Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the state has one of the highest testing rates in the world per 100,000 people, with 177 new cases identified overnight.
Follow today’s events as they unfold.
Live updates
By Sophie Meixner
A reminder to get tested and follow the advice of authorities!
Hi team, I stayed at the Star casino in Sydney for three nights on 7 July (3 days after the patron who tested positive visited the Casino). I left Sydney and drove back to the Gold Coast on 10 July. I have no symptoms and the Star released statement saying the casino is subjected to a deep clean daily, but should I go into self isolation?
-Star Casino Sydney visitor
Recently someone tested positive for COVID-19 in a room. A few days later I was in that room when some health officials came and told us we had to leave because they had just figured out that someone who was in that room a few days ago had tested positive (not in the room at the same time I was). Am I classified as a close contact? Do I have to isolate?
-Isolate?
Both of of these questions go beyond the scope of the blog. I would take this very seriously and immediately phone 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) and explain your situation with a view to getting tested in your local area and obtaining some expert advice.
By Dannielle Maguire
And I’m outta here
Now that Sophie’s back in the saddle, it’s time for me to clear out.
Thanks for joining me today!
By Dannielle Maguire
Important food-related updates
Hi Dannielle, I whipped up the lemonade scones you so highly recommended last week and they were a winner with whipped cream and jam- jam first of course. So the pikelets are being made as we speak -recipe courtesy of Commonsense Cookbook which most boomers will remember from home economics class many moons ago.
-Cookie
Would love to know how these turned out Cookie!
Meanwhile, on the old kebab front, I’d recommend not sitting a kebab upright when storing it in the fridge overnight, as all the sauce drips to the bottom and reduces the wrap to a gag-inducing mush.
By Sophie Meixner
Monash cases
Hi Sophie and Team, are you able to let me know if whether there are any active cases in Monash Hospital in Clayton, Melbourne? Thanks
-Monash resident
Yes, Brett Sutton confirmed he was aware of cases at Monash Hospital. Here was this morning’s exchange:
Q: Some emerging outbreaks over a period, Monash Hospital mental health?
A: I’m aware of Monash health cases as well. I don’t have all of the details as of this morning.
By Sophie Meixner
Let’s talk about the Queensland border declaration
When do I need to fill out the border declaration, the day before travel or can it be pre-requested? Travelling in 2 weeks and want to have my ducks in a row before we travel!
-Going to QLD
How very organised of you! The questioner below answers your question perfectly — you can pre-fill out the declaration up to seven days in advance, as long as your circumstances don’t change in the meantime. Here’s the relevant section in the border restrictions Direction:
- 1.A Queensland Border Declaration Pass is valid for the purpose of entering Queensland for the shorter of the following periods:
- 1.7 days from the day the declaration is made; or
- 2.if any of the person’s circumstances in paragraph 7 have changed.
When you say the ‘Queensland Entry Declaration must be renewed every seven days’, does that mean, for a person who enters QLD after 10 July, they have to continually have a new entry declaration? It seems like it’s only required for entry and it’s only valid for seven days from the date you apply for it. Could you please clarify? I couldn’t find anything on the QLD website.
-Rose
Hi Rose, you only need the declaration while crossing the Queensland border — so, in most cases, just the once. You don’t have to keep the border declaration on you once you’re in the state.
By Sophie Meixner
Hello there and let’s contrast Victoria’s approach to the UK
What would we abc fans do without you bloggers? :)I heard Prof Sutton say something comparing Vic contact tracing effort to UK contact tracing … do you have exactly what he said?
-Imperfect Listening
Hi Imperfect, and hi to all you blogwatchers. I’m Sophie and I’m jumping on the blog for the afternoon — although Dannielle is sticking around for a while.
It’s my first time back in the saddle since we wrapped up the blog prior to the Victorian outbreak. I’m sad the blog had to come back as Blog 2.0 but I’m glad to be back monitoring the news with you all. Click on the blue leave a comment button and I’ll try to get to some of your questions this afternoon.
So, back to Imperfect. Brett Sutton contrasted Victoria’s contact tracing approach to the UK’s method — basically saying that ours is more comprehensive and that there’s no limit on how many contacts we are attempting to trace:
“The special advisory group of experts in the UK suggested to the UK government that they should — they would be stretched if they had to follow up 50 new cases a week.
“[The UK experts said that the authorities] should stop contact tracing if they get to 50 cases a week. We’re doing gold work. We’re following up every cas