Australia Covid live news update: Victoria records 1,838 cases, five deaths; NSW faces bumpy road to freedom; Melbourne protest police test positive

The ABC is reporting that NSW will release their covid numbers at 11:00am, which is interesting because the premier yesterday indicated numbers would soon be released earlier, and that the government was “moving away from 11:00am press conferences.”

Unfortunately for those who love long press conferences, there will be no national cabinet today.

And we have Covid presser lift off:

So, today is the final Friday under (this) lockdown in NSW, with the state due to emerge from stay-at-home orders on Monday.

But you’d be forgiven for losing track of what you can and can’t do once lockdown is lifted, considering the changes made and many, many annoucements.

But fear not, Elias Visontay has broken down everything you can expect to change once the state hits 70% and 80% vaccination milestones:

NSW deputy premier Paul Toole is making the media rounds this morning, appearing on Sunrise earlier, this time discussing whether or not health officials approved the state’s new reopening plan.

Toole said it was “not the case” that NSW CHO Dr Kerry Chant, who was notably absent from yesterday’s press conference, did not endorse the changes announced:

I had a crisis cabinet the day before and Kerry Chant was in the meeting. We don’t make decisions without the support of NSW Health or Dr Kerry Chant.

I think it’s important we get the balance right between keeping peopling safe but also opening up the economy.

[The new plan] was endorsed by Kerry Chant and NSW Health and it’s a delicate balance, but … I know the people are looking forward to Monday.

There is confusion in NSW this morning about whether or not day trips to regional areas from metropolitan Sydney will be allowed on Monday.

It began yesterday, after a spokesperson for deputy premier Paul Toole told the ABC that recreational day trips between Greater Sydney and regional areas would be allowed from Monday.

The measure was supposedly one of the changes made to the NSW Recovery Roadmap made by premier Dominic Perrottet, and meant that people would be able to organise day trips, but would not be able stay overnight.

But Toole was on RN Breakfast today and said that, actually, people won’t be allowed to do the day trips, saying it was “a little grey” at the moment, but that it will be “cleared up today”:

It’s a little bit grey at the moment where people think they can do day trips. It will be cleared up today in black and white, that you can’t go into Greater Sydney, into the regions.

People in Greater Sydney will be able to travel across the Greater Sydney region but they are not to have day trips or come into regional NSW.

The same with regional communities: you can go from regional area to another but not into Greater Sydney.

The health orders were a little bit not clear enough, they’re a little bit grey … but it’ll made very clear this morning.

The French ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thébault, was on the ABC’s RN Breakfast, and was asked by the host if the two countries could ever be “friends” again:

This remains to be seen. That is exactly the reason for which I have been instructed to come back [to Australia].

Our relationship was not only about a contract and that is exactly the problem. That has created a breach of trust and the crisis between our countries is that this was only the tip of a much deeper cooperation.

Thebault later said France was reviewing “every commitment” it has ever taken regarding Australia:

If we were lied to on one very important aspect … confidence is not something you throw away when it’s convenient. Trust is something you build.

There is also a wish expressed of putting things back on track. France is absolutely ready. For us, Australians remain our friends but we need the government to rebuild the trust.

Nancy Baxter, Canadian epidemiologist and head of Melbourne University’s School of Population and Global Health, was on Sunrise this morning, raising concerns at the changes made to the NSW roadmap.

Baxter specifically pointed to the doubling of home visitors as creating the potential for superspreader events:

We have got to open up, but we have to open up safely.

And safely might mean being a little slower for a couple of weeks. We will save lives depending on how quickly or slowly we go for the next few weeks, and I don’t know if this rhetoric of economy versus lives makes sense when these are lives that could be saved.

We could open up and have increased freedoms, just maybe not as many as they are talking about.

For the first time in their history, Ambulance Victoria will not be deploying two paramedics in each ambulance, with drivers now joined by ADF personnel in a bid to improve response times.

The Ambulance Victoria executive director of clinical operations, Mick Stephenson, told the Age that they expected 10 defence personnel to begin work next week, and is requesting more.

It’s something we would have liked not to have done, but that is the state of the nation, we’re in such dire circumstances we have to do it.

Stephenson said demand for ambulances had hit “record levels”, with the service reporting four of its five busiest days in history in the past fortnight.

Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you today, to take you through the day’s news.

We begin in NSW, where the road to freedom has become a little bumpy, after reports emerged overnight that the state’s chief health officer did not endorse the changes to the roadmap made by new premier Dominic Perrottet.

The changes have raised concerns for case numbers once the state reopens, with the NSW president of the Australian Medical Association saying the changes may lead to “skyrocketing” case numbers.

Although the premier insisted the changes, which included doubling home visitors, opening schools a week earlier and doubling the number of attendees at weddings and funerals, were supported by health officials.

It comes as two police officers who were present at the recent construction industry protests in Melbourne tested positive, with one of them taken to hospital. Victoria police would not say how many of its staff were isolating, but said it was supporting the officers.

The state yesterday recorded 1,638 new cases yesterday and two deaths, a slight drop the high recorded earlier in the week, but hovering close.

In federal politics, we’ll be watching the fallout from yesterdays dual call for action against social media platforms from the prime minister and his deputy. Both called for the platforms to be held legally responsible for the content posted there, with the PM calling Twitter a “coward’s palace.”

We’ll bring you the inevitable roll of Covid updates as they come this morning, and everything in between. Stay tuned.