Australia Covid live update: Queensland braces for more cases on first full day of lockdown; Sydney authorities in compliance crackdown

A Sydney man has raised concerns about the Australian Immunisation Register after he was falsely recorded as having been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 — before he had received his first jab.

Christopher Knaus reports:

When Sydney bus driver Ke Hua turned up to Royal Prince Alfred hospital last week for his Covid-19 vaccination, he was given some surprising news.

The nurses told him he was already fully vaccinated.

Relying on the Australian Immunisation Register (the Air), the national database of vaccination records, hospital staff told him he had received his first dose on 26 March and his second on 18 June.

There was just one problem: the record was completely wrong. He hadn’t had any dose.

“I went on the 24th of July and they said ‘oh in March you got one, and in June you got one’,” Hua told the Guardian. “I said ‘I’ve never done it!’.”

While Hua, 58, was able to convince the nurses to ignore the records and give him the jab, he was concerned about the error.

He called NSW Health, Medicare, and even the local police, believing someone may have fraudulently used his details.

He was brushed off.

Hua was trying to alert whoever was responsible that the mistake could be affecting others, too.

Such problems, if widespread, would greatly undermine the vaccine rollout.

You can read the full story here:

Victoria has recorded four new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19.

All four are linked to current outbreaks and have been in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period, the Victorian health department said.

Just one new exposure site was added yesterday — a gym in Altona North.

Body Fit Training on Bennett Drive, Altona North, on 28 July from 5.20am to 7am, is a tier two site.

It’s worth checking back to this list periodically if you are in Victoria, or have been in Victoria in the past two weeks.

Good morning,

Queensland is one-sixth of the way through its snap 72-hour lockdown after recording six cases yesterday. The sunshine state is bracing for more cases with 15 new exposure sites added overnight, bringing the total list to almost 100. The list includes two backpacker hostels and busy department stores in Indooroopilly. You can read the full list of exposure sites here.

In Sydney, police will be out in force again in a crackdown on people breaking the lockdown rules. Police were on the streets yesterday in an effort to foil an anti-lockdown protest, which didn’t eventuate. The organisers of that protest have suggested they’ll regroup later this month.

Even without the protest, police arrested 8 people and more than 250 penalty notices were issued.

The focus today will be on supermarkets and retail stores, and whether people check in using QR codes and wear facemasks. The NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, has warned there are fines of $5,000 for businesses failing to use QR codes and up to $1,000 for people not wearing face masks.

In a statement released late yesterday, Fuller said:

Recent heath advice has shown that supermarkets and large retail stores are a known source of concern when it comes to spreading Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded four new cases of Covid-19 overnight, all of which are linked and were in quarantine.

Let’s crack on. If we miss something, you can let me know on twitter @callapilla or via email at calla.wahlquist@gmail.com