Health News at Your Fingertips

The Sydney Opera House will be making masks mandatory for patrons aged 12 and over from this Saturday, to coincide with their next scheduled performances: the opening nights of Rent and the Merry Widow.

The venue has been one of the last major theatres in Sydney to make masks mandatory, as NSW case numbers continue to rise.

Its performance of Rent is due to open on Saturday 2 January to around 400 people, or 75% of the Drama Theatre capacity in line with restriction exemptions. Three days later, on 5 January, Opera Australia’s The Merry Widow will open at the venue’s Joan Sutherland Theatre, to an audience of up to 1,125 people.

Mask-wearing will be required inside foyers and theatres at all times, for patrons over 12.

“The Opera House continues to closely monitor NSW Health guidelines and advice, reviewing and implementing measures in line with current public health orders and our commitment to the health and safety of everyone on our site,” a venue spokesperson said in a statement.

“This includes reduced venue capacities, spaced seating between ticketed groups, mandatory check-in for all patrons via Service NSW, strict queue management measures, and the ability to take beverages into venues to facilitate physical distancing in our foyers.”

The Victorian acting premier, Jacinta Allan, and the health minister, Martin Foley, will hold a doorstop at 3.30pm.

Given they have already appeared earlier today, it will be interesting to see what this is about.

Competitors in the Nutri-Grain Ironman and Ironwoman series are in limbo with the opening rounds postponed for a second time due to uncertainty around Covid-19.

Surf Life Saving Australia announced on Thursday that the series was on ice until February due to public health concerns and border restrictions, reports AAP.

The opening rounds of the elite series were originally scheduled to take place at Kingscliff in northern NSW on 18-19 December but were postponed due to the outbreak on Sydney’s northern beaches.

They were then set down for a start at Wanda, near Cronulla, on 16-17 January, with an additional day of racing on 15 January.

However a decision has been taken to push the series opener back to February.

Just a quick note for those in Victoria, one of the Fountain Gate shops on the public health alert list was named as Lacoste. Authorities have since clarified that the store in question is called Lo Costa.

The National Golf Club at Cape Schank has also been added to the list, which is as follows:

• Black Rock: Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant, 21 December, 7pm-9.30pm
• Cape Schank: National Golf Club, The Cups Drive, 30 December, 11.40am-1.30pm
• Doveton: Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic, 26 December, 4pm-6pm
• Narre Warren: Fountain Gate Shopping Centre; Kmart, Big W, Target, Millers, King of Gifts and Lo Costa, 26 December, 9am-11am.
• Glen Waverley: Century City Walk, 28 December, 2.45pm showing of Wonder Woman Gold Class
• Glen Waverley: Mocha Jo’s, 28 December, 1.30pm-1.45pm
• Mentone: Mentone/Parkdale Beach, 27 December, 10am- 4.30pm
• Oakleigh: Katialo restaurant, Eaton Mall, 28 December, 7pm-7.10pm

AAP has the final share market update of the year.

The Australian share market has finished one of its most volatile years with a sharp loss but still managed to end the year close to where it started.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index closed Thursday’s abbreviated New Year’s Eve session down 95.3 points, or 1.43%, to 6587.10. The All Ordinaries ended 92.3 points, or 1.33% lower, at 6910.50.

Sentiment on the last day was affected by the enduring issue of the year – coronavirus.

NSW reported 10 cases of community transmission, with five linked to Sydney’s northern beaches cluster. The outbreak has prompted stricter New Year’s Eve restrictions for Sydney.

Another three locally-acquired coronavirus cases have been identified in Melbourne and are believed to be tied to the outbreak in Sydney.

In the local market, most sectors ended in the red, with financial, property and healthcare stocks worst affected.

The Australian dollar continued to strengthen amid weakness in the US dollar and is on track to finish 2020 at its highest level since April 2018.

It was buying 76.95 US cents at 14.15AEDT, up from 76.61 at Wednesday’s close.

Queensland is closely monitoring Covid outbreaks in NSW and Victoria after further cases of community transmission south of the border.

The Sunshine State recorded three new cases on Thursday, all of which were acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine, AAP reports.

The roads minister Mark Bailey said he was concerned about the recent cases in Melbourne and the chief health officer, Jeannette Young, was monitoring the situation closely.

“Queensland has never been slow to act when it comes to the threat of this virus. That’s our approach. That will continue to be our approach and we’re monitoring both those states closely,” he said.

The Queensland border is closed to anyone who has been in the Covid declared hotspots of greater Sydney and surrounding areas in the past 14 days.

Border declaration passes are also needed for travellers who have been in NSW since December 11.

Bailey said Queensland’s approach to stopping the virus had been “world leading”.

“One of the key reasons we’ve done that is because we’ve taken health advice from day one, and we’ll keep doing that to keep Queenslanders safe,” he said.

A woman who recorded Australia’s first known case of the South African variant of the virus was asymptomatic and reportedly feeling well, Queensland Health said.

She is in isolation at Sunshine Coast University Hospital after landing in Brisbane carrying the 501.V2 South African strain on 22 December.

The Australian Medical Association has thrown its weight behind calls for the NSW government to make masks mandatory.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the AMA (NSW) president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said it was a simple measure that would reduce the risk of community transmission.

McMullen warned NSW was “teetering on the brink of an explosion of Covid-19”.

She said:

It’s encouraging to see so many NSW residents already wearing masks when they are shopping or at indoor venues. However, the best way to encourage compliance is to make masks mandatory.

Making masks mandatory sends a strong signal to the community about the importance of wearing masks to reduce the spread of the virus – particularly indoors where ventilation may be poor and respiratory aerosols, which carry the virus, are greater.

Being outdoors is safer, but there is still risk of person-to-person spread if physical distancing is not possible.

McMullen said the state needed to employ every defence to “avoid a harsh lockdown later”.

Wearing a mask does not provide 100% protection. Practising good hand hygiene, physical distancing and following the NSW government’s public health orders on limits of visitors into your home and other advice are also important measure.”

We have some more venues added the public health alert list. NSW Health says the following:

NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues in south-western Sydney, and one in Wollongong, which have been visited by confirmed cases of Covid-19.

Anyone who visited any of the following venues at the listed times should monitor for symptoms and if they occur get tested immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative result:

• Chullora: Chullora Fish Market, Shop 6A, 355-357 Waterloo Road, Wednesday 23 December, 6.40am – 7.10am
• Liverpool: Liverpool Westfield, Macquarie Street, Wednesday 23 December, 1pm – 3pm
• Belfield, Mancini’s Pizza @ Belfield, 21 Burwood Road, Thursday 24 December, 7pm – 7.15pm
• Greenacre, 7 Eleven, 301-305 Hume Highway, Saturday 26 December, 4.30pm – 5pm
• Shellharbour, Myer Stockland Shellharbour, 211 Lake Entrance Road, Sunday 27 December, noon-12.40pm
• Figtree, Coles Figtree Grove Shopping Centre, 19 Princes Highway Monday 28 December, 4.45pm – 5.20pm

Authorities have lashed a NSW woman for allegedly speeding through a Victorian border checkpoint at night, turning her lights off and evading police for hours until road spikes were used to stop her car.

The health minister, Martin Foley, condemned the 57-year-old, from NSW’s Central Coast, for endangering the lives of police, AAP reports.

People from the Central Coast and greater Sydney are banned from entering Victoria after a coronavirus cluster emerged on the city’s northern beaches.

Police alleged the Bateau Bay woman drove through the Chandlers Creek checkpoint in East Gippsland early on Wednesday morning “at a fast rate of speed”.

A pursuit was called off and an off-duty police officer spotted her near Nhill in western Victoria later in the afternoon.

A tyre deflation device was used to stop her.

“The woman was arrested without incident and will be assessed and interviewed at a later date by detectives for offences including conduct endangering life, failing to stop on police direction and contravening chief health officer directions,” police said.

Police said the woman had been refused entry to Victoria before the East Gippsland incident.

Foley said:

I was extraordinarily upset … anyone who is refused entry from NSW, particularly from the red zones, is refused entry on public health grounds.

To then come back at 3am and drive at speed through a police checkpoint and then put the lights off so as to avoid detection, is a degree of poor behaviour that I’m sure every Victorian would condemn.

I condemn anyone who drives through and breaches those important border checkpoints because they are there to keep us safe.

To endanger police members in doing so is a level of poor behaviour that I think every Victorian condemns.

First off, let’s recap some of the main headlines.

• NSW recorded 10 new local cases of Covid-19, as the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, pleaded with people to wear masks when indoors. However, the government is stopping short of mandating mask use.
• Victoria recorded three cases overnight, while a further three cases have also been detected today. The latter cases will be included in tomorrow’s count.
• In response, the Victorian government tightened rules around gatherings – only 15 visitors will now be allowed in homes – and masks will become mandatory again at indoor venues.
• South Australia reintroduced a hard border from NSW, effective from 12.01am on New Year’s Day.
• Police said the former prime minister, Tony Abbott, did not breach coronavirus directions when he was spotted in the northern zone of the Northern Beaches. He was interviewed after cycling in the area on 29 December.