Tag Archives: oceania

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Three arrests at NSW-Queensland border as Queensland records one local COVID-19 case

A 39-year-old man has been charged with assaulting a police officer during an anti-lockdown protest on the NSW-Queensland border.

Queensland Police Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said the man was one of three individuals arrested today.

Acting Sup Wildman said about 100 people rallied at the border with the protest gathering steam around 12noon today. About 300 police, about 150 from Queensland and 150 from NSW in attendance.

READ MORE: The places 'untouched' by COVID-19 across the world

https://twitter.com/9NewsQueensland/status/1431806729856200706

He said the 39-year-old was charged with serious assault and obstructing police.

The two other arrests were in relationship to the state's health orders.

He said the two individuals were involved in last Sunday's border protest activities and were "persons of interest" due to their behaviour.

Other two offenders in relationship with the chief health officers…. Involved in last Sunday's protest activities and persons of interest due to behaviour.

"Further investigations will be ongoing between ourselves and NSW Police into COVID-19 related matters," he said.

The Queensland border is currently closed to all people from NSW, save for a small handful of essential workers, creating chaos for families and businesses in the towns of Tweed and Coolangatta.

Some residents were given as little as two hours notice to get across the border when the initial lockdown announcement was made, with many now forced to take up residences at temporary accommodation facilities such as caravan parks.

NSW and Queensland governments are in talks about moving the interstate border south, however no conclusive action has so far been taken.

READ MORE: New Zealand records 83 new COVID-19 cases

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Queensland recorded one new local case of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

However, as the case was already in isolation Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she has "absolutely no concerns".

The news comes as the premier also announces that the state's next vaccination hub will open this Wednesday, September 8.

The facility will be at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall and will work in conjunction with the existing hub at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

READ MORE: NSW and Queensland governments discussing moving the border south

https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1431776760249536513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"We're pleased to announce that from September 8, we will be opening up another big vaccination hub," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"It will open up to its first 1500 bookings and we'll ramp that up to 3000 a day.

"So, if you're living on the north side and you're thinking 'hey, now's the time for me to get my vaccine, you'll be able to go and do that at Boondall in just over a week and a half."

On the new local case in the state, Ms Palaszczuk said that they are a family member of a previous infection and they had not been active in the community.

"They're in home isolation, it's part of the Indooroopilly cluster and it's the last person of a particular family.

"We have absolutely no concerns about that".

READ MORE: 'Diabolically low': Grave concerns over vaccination rates in Western NSW's Indigenous communities

Queensland Police stop trucks at the Queensland border with NSW.

Asked on what is being done to assist with the ongoing issues with stranded communities along the joint NSW-Queensland border, Ms Palaszczuk said she's "trying her hardest".

"Look, I've tried," she said.

"I'm trying. We're trying our hardest, so let's hopefully see what happens with the discussions with NSW border commissioner and our state disaster coordinator.

"I think we've sent one of our best, and everyone knows how good our deputy commissioner is, if anyone can get it done, he can."

headline

'No room to put these bodies:' US officials say as COVID deaths climb

The rate of COVID-19 deaths has increased in 42 US states in the last week, according to new data, as the spread of the more virulent coronavirus Delta variant has upended a spring of reopenings and led to increasing concern headed into autumn.

In 14 states, COVID-19 deaths increased by more than 50 per cent over the past week, while another 28 states saw an uptick of at least 10 per cent, data from Johns Hopkins University on Friday shows.

In Alabama, one of the hardest-hit states in the latest surge, overall hospitalisation numbers continue to climb, driving health officials to use mobile trailers to house bodies because COVID-19 deaths are soaring, state health officer Dr Scott Harris said on Friday.

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The state activated two of its four refrigerated trailers for the first time since the pandemic began, Dr Harris said, in Mobile and Baldwin counties this week.

"These are typically held in case of a mass casualty event for example, when a large number of bodies appear at one time. This is actually a situation that is happening in Alabama hospitals now," Dr Harris said.

"We have enough people dying … that there is no room to put these bodies," he added. "We are really in a crisis situation. … I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to do this."

Alabama reported 50 COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday and saw "double digit numbers of deaths" in the past two to three weeks, Dr Harris said.

At least 5,571 Alabama children tested positive for COVID-19 last week, Dr Harris said on Friday, noting that officials aren't sure where the children contracted the virus. The state currently has a 23 per cent COVID-19 positivity rate, among the highest in the nation, Dr Harris said.

Alabama is seeing a surge in paediatric cases from last year. Of the 2,879 people hospitalised with COVID-19 on Thursday, 45 of them are children, with at least five of them on ventilators.

As Hurricane Ida approaches the Gulf Coast, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said in a Saturday briefing there are 2,450 patients currently hospitalised with COVID-19 across the state, which is a drop of 20 per cent in the past 10 days.

READ MORE: Louisiana residents warned as Gulf Coast braces for arrival of Hurricane Ida

US Covid Coronavirus

"That's very helpful going into this hurricane, especially since we know that the evacuation of our hospitals is not an option," said Mr Edwards.

More than 475 of those patients are on ventilators, according to data from the state department of health.

Edwards told CNN's Jim Acosta the hospitals have been stocking up on supplies and testing their generators ahead of the storm. FEMA has also brought in additional generators for the hospitals, he added.

"It's going to be a real challenge and we're likely to need some help with respect to our hospitals," the governor said. "And then you have the people who may be injured as a result of the hurricane itself and so we need to make sure we have some capacity for them."

All of the state's parishes are in the highest risk category for coronavirus, with widespread, uncontrolled transmission and many undetected cases, the state health department said.

As many hospitals across the country face a shortage of available beds and staff, there's another concern in the South: a shortage of oxygen.

According to state health officials and hospital consultants, there are several hospitals across Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana that have experienced oxygen shortages, with some at risk of moving to their reserve supply or even running out of oxygen.

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"As COVID has continued to evolve, we have continued to see COVID care best practices continue to evolve, and that in part has been the use of high-flow oxygen versus ventilators," said Donna Cross, senior director of facilities and construction at Premier, a health care performance improvement company.

Dr Cross told CNN that the spike in COVID-19 cases has caused more demand on the oxygen supply and hospitals cannot keep the pace.

All 50 states have high rates of COVID-19 transmission, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, as millions of children who are unable to be vaccinated return to school. The CDC identifies virus transmission to be high when the total new cases per 100,000 people in a seven-day period is 100 cases or more.

But only half of US states — plus Washington, DC, — have fully vaccinated at least 50 per cent of their residents. Those states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington state and Wisconsin.

Across the country, roughly 32 per cent of people ages 12 to 17 fully vaccinated, adolescents have been tough to vaccinate, but there are some highlights.

READ MORE: NSW records 1218 COVID-19 cases, six further deaths

More than 86 per cent of those ages 12 to 17 who received a first dose would later complete their vaccinations, which is necessary for optimal protection against the Delta variant, according to a CDC study.

The study stresses the importance of vaccinating eligible children and young people as schools return.

"Improving vaccination coverage and implementing COVID-19 prevention strategies are crucial to reduce COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality among adolescents and to facilitate safer reopening of schools for in-person learning," researchers wrote in the study.

Back-to-school season has been devastating to some states and districts that are seeing a distressing number of students contract the virus. Preventative measures such as quarantining are happening nationwide.

In Mississippi, 28,990 students were quarantined between August 16 and 20 after possible exposure to COVID-19, according to data from the state's department of health, up from the 20,334 students who quarantined from August 9 to 13.

It's unclear how many of those are new student quarantines, or students who have had to remain quarantined from the prior week. Schools report numbers, not the names, of those quarantined, according to the department of health.