Category Archives: headline

headline

WA uncovers 'possible' new COVID-19 case in FIFO worker

Western Australia has recorded a possible new community case of COVID-19 in a fly-in-fly-out worker, Premier Mark McGowan has revealed.

The FIFO worker flew to Fortescue Metals Group's Cloudbreak mine on July 20.

He was at the airport at the same time as a positive COVID-19 case who flew in from Queensland after completing hotel quarantine there.

While investigations are still underway, health authorities believe this is the "most plausible explanation" for the man recently testing positive.

LIVE UPDATES: New community COVID-19 case in Victoria

WA Premier Mark McGowan.

Mr McGowan said the man had returned a "very weak positive" test result, first testing positive before testing negative.

The man is asymptomatic and likely not currently infectious, but "the suspicion is that he may well have been positive at some point in time while in the community".

The premier noted that to "further complicate matters", the man had also contracted the coronavirus after returning from overseas in March last year.

This means it is possible that the positive result was from a long-term shedding of the virus, but health experts believed this was "unlikely".

READ MORE: Sydney forklift driver, 27, dies 'suddenly' from COVID-19 at home

The man worked at the FMG Cloudbreak mine site between July 20 and July 27 before returning to Perth, where it's understood he has since spent time in the Greenwood, Subiaco and Fremantle areas.

The man's girlfriend and one of his closest work colleagues have so far tested negative.

It is the first case of community transmission in the state in a number of weeks.

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WA Health Minister Roger Cook said the case was "unusual" but because he had previously been at the same place as another positive case, precautions are being taken.

"This is an unusual case, very unusual," Mr Cook said.

"The only reason we are taking these steps is because he returned weak positive results across a number of platforms and had that shared (exposure site) with a positive case from Queensland."

READ MORE: 'Selfish' man fined over WA bedsheet escape from hotel quarantine

Health authorities are asking everyone who was at Perth Airport on July 20 and July 27 between 4am and 7am to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Mr McGowan said that health authorities believed it was possible the man contracted the virus but, due to it being his second infection, was not infectious to others.

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Sydney forklift driver, 27, dies 'suddenly' from COVID-19

The youngest person to die from COVID-19 in Australia contracted the virus a fortnight before he suddenly deteriorated.

Aude Alaskar, a 27-year-old forklift truck driver, was in isolation with his wife, a disability worker, at their home in Liverpool in south-west Sydney.

It is believed she caught the virus first and her husband then became infected on July 21.

LIVE UPDATES: Queensland records 16 new local cases

Aude Al-Askar, 27, died from coronavirus. His wife, who also has the virus, was rushed to Liverpool Hospital.

A relative told 9News he had relatively mild symptoms until lunchtime yesterday, when he started coughing, vomiting and then collapsed.

He had not been vaccinated.

His death was announced during the daily COVID-19 press conference this morning.

"Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

"But it demonstrates again how this disease is lethal, how it affects people of all ages."

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said he was being cared for by the southwestern Sydney local health district.

"He was being followed up daily by nursing staff and suddenly deteriorated," she said.

"That death is also being referred to the coroner as I understand it."

Dr Chant said the man had complained of feeling "a little fatigued" before his death.

"I think that is important to understand that your health status can deteriorate and you can have sudden death with COVID infection."

His wife has since been taken to hospital.

"He was with another person. You can imagine the trauma for that other person who has now been hospitalised. That person also had COVID," Dr Chant said this morning.

His family said he had no obvious health issues but have suggested he may have had an underlying heart condition.

A second COVID-19 death was also recorded yesterday.

A woman in her 80s from Sydney's inner west died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

NSW recorded 233 new cases of COVID-19 today.

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Everyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccine 'will have it by Christmas'

Every Australian adult who wants a coronavirus vaccine will have one by Christmas, the head of the national COVID-19 vaccine taskforce has declared.

Lieutenant General John Frewen said today the nation is entering the next phase of the rollout and 213,000 doses were administered yesterday, another record.

He was asked about the timeline of the rollout, when younger people will be able to access more vaccines, and when the 80 per cent target will be reached.

LIVE UPDATES: NSW outbreak 'will get worse', warns premier

Lieutenant General John Frewan declared today anyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccine before Christmas will get one.

"My first responsibility is to make sure every Australian who wants to be vaccinated this year can do so and I am confident we can achieve that," Lieutenant General Frewen said.

"I will make sure that everybody gets a dose by Christmas, will make sure that we put everything we can to get to 70 per cent as soon as possible and once we get there, we will work on getting to 80," he added.

Lieutenant General Frewen also said 10 million doses of Moderna will be available later this year which he hopes will accelerate the rollout.

READ MORE: Man in his 20s dies 'suddenly' of COVID-19 in Sydney as NSW records 233 new cases

He also said the reason Pfizer is not available for young people yet is because there is not enough supply.

"All age groups can access AstraZeneca… the main reason for not opening up all cohorts to mRNA (Pfizer) is expectation, filling up booking systems and not realistically be able to access the stuff.

READ MORE: Australian suburbs with the highest and lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates

"The idea for 30-39 we will open mRNA towards the end of this month, early next month means that when people are told they can access the vaccine they can do it in a reasonable period of time."

He added people need to make an informed decision based on the vaccine that is currently available.

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One year after deadly Beirut blast, fight for justice goes on

After the massive explosion at Beirut's port a year ago, only a small part of Ibrahim Hoteit's younger brother was identified: his scalp.

Mr Hoteit buried his brother — a large man, a firefighter, a martial arts champion — in a container the size of a shoebox.

Since then, Mr Hoteit has sold his business, a perfume and accessories shop. He sleeps only a few hours a night. Black circles ring his eyes.

READ MORE: Australian victim of Beirut explosion identified as two-year-old

One thing drives him now: winning justice for the victims of the August 4, 2020, explosion that killed more than 214 people and punishing Lebanon's political elite, blamed for causing the disaster through their corruption and mismanagement.

"I don't see a minister or president or parliament speaker. I am seeing the person who killed my brother and others with him," Mr Hoteit said, who says he gets anonymous threats.

"This is what gives me strength. I see that I have nothing to lose."

The victims of the explosion included Australian two-year-old Isaac Oehlers.

Mr Hoteit and his wife, Hanan, have built an association of more than 100 families of those killed.

They are waging a campaign of protests and rallies trying to shame, pressure and force politicians to allow the truth to come out.

A year later, critics say the political leadership has succeeded in stonewalling the judicial investigation into the explosion.

READ MORE: Beirut explosion: Fireworks, ammonium nitrate likely fueled Lebanon blast, experts say

President Michel Aoun has said no one will have political cover if they are found negligent or guilty, but has not addressed accusations that officials are obstructing the investigation.

Mr Hoteit and other families say they are up against not just a government but the political system that has ruled Lebanon for more than 30 years.

It's a system that protects itself so intensely it seems invulnerable, even as many Lebanese say it has led the country into ruin — pointing to both the explosion and a financial meltdown that is one of the world's worst in the past 150 years.

Even the current caretaker premier, Hassan Diab, has acknowledged this, saying weeks after the explosion that corruption in Lebanon "is bigger than the state."

Black and white portraits of each of the blast's victims, commissioned by Mr Hoteit's group, hang from the walls of a central square near the port.

Painted on a wall opposite the still mangled port, a large slogan declares, "My government did this."

The blast was preceded by a fire that broke out at the port, and hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a hangar along with other highly combustible materials exploded.

It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

Along with the dead, thousands were injured.

Some 300,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

It soon emerged in documents that the ammonium nitrate had been stored improperly at the port since 2014 and that multiple high-level officials over the years knew of its presence and did nothing.

But a year after the government launched a judicial investigation, nearly everything else remains unknown — from who ordered the shipment to why officials ignored repeated internal warnings of the danger.

Multiple government agencies have a role at the port, but all of them have said the ammonium nitrate was not their responsibility.