VIRUS DISEASES – AUSTRALIA

More than 100 patients and staff at two Sydney hospitals in isolation

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lucy Caroll, Mary Ward
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 1-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 22 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, although 11 were self-isolating while they were infectious. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has welcomed the lack of a spike in case numbers, and says the state may be on track to lift the lockdown of Greater Sydney and nearby regions as scheduled on 9 July. An unvaccinated student nurse has also tested positive and will be included in the daily case numbers for 1 July; she worked at the Fairfield and Royal North Shore hospitals while she was infectious, prompting the state government to order patients and staff who may have come into contact with her to be tested and self-isolate. Meanwhile, Victoria has reported one new locally-acquired case, while there are three new cases in Queensland and one in Western Australia.

CORPORATES

Alice Springs locks down, Adelaide on edge

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom Burton, Julie-anne Sprague
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 1-Jul-21

The Northern Territory government has imposed a three-day lockdown for the Alice Springs local government area after a worker at the Tanami gold mine spent seven hours at the city’s airport before returning home to Adelaide. The man and four members of his family subsequently tested positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19, ending South Australia’s record of seven consecutive months with no locally-acquired cases. The man is not believed to have been infectious while he was at the airport, but NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner says the lockdown is necessary in order to protect vulnerable communities in the region. The SA government hopes the cluster can be contained without the need for a lockdown.

CORPORATES
NORTHERN TERRITORY. DEPT OF THE CHIEF MINISTER

Queensland and Victoria push to slash number of international arrivals in Australia

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Yara Murray-Atfield
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 30-Jun-21

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called for a "massive reduction" in the number of international travellers who are allowed into Australia in the wake of the latest wave of COVID-19 lockdowns across the country. Palaszczuk adds that international travellers should be quarantined in dedicated facilities such as Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, rather than hotels. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also supports a big reduction in overseas arrivals, contending that it is preferable to locking down entire cities or states if the coronavirus leaks from the hotel quarantine system. More than 35,000 Australians remain stranded overseas, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Movement in the Sydney CBD plunged last week – even before the city was placed into lockdown

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Jun-21

A special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows that movement in the Sydney CBD plunged to only 26% of pre-pandemic averages last week – even before the city was placed into a two-week lockdown on the weekend. The average 7-day movement level in the Sydney CBD last week was at its lowest since early January, during the COVID-19 outbreak in the Northern Beaches, and movement levels are set to fall further this week after the entire Sydney metropolitan area was placed into its first lockdown since mid-May 2020. Movement levels in the Melbourne CBD are recovering from the lockdown of the city in early June. Although restrictions on mask wearing and crowd gathering sizes remain, average movement levels in the Melbourne CBD had picked up to 18% of pre-COVID-19 averages last week, up from a low of 12% during the lockdown. The last few days have seen a flurry of new border restrictions introduced as new cases of COVID-19 have emerged in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Before the new restrictions introduced over the weekend, movement levels in other Capital City CBDs were at just under half of their pre-pandemic levels, led by the Adelaide CBD at 46% – the only mainland State yet to report a recent community case of COVID-19. In a close second place was the Perth CBD at 44% of pre-COVID-19 averages, ahead of Brisbane CBD (40%) and Hobart CBD (39%). Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UBERMEDIA

Medibank pays back unused $105m

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Liam Walsh
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 30-Jun-21

Private health insurer Medibank expects about two million customers of its flagship and ahm brands to be eligible for a discount on their next premium payment. Medical procedures such as elective surgery were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing policyholders from making full use of their private health coverage. HBF is among the other health funds that have previously revealed plans to return some money to its members.

CORPORATES
MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AHM HEALTH INSURANCE, HBF HEALTH LIMITED

Qld virus ward worker not vaccinated

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jamie Walker, Lydia Lynch
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 30-Jun-21

The Queensland government has announced a three-day snap lockdown of south-east Queensland, Townsville, Magnetic Island and Palm Island after a female employee at Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital contracted the Delta variant of COVID-19. She worked as a casual receptionist outside the hospital’s COVID-19 ward and travelled to Townsville and Magnetic Island while she was infectious. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is "furious" that the woman has not been vaccinated. The woman is one of two new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases recorded in Queensland in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, New South Wales has recorded 19 new cases and there have been two new cases in the Northern Territory. Some 12 million people across Queensland, NSW, Western Australia and the NT are currently subject to lockdowns.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, PRINCE CHARLES HOSPITAL

PM opens vaccines to under-40s

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Greg Brown, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: Online : 29-Jun-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has disclosed a plan for compulsory vaccination for aged care workers by September, following a meeting of national cabinet on 28 June. The meeting also agreed that people under the age of 40 would be able to join the vaccine rollout and receive the AstraZeneca jab, while Morrison said the federal government would offer doctors indemnity for giving vaccines to anyone under 60. Twenty-three new COVID-19 cases in Australia were reported on 28 June, with 18 being in NSW, while the Northern Territory government extended the snap lockdown of the Darwin region until 2 July after a new case was reported in the NT.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ASTRAZENECA PLC

School in fear as outbreak grows

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Kieran Gair, Lydia Lynch
The Australian – Page: 5 : 23-Jun-21

NSW reported 10 new local COVID-19 cases on 22 June, while the Bondi cluster has risen to 21. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said a student at a Waverley primary school was the one mystery infection among the new cases, while she announced that mask rules will be extended until 30 June. Victoria has banned people from seven Sydney local government areas from entering the state as from 1am on 23 June, while the trans-Tasman bubble between NSW and New Zealand has been paused for 72 hours. Queensland recorded one new local COVID-19 case, while it will open its border to people from Melbourne from 1am on 25 June.

CORPORATES

Two states on high alert after infected case fled Melbourne lockdown

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lydia Lynch
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Jun-21

Health authorities in New South Wales and Queensland are trying to identify all close contacts of a Melbourne couple who travelled interstate on 1 June, three days after Victoria’s latest COVID-19 lockdown began. The 44-year-old woman subsequently tested positive on 8 June, although her partner has tested negative so far. The couple stopped in four towns in regional NSW before arriving in Queensland on 5 June; they visited family members on the Sunshine Coast on the following day. Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young says the woman may have been infectious while travelling through NSW; she adds that it is too soon to consider whether parts of southeast Queensland should go into lockdown.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND HEALTH

Movement in the Melbourne CBD plunges to below 20% of pre-COVID averages as the city experiences a fourth lockdown

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Jun-21

Special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows a plunge in movement in the Melbourne CBD in late May after the city entered a fourth lockdown on May 28. The average 7-day movement level in the Melbourne CBD was at only 19% of pre-COVID-19 averages at the end of May, around half the movement level in the Sydney CBD (38%). This is the first time average 7-day movement levels in the Melbourne CBD have plunged below 20% since the short five-day ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown in Victoria from February 13-17. Movement levels have declined in other Capital City CBDs during May, despite no significant outbreaks or lockdowns in other cities since a three-day lockdown in Greater Perth in late April. Looking around Australia the Adelaide CBD is again the stand-out with movement levels sitting at 65% of pre-COVID averages in late May, ahead of the Perth CBD (59%). Movement levels in the Brisbane CBD (52%) and Hobart CBD (49%) are at around half of their pre-COVID-19 averages. Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UBERMEDIA