday as residents responded to the government request to get tested.
Ahead of the announcement on Sunday of the next restrictions to be eased in Victoria, the federal government is pressuring the state to open up. The health minister, Greg Hunt, said Victoria should apply the commonwealth standard for being able to open up, which is for a rolling average of 10 or fewer cases per day. The rolling average in Melbourne today is 9.6. The federal government reported a 31% increase in people accessing mental health services in Victoria.
Queensland and the ACT are on alert after a woman in Melbourne tested positive for Covid-19 after travelling from Townsville via Cairns, Brisbane and Canberra. It is likely, however, the transmission occurred when she arrived back in Melbourne three days ago.
