- More than 11 million Australians are in lockdown as some State and Territory leaders urge under 50s to use the Pfizer vaccine
- Alice Springs is the latest city to enter lockdown, after four new cases were linked to a Newmont gold mine worker in the Northern Territory
- Meanwhile, Queensland’s Premier has criticised the Prime Minister for allowing AstraZeneca jabs for all ages, saying Pfizer is preferred for under 40s
- Queensland recorded three new cases of the virus on Wednesday, all of whom are close contacts of previous cases, while Sydney recorded 22 new cases
- Victoria also recorded one new case, while WA recorded one new local case of COVID-19 as well, with investigations underway into the virus source
More than 11 million Australians are in lockdown, as some State and Territory Leaders urge under 50s to use the Pfizer vaccine.
Latest lockdowns
Alice Springs is the latest city to be placed in lockdown, after four new cases of COVID-19 were linked to Newmont’s gold mine in the Northern Territory.
All of the cases are quarantining in South Australia, but authorities in the state have stopped short of introducing a lockdown.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said a lockdown wasn’t necessary at this stage, despite a total of five cases being linked to this gold mine cluster.
“I will start the press conference by saying South Australia will not be going into a lockdown,” Mr Marshall said on Wednesday.
“I think many people will be extraordinarily relieved about that. But today we do announce five cases of Covid-19 in South Australia.
“We are categorising this as linked transmissions from the Northern Territory mine exposure site.”
Vaccine stoush
Meanwhile, earlier today Queensland Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk criticised the Prime Minister for making AstraZeneca jabs available for all ages.
Scott Morrison announced on Monday night Australians of all ages can now request the AstraZeneca vaccine from their GPs.
The PM’s announcement was in spite of Australian drug regulators recently recommending under 60s receive the Pfizer jab, due to the rare risk of blood clotting in AstraZeneca.
Ms Palaszczuk said Queenslanders aged under 40 should wait for the Pfizer jab.
“There has been no national cabinet decision about providing AstraZeneca to the under 40s,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I’d like to ask the prime minister, did his cabinet make that decision?
“So my message to Queenslanders today is please listen to the health experts when it comes to the vaccine.
“At the moment, the advice is for people aged 40 to 59 to get Pfizer, and people 60 and over to get AstraZeneca.”
Ms Palaszczuk’s comments were echoed by WA Premier Mark McGowan who said under 40s weren’t recommended to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.
However, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was up to young people to speak to their GPS about what vaccine was right for them.
New cases
Queensland recorded a total of three new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, all of whom were close contacts of previous cases in the state.
Victoria has recorded one new case of the virus, while NSW recorded 22 cases of the virus — all are linked to known infected persons.
WA also recorded one new case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, and health authorities were yet to determine exactly how the man caught the virus.