Australia Covid live news update: Victoria records four new cases as half of nation in lockdown

In another extraordinary story that broke overnight, Australians who live overseas will now be unable to leave the country if they return for a visit.

The federal government quietly expanded its ban on citizens leaving the country, and expanded the rule to include people who are ordinarily residents in another country.

My colleague Naaman Zhao spoke to an expert who said the change would unfairly affect Australians from multicultural backgrounds and could be constitutionally invalid.

You can read more on the story here:

A year 6 student at Heathdale Christian College in Werribee, in Melbourne, is among the positive cases in Victoria today.

Parents were informed in the early hours of the morning, via a Facebook post, that the school had closed its main campus, as well as a second campus in Melton.

“Students and teachers in years five and six and their households must continue to quarantine for 14 days even if they test negative and will be contacted by the public health unit or Department,” the school wrote on their Facebook page.

The positive case attended school from Tuesday to Thursday this week, with all students across both campuses told to isolate and wait for a negative result.

Victoria has recorded four new cases overnight on top of the two reported yesterday, all linked to previously reported cases, but were not in quarantine for their infectious period.

A tradie has been charged for faking a positive Covid result to get out of work. Yes, this is a real story.

NSW police say he allegedly sent a text to his boss on Monday morning, claiming he couldn’t come into work in Newcastle after testing positive, sending his employers into a scramble.

His co-workers were stood down and had to self-isolate, and several locations near his employment required deep cleaning.

He allegedly sent a second text later on Monday saying he returned a negative result.

He was arrested and charged yesterday, and will face court on Tuesday. Pretty pricey sickie, that one.

The Hunter region is waking to its first full day of lockdown today, after a host of new cases were recorded yesterday, including in five school students.

Newcastle, Singleton, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Cessnock are all under restrictions for at least one week.

Long queues are expected at testing clinics today, with the hopes that the network of testing sites will be able to keep up with the demand, after traffic and queues were also reported yesterday afternoon.

There were many stories that broke yesterday, but perhaps one of the most important was a win by independent senator Rex Patrick in the administrative appeals tribunal which means documents from national cabinet can be accessed under the freedom of information regime.

The extraordinary win comes as Patrick argued that the prime minister had no right to extend cabinet confidentiality to his national cabinet meetings with state premiers and chief ministers.

It means documents like agendas and minutes will be available under FOI laws.

Justice Richard White found that because there was only one member of the Australian parliament in the national cabinet (the PM), it did not meet the definition of a committee of cabinet.

“A group which is not ‘of’ the cabinet will not be a committee of the cabinet,” his decision read.

You can read more on the win at our story here:

So there were a whole host of new exposure sites announced by NSW Health yesterday, including:

• Auburn Family Medical Centre, 22/1 Civic Road, Auburn, on Saturday, July 31 between 8.45am and 2.15pm; and
• KFC Punchbowl, 1323/1325 Canterbury Road, Punchbowl, for all seven days from Tuesday, July 27 to Monday, August 2.

Anyone who attended these venues is now considered close contacts and must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of result.

There have been also been some casual contact locations listed, you can check them out here.

In Victoria, health authorities listed three new venues of concern, including two Virgin flights and a terminal:

• Flight VA808 from Sydney to Melbourne on Monday, August 2 between 7am and 8.35am; and
• Flight VA1364 from Melbourne to Launceston on Monday, August 2 between 10.35am and 11.42am.

Melbourne airport’s terminal 3 is also listed as a tier-3 exposure site for Monday, August 2 between 8.35am and 11.05am.

You can check out the full list of exposure sites at the link here.

Good morning everyone, Mostafa Rachwani with you today, and I’ll be guiding you through the news (and the inevitable press conference overlap).

We start in Melbourne, which entered a snap seven-day lockdown yesterday after recording eight new cases. This is the sixth lockdown the city has faced since the pandemic began last year.

Frustrations spilled on to the street, with hundreds of people attending an anti-lockdown protest near Flinders Street station at around 7pm last night.

Flares were lit as the crowds chanted “freedom” and “no more lockdowns.” Here’s hoping it doesn’t lead to an extension of the lockdown.

New South Wales yesterday recorded its worst day of this outbreak, with 262 new infections, a majority of which were under the age of 40, and five deaths.

Queensland continues its lockdown, which is officially due to be lifted on Sunday, although with 16 cases recorded yesterday there is a sense it will be extended.

Finally, Australia is on the verge of recording its greatest ever gold medal tally at the Olympics. We’ve currently equalled our record tally, set in Athens, and one more gold would top us up. Here’s hoping for some good news today.