While the rest of Victoria, enjoyed the lifting of the lockdown imposed last week, Premier Daniel Andrews said health officials in the state would be watching the figures closely before considering a lifting of lockdown regulations on Thursday night.
Over the 24 hours to midnight, 10 August, there were 20 new locally acquired cases in Victoria bringing the total number of active cases to 111. The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) reported that all the cases reported for yesterday were linked; 34,892 people were tested yesterday while 22,670 people received vaccinations for COVID-19.
The office of the Victorian Premier said in a statement this morning that this year’s General Achievement Test (GAT) for year 12 students would be rescheduled to keep students teachers and broader school communities safe from COVID-19.
Students who are in quarantine because they have tested positive for the virus or they are Primary Close Contacts, as well as schools that have been identified as exposure sites will receive an exemption from the GAT.
“This will not disadvantage students’ results and will be taken into account with the Consideration of Educational Disadvantage process,” the statement said.
READ MORE: 283 new COVID-19 cases in NSW, while regional Victoria comes out of lockdown
“In a normal year, individual students are assessed for special consideration on a case-by-case basis – but the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority will again use the CED process to finalise VCE results for each and every student completing one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3-4 sequence in 2021.
“Consistent with the approach in 2020, the process considers a range of data alongside exam results to calculate final VCE results – like the GAT, comparisons of performance across all assessments and schools and other learning data. ”
The statement went on to say that the process would incorporate assessments of the individual impact of COVID-19 on each student including the effect of school closures, direct impact on the health of the student, issues relating to remote learning and mental health challenges.
Victorian Minister for Education James Merlino said: “Whether it’s special consideration for every student in Year 12, or extra mental health and tutoring support in schools, we want any student who is struggling to know that we’re here to support them all the way.”
In New South Wales, the ABC reported that Health Minister Brad Hazzard was looking into ways of making it compulsory for all health staff to take COVID-19 vaccinations. The minister’s announcement followed on news that two partially-vaccinated Liverpool Hospital nurses had contracted COVID-19. Five hospital patients have died as a result of contracting the virus in this outbreak.
Health staff and those delivering meals in hospital wards are required to be vaccinated for a number of diseases such as Hepatitis B and chickenpox. However, the state’s Nurses and Midwives Union (NSWNMU)and the Health Service Union (HSU) have said that a vaccination mandate for COVID-19 was not appropriate and could lead to people leaving the health industry.
The HSU Secretary Gerard Hayes was quoted as saying that taking a hard line on COVID-19 vaccinations would not lead to the level of cooperation that had been shown for previous vaccinations.
“At the moment, things are moving very fast and the information is changing consistently,” said Mr Hayes. “So I think it’s just about taking a breath and getting people to come with you.”
Queensland’s Health Minister Dr Jeannette Young reported three new cases that were in home quarantine and which were linked to the Indooropilly cluster. There were 153 active cases in the state.
To date 1,005, 452 people had been vaccinated in Queensland and a total of 3,682,407 tests had been conducted.
There were 63 people with COVID-19 who were being treated in hospital and one patient was in intensive care.
