Australia Covid live update: more than half of Australians wake up in lockdown as SA reported to have one new case | Australia news

Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd has commended the SA, NSW and Victorian premier’s decision to lock down a large section of their populations to control the spread of the Delta variant.

Kidd told ABC:

What we’re seeing is very appropriate and swift action by our public health authorities in each of the regions where we have these outbreaks occurring. And it’s very important of course that all of us are following the restrictions and the guidelines which are in place to make sure we’re protecting our own health, the health of our loved ones and the health of everyone in our community.

Here are the exposure sites that were posted for the regional NSW town of Orange last night, before it and the Cabonne and Blayney council areas were sent into a seven-day hard lockdown.

If you are trying to get up to speed on the Covid-19 situation all across Australia but only have 90-second to do it, can I recommend (with some bias) this Guardian Australia Tiktok crash course (which I may or may not have made).

Although it’s worth noting some NSW regional council areas also entered lockdown after this was posted last night.

From what I can see the SA premier, Steven Marshall confirmed the new case on Adelaide radio station FiveAA (which he is known to do).

I’ll bring you the transcript from that interview as soon as I can.

ABC is reporting that South Australia has recorded one new local case of Covid-19.

This would bring the current cluster total to six.

Good morning to you all, it’s Matilda Boseley here, back and ready to take on the news of Wednesday.

There are a lot of Australians waking up in lockdown this morning who honestly, probably weren’t expecting to. In fact, more than half of Australia’s population is now locked down.

The NSW regional council area of Orange, Cabonne and Blayney entered a seven-day lockdown at midnight last night after a raft of exposure sites were reported in Orange.

A pet food factory worker in Blayney tested positive to Covid-19 yesterday, a close contact of an infected delivery driver who visited the site last week. Five exposures sites, including a Pizza Hut, a Woolworths and an Officeworks, were listed in Orange yesterday afternoon.

South Australian premier Steven Marshall also announced a seven-day hard lockdown across the whole state, fearing an elderly man likely infected in Syndey may have unknowingly caused a Delta variant super spreading event at an Adelaide restaurant. The cluster currently stands at five cases.

And finally, Victorians originally expected to wake up to freedom this morning, with their five-day hard lockdown slated to end. But that wasn’t to be. With the state still regularly recording double-digit daily case numbers, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says that the state just needs a little bit longer to get ahead of the virus. The lockdown will also be extended for seven days from midnight.

Look there is plenty to cover today so why don’t we jump right in.

If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley.