COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Victoria’s snap lockdown to be extended

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Original article by Jade Gailberger, John Dagge, Miles Proust
Herald Sun – Page: 7 : 19-Jul-21

Victoria has recorded 16 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while a Mildura man will be added to the case numbers for 19 July. He tested positive after returning home from Melbourne, where he attended an AFL match at the MCG; it is the regional city’s first COVID-19 in more than a year. Meanwhile, the Victorian government is expected to extend the state-wide lockdown until Friday at the earliest, amid concern about a number of potential ‘super-spreading’ exposure sites. Premier Daniel Andrews has ruled out any changes to lockdown restrictions in regional areas, saying the Mildura case shows how quickly the coronavirus can spread. There are currently 60 active locally-acquired cases in Victoria.

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VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Contractors face crunch on cash flow

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 19-Jul-21

The New South Wales government has imposed a two-week shutdown on construction across greater Sydney as part of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Shopping centre developer and owner Scentre Group responded to the shutdown announcement on 17 July by advising that it would close construction sites and place a halt on all shop fitouts at its Westfield centres across greater Sydney, while Multiplex closed all five of its construction sites in Sydney. BuildCorp boss Tony Sukkar says most companies within the construction sector should survive if the shutdown only lasts for two weeks, but things would become more problematic if it is extended.

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SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, BROOKFIELD MULTIPLEX LIMITED, BUILDCORP COMMERCIAL PTY LTD

Berejiklian relaxes Covid rules on south-west Sydney workers

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Original article by Graham Readfearn
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 105 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; 66 of the cases are linked to known clusters, while 27 people were active in the community while they were infectious. Meanwhile, a woman in her 90s has become the fourth person to die in Sydney’s current outbreak. The state government has backed down on plans to restrict the movements of workers in the Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas, which are the epicentre of the outbreak. It had proposed that only health and emergency workers be permitted to leave these areas for work, but the list of authorised workers has now been expanded to include 35 occupational groups. All workers in these categories will be required to be tested for COVID-19 every three days.

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Ellume steps up rapid Covid-19 tests in US

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian – Page: 15 : 19-Jul-21

Brisbane-based biotechnology firm Ellume has secured approval from the US Food & Drug Administration to sell its COVID-19 tests to point-of-care providers. The approval came three months after the FDA approved Ellume’s over-the-counter tests, which Australian laws currently ban. Only point-of-care providers are allowed to administer COVID-19 tests in Australia, and Ellume CEO Sean Parsons considers the local point-of-care market to be a small one. Ellume secured a $US235 million ($316 million) contract in February from the US Department of Defense for the rollout of its rapid COVID-19 test, while it is building a factory in the state of Maryland.

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ELLUME LIMITED, UNITED STATES. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION