Australia news LIVE Victoria records 1838 new local COVID-19 cases five deaths NSW Premier brings forward changes to state road map

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Victorian judges and magistrates won't be forced to get the COVID-19 vaccines under public health directions released overnight.

But the vaccination rate is "extremely high" anyway, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Anne Ferguson said in a statement a short time ago. Premier Daniel Andrews' announced last week that the mandate would apply to all Victorians who are authorised workers.

The chief justice said in a statement this afternoon that the directions do not apply to judicial officers, and court and tribunal staff.

"Nevertheless, internal inquiries have already shown that they have extremely high levels of vaccination," Chief Justice Ferguson said.

The directions state the policy does not apply to Commonwealth employees and people who work in connection with court proceedings, as well as public sector workers employed by Court Services Victoria.

Court Services Victoria, which employs court staff, is likely to introduce its own policy of requiring staff who attend court to be vaccinated following consultation with staff. But the mandate does apply to legal practitioners. The reasons for the exemptions for certain court staff and judicial officers are not yet known.

Chief Justice Ferguson said each jurisdiction would continue to minimise the number of people who physically attend court buildings by continuing to conduct a large proportion of matters online.

"When the lockdown lifts, the courts and VCAT will continue to operate through a mixture of remote and in person hearings," she said. "The Courts and VCAT encourage all those attending our locations to be vaccinated."

The heads of the courts have been treading carefully in their public statements on the issue because there is a legal challenge to the mandate before the Supreme Court brought by a Victorian relief teacher and her husband.

In a statement last week, Chief Justice Ferguson said of the legal challenges: "Those matters will be heard and determined according to law. The Courts and VCAT will therefore not be making comment or responding to inquiries that go directly or indirectly to questions of legality of the directions."

Operational changes, she said, "should not be taken as expression of a judicial view about legal issues before the courts."

Premier Daniel Andrews has apologised after vision of him not wearing a mask at the back of Parliament House in Melbourne was circulated online.

Mr Andrews was filmed not wearing a mask while he was walking from his vehicle across a car park, before fronting a press pack outside parliament.

Daniel Andrews walking to a press conference yesterday. Credit:Paul Dowsley

In a statement, Mr Andrews said before he approached two press conferences this week, he removed his mask “after leaving the car, before I walked to the back doors”.

“I expect Victoria Police to assess this and if they choose to issue a fine, of course I will pay it,” he said.

“If they do not issue a fine I will donate the same value to a charity working to support people in this pandemic because whilst this was an oversight, oversights matter. Everyone needs to follow the rules and I am sorry it occurred.”

Current Victorian COVID-19 rules require Victorians to wear a mask outdoors and those caught breaking the Chief Health Officer’s direction face a fine of $200.

Victoria Police has confirmed it will be ending its enforcement of travel between states along the Victoria-NSW state border "due to updated health advice".

A spokeswoman said the police presence along the Murray River and surrounding areas would "gradually reduce over the next few days" before the operation officially comes an end next Tuesday.

Police will discontinue vehicle checks near the NSW border in Victoria.Credit: Jason Robins 

Around 100 police resources allocated to work along the state border will now be redeployed to patrol the divide between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

The state's regional areas, aside from the shires of Mitchell, Greater Shepparton and Moorabool, are currently out of lockdown.

Another 200 officers who were deployed along the border will return to their original place of work or assist with COVID-19 enforcement operations.

Victoria is closing in on the peak of its coronavirus cases, according to the Chief Health Officer, after hitting the highest case load today since the pandemic began.

Professor Brett Sutton said while he didn’t think Friday’s 1838 cases was the state’s peak, he believes Victoria is now “close” to its highest numbers.

“The specific numbers for today are always a concern because it reflects ongoing significant transmission and a number of positive cases in the community,” he said.

“But our numbers in ICU, the numbers of those hospitalised is not rising at the same rate, and that's a very good sign in terms of what vaccines are doing now.”

But Professor Sutton noted that there was a three to four-week lag from peak case numbers to be reflected in hospital and intensive care admissions.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has confirmed that people who need a booster shot will be allowed to change vaccines for their third shot, with the mRNA jabs made by Pfizer and Moderna preferred over AstraZeneca.

Professor Paul Kelly emphasised that the advice was not any reflection of the quality of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“It is a good vaccine,” Professor Kelly said.

For people who had Pfizer or Moderna for their first two doses, health authorities recommend that the same vaccine be used for a third short.

For those who have had AstraZeneca for their first two doses, the recommendation is that it be replaced with an mRNA vaccine for their third jab.

Professor Kelly said he was hopeful that the third dose of the vaccine is all that will be required for a person’s lifetime, but cautioned that more research would be done as health experts gather more data.

Victorian children in grade 3 and up will be required to wear a mask while at school, after a new ruling from the state’s Chief Health Officer.

Professor Brett Sutton said while pupils in prep to grade 2 are not mandated to wear a mask while in the classroom, it would be “strongly recommended”.

“We’ve certainly seen in countries such as England or the UK where schools reopened without strong mask use from the get go … there was an estimated 8 per cent of students absent from school in those early weeks with suspected or confirmed COVID, or as close contacts,” he said.

Royal Children’s Hospital paediatrician Jane Munro said Victoria needs to “come together as a community” to get children back to school and keep them in classrooms while reducing the spread.

“Kids are great. They adapt. They are resilient, and we can easily show them the way and how to wear a mask,” she said.

In another change, Professor Sutton said at midnight tonight, directions which previously restricted the consumption of alcohol outdoors while masks were mandated would be removed.

“That’s really a reflection of a push to more outdoor recreational activities, including picnics. It’s as welcome change for many, I’m sure.”

More than 35 per cent of today’s Victorian COVID-19 cases were found in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

There were 631 cases found in the city’s north, with the Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton noting that the area has around 7100 active cases, or 42 per cent of the state’s current caseload.

A significant amount of Victorian COVID-19 cases are in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.Credit:Enrique Ascui

Thirty per cent of Friday’s new cases were found in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Regional Victoria accounted for 113 new cases on Friday morning, with 18 found in the city of Geelong.

The state’s “border bubble” will also be extended, with the local government areas of Benalla, Greater Bendigo, Buloke, Loddon and Yarriambiack, and some NSW LGAs including Wagga Wagga and Hay to be added back into the scheme from 11.59pm tonight.

Professor Sutton will make a decision today if Greater Shepparton and the Moorabool Shire will be able to exit lockdown and join the rest of regional Victoria.

As reported earlier in this blog, NSW’s new Deputy Premier Paul Toole had promised clarity surrounding the rules for the movement of Sydneysiders to the regions.

In a statement, Mr Toole said people in greater Sydney â€" which for road map purposes includes the Central Coast, Wollongong, Shellharbour and the Blue Mountains â€" are “just weeks away” from being able to leave these areas and holiday or day trip in the regions.

These sorts of activities do not start on Monday, October 11, but rather from the Monday after the state reaches the 80 per cent full vaccination target.

The newly elected Deputy Premier and Regional NSW Minister said travel between greater Sydney and the regions remains allowed for reasons including work, medical and caring reasons and on compassionate grounds.

“Under the reopening NSW road map, travel for holidays and recreation between greater Sydney and the regions (and vice versa) will only be permitted for those who are fully vaccinated once the state reaches the 80 per cent mark,” Mr Toole said.

“We know people are busting to get out and explore the best of the bush â€" and we look forward to welcoming fully vaccinated travellers, but this is not something we’re going to rush.

“It’s important we continue to push up vaccination rates before that happens and ensure we keep regional communities safe.”

From Monday, travel is allowed for fully vaccinated people who are already in the regions to other regional areas, including for holidays.

“However, it will still be a few more weeks before people from greater Sydney can travel out to the regions for holidays or recreation.”

We have some more news coming out of the press conference with Health Minister Greg Hunt and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly in Canberra just now.

Professor Kelly says the government is updating guidance for health workers that come into contact with coronavirus cases.

Currently, health workers are asked to isolate. However, the vast majority of healthcare workers have now been vaccinated, with mandates in some states.

We’re yet to digest the details of the plan, but the gist of it is that fully vaccinated healthcare workers, depending on the spread and risk in their workplace, may not have to go into isolation.

“Ultimately, it will be a decision of the healthcare setting and their local public health unit to decide on the actual nature of that,” Professor Kelly says.

“But it does open up that possibility” of staff not going into isolation, the Chief Medical Officer added. He said the plan has been agreed to by all states and territories.

Here’s a bit of the statement from the federal Department of Health:

Health care settings are more likely to encounter people with COVID-19 and thus have higher rates of potential exposure for workers.

Previous requirements to furlough workers in health care settings following exposure to COVID-19 could result in significant impacts on health system capacity and place a significant strain on the delivery of health services.

As we reported earlier, five people have died in Victoria with COVID-19 since yesterday’s coronavirus update.

They are a Shepparton woman in her 70s, a Knox woman in her 70s, a Moreland man in his 70s, a Whittlesea woman in her 80s and a Brimbank man in his 80s.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said Friday marked the third day in a row where Victorians broke the COVID testing record, and thanked the state for its “enormous contribution”.

There are now 620 Victorians hospitalised with the virus, with 114 in ICU and 76 on ventilators.

Mr Pallas said just eight per cent of those in hospital with COVID-19 are fully vaccinated. Around 66 per cent of COVID patients in hospital have not been vaccinated, while 26 per cent are partially vaccinated.

Around 56 per cent of the Victorian population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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