COVID-19 updates: Virgin’s half-price sale as NZ travel bubble resumes with Australia

Virgin Australia has launched a half-price flash sale on flights in response to the Federal Government’s cheap fares as the NZ travel bubble resumes. Virgin’s half-price one-way economy fares will go on sale from 5-7pm AEDT Friday or until sold out on all Virgin Australia-operated services nationally. The deal applies to fares for March 15-28 and includes baggage, seat selection and Velocity Frequent Flyer points and status credits. Virgin Australia continues to offer free booking flexibility for travel until January 21 2022. A Virgin Australia Group spokesperson said: “It’s important that we continue to play our part to get Australians travelling so that we can bring more of our people back to work and reboot the tourism economy and our half-price airfare sale is a testament of that.” Half-price one-way Economy fares: · Sydney-Byron Bay/Byron Bay-Sydney from $55 · Sydney-Gold Coast/Gold Coast-Sydney from $55 · Melbourne-Launceston/Launceston-Melbourne from $64 · Brisbane-Whitsunday Coast/Whitsunday Coast-Brisbane from $78 · Melbourne-Gold Coast/Gold Coast-Melbourne from $88 · Adelaide-Sydney/Sydney-Adelaide from $102 · Melbourne-Canberra/Canberra-Melbourne from $111 · Melbourne-Perth/Perth-Melbourne from $146 It somes as flights from Auckland are set to land in Australia Friday, with the New Zealand travel bubble lifting. The news comes after Auckland completed a two-week lockdown following a handful of COVID-19 cases within the community. Kiwis travelling to Australia will be required to return a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours before flying. If entering NSW, travellers will be required to complete declaration forms stating their wherabouts for the last two weeks. Travel permits will still be reuiqred for those travelling to Victoria. GP FUND FINED $2.9 MILLION The company granted a federal government tender to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments with GP’s was recently fined $2.9 million by the consumer watchdog for selling patient data to health fund brokers. It follows the scandal which saw two patients overdosed on COVID-19 vaccines by a doctor employed by a federal government contractor who had not undergone vaccine training. HealthEngine which made $1.8 million from the sale of patient information is the company patients will be directed to from a government website if they want to book a vaccination appointment with their GP. Health Department officials have told the Senate they were aware of the fine but granted HealthEngine the contract anyway. “We think there has been enormous improvements made by HealthEngine. We tested these carefully when we considered them for the contract,” Health Department Associate Secretary Caroline Edwards told the Senate. “Following the ACCC’s recommendations health engine has strengthened its privacy and security processes and authentications,” she said. GREG HUNT TREATED FOR BACTERIAL INFECTION Health Minister Greg Hunt has a bacterial infection in his leg but is “fine” and due to return to work next week. Mr Hunt, 55, released a statement revealing overnight testing confirmed his diagnosis to be Cellulitis, a bacterial infection in his leg. “The Minister is improving and will be discharged in the coming days and expects to be back at work next week,” the statement said. Mr Hunt’s office yesterday said he was being administered antibiotics and fluid. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be acting Health Minister during Mr Hunt’s absence. Mr Morrison today said he had spoken to Mr Hunt and was confident he would be “fine by next week”. Trade Minister Dan Tehan spoke with the “vibrant, bubbly” Mr Hunt on Tuesday evening and said he was eager to return to work. “He (Mr Hunt) was the normal, vibrant, bubbly Greg, and he’s as keen to get back into work and get back to work,” Mr Tehan said. “It will obviously depend on the speed of his recovery. “He’s having a series of antibiotics and my hope is that he will be back with us next week.” The prime minister has insisted Mr Hunt’s condition has nothing to do with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine he received at the weekend. The Health Minister received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday alongside former prime minister Julia Gillard and Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy. Mr Hunt is the third Morrison government minister to go on leave in recent weeks, with Attorney-General Christian Porter and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds also on leave for medical reasons. ANGER OVER VACCINE PAYMENTS Doctors in revolt over COVID-19 vaccine payments and dose numbers have been told the situation will “settle down” as Australia ramps up its rollout. GPs have complained low payments and smaller-than-expected dose numbers will not cover their costs as they administer the vaccine. A group of GPs has threatened to withdraw from the vaccination rollout, some claiming they have received just 50 doses per week despite requesting 200 per day. But Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Karen Price said the COVID-19 vaccine was particularly “complicated” given it was administered in two doses and required staff training. She said many clinics planned their finances around receiving a high volume of doses but hoped the situation would “settle down” as the rollout progressed. “What has happened here is that we have got a low volume to start with,” she told Today. “This is really a way of testing procedures, making sure everything will go along OK. “So given it is the first week of the rollout and CSL haven’t got up to full speed ahead yet, I think it will settle down as we get going.” GILLARD GETS THE JAB Former prime minister Julia Gillard has received her COVID-19 jab in Melbourne as a show of bipartisan confidence in the vaccine. She received the AstraZeneca vaccine along with Health Minister Greg Hunt and Department of Health Secretary Brendan Murphy. Ms Gillard said she was “pleased get the vaccine” to support the rollout. She urged women especially to take up the jab when it was their turn. “I can understand that people might feel a little bit anxious,” Ms Gillard said. “I would recommend to them that they get information from reliable sources and by that I mean the Australian government sources or from their local health practitioner. “They will find the overwhelming evidence that this vaccine is safe and it is effective and here in Australia, it is free.” She encouraged women to “step forward and take it”. “It is the right decision for your own health, it is the right decision for your family’s health, it is the right decision for the community’s health, and ultimately it is the right decision for our nation and our world,” Ms Gillard said. Department of Health secretary Professor Brendan Murphy said there was “no evidence” either COVID-19 vaccine available in Australia was “harmful in pregnancy”. “So if someone has a vaccine and turns out to be pregnant, we don’t need to worry,” he said. “But we also don’t know for sure, we don’t have enough data to say that they are absolutely safe in pregnancy. “There is no reason why they wouldn’t be safe technically but we are recommending that people who are pregnant should discuss vaccination with their doctor before they consider it.” Mr Hunt said there have now been at least 270 residential aged care facilities vaccinated, with more than 23,000 elderly residents receiving their first jab of the Pfizer candidate. Across the country more than 81,000 Australians in the Phase 1a rollout, which includes priority frontline workers such as hotel quarantine staff, have also received their first dose. “This week, with the commencement of the AstraZeneca vaccine, those numbers will grow significantly,” Mr Hunt said. “In just over two weeks time … those numbers will grow even more. “We will soon be delivering well over 500,000 vaccinations a week, while making sure we have the contingency for second (dose) vaccinations.” Mr Hunt said there was also new data from the UK vaccine rollout published in the Lancet medical journal showing the AstraZeneca jab produced “100 per cent protection” against serious illness, hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 in clinical trials. “The results from the UK have been spectacular and heartening and wonderful for the world,” Mr Hunt said. Australia has ordered about 53.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which the majority have been produced locally by CSL in Melbourne, which means disruptions to supply chains are unlikely. The vaccine is also able to be transported at normal fridge temperatures, whereas the Pfizer jab must be maintained at -70C, and is therefore harder to distribute into rural and remote areas. DOCTORS TO HELP WITH VACCINE ROLLOUT Australia will enlist the help of more than 1000 GP clinics in its bid to keep its vaccine rollout on schedule. Local doctors will be brought in for phase 1b of the rollout, which targets older people and those with certain underlying conditions, from March 22. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the change would “ensure an efficient and equitable distribution of vaccines across the country”. Until now, the vaccines had only been administered at hospitals and aged care centres. Overall, more than 4500 accredited general practices will participate in Phase 1b of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout which he says is one of the greatest logistic challenges in the nation’s history. “More than 1000 general practices will commence from the week of March 22, with a rapid scale-up over the following four weeks. This will ensure an efficient and equitable distribution of vaccines across the country,” Mr Hunt said. “Phase 1b of the rollout includes vulnerable populations, such as older people and people with certain underlying conditions.” The strategy to rapidly deliver vaccine inoculations includes a collaboration between the Australian Medical Association (AMA), The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM). The rollout start dates are to be staggered with dosage allocation, to be dependent on vaccine availability. AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said general practitioners (GPs) have a proven track record with flu vaccinations of older Australians and those living with chronic disease who would make up the majority of the Phase 1B rollout. “It is very pleasing to see the majority of GPs putting up their hands to participate in this critical national program,” Dr Khorshid said. – with Tamsin Rose, Nathan Vass, Darren Cartwright